What’s this show called … Sons of Anarchy?

I hit a bit of a snafu this week with my column, totally separate from last week’s which was that with barely any new TV airing the week of Thanksgiving, I had nothing to write about for last week’s column.

This time it was an oversight on my part: knowing that On Demand airs episodes of the FX hit Sons of Anarchy, I didn’t bother setting my DVR to tape. The result is that I inadvertently had to view the episode entitled “June Wedding” for this week’s column, which actually aired two weeks ago. So for all of you who watch the show, I’m an episode behind here.

I’ll readily admit that I knew little about Sons of Anarchy going in. My vague understanding of the show was that it was about a biker club, and that the episodes focused both on the members’ personal relationships as well as their criminal enterprises. That, and that excellent performances were being turned in by Peggy Bundy (Katey Sagal) as matriarch Gemma, and by Hellboy (Ron Perlman) as Clay.

That may or may not be correct, but regardless what I saw went well beyond the simple description that I provided above. Assuming I’m correct about how the series began, by now the show appears to have spun out in concentric circles to all sorts of other organizations doing business in the cozy little town of (fictional) Charming, California. I don’t have a handle on all of the other clubs, the Russians, and the IRA, but Titus Welliver (Glenn Childs on The Good Wife), as Jimmy O’Phelan, does do an impressive, if slightly over-exaggerated, Irish accent.

Here’s the bad: Katey Sagal may grow on viewers over time, but to me she was kind of a fish out of water. Not that she was bad, but as long as she’s Peggy Bundy to me, I think I’d have a tough time hooking into her dramatic chops. Also, not being familiar with the world of bikers, the little I do know about them is to be frightened of their ferociousness. So it’s kind of funny to hear these big, gun-totting guys talk about their “club” and their “clubhouse,” and to see them walk around in leather vests and t-shirts with long chains hanging off their pants. They look kind of silly.

But there’s nothing silly about what’s happening on the show. Like I said, the above was the bad. The good, once I was able to make headway through the numerous story lines shooting back and forth, is that this season is all about a way of life that’s doomed to disappear if the “wrong” person gets into a position of power. Granted here it appears to be a non-corrupt mayor who threatens to overhaul the legal system in town, but at the end of the day the criminals stand to be as adversely affected as the local police (which isn’t to say that Chief Unser,played by Dayton Callie, couldn’t stand to be toppled).

While I understand that it might be what viewers like about the show most, what I found to be slightly too convoluting was the fact that some of these people are family. Like Jax (Charlie Hunnam), running around half-cocked because Tara (Maggie Siff) was missing, and prepared to turn on his brothers to find his son.

Meanwhile, Gemma held Agent Stahl (Ally Walker, whose character I really didn’t like) at gunpoint so she’d deter Jax from doing their deal. Maybe as the matriarch of the club she would have done that anyway, but it seemed to me that the mother/son relationship was driving some things unnecessarily … simply because there is such a thing as too much drama.

Salazar (Jose Pablo Cantillo) was an unexpectedly out-of-control character; I got the impression from the first half of the episode that he was some criminal heavyweight. To see him at the end was to see a completely different character. At the same time he’s dead, so there’s really nothing to worry about there.

The board meeting toward the end of the episode was cute. Given all the chaos of this person going to prison, that person being kidnapped, someone else giving testimony to an ATF agent, and an agent getting murdered, business is business, and as little as we saw of Clay in the episode there he was at the end of the day banging his gavel on the table to end another meeting. There was something grounding about the moment.

FX is clearly delivering yet again with Sons of Anarchy. I’m really surprised the network is never mentioned with the “likes” of AMC (the quotation marks are for the fact that none of AMC’s series impress me). It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has a rabid following, and The League is coming up behind it fast. Many people (my wife included) swear by Justified, Rescue Me proved itself seasons ago, and Archer and Louie need time but are definitely fringe favorites (Full disclosure: I don’t like any of those shows).

And then there’s Terriers, which is hands down the best new show on television this season. Or was, now that FX announced it’s giving the series the ax.

But putting aside that abominable decision, FX is going strong — arguably strongly than AMC — and Sons of Anarchy is clearly a big reason why. That’s a hardcore hour of TV … I just don’t think it’s a series for me. I felt like it was a wee bit too bogged down in story streams for me, and bogged down in very weighty matter. Even a mother’s plea for her son was done at gunpoint. I can’t handle dramatic overload at the moment, but that’s a solid show waiting to explode all over the right new viewer.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Dec 06, 2010 @ 17:00 EST5EDT