A formal apology to Kurt Sutter and myself for not watching Sons of Anarchy sooner

by Kona Gallagher

I'm an idiot for not watching Sons of Anarchy sooner. I don't want to say you're an idiot if you haven't watched it, because that would be rude, but seriously guys: get on that.

I have zero interest in motorcycles. I don’t find the outlaw nature of motorcycle clubs appealing or interesting in the least. So on that level, it makes sense that I didn’t immediately gravitate toward a show about an outlaw motorcycle club. What I ignored was the fact that Sons of Anarchy is the brainchild of Kurt Sutter, one of the folks behind The Shield, which I adore.

Much in the way that I automatically glommed onto The Chicago Code because it was from Shield creator Shawn Ryan, I should have trusted Sutter and started watching Sons of Anarchy when it premiered. Instead, I ignored it. Even when Dutch himself, Jay Karnes, came on board. Even when the lovely Katey Sagal won a Golden Globe.

Honestly, I probably never would have watched the show if it weren’t for the fact that I’m constantly listening to podcasts. On Plus One Per Diem, Jen Schwalbach was constantly going on and on about what an amazing show this is. That alone wasn’t enough to get me to check it out, but that coupled with the fact that she also has no interest in motorcycles and the fact that they were going to have Kurt Sutter and his wife, Katey Sagal on the May 31st episode of the show finally made me put it at the top of my Netflix queue. Now I am officially obsessed.

While Sons of Anarchy is by no mean a Shield clone, the similarities are definitely there: a group of anti-heroes commit heinous acts while struggling to do right by their families. Both of their worlds are gritty, complicated, and full of shifting alliances. While you may find yourself rooting for them, the show never lets you forget that these aren’t good guys.

Like The Shield, Sons is also impeccably written and acted and full of fascinatingly complex characters. Each member of SAMCRO is layered and interesting – even Tig (Kim Coates), the resident psychopath. Why these people do what they do is a fascinating mystery to unravel, especially in the case of Gemma (Katey Sagal), who makes sacrifices and decisions that constantly confound me. And let’s not even get into Tara (Maggie Siff), Jax’s doctor girlfriend. I’ve watched the first two seasons and nothing about her makes sense to me. However, trying to figure her out is one of the things that keeps me tuning back in.

This show pulls no punches. Terrible things constantly happen to characters you have grown to love, and the camera is unflinching. There have been many episodes that I have watched with my jaw agape, not believing the turn the episode had just taken.

What’s beautiful about Sons of Anarchy is that in our procedural television world, it’s full of stories that follow through from episode to episode. Something that happens in the season premiere will continue to have ramifications to the season finale – and sometimes beyond.

I plowed through the first two seasons on Netflix Instant in about a week. It became almost a problem – I was even talking about it in food posts. All I wanted to do was get home, put the baby to bed and watch Sons of Anarchy. So for that reason, I want to apologize to myself as well. Self, I’m so sorry that I’ve deprived you of Sons of Anarchy for nearly three years. You could have been doing this back in 08, but I was a dummy. I promise that from now on, I’ll always put my faith in anyone who has anything to do with The Shield and I’ll never let anything like this happen again. Lesson: officially learned.