F/X’s “Sons of Anarchy” is a grit-fueled, in your face wedge of backwater California underbelly. Let me paint you a picture: stagnant San Joaquin Valley town called Charming, ruled by stony, grizzled men in leather cuts emblazoned with an insignia of the grim reaper holding an M-16, men who call themselves “Harley enthusiasts.” The self-title is immediately recognizable as a kind of ironic euphemism for murderers, gun smugglers, sexual deviants, and criminal entrepreneurs. They are the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club: Redwood Original, but their friends call them SAMCRO. It’s pretty extraordinary television.
Showrunner and key writer Kurt Sutter (“The Shield”) keeps the timeline tight, consecutive episodes often depict the same day. The effect is one of immediacy: everything is happening now, life’s bearing down hard and fast, what are you going to do? This is the central question of “Sons of Anarchy,” and it’s compelling in its pragmatism.
Grainy cinematography emphasizes browns and yellows and lined faces, making it very clear that it’s not so fly for a white guy. These are men who can only be preoccupied with the what and how, nuance doesn’t exist, it’s only action and reaction. You can be angry or you can be determined, the emotional spectrum is dead after that, or maybe you’re already laid out in a ditch somewhere off Highway 101.
Uncharted bike club premise aside (oh, the places we go), the remarkable thing about “Sons of Anarchy” is the character work. Credit goes two places.
The writing itself is lean and direct, creating a sense of undiluted authenticity on which the drama of plot and character can be anchored.
Charlie Hunnam plays “Sons” vice-president, Jackson Teller, as a man-child reining in his careening abandon with a growing sense of Libertarian morality. Nobody can tell him what to do—nobody, anywhere—but even in a life of relentless individualism, there has to be some kind of moral governance. There has to be a human soul. Teller stands on a shaky leg of principle. It’s fascinating to watch him ravel and unravel.
One of the best female characters to come around TVland in a long while is Gemma Teller (Katey Sagal). Sagal’s performance is pitch-perfect. She’s a mother, wife, grandmother, and queen of SAMCRO. With Gemma Teller, family drama gets downright Shakespearian. She’s disturbingly manipulative, fiercely loyal, strong, and just so resolutely real. At her core, this character is desperate to survive; it’s the visceral energy Sagal brings to Gemma Teller that’s so brilliant.
Come for the machines and crime, stay for the people. Think Americana hybrid of “Boondock Saints” and “Green Street Hooligans.” Seasons 1 and 2 available on DVD or anywhere bandannas are sold. Let freedom ride.
