Sons Of Anarchy – The Forgotten Gem Of Television
Warning – Mild violence – The review contains spoilers of the ‘Son’s Of Anarchy’ show up to season five – episode one
If you’re like me, a 20-year-old who missed the prime time of showtime television because you were too young to understand the appeal, then you are currently binging all of the shows that you missed when you were 10 or 12, and you are rushing to catch up on shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Supernatural (if you can swing the 15 gruelling seasons).
But why is the Sons of Anarchy not brought up with that list?
All you need to do is read this review about the season four finale (‘To be, Act’ part one and two) to understand why, to me, this is one of the most underrated shows in modern television that deserves more credit.
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First, let us briefly understand what has unfolded in this season for you to understand the boldness and the intricacy behind this finale.
Jackson Teller (Jax), our main star, is in line to take the presidency of the motorcycle club when Clay Morrow steps down from old age, but Jax doesn’t want the reins; instead, he wants out.
To save his marriage and family (two kids), Jax gets engaged to his girlfriend, Tara, and promises to exit the club. What Jax doesn’t know is that Tara had found letters at the end of the previous season, written by Jax’s deceased father (JT), that explain how JT knew Clay and Gemma, now married (Jax’s mother, JT’s ex-wife), conspired to kill him after JT voiced he wanted to get the club out of the gun trade and go ‘clean’.
To keep the secret hidden from the club, Clay orders a hit to kill Tara, but it fails. Just like Tara, Piney (a long time member of the club) knew about the letters and decides to confront Clay about them, but he was eventually killed by Clay to keep the secret buried. Opie (Piney’s only son) finds out Clay killed his father and proceeds to hold Clay at gunpoint. With Jax present (who still doesn’t know about the letters), Opie proceeds to shoot Clay three times in the chest.
Now we are very briefly caught up to the finale.
If you are after more information, since I left a lot out to not drag out the summary, I recommend heading over to the Son’s of Anarchy fandom website for more in-depth summaries of the episodes if you don’t plan on watching the show.
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The show does a really good job of sucking you into the situation and almost making you feel like you are a part of the club and its problems. I was genuinely uneasy about how this will affect the club and what will happen next. You have to give your hat off to Kurt Sutter and Chris Collins for their ability to create gripping fictional issues that feel like they’re yours.
One thing this show does exceptionally well is having all of these ongoing intertwining storylines, that can get extravagant and difficult to follow at times, and still having some of the best payouts when all is completely revealed.
Now in critical condition in hospital, the impending consequences of his actions throughout the season begin to unfold. Gemma goes to Tara to get the letters and later gives them to Jax to read but not before burning the ones that include her involvement in the murder of JT.
Now, after reading the letters and finally learning everything Clay has done to the club and his family, Jax only responds with one thing, and from the superb acting by Charlie Hunman, you believe the betrayal that the character feels.
“I have to kill him, Tara”
Throughout the season, Jax always entered a situation knowing the end goal is to leave the club, saying to himself one more shipment of guns and drugs and then I can leave. But after the bombshell that is these letters, you can see later into the finale in part two, the thought leaves his mind, and instead, he is faced with the difficult task of rebuilding his club.
The chills you get hearing Jax say he will kill Clay, the one who raised him, and knowing one of the main stars in the past 4 seasons might be gone, sets the tone going into the second part, and all bets are off.
I love the boldness to turn one of your most beloved stars into an internal villain. It shows Sutter and his team are not afraid of upsetting their fans to progress the story and make something unique. They wanted shock value, and they got it.
However, because Clay is a trusted businessman and is praised in the outlaw community, Jax can’t kill him because he is needed for the club’s deals with the drug cartel and the gun trades.
Instantly, you see Jax stripped of that presidential ego; instead, he has to earn it. If Jax had murdered Clay within the first day as president, then there would be no need for the next three seasons as Jax would be the prised prodigal son.
But keeping Clay alive allows for the character to build up this legacy in the following seasons where he can prove himself; the prime of this show is in the build-up of Jax’s story. You see the internal struggle Jax is facing through Hunmans acting, you see the pain in letting his father’s murderer live to keep the club afloat.
The season finale not only unravels all of the branching storylines and draws them to a conclusion, but it also sets up the next seasons so well with Jax now taking up the mantle.
Kurt Sutter and Chris Collins build this hate and momentum around Clay that his time is up, while also painting Jax as this angel (or as close to one as a motorcycle outlaw can be) who can bring the club away from drugs and guns.
I don’t know about you, but after this season finale, I was more excited for the next three seasons than I was for the first four seasons. When I first started watching this two-part finale, I was laying down on the couch, but by the time it was over, I was on the edge of my seat nearly falling off the couch.
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After all of that intricate and engaging finale, why isn’t the Son’s Of Anarchy on that list of must binge shows? It aired during the same time, and it pulled in the same amount of viewers, yet it isn’t talked about in the same conversation as those heavy hitters.
I’m not saying the show wasn’t popular during its airing time, I’m instead suggesting the question, “Why is the show not talked alongside say, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, as one of the best shows to go out and binge right now?”
The shows average viewers were in the multi-millions per episodes (with the show’s finale bringing in 9.4 million viewers), but since its final episode seven years ago, its legacy has disappeared.
Although this show won only two awards during its six-year stint, it has a star-studded cast and each and every actor can carry the scene when they are needed to. I cannot praise Charlie Hunman enough for his ability to grow with this character, he has become a favourite for me and deserved more than just one Emmy nomination in 2015 for his role as Jackson Teller. But as Hunman said best.
“Lest we forget, it doesn’t matter at all. I feel there’s this perception that we’re upset about this and I really don’t give a shit…. I make this for the people that watch the show and I really care for me about the work that I do and for my friends that watch it. People don’t appreciate it. You can’t win them all.”
That is why, to me, this is the hidden gem of television. I cannot recommend the show enough, the scenes carry as much weight as Breaking Bad, there is constant action like Game of Thrones and Supernatural to keep the viewer on board, and there is enough drama in between the action just like The Walking Dead.
Sons of Anarchy encompasses all of its rival binge-worthy shows key traits and delivers a seven-season show that never has a dull moment.
Sons of Anarchy season one to seven is currently streaming on Stan.
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