Shakespeare on a Hog: The Sons of Anarchy thread

yeah i get what you're saying; i personally think that letting those kinds of story arcs unfold over several years, complete with occasional diversions into storylines that don't move that arc forward in any significant way, are a strength of these kinds of shows, although SOA's handling of it is admittedly not always perfect. so when people talk about 'dragging it out' i'm kinda like what's the rush?

I hear you - it's tough because we all want to see what the show has in store when it's consistently entertaining, but we also want a good show to continually surprise us as well. (Even a show that I think has been doing great with this - Breaking Bad - is starting to make me wonder how far they can stretch its premise, going into season 4.) SOA deserves credit for even attempting the S3/SAMBEL storyline instead of rehashing the Clay/Jax rivalry, it just didn't turn out that great.

Like I said above, I enjoy the show well enough, but my wife and I are constantly struck by this sense of deja vu. Like, lines and conflicts are repeated over and over again, characters are boiled down to their one singular trait, almost sitcommy, as if the show isn't brave enough to take advantage of its characters creative freedom. Instead there's all that wheel spinning, with plot lines failing to advance the show's greater narrative and nothing coming of conflicts the show sometimes takes entire seasons to set up at the expense of elements that should be in place by now. Almost done S2 now, and we seem no closer to what's been set up as inevitable, let alone learning the practical mechanics of Charming (whose population appears to be almost exclusively the SoA and the police). Now, granted, I'm not a fan of "The Sopranos," but one major problem I had with it is that after its great first season the show settled into a similar habit of wheel spinning, introducing a major character or conflict at the beginning of a season just to neatly resolve it (or kill him/her off) at the end of the season, at the expense of advancing the big picture. Similarly, SoA has so much potential, but it seems like it's being written and made on the fly, with lots of sloppy shortcuts.

You know, I'm an ep or two at most away from the end of the second season, and for the life of me I don't know a) what the white power guy wants in Charming and b) why the SoA does't just kill him, given their history of hurting (or worse) people in positions of power. I chalk it up to good ol' fashioned bad storytelling.

curious to see your reaction (and/or rage) at the second season finale...

have never seen this, but would like to why cause it sounds intertsing

highly recommend watching it! it's kind of corny in places, the plots always have a hole or two but it is so much FUN! also it has ron perlman so you can't go wrong.

are you the person who's supposed to refund me for those Season of the Witch tickets? i been looking for you

I gave up 5 or so eps into season 3 but decided I'd pick it back up again for season 4. Read the wikipedia page to catch up and was lost.

yeah that's a terrible way to catch up on ANY show

good season premiere, i like where things are going. that preacher from deadwood is the goofy US attorney!

This season is so far miles ahead of the last one.

This is all the chatter going on for this show, this season?

Last 2 eps have been great, everything I love about the show without the nonsense.

I've watched ~14 episodes since Friday. This show is not good for one's faith in humanity.

halfway through S3 - Jax's half-sister (god I hope they don't bang) is a fox

omg Gemma
"Well, unless we want a three-headed grandchild, looks like we’re gonna have to share some family history."

That show is so addictive. I know in my heart it's cheesy melodrama but goddamn I love it.

Except: WHY CAN'T JAX WEAR NORMAL JEANS.

Last season was the best so far, imo

Wow, doc got even hotter for S4.

anyone still watching this?

About to watch the first couple eps of the new season tonight.

meeee!

Jimmy Smits is great thus far. Rest of it is more absurd than ever.

Yeah Jimmy is fantastic.

Yeesh:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/johnny-lewis-dead-28-sons-anarchy-actor-found-dead-home-murdered-woman-article-1.1169366

fucking hell

in other news I can't believe [spoiler]!!!! ;_;

!!!

buckets of tears

I've never seen him but there's something very sinister about this.

So i forgot about ep 2 and this shit doesn't seem to come On Demand but I noticed that late Tuesday night they reaired ep 2 AND 3 at about 1 in the morning or whatevs so I set the DVR to record. Started watching ep 2 but it was clearly in the last 15 or so minutes of ep 3 so I shut my eyes and fast forwarded and all was well. It bled into the recording of ep 3 but I figured I could watch it and it would wrap around to more or less the same part where the first recording started.

Obviously what happened was that presumably the only scene that I didn't get to see at all was the SPOILER but I figured it out from the aftermath so I guess I was deprived of this BIG MOMENT so in conclusion F U FX Scheduling.

it was pretty brutal, even for them

i was sad for a good 24 hours after seeing the latest episode. this season is totally ott

^^^

i like that twice already this season they've done a fake ending "oh here comes the mellow musical montage denouement part of the episode" and then BOOM it's rudely interrupted with more action

i feel like Sons of Anarchy the last couple years is one of the most gutwrenching shows ever -- not just purely for graphic violence or emotional charge or "holy shit" surprises but in terms of the combined effect of all of the above. i know some people would say Breaking Bad moreso, but for me SOA trumps it in that sense -- haven't watched enough Sopranos or The Shield to know if they went even further.

it's definitely gutwrenching.

Tara is really going down the dark rabbithole, I hate to think what they're going to do with her.

The Shield would hit me so hard and so often, some scenes would stay on my mind an haunt me for weeks.

xxp - I would have said that about Breaking Bad for the first couple of seasons, but at this point, it's no contest, SOA wins. I'm such a sap, though, I had to go back and watch episodes from previous seasons when everything was "happier" and "simpler" in order to feel better. In one of those Comic-Con interviews up on youtube, the dude that plays Opie compares his character to Job, in terms of his consistent suffering, and maybe that's why what happened to him hit me so hard? I dunno.

I always definitely felt something kinda biblical in Opie's character, I like the Job comparison. And the way he looked at Jax through the glass right before they beat him was just...yeah that destroyed me.

I bawled all over again when they had the wake.

yeah i think Opie has finally one-upped Tara on True Blood as the most relentlessly abused main character in contemporary cable drama

Walton Goggins FTW!

http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Content/121008/News/2_tues/thumbs/121009SOA1_210x305.jpg

Interview here: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Sons-Anarchy-Walton-Goggins-Woman-1054456.aspx

I quit on the show a bit ago, but that's pretty great.

Your loss, pal.

It looked like Juice was fighting losing his shit every time Walton and Tig interacted.

That whole scene was just awesome from start to finish. And when she kissed Jax at the end... All of their reactions were perfect.

Felt like we suddenly hit the 'things happening!' critical mass point last night. The home invasion thing, I'm thinking it's the 3 new Sons maybe? Maybe they were ringers from the Mayor to bring down the chapter somehow, or some other long game con of some kind?
idk

Yeah, the voice definitely sounded like the chubby curly-haired one. Could be Clay using them to undermine things?

I'm enjoying Jax this season - Hunnam is acting him as leader better than I expected.

he's come so far from
http://www.haro-online.com/stuff/greenst1.jpg

or
http://www.teenidols4you.com/blink/Actors/charlie_hunnam/charlie_hunnam_1265736658.jpg