Alert! Alert!

Kurt Sutter has published a new blog post about the mythology associated with the family flaw, gun running, and the Belfast Chapter of Sons of Anarchy, also known as Sam Bell.  It offers in interesting look inside how SAMCRO got in the gun running business.


Here's an an excerpt:

Thomas' childhood was a series of tests, treatments and hospital stays.  Not only did it have an emotional toll on John and Gemma, it created a huge financial burden as well.  Up until that point, the Redwood Originals had been involved in some illegal enterprises, but not guns. 

Continue reading here.

What do you think?  What do you think it might mean for season 3?
  

Sons of Anarchy Season 3 - New updates

With the premiere of Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy a mere 119 (or 126 depending on how you estimate it) days away, great yet not completely satisfying because the wait is killing me little bits of news keep emerging.

First, we have some episode titles!  There has been no word on a title for 3.01.  My guess is that The Prince of Charming Loses His Shit After The Kid was Kidnapped might be a bit too on the nose for Sons of Anarchy.  However, we know that 3.02 is titled Oiled and 3.03 is titled Caregiver.  

Second, casting news!  The Master of Darkness, Stephen King will be making an appearance on Episode 3.03   as a "quiet loner" who helps Gemma in her time of need.  Apparently King is a fan of the show.  What exactly is Gemma's need? (Get your minds out of the gutters, ya dirty pervs!  You know Gemma has the Mojave vajayjay going on.)  I'm guessing it might have something to do with her gun-happy father, general shenanigans from being on the lam with Unser, or perhaps the emergence of the mythical bounty hunter plot point.    

In addition, James Cosmo, you know... Renton's dad from Trainspotting, has been cast to play Kellan Ashby. He is an Irish priest connected to the RIRA whose character arc will last for 8 episodes.  Just a little aside here, but fucking A with the background research on Irish politics and resistance groups because Sinn Fein, the Provisional IRA, and the Real IRA are so clearly distinct, unique groups (sarcasm added).  I mean, the LSH's parents are from Dublin so it's not like I'm completely ignorant when it comes to Irish independence concerns.  Anyways, I wonder if Kellan Ashby and Maureen O'Nolastnamereleasedyet know each other.  Me thinks yes.    

In other news, sons-of-anarchy.net has the first fan photo from the Season 3 set up.  Mosie on over there and check it out if you want to see whether Charlie Hunnam still has that freaking Jesus Cobain beard.

Don't forget to fire up your credit cards and pre-order your copy of Sons of Anarchy Season 2 on DVD and BluRay.  No release date yet, naturally.  In the meantime, check of the Girl of Mayhem podcast.  She does great character analyses and some pretty serious recaps.    

Sons of Anarchy 2.13 Na Triobloidi Recap

Before the recap begins, let’s have a moment of silence to mark the passing of Half-Sack Sack Half-Sack. …….  We’ll remember you for the MILF chubby Gemma gave you, your boxing prowess, your ability to remove a deer from a BMW with a chainsaw, and your fortitude for cleaning up a toilet defiled by Piney at the club house.  Now, who wants the job of informing Cherry of the news? {…. crickets…}

Half_Sac Pic Source Here 

On with the recap of Na Triobloidi!  In which, Kurt Sutter cuts out my heart with a rusty grapefruit spoon and I am smiling the entire time.  Watching Na Triobloidi is sort of like reading Crime and Punishment. OMG I’m such an ass kisser.  I just compared Sons of Anarchy to Crime and Punishment. WTF?  You know it is really, really good.  Brilliant, in fact.  But at the end you feel like the dog that got drug behind the car in National Lampoon’s Vacation.  Just without the whole being dead part.  And this is not to say that I am bitching and moaning.  Not. At. All.  I have a huge amount of respect for any show/book/movie  that can create amazing characters that you care deeply and then put them through these awful ordeals so we can see how they make it through.  To do anything less is cheating.  This is why I don’t watch CBS.      

Okay, before I digress any further…  The finale of Sons of Anarchy opens up with three rats eating away at a crow set to the tune of Burn This Town by Battleme you can get it here.  In my mind, the rats are the Principal Zobelle and affiliates, the ATF Bitch, and the Irish. The thing about all three of these rats eating away at SAMCRO is that they are all interrelated.  They aren’t isolated to one particular thing.  Zobelle was in bed with the Feds and the Irish.  The ATF was in bed with the Irish trying to get Zobelle.  They all picked over SAMCRO’s carcass while the boys were fighting amongst themselves about whether Clay or Jax had the bigger dick.  By my scorecard that leaves us with:  The World 1, SAMCRO 0.    

Rat Photo from @high_score 

Was anyone actually surprised that Zobelle was in cahoots with the FBI?  He has been walking around like his shit doesn’t stink all season long.  He had the trump card in his pocket the entire time but it proved ineffective by the way SAMCRO swiftly removed his layers of insulation.  And OMFG what an amazing sequence of the Sons going to war, Unser’s truck opening up with Piney yelling Ye-Haw! and then opening fire.  It was brazen and satisfying.  However, Zobelle still slipped away.  That’s okay, Budapest can have him.  It will give him a nice place to adapt and adjust.  Really, Budapest is incredibly nice even though Zobelle really deserves a cave in Kandahar.  Zobelle’s escape is Darwin’s theory of evolution at work.  The strong survive.  The weak are shot to death on the shitter in a tattoo parlor.  You know, like Westin was.  A quick question:  who, when about to disappear gets their kid out of child services to go get some more ink?  Like, has Westin ever heard of getting an ice cream cone?  Jax does the deed.  Happy is proud (which gives me the creepers) and Jax seems less than satisfied.  Maybe he built it up in his head too much?  Maybe doing bad things doesn’t feel so good?

ATF Bitch.  (Sigh)  This is the second time this season where someone has been given the chance to off her and hasn’t.  Let’s face it.  She is a bad cop but a smart bitch.  Hale, who got all righteous about saying that he is a cop who is actually bound by the law but he also turned Zobelle out so I don’t think he’s going to qualify for law enforcement sainthood anytime soon.   Anywhoo…  ATF Bitch sets up Eddie the Weasel and then kills him when he tries to run away.  When Gemma offs Polly, motivated because God put the girl in her path to kill (um, paging megalomania and delusions of grandeur) ATF Bitch puts both killings on Gemma.  Once again we see ATF Bitch acting the way a president of an MC would.  I don’t really think we can consider the ATF as anything but another gang—unless Stahl is replaced.  So you’ve had two murders pinned on your, WWGD?  Go on the lam with Unser, of course.  I kinda like the thought of Gemma and Unser on the run in a police cruiser.  Warm and fuzzy, yes.  Inconspicuous, not exactly.

 Finally, the Irish.  Cameron Hayes mistakenly thinks that Gemma has killed Eddie the Weasel (oh yeah, we have you to thank for that too Stahl).  In a gut-wrenching sequence, he kills Half-Sack, terrifies Tara, and makes off with Able.  A son for a son.  Good lord.  I get why he was crying—holding that baby boy probably made him think of his own son as an infant and all that has been lost.  People do crazy shit when they are grief-stricken and can blame someone.  You know, like kidnapping a baby.  Jax’s baby.   Yeah, that’s gonna end well for Cameron.  Season 3, here we come!  You know in like 9 months. 

Loose Ends

• Luanne’s murder hasn’t been dealt with yet and Georgie Caruso is at large prowling the red light district in Bangkok for talent
• Whatever happened to those outstanding gun charges from the raid on the dinner of the faithful?
• Um.  So what the fuck happened to Darby
• Tara tried to talk Gemma out of killing Polly.  Pot, Kettle, meet Black. 
• Opie seems to have traded up for a bandana. 
• SAMCRO is all about family.  Too bad their antagonists aren’t. 
• My only minor complaint:  there was no humor in this episode.  It was all heavy.  It needed just one little scene with Juice.  Just one. 
• Oh, and last but not least Otto got his revenge.  But man, he is never, ever going to sit at the table in Church again.   Maybe at his wake.  

Sons of Anarchy 2.01 Albification Recap

Season two kicks off with a roll call montage of our favorite Danish royalty and their courtiers:  Jax, Clay, Tig, Juice, Chibs, and Half-Sack are at the firing range; Opie’s heading back from a solo ride; Tara’s performing baby surgery; Bobby Elivs is about to get out of jail; Piney is dropping off Opie’s kids at school in a big fat Caddie; Gemma and Able are coming in for a check up; Chief Unser is praying. 

SAMCRO is between a rock and hard place in the gun trade.  The IRA gun rep wants the MC to run guns up the coast.  Um, yeah, this is a problem because this isn’t what SAMCRO does.  But they don’t want to lose their gun connection and the IRA needs money for the cause.  Jax proves a good little negotiator coming up with a short-term fix.  Long-term problems linger – who are they going to deal to?   Clay calls a vote, they all agree and now the SOA are now gunrunners for the cash and Russian stock.  This won’t be fraught with problems down later in the season, I’m sure of it! 

Jax goes to collect Opie, greets disappointed, fat Mary.  SadAngry Opie has an old bike to rebuild so he’ll stay warm at night.  Opie hasn’t seen his kids yet and Jax urges him to do so before they head off to Castle Elsinore.  Horatio Opie says mind your own business, mmmmkay?  At Teller-Morrow, Clay proclaims how everyone loved Donna but we need revenge for Opie’s sake just not revenge for the actual person who pulled the trigger, yes I’m talking about you Tig and Clay.  So rather than address the long-term gun running conundrum, Clay leads SAMCRO into an undeserved revenge scheme on a Mayan.  After church breaks up Jax raises the Donna issue and taunts Clay, with a ‘what are you going to do, pop a cap in me, the Prince of Charming? ‘

Meanwhile at the Charming coffee shop, Deputy Chief Boy Scout Hale meets with his brother, someone who looks like my high school principal, and Henry Rollins.  Brother Hale wants to acquire land for residential development.  HOSHIT, and he wants help from Ethan “the HS Principal” Zobelle who also happens to be the head honcho in the white separatist movement.  Apparently this is different from supremacists but hey, you call it a tom-hay-to and I call it a tom-ahh-to. I can’t see a fucking difference.  Principal Zobelle and his muscle Hank want support from law enforcement to squash SAMCRO.  Deputy Chief Boy Scout is rightly skeeved out, wants nothing to do with it and leaves.  Also at some point in the episode, Henry Rollins talks to Darby about cooking meth in Charming and gives him a little talk about how he hasn’t earned his swastika tattoos and should keep things buttoned up – Darby doesn’t appreciate this bit of foreshadowing.     

(Yes, I realize that this is long but it is the season premier.  There are new characters and new loose ends.  Stick with me)

So Opie, Tig, Chibs, and Jax head out to get their revenge by killing a Mayan that Opie is led to believe is responsible for Donna’s murder.  They track the guy down; an ever-resourceful Tig shoots the guy in the mouth so he’ll stop talking/denying.  Opie wants to go old school medieval on the Mayan’s ass so that he has no doubt but seems okay with just shooting the guy in the head.  Jax disposes of the body by emptying his clip into the poor SOB’s abdomen to cover up the giant A Opie carved post-mortem and duping the body in Mayan territory with nine fingers showing.  Thus, assigning blame to the One-Niners.  Brilliant plan, handsome. 

While all of this is going on Queen Gerturde Gemma takes little Able, or as Jax affectionately refers to his son, the kid, to the hospital to see Dr. Tara for a check up.  The kid is healthy.  Gemma gives Tara shit about sleeping over.   And, I didn’t know this but apparently babies have sleep apnea?  I thought that only happened to middle aged suburban men.  Hmm.  Guess you learn something new every day.  So Gemma sparks a j with Chief Unser outside the hospital with the kid in tow.  The Chief imbibes because his cancer is contained to his bladder and you know, it’s totes ok.

Back at the garage, Bobby is released and is enjoying himself thoroughly (I’ll let you fill in the visuals on that one).  Clay gives the requisite misogynistic stripper pole taunt to Psycho ATF Bitch who returns the quip because really, she is just as much of a misogynist.  SAMCRO knows how to throw a party – except for petulant Jax who doesn’t return the toast to Clay.   Piney tells Opie to man up and that is the end of that.   Principal Zobelle shows up to piss all over Clay’s boots, drop off since fine stogies, and heads back to his white separatist McMansion somewhere in the burbs. 

Jax heads home to greet Ophelia Tara.  She gives him the total disclosure talk, ruining a perfectly good nekkid shower scene.  Jax tells her (part of) the truth.  They spoon.  Love the man, learn to love the club, darlin’

Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile Gemma gets kidnapped by a woman with very pert blond hair who says her kid is choking on a bottle cap.  A bottle cap?  Anyways.  Gemma wakes up handcuffed to a chain link fence in some dirty industrial building whereupon she gets beaten and gang raped by the white separatists.   (One of which has an upside down peace symbol tattooed at the base of his neck.  See, I told you there would be tattoo foreshadowing).  The scene was horrific.  Katey Sagal deserves an Emmy for this.  I can’t write any more about it because it was just that awful 

WTF Moment:  When Gemma gives Tara big wet kiss on the lips. Like she does Jax.  And Clay. 

Action Moment:  The chase scene when the SOA track dow the Mayan.  Really, it was the only action scene in the whole episode

Get Over Yourself Moment:  Half-Sack interrupting Clay and Gemma. Doing the deed.  Gemma says “Get out or join in, sparky.”  Oh, only in Half-Sacks one-balled wet dreams.  He totally has to get over his MILF obsession with Gemma.