Shakespeare on a Hog: The Sons of Anarchy thread

holy crap @ scene leading into opening credits - <SPOILER> OK, that was a cheap trick.

Gukbe - how did you feel about some of the later Sopranos seasons that were heavy on existential brooding and (relatively) light on action & seemed to be a bit of a drag, except when the threads finally came together in the final 3-4 episodes, the slog seemed (at least somewhat) warranted? Your answer to this question should determine how you proceed.

I loved the latter Sopranos seasons, but this show is most definitely not The Sopranos. But I take your point, so I'll give it a real go this week.

oh, I wasn't comparing the quality of writing, mind - just general thematic & dramatic similarities (which are surely not accidental).

one hell of a season finale

agreed. i loved loved, chibs and opie doing the deed.

Yeah, this was great. I doubted they would pull it together after the last two seasons ended a bit strangely, especially with all the threads they had to collect; but the relatively slow going on this season was pretty much justified with this - also a nice setup for a year down the road when they eventually get out. With all the twists and turns I have to admit I didn't expect the Unser/Opie thing at all. Definitely the most satisfying season-ender of the show.

i sure hope that if katey sagal wins an emmy, they use the clip of her threatening to shoot the baby.

agreed

woo! golden globes results:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"

Elisabeth Moss, "Mad Men"

Piper Perabo, "Covert Affairs"

WINNER Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy"

Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

was really happy to hear that, she kills it on this show

that is phenomenal!!

being declared better than Piper Perabo isn't phenomenal, it's logical

yeah, but i never expected them to come through. she wasn't even nominated last year when she truly deserved it! not to say she wasn't good this season too.

she's by far the best thing about this show.

She deserves an honorary Oscar just because she's so rad

Hell yeah! Sons of Anarchy Revs Up Danny Trejo For Season Four

Nice.

I thought they already killed Trejo in "Breaking Bad?"

That was a joke. Anyway, my wife and I just started S2, and while we both enjoy it, it feels almost like camp to me. I can think of several SOA drinking games. Take a drink every time Jax reads his dad's journal. Take a drink every time the doctor girlfriend wonders what she's doing with her life/where her life is going. Take a drink every time Juice says something along the lines of "I'll hack into the database." Take a drink every time Tig alludes to some past deviant sexual transgression (animal, corpse, child, etc.). Take a drink every time some one goes "If you blah blah blah ... I'll kill you." I mean, it's entertaining enough that I'll stick with it, but it seems to be a lot of wheels spinning in place, so to speak. Does it get better? I didn't read this thread so that I could remain spoiler-free.

the show definitely hits certain beats a bit too often, but i don't mind too much personally. S3 isn't as good as S2 but is probably less reliant on those tropes, if that makes any sense.

By S3, do they spring for a couple of more sets? S2 got the hospital chapel and the cigar shop, so that was a step in the right direction beyond the garage/club house, barbershop and police station.

Found s3 to be mostly a drag, which was disappointing since s2 was great...except for the ending. Man, this show is not as awesome as it should be.

xp yes, let's say they do spring for more sets in S3.

I totally agree Simon... sometimes I almost wish the actors weren't as appealing so I could just write off this show entirely, because they're carrying the show way more than the scripts and story arcs are.

I think if this show were actually a movie, and had been made in the '70s, it would be a full-on exploitation classic that people would be citing to this day. As is, it's pretty disappointingly uneven. I wonder if that's because, given its source material, they have to drag out the inevitable plot beats of the play?

Season 3 is worth watching, even if purely for the awesomeness of Katy Sagal. They really lay the melodrama on her character in S3, but she totally aces it w/o skipping a beat.

Sons of Anarchy is based on a play? huh?

Per the thread title, Sutter's always been open about Hamlet being the template for the show.

yeah but i dunno, calling it "source material" seems a bit extreme.

They did hint strongly since the pilot that Gemma and Clay were vaguely responsible for JT's death, and Jax is pretty much Hamlet (don't a bunch of people even refer to him as the SAMCRO prince throughout the series?), they're just kinda dragging this out forever until presumably the series comes to a close. Not to mention the whole Opie's wife bit in the first season...

yeah i dunno, i don't see how those deliberate parallels, and the idea that the series will have a similar ending to the play, equal them 'dragging it out' -- they have a broad arc and are filling it with lots of other stories and subplots that have nothing to do with Hamlet

well, to discuss the end of season 3...

The central concept of the show is Jax either trying to live up to what his father was trying to do with the club - make it legit, end the violence - or make the club succeed on its existing terms as gun runners and off-the-books Charming protectors. Now based on the first two seasons, we see him clearly going down that road, usurping power from Clay, plotting with Opie to take him own, trying to get the club to stop running guns... meanwhile his own family is falling apart, between the original mother of his kid and his relationship with Tara and his parents...

Season 3 was the ultimate wheel spinning since they more or less completely dropped this arc for the hunt for Jax's kid, and Tara opening the old letters from JT in the finale just felt like a really lame kind of bombshell reveal. I did love the twist that Jax decided after all that to just go along with Clay after all with the assassination and burn on the feds, but we all know he's eventually going to swing back over to the other side once he finds out about those letters and the probability that his mother and step-father killed his father... and he'll go crazy, destroy the club from within, etc. i.e. territory we already covered - A LOT - in seasons 1 and 2. There's something wrong when both seasons 2 and 3 end with everybody in the club loving each other again.

But who knows - I was surprised by season 3's resolution, so maybe they won't go that way after all.

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