SAMCRO or “Sam Crow” (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Originals) are a Californian criminal gang led by Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman). Clay’s stepson Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam) begins to have doubts about his involvement in the club due to the premature birth of his son, as well as Clay’s increasing lack of respect for the law. The series follows Jax’s conflicts with Clay and with his mother (and Clay’s wife) Gemma (Katey Sagal), as well as SAMCRO’s conflicts with rival gangs.
There’s a reason that FX’s Sons of Anarchy hasn’t achieved the same level of recognition as HBO’s recent masterworks. Perhaps it’s unfair (not to mention predictable) to stack up every new American TV drama that comes along next to The Wire to see how it compares since that was a universally recognised show of unprecedented quality and consistency but Sons of Anarchy does seem to be aiming for a similar market. And it just isn’t good enough.
Without any heart, Sons of Anarchy amounts to little but a cold depiction of the machinations of gang life. We’re subjected to endless discussions of “territory” and so forth. Of course, The Wire did that too, but it was compelling because it was so well-scripted, convincing, and often bleakly funny. The attempts at Wire-style insider slang here are half-assed and humourless. It’s all pretty thuggish and tedious: rather than critiquing aggressive, macho posturing, this show seems to revel in it.
When Sons of Anarchy gives us its token ‘soft side’, none of the emotion rings true, thanks to conventional scripting and phoned-in performances. In the very first episode, there’s a chance that Jax’s newborn baby may die; but Jax rarely seems interested, and besides, because we’ve only just been introduced to him, we have little emotional investment in his plight this early in the series. Still, you’d expect your engagement with the characters to build as the series progresses especially since the show consists of one long story rather than self-contained episodes but there is no sense of any cumulative emotional punch.
A fundamental problem with the show is its subject matter. We’re supposed to care about a generally unlikable underworld gang of gnarly bikers possibly the most ridiculous kind of criminals. It’s hard to take anyone seriously when they’re walking around with leather jackets saying ‘Sons of Anarchy’ on the back, especially when they’re as unthreatening as these guys. Miscasting compounds the problem: Ron Hellboy Perlman gives a ludicrously unbelievable performance as street-tough leader Clay, and, worse, wet Charlie Hunnam bears a striking resemblance to Take That’s Mark Owen.
The sole redeeming feature of Sons of Anarchy for me was hearing the Neil Young-esque strummings of Sun Kil Moon on the soundtrack of one episode: a bright spot amidst the deluge of stale, ‘badass’ MOR country rock. But I could have just put on a CD and not had to watch Jax moping around in his garage.
If you’re already a fan of the show and are buying the set for its special features, you’ll be adequately provided for, with easy-going commentaries on some (but not all) episodes from the show’s creator, Kurt Sutter, and the cast. There are also various featurettes. The ‘Making-of’ featurette is well put-together and in fact I found it more entertaining than the episodes themselves, if only for the producer’s outrageous claims about the show’s merit: not only does he mention it in the same breath as The Sopranos, but he actually enthuses that “some people compare it to Hamlet, some people compare it to Macbeth; it’s a great family drama”. Sorry mate, but Sons of Anarchy is hardly Shakespeare.
Overall Verdict: Sons of Anarchy offers no insights into human relationships; it lacks compelling storylines, distinctive characters and class acting. That doesn’t leave many reasons to spend 585 minutes of your life watching it.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary on Selected Episodes
The Making of Sons of Anarchy, Season 1 – Featurette
Additional Featurettes: Casting Sons of Anarchy, The Ink, The Bikes
Deleted Scenes
Anarchy on the Set (Gag Reel)
Reviewer: Tom René