Sons of Anarchy: Season 1

As always seems to be the case for me, I'm about two years late to jump on the bandwagon of a critically acclaimed cable drama. Sons of Anarchy has now aired three seasons on FX, and after this first one impressed me as much as it did, I think I'll absolutely make it a point to catch up on the other two in time for Season 4's debut next fall. It feels like lately I've struggled somewhat when it comes to Back-Blogged posts, unsure of whether my intention is to summarize, pontificate, or give some kind of sales pitch. But here, I think I can do all three without rambling too much. First of all, I liked this season a lot, but I liked it more and more as I watched it more and more. That's both common and a good thing. The more immersed I was in the world of motorcycle outlaws, the deeper and more meaningful their turmoils became for me, and the more I saw of each character, the more I could relate and empathize with each. The show is set in the fictional California town of Charming and centers around the "Sons of Anarchy," a motorcycle gang specializing in the trafficking of illegal arms. The main character is Jax, a kid in his late twenties, whose father was the original president of the club. Said father has died, and Jax's uncle, Clay, has stepped right into his older borther's role as both club president and Jax's father figure, even going so far as to marry Jax's widowed mother! Now, I may not have been an English major, but even I could catch the Shakespearean vibes right off the bat. So at first I was pretty concerned about how low the ceiling could be for Hamlet with motorcycles. But luckily, the show has been a whole lot more than Hamlet with motorcycles, and I think that's largely due to the great writing and talented ensemble cast. You can often watch a show or movie and recognize an actor from a show or movie you've seen before, but still have no idea who the actor himself is. As in, "Hey, that's (character X) from (movie or TV show Y)! What's his name again?" That happened to me eight or nine times with Sons of Anarchy. Aside from the very recognizable Katey Sagal, there were Rachel from Mad Men, Lloyd from Undeclared, Charlie Utter from Deadwood, Gary Bertier from Remember the Titans, Chili from The OC, Morrison from Braveheart, and some other actors I recognized from shows like House and Prison Break. It's an absolutely stellar array of no-name acting talent and it goes a long way in making this show one of the better dramas I've seen in recent memory. I'm eager and ready for Season 2 to drop down in price enough to justify a purchase. But I'm also in no rush, knowing that Season 3 probably won't be available until August or September. In the mean time, there's a little series called The Wire that I owe it to myself to continue watching.