Sons of Anarchy

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I thought there was a link for this already but I can't find it?
Anybody going to watch it?

FX series 'Sons of Anarchy' not for the squeamish

09:05 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 3, 2008
By DAVID KRONKE Los Angeles Daily News

Testosterone flows like whiskey in Sons of Anarchy.

FX's new dark drama focuses on the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original (SAMCRO for short), a rough collection of brutish louts who casually punch the hell out of people in bars and extravagantly blow up things to even scores. Under ordinary circumstances, the body count might pique law enforcement's attention beyond what is managed here.

And, for irony's sake, they live in (and menace, er, rule) a small California town called Charming.

Grizzled biker Clay Morrow (grizzled actor Ron Perlman) runs SAMCRO, having taken the reins from Jax Teller's (Charlie Hunnam) late father. Clay also helped himself to Jax's mom, Gemma (Katey Sagal), as well.

Jax is the show's narrative anomaly – a soulful tough guy capable of ruthlessly violent acts yet irresistible to the ladies drawn to his rugged leather jacket. Jax's ex (Drea de Matteo) almost overdoses while giving birth to their child just as he discovers a manuscript – How the Sons of Anarchy Lost Their Way –left behind by his dead dad, suggesting the biker gang wasn't always into peddling black-market wares and crushing anyone who crossed them.

Thus begins a Hamlet-style triangle in which the son seeks the truth and the mother and stepfather obfuscate his search and ensure he remains on the dark side, or, as Gemma calls it, "the down and down."

Ms. Sagal is the surprise here – better-known for her sitcom roles, she pours gallons of vinegar sweetened just a touch by maternal love into Gemma, who's every bit as coldblooded as any male member of SAMCRO. She's the most fearsome TV mom since The Sopranos' Livia messed with Tony's head. in Wednesday's episode, she does something shockingly and clinically cruel, the likes of which haven't been seen since Glenn Close's character in the legal thriller Damages had a dog killed to manipulate a witness. (Ms. Sagal is married to series creator Kurt Sutter.)

Meanwhile, in the two episodes made available for review, a brutal turf war is in the offing, while SAMCRO tries to keep a corrupt cop on the beat and on their good side.

More vaguely sympathetic characters include Opie Lerner (Ryan Hurst), who's trying to live a clean life after doing five years of prison time for his SAMCRO misadventures, and Tara (Maggie Siff, in a real departure from her imperious turn last season on Mad Men), Jax's high-school girlfriend, who abandoned Charming to escape the bad mojo but has returned as a dedicated physician.

But they're probably not going to alleviate the show's tone enough for many viewers. We all like our antiheroes, and we even like our villains, but they have to bring something to the table beyond an animalistic urge toward self-satiation.

Many of the characters here feel authentic, but none boasts the sinister charisma, the joie de mal or any other mitigating personality trait that might encourage viewers to feel implicit in their misdeeds.

Wednesday's concluding montage underscores Sons of Anarchy's tonal flailing: As an Elvis impersonator croons "Can't Help Falling in Love," we're treated to images of smoldering corpses, Jax's vulnerable infant and a character violently overdosing. It's a bizarre and unique juxtaposition of imagery, but few would mistake it for entertaining.

Sons of Anarchy

Wednesday at 9 on FX