Kim Dickens may be an unrecognizable name, but she is certainly a recognizable face. In the past several years, Dickens has had prominent roles in some of the most acclaimed television shows of all time, Sons of Anarchy, Treme, House of Cards, Lost, and Friday Night Lights just to name a few. In each of …
Television history is littered with the bodies of ill-advised spin-offs. Their corpses, copies of reviews and overnights crumpled in their clawed little hands, defile the memories of the successful shows that spawned them and serve as cautionary tales for every writer tempted to go to the same well twice. However, every once in a while, …
Some of the strongest and most wrenching material in Sons of Anarchy’s history came in the early seasons when Jax was actively, and believably, attempting to reroute the aims of the club towards a direction to match his father’s vision. From Jax sitting on the roof of the club reading the elder Teller’s parting manuscript to his frequent visits to the cemetery to gain strength at the foot of his father and brother’s tombstones, the importance of the club’s overarching goals not only supplied some of the best story arcs but the best Charlie Hunnam performances as well. The pre-credits sequence of this week’s episode, the end of a show that has long overstayed its welcome, mirrors those potent early scenes in interesting ways, allowing Jax to once again revisit his earlier choices as the audience follows along. The burning of his father’s papers isn’t overwrought enough to pull the audience out of the moment, and his gentle placement of his rings on Opie and Tara’s graves is true to character and a genuinely tear-worthy moment. In advance of an assumed mayhem vote by the club, Jax’s goodbyes to the symbols of the ones he loved is an important piece of his final journey and the show nails it.
“Red Rose” is a powerfully emotional episode built on the backs of three central deaths, most of which could be expected to occur before Sons of Anarchy takes its final bow but weren’t assured to happen in tonight’s episode until the last twenty minutes or so. With so many central characters reminiscing about mistakes made and their pasts there are more than enough people to choose from when guessing who says their final goodbyes, making the actual moments that much more powerful when they arrive. That doesn’t mean each passing comes as a surprise though. A building mix of tension, regret, and resigned acceptance is present in all three instances which lends a gravity and legitimacy to these killings that has not been present for this entire season if not before that. Stop reading now if you have not yet watched the episode.
For an episode that has so many scenes that could all individually be described as great, this episode continues to not have enough happen in order to properly justify the run time. The majority of the action is important, but letting every scene breathe and take as much time as possible to play out undercuts the levity of the scenes where the drawn out nature of an interaction instills everything with increased emotion. Having a conversation between Gemma and Nero be the same length as one between Althea and Unser, or close to it, attempts to place them on the same level and this doesn’t make any sense. There are few transitional scenes this week, only increasingly long and drawn out exchanges as Gemma’s actions in relation to Tara’s death come into focus and get passed around the club. In an episode where long-awaited fireworks are expected, the sudden refusal to put Jax and Gemma in the same room is a disappointment and one that is not tempered by the prison murder of Lin or the semi-pointless car chase Jax takes part in. Finding the emotional heart of the show again this close to the finale after so many seasons of blood and guts is a good thing, but with over an hour of screen time filled with lots of tell and not a lot of show, the emotional heart isn’t balanced with anything else.
Lo, the grandmother’s comeuppance begins not in the form of blackmail from a member of SAMCRO, nor an outside party seeking revenge. No, it comes at last from her own flesh and blood. Abel, who this episode goes a long way towards transitioning from “devil spawn” to “devil spawn with revenge blinders on”, single-handedly starts the avalanche that will doom Gemma in the end. The first half of “Faith and Despondency” lays the seeds well, not playing an obvious hand as to whether the reveal would come in the confines of this episode or if it would be pushed until next week again. By the last third, however, the dread builds slowly but surely until Jax’s bedtime visit could not reasonably culminate in anything besides Abel spilling the beans about who murdered his mother. Even if he is confused as to the motivations behind her killing, his wide-eyed innocence lends an ominous “accidentally on purpose” air to his line of questioning.
The title of this week’s Sons of Anarchy episode refers to a speech from Act II of Hamlet, in which the Prince of Denmark confesses his general malaise and depression to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. While outlining his outlook on life, he commiserates about how many accomplishments and abilities mankind is capable of in which he cannot bring himself to take part, for lack of purpose and motivation. This lack of interest in the general goings on or excitement of the world can surely be applied to the club throughout much of this season of Sons, but is also accurate meta commentary on the way the show is spurning narrative opportunities left and right over its final stretch.
Putting aside all of the violence (which packs no punch), torture (which has gone too far yet again), and killing (which has no motivation behind it) for just a minute, this week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy tries to do some interesting things with its characters for maybe the first time all season. It doesn’t always pan out, but that is a result of not committing fully rather than refusing to take the time to try something different. After weeks of dropping breadcrumbs in regards to Abel’s mental state and the club’s effect on him, there is finally a definitive incident that proves Abel’s surroundings are turning him into an indiscriminately violent and angry person, just like his father. Of course, Sons doesn’t have the restraint to discuss raising a child in this environment with any sort of tact. So instead of Wendy and Jax having a one-on-one conversation about him attacking another child with a metal lunchbox (he’s resourceful, too!), Abel gets turned into an approximation of devil spawn at the kitchen table.
Jax Teller’s braggadocio is officially out of hand. Up to this point, the season has consisted of a variety of stupid plans from Jax, but they have seemed to be the right choice, at least from his point of view. Even if the audience can see clearly that his manipulations of rivals and lies to the club are bad ideas, his confidence in them has done enough to make his decisions believable. During Tuesday’s episode, however, Jax finally commits to throwing all caution to the wind. Having Jax stop offering any sort of explanation when he gives orders officially places the final season squarely in nonsensical territory and unmoors it from responsibility to reason all together.
Insist things have been made right. Take a drink. Smile smugly at the friends and family that surround you in your time of “triumph”. Rinse, repeat. Such is the cycle SAMCRO, and by extension Sons of Anarchy, finds themself in after once again conquering a would-be enemy with nothing but fire power and questionable wit. The thing about this cycle of pulling solutions out of nowhere shortly after discovering impending danger is that it makes for a repetitive and predictable season. Instead of Kurt Sutter emptying out his story bucket and taking chances when possible, the show has found itself in a rut of inevitable violence and unsurprising dialogue. A few developing threads this episode have great potential to reverse this trend, but they move so slowly it is possible nothing could come to fruition for a few episodes more, though at this point, any forward momentum is welcome.
Jax’s early declaration to Nero about his shock that Lin would go so far as an act of revenge is the first time in a while he has shown any true concern for the people around him. It also comes off as incredibly naive in that even if the murder of sixteen innocent people is indefensible, the reason it even came to retaliation in the first place stems from his actions first and foremost. His inability to understand how his actions affect an ever-widening pool of people is quickly becoming a theme here, but without any real consequences for the club or his life.
Sons of Anarchy just broke its own record for erasing any and all good will shortly after amassing it. Episodes two and three of this season are examples of how to properly build up excitement and suspense for the story to come, and here the show ruins all of that hard work in a matter of minutes. Once again, after multiple examples across the history of the show, an entertaining episode filled with well-executed character building and excitement is undermined by the unnecessary and senseless killing of female characters.
Sons of Anarchy, Season 7, Episode 3, “Playing With Monsters” Written by Kurt Sutter Directed by Craig Yahata Airs Tuesday at 10pm ET on FX Lying is a difficult thing to get away with. Once the first lie is told, the only option to successfully maintain a falsehood is to continue lying ad …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 7, Episode 2, “Toil and Till” Written by Kurt Sutter Directed by Bill Gierhart Airs Tuesday at 10pm on FX After multiple seasons spent on the sideline contributing minimally to any actual plot, Unser finally has the opportunity this week to get out from under the thumb of the club and do …
Coming off a bloody and shocking season finale, the final stretch of Sons of Anarchy kicks things off with nothing less than a bloody and shocking premiere. The actual action takes up less than a third of the episode, with most of the super-sized premiere ending up as time spent watching various gangs and family members talk in circles about last season’s events. With only a handful of episodes to iron out all of the conflicts from last year’s denouement, set up a proper season arc, and tie everything up in a satisfying manner, one would think Sutter and co. would have a sense of urgency when it comes to moving the plot along. Instead, a small number pieces on the chessboard are shifted a few spaces while everybody else stands around and observes the events unfolding.
…these actors were fantastic talents caught in a rut of a tragic show – tragic not just in the Greek, dramatic tragic sense, which this series certainly exemplifies, but tragic in how misused many of these superb elements have been lately.
One of the more interesting discussions that’s been going on between TV critics this year – now that Breaking Bad has finished and Mad Men is slowly on its way out – has revolved around darkness of tone and how unrelenting it can be in a series to the point where it’s a problem. We’ve seen plenty of new, dark shows carve a niche for themselves without being too oppressive with their content. Sons of Anarchy, though, is one of those shows in which I often feel like I’m being pounded in the face with pessimism.
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 11 – “Aon Rud Persanta” Written by Chris Collins and Kurt Sutter Directed by Peter Weller Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX Nero calls it the Godfather dilemma: the more you try to distance yourself, the closer you get sucked in. Tara is extremely familiar with this concept …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 10 – “Huang Wu” Written by Kurt Sutter and Charles Murray Directed by Billy Gierhart Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX Oftentimes, a TV series unintentionally develops a weak link in its cast. If any of you are viewers of The Walking Dead, too, you could easily point out …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 9 – “John 8:32” Written by Kem Nunn and Kurt Sutter Directed by Guy Ferland Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX After finally managing to craft something kind of interesting out of Tara’s fake pregnancy plot last week, Sons of Anarchy is beginning to make the exponential climb to …
Sons of Anarchy, Season 6: Episode 8 – “Los Fantasmas” Written by Roberto Patino and Kurt Sutter Directed by Peter Weller Airs Tuesday nights at 10 on FX All season long, we’ve been following a pretty lackluster B-plot in Sons of Anarchy focusing on Tara and her subversive plans to get her kids out of the crossfire …
The emotional core of “Sweet and Vaded” comes from a rather unpredictable place. After seeing Walton Goggins return to the role of Venus in last week’s episode, there didn’t seem like there was going to be much a of a follow-up to his appearance. And while “Sweet and Faded” doesn’t exactly revolve around Venus’ story, it is certainly the heart of the episode.
With TV series that are as relentlessly dark as Sons of Anarchy, an episode like “Salvage” should feel out of place and awkward. It’s not that it’s happy or anything (there’s still plenty of fighting and scheming going on); but this episode isn’t oppressive. And a lot of series really beat you over the head with that oppressiveness until it feels like there’s little point in sticking around if there’s no enjoyment in it. If “Salvage” is out of place, though, it’s anything else but awkward. Completely immersed in a mythology of brotherhood, “Salvage” brings Sons of Anarchy back to its foundational concerns: how does this family overcome its obstacles? Specifically, how does it overcome its obstacles as a family.