Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Some initial thoughts on Turas

I didn't love last night's Sons of Anarchy. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm sick of having to wake up at 5:00 am on Wednesday mornings for work. Maybe I'm at this miserable time in the semester when I just need not be overwhelmed. Or maybe I've had enough of upping the ante with no character growth, no revelations, and no breaks of the dramatic tension.  Maybe I've had too much of seeing SAMCRO acting really off kilter and not being smart enough to out smart the bad guys.

There were several things that pushed my tolerance for suspending disbelief and going along for the ride last night: the ghost of John Teller, the continuing possible almost incest with Jax and Trinity that Gemma doesn't feel the need to stop, the looming asshole character of Father Ashby and the suggestion that he made a promise to John Teller to keep the family safe, and all of the Irish political bullshit that hasn't been explained enough by a long shot. And in the back of my mind, I keep hoping that Tara will actually make a decision about whether to keep or abort Pinky, rather than relying on Salazar's nefarious dealings with Jacob Hale to resolve the situation.

But with all of that being said, there were several things that I loved about this episode. For example: Gemma, Maureen, and Fiona in the kitchen with Jimmy and the girls, Happy asking Liam where he was going, Maragaret's tattoo, Tig and Kozick together with a dash of Piney, and Unser and Oswald joining forces saved it for me.

But maybe I'm just cranky. Maybe I should rewatch it tonight. Maybe I need some xanax, a coffee and a bagel. A more fleshed out recap will come in a day or two.

4 comments:

  1. I kind of agree. It's been hard to get into it, but I'm thinking (and hoping) that it's for some of the same reasons you said. I work full-time. I wake up at 4:30am (though I almost always decide to let myself snooze until 5 although it causes me to rush). It is just hard to watch SoA from 10-11 when you have to get up that early. Not only that but I have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tuesday is an afternoon class but I get home later than I would if I was just working the full day instead of 6 hours. I try to take care of things quickly so I can nap basically all evening before SoA. Then I wake up to take medicine at 8 and go back to bed til right before the show comes on. The veil of sleep at that point doesn't fully lift so I'm half awake while watching the show. Then at the same time I dread Wednesday, of course, because of waking up early again, but also because it's my longest day of the week because the class on those days is a night one. I don't get home til about 9:30pm and I pretty much go straight to bed. It's started to take a toll on me. I like need to take a nap almost everyday when I get home and then recover on the weekend, but if I do that, I don't get any homework done. It's just a real big pain in the ass. I didn't have this problem last fall with school and work and the show, but I didn't have to travel as far for the one class either.

    Because the naps seem to be making it harder to watch the show in a way, I didn't take one before 8. But I took one around 8:30 and set my alarm, but didn't realize my alarm was on silent. I had the tv on the right channel already, but woke up at 10:35. Lovely. So I watched, half-asleep, and not knowing what happened and decided I would re-watch it tomorrow when I'm back to a normal day. But then SoA came on again at 11, so I watched til I got to the part I had already seen. I was still very disconnected though. I probably will re-watch it sometime at the end of the week.

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  2. I watched it this morning. It's not my fave episode, but it was more than just "set-up" and I think it was kind of like the nudge to get it rolling down the hill for the action-packed final episodes. Sutter did say that this season was mostly about setting up for future seasons, and I think we'll see the final four seasons built upon the revelations of this season.

    I have to admit that I'm more intrigued about what's happening back in Charming than I am what's happening in Ireland. It was great that Tig and crew figured out that the Mayans weren't involved, more great that Oswald and Unser linked up, and totally awesome (if melodramatic) that Hospital Admin used to be a biker chick...and I haven't even touched on Tig/Kozik. I hope they don't kill each other this season. Any word if Kenny Johnson will become a series regular?

    I won't say I'll stop watching SOA if Jax and Trinity get it on, but I'll seriously consider not watching it...heck, towards the end of this episode, I paused it to check out spoilers if they actually had sex so I could avoid it.

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  3. I just spending my hour yelling at the TV "Just give the guy back his G-D baby!" I have a feeling that won't be settled till the season finale.

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  4. I'm with you on a lot of this but I just have so much faith in Kurt Sutter that I really think there's going to be a payoff in the end. It's odd that I'm not getting the squidgy feeling about Trinity and Jax that everyone else seems to be getting. Especially last night..I really agree with Moryan that it just seemed like two very tired, beaten down people bonding over an understanding of a hard life. And maybe there is an underlying attraction that isn't sexual but is there because they ARE brother and sister. I think it's easy for people to just leap to the "oh they are gonna get it on .. gross" thing because that's so utterly predictable.
    This season hasn't had me on the edge like last season did but I think Kurt is setting up for the long haul and while I'm not as excited as I'd like to be...I think it will play out just right.
    I do like the idea of Tara saving herself. And I'm not sure that tattoo was a biker tattoo. I think it said rock n roll and something about "my love". I'm wondering if it's a tribute tattoo (much like my griffin) for someone she lost that will be misinterpreted as a biker tattoo just because of it's sheer size. Tattoo does NOT automatically signify biker after all.
    My biggest annoyance is that not once has the group come out ahead and I just don't think they are that stupid or inept. Being out done some of the time I can bite off on, but getting creamed every time by every one..not so much.

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