'Sons of Anarchy' - 'Out'

I offered some general thoughts on the new season of 'Sons of Anarchy' in my review of the new season, but I'll throw out a few more observations in the episodic review below.

The club is out of prison and back in Charming, so everything's right with the world, huh? Yeah, not so much. What else did you expect?

I don't know about you, but the last sequence of scenes, in which the club slaughtered the Russians, gave me pause. I know these Men of Mayhem have been involved in murders in the past, but it was the sheer scale of what they did that made me take a step back. They just killed a lot of guys, and what's more, they calmly went back to Opie's party and didn't appear to have the slightest problem or qualm about what they'd just done.

I know, I know, this is their world and this is what they've always been capable of. This isn't the first time they've had blood on their hands. But the killing of the Russians indicates that it's a new day for the club: Things are going to be on a bigger scale this season. And the club's reactions and actions indicate a new level of commitment to the cause (and what is that again? Living free or making bank? It's hard to tell).

This was the coldest we'd ever seen the club act as a group, perhaps. A number of the killings we've seen in the past have carried some kind of moral consequence or weren't carried out with what felt like such clinical remorselessness. Tig's murder of Donna almost ripped him (and the club) apart, and Opie himself was resolute yet sad and restrained as he killed Agent Stahl last season. When Clay threw Irish SOA member Keith McGee off that Belfast roof, he seemed as though he wished he didn't have to do it.

The organized elimination of the Russian problem was a whole different thing, and it may well indicate that we'll see a much graver level of mayhem than ever before.



As I said in my review, the show is in dicey territory here. It's potentially exciting territory, of course -- many of the best shows in the history of television feature characters who we're fascinated with despite their terrible actions and choices. Can 'SOA' turn the club members into casual, cold killers and still keep us emotionally invested in these characters' journeys? That's the challenge this season and beyond, and we'll have to see whether the show is up to it.

Having said all that, I like the newly resolute Jax who emerged from prison. He's learned what he can from his dead father -- which is to not be as passive as John was. Jax has a plan, but, let's face it, how realistic is it? The proposal scene between Jax and Tara was great -- I liked how she was presented as a woman who completely accepts who Jax is and isn't intent on changing him or nagging him into a different lifestyle. Yet when he presented his proposal for "making bank" and then getting out of the life, why didn't she roll her eyes, at least a little? Hasn't she seen the hundreds of TV shows and movies in which the whole concept of "one last score" all goes terribly wrong?

Honestly, Tara is right -- with her resume as a doctor, she could get them established anywhere. Heck, given their non-luxury lifestyle, she's probably making decent bank right now as a pediatric surgeon. There's a certain old-school nobility in Jax's desire to be the main support of his family, but his decision to stay in the club is also, I have to admit, kind of arrogant. Why not just skip town now? If he really cared about his family so much, why not eliminate the part where he gets in bed with much bigger and more dangerous criminal elements, thereby putting his old lady and babies at much greater risk?

But if Jax didn't want to leave the club his way, at the time of his choosing, there wouldn't be a show, so here we are. And given how enjoyable the season premiere was, I can't protest Jax's stubbornness too much. In this 90-minute festival of Things We Like About 'SOA,' we got Opie's wedding, we got some kinetic road action, we got former fugitives Gemma and Unser hanging out, we got the introduction of two compelling new characters, U.S. Attorney "Linc" Potter (Ray McKinnon) and Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar), both smart, interesting (and in Potter's case, charismatically strange) men who would like nothing better than to wipe the club off the Charming map.

Between the two of them, they seem to have a pretty good idea of how to do just that. And unbeknownst to the members of SAMCRO, in taking care of their Russian problem, they murdered an undercover federal agent. That's surely going to come back to haunt them.

Welcome back to Charming, boys.

A note about these recaps: I'm not 100 percent sure I'll be doing 'SOA' recaps every single week. I'll try to do so for at least the first few weeks, but we'll see how it goes. The last thing you or I want is me repeating myself in these weekly reviews. I'm truly not fishing for compliments here, but I want to gauge your thoughts on whether you think these reviews need to be weekly, or if you're okay with me checking in on the show every few weeks. Thoughts? P.S.: Welcome back!

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'Sons of Anarchy' airs Tuesdays, 10PM ET on FX.