Sons of Anarchy

This article is about the television series. For the fictional motorcycle club depicted in the show, see Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club.

Sons of Anarchy
File:Soaintertitle.jpg Sons of Anarchy intertitle
Created by	Kurt Sutter
Starring	Charlie Hunnam Katey Sagal Mark Boone Junior Kim Coates Tommy Flanagan Ryan Hurst Johnny Lewis William Lucking Theo Rossi Maggie Siff Ron Perlman
Opening theme	"This Life" by Curtis Stigers, Bob Thiele Jr., and Dave Kushner
Country of origin	USA
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Kurt Sutter John Linson Art Linson James D. Parriott
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Original release
Network	FX
Release	September 3, 2008 – present

Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), a young member of the club who begins questioning the club and himself. Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008 on cable network FX. Its second season debuted on September 8, 2009.

The show's first season averaged 5.4 million viewers weekly making it the network's most successful show since Rescue Me.

Episodes

Main article: List of Sons of Anarchy episodes

Season	Episodes	Season Premiere	Season Finale	Ratings	DVD Release Date
Season One	13	September 3, 2008	November 26, 2008	5.83 million viewers	August 18, 2009
Season Two	13	September 8, 2009	December 1, 2009 (est.)

Story

Season one

The Sons of Anarchy is an outlaw motorcycle club with many charters in the United States. The Charming local is the original founding chapter of the Sons of Anarchy.

The Charming charter is based out of a clubhouse adjacent to the Teller-Morrow auto mechanic shop. Led by Clay Morrow, the club protects and controls Charming through close community relationships, bribery and violent intimidation. The full name of the motorcycle club is Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original; on occasion, the show will abbreviate it as SOA, though more frequently the club is referred to as SAMCRO (an acronym of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original ) or Sam Crow. This nickname is also reflected in the original title of the show, Forever Sam Crow.

The club's leathers also refer to "Men of Mayhem," Jax has worn a hat that says "Reaper Crew," and their logo is a grim reaper wielding an M-16 with a bloody scythe blade and holding a crystal ball with the anarchy "A". Another symbol of the club is the crow. (At least two female characters affiliated with the club have crow tattoos.) As for the motorcycles, the Sons mostly ride customized Harley-Davidson Dynas.

Club members have "day jobs" in local industries, most of them working at Clay's auto repair shop, but they primarily make money by illegally importing weapons and selling them to drug gangs in the East Bay, along with protection runs for local businesses by protecting valuable truck shipments from hijacking.

SAMCRO keeps meth traffickers out of Charming, which puts them at odds with the meth-distributing white supremacist "Nords" gang, the Nordics, headed by Ernest Darby. Unlike their rivals, the Sons are relatively diverse and inclusionist, openly rejecting the Nords' white supremacy. The SOA also have to deal with a rival Oakland-based MC, the "Mayans" led by Marcus Alvarez, who control the neighboring territory of northern Nevada. Other groups in SAMCRO's orbit include the San Francisco-based Chinese American mafia, the Italian American Cacuzza crime family, the True IRA of Ireland, which supplies them with illegal Russian-made guns, the One-Niners, an African American street gang (who also appeared on The Shield, thus putting the two in the same fictional universe) to whom SAMCRO sell weapons, and various affiliates in the state prison system, where many members of the club have been incarcerated at one time or another.

The club operates out of a clubhouse attached to the Teller-Morrow auto shop. The clubhouse includes a living area where Jax is currently camped out (since leaving his house to ex-wife Wendy following their divorce), a bar, a pool table and an elaborate conference table made of redwood that has a reaper logo carved into the top. The club also owns a secluded cabin in the woods and formerly had a warehouse outside of town where they assembled the illegal weapons. They start the series looking for a new warehouse space, and end the first season with most of their finances tied up in building a new one.

John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston co-founded SAMCRO in 1967 following their return from service as paratroopers during the Vietnam War. Six of the "Redwood Original 9" members were vets; Clay Morrow was the youngest of the original members. Following John's death in 1993, his widow Gemma later married Clay.

John and Gemma's surviving son Jax (another son, Tommy, died in childhood of the "family flaw", a congenital heart defect) is second in the club's line of succession after co-founder and sitting president Clay. Jax is recently divorced from Wendy, the mother of his son Abel, who is born 10 weeks premature as a result of his mother's Meth addiction. Jax is also connected to Tara, a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital. The two were high school sweethearts.

Season two

Production of the new season began on April 23, 2009; Season two premiered on Tuesday, September 8 at 10 p.m. WST. According to Kurt Sutter, "This season is all about internal alliances. For me, the big antagonist this season is just a catalyst to ignite the deep, primal conflicts within the club. Lives will be threatened, sides will be taken and SAMCRO will become the biggest threat to the SAMCRO."

The season opens with a new threat in the form of white separatists (in premiere episode they say they are not supremacists) descending upon the town of Charming. Led by businessman Ethan Zobelle and backed by Zobelle's enforcer, A.J. Weston, the two seek to drive the Sons of Anarchy from the town of Charming, on behalf of a group of wealthy would be developers(one of them Deputy Chief Hale's brother) looking to expand the town beyond the sort of "Small Town USA" status kept by SAMCRO, to an investment opportunity of strip malls and condos. The duo make their intentions known when they walk into the garage and tell Clay that he is done "selling to coloured". Zobelle then arranges for the kidnapping and gang-rape of Gemma Teller by Weston and five other men, as a warning to the group. We see later that it was Zobelle's own daughter who sets Gemma up when she pulls behind Gemma's car in her mini-van and pretends to be a mother in distress.

Elsewhere, Tara and Jax move towards rekindling their relationship even as Gemma tacitly gives Tara her blessing by telling the doctor to demand complete honesty from Jax in order to ensure that their relationship can survive Jax's dual loyalty towards Tara and the club.

While the club continues to divide themselves between Clay and Jax, they embark on a new gun running ride for money guised in the form of a blood drive. During transport an on-road accident causes Tig to go down. He is subsequently picked up by Bounty Hunters in front of the local hospital, and requires the impromptu might of Piney with the help of a tow truck to rescue him. While Clay wants to wait for nightfall, Jax, Chibs, Half Sack and Happy jump on the back of Pineys truck and go rescue Tig. This turns out to be the correct plan. Had they waited for night like Clay wanted, Tig would have been long out of state. While the bulk of SAMCRO is away Gemma is still trying to cope with the after effects of her rape. She discovers the lead attacker, Weston, and follows him in hopes of attempting of her own "personal retaliation." She can not take his life as he is talking to his young sons. Clay and Jax have a now familiar argument, but this time Jax's threats are met with resistance. In the past Clay has given Jax room to be angry because of the family ties and the fact that Clay made a terrible mistake and was sorry. Now however we see that Clay is not going to tolerate Jax insubordination any longer. He makes it clear that Jax can not continue to bring up Donna or the incident without dire consequences.

As Tara becomes more and more a part of Jax's life, Clay is dealing with Gemma's withdrawl from a normal sexual relationship due to her brutal assault. This is made more heartbreaking as he does not know the causes. Jax is far too preoccupied with his war on Clay to notice how badly his mother is hurting.

Chief Hale too is forced to assess his loyalty. Approached by his brother and Zobelle to become "friendly" with the league, Hale appears to be sinking into Zobelle's pocket both by choice and by extortion. After being let in on Gemma's secret by the Chief of police, he reassesses his loyalty.

Zobelle again threatens the club by having Otto assaulted in prison and possibly blinded for life. During a vote to issue immediate retaliation, the club officially chooses sides and the issue is deadlocked. Jax wants to wait and gather information. Partially because of his dads writing that he thinks that it is better to turn the other cheek. Jax says that he feels bad that Otto is now nearly blind, but that he won't get justice for him at the expense of the club. Clay thinks they need to retaliate or Zobelle will hurt more people. This time Clay is soon proven right. As the show closes, a "familiar mini-van" is towed into the garage yard. Chibs goes to start it, and barely exits the van prior to it exploding. The last scene is of Chibs lying on the ground unconscious with his head bleeding profusely in a cliffhanger.

Shakespeare influence

Creator Kurt Sutter and stars Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman and Charlie Hunnam at an event for the show in Los Angeles

The family drama is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet; indeed, star Ron Perlman has said, "I'm sure they’re going to stick to the structure of Hamlet all the way to the end" of the series. Clay is based on the role of King Claudius and Gemma as a Gertrude figure. Jax stands in for Prince Hamlet himself; and Tara Knowles as Ophelia. His reflective questioning of the SOA culture, brought on by the birth of his son, references Hamlet's melancholy over the death of the king. Additionally, Jax "communicates" with his dead father by way of his late father's unpublished journal/manuscript; Hamlet, of course, literally communicates with the ghost of his father. The drama and characterizations are also enhanced by drawing on Macbeth, another Shakespeare tragedy. Katey Sagal's Gertrude-like Gemma resembles Lady Macbeth because—while it is never entirely clear from Hamlet how complicit Queen Gertrude is in the murder of Hamlet's father—it is obvious that Gemma has willingly participated in the cover-up of the death and may even have encouraged Clay in his treachery. Creator Sutter has said of the Shakespeare element, "I don't want to overplay that but it's there. It was Jax's father who started the club, so he's the ghost in the action. You wonder what he would have made of the way it turned out. It's not a version of Hamlet but it's definitely influenced by it."

Music

Notable songs featured in the series include Bobby's Elvis covers, a cover of "Son of a Preacher Man" by star Katey Sagal, "Hard Row" by the Black Keys which is featured in the opening scene of the first episode, "Can't Get Used to Losing You" by Andy Williams, a cover of "Forever Young" by Audra Mae, an original called "Comin Home" by Murder by Death and the blues song "John the Revelator" by Stigers & The Forrest Rangers. The new trailer for the 2009 season features "Son's Gonna Rise," by Citizen Cope.

A five song EP featuring songs from the series was released on iTunes. It's called Sons of Anarchy: North Country - EP.

1. Curtis Stigers & the Forest Rangers, "This Life (Theme from Sons of Anarchy)" - 2:22
   
2. Anvil and Franky Perez, "Slip Kid" - 3:49
   
3. Curtis Stigers & the Forest Rangers, "John the Revelator" - 5:34
   
4. Audra Mae & the Forest Rangers, "Forever Young" - 3:13
   
5. Lions, "Girl from the North Country" - 4:11

Cast and characters

Main articles: List of characters from Sons of Anarchy and List of gangs from Sons of Anarchy

Sons of Anarchy is the story of the Teller-Morrow family of Charming, as well as the other members of the local Sons of Anarchy charter, their families, various Charming townspeople, and the various rivals and associates who undermine or support SAMCRO's legal and illegal enterprises. Sons of Anarchy follows the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle gang most closely, but also heavily features a number of ally and rival gangs such as the Mayans, 1-9ers, Nords, True IRA and a white separatist group called the League of American Nationalists (LOAN).

Regular characters in season one were (in order credited) Charlie Hunnam as Jax, Katey Sagal as Gemma, Mark Boone Jr. as Bobby Elvis, Kim Coates as Tig, Tommy Flanagan as Chibs, Johnny Lewis as Kip 'Half Sack' Epps, Maggie Siff as Tara and Ron Perlman as Clay.

Regular characters in season two are (in order credited, additions are in italics) Charlie Hunnam as Jax, Katey Sagal as Gemma, Mark Boone Jr. as Bobby Elvis, Kim Coates as Tig, Tommy Flanagan as Chibs, Ryan Hurst as Opie, Johnny Lewis as Kip 'Half Sack' Epps, William Lucking as Piney, Theo Rossi as Juice, Maggie Siff as Tara and Ron Perlman as Clay.

Major supporting or recurring characters include Drea de Matteo as Jax's ex-wife Wendy Case, Sprague Grayden as Opie's wife Donna Winston, Dendrie Taylor as Luann Delany, Kurt Sutter as incarcerated club member Big Otto, David LaBrava as Happy, Dayton Callie as Charming police chief Wayne Unser, Tayler Sheridan as Charming deputy police chief David Hale, Glenn Plummer as San Joaquin County sheriff Victor "Vic" Trammel, Ally Walker as ATF agent June Stahl, Jay Karnes as ATF agent Joshua Kohn, Adam Arkin as LOAN boss Ethan Zobelle, Henry Rollins as LOAN muscle A.J. Weston, Mitch Pileggi as Nords boss Ernest Darby, Emilio Rivera as Mayans boss Marcus Alvarez.

International broadcasters

Country	Channel	Premiere date
Australia	Showcase	April 2, 2009
Canada	Super Channel	October 20, 2008
Denmark	TV 2	February 2009
Finland	Sub	2010
France	M6	9 October 2009
Israel	HOT3	April 4, 2009
Norway	TV 2 Zebra	February 18, 2009
Switzerland	TSR 1	June 8, 2009
Thailand	True Series	January-February 2009
United Kingdom	Bravo	May 12, 2009
Italy	FX	May 7, 2009
Middle East	American Plus Orbit network	June 4, 2009
South Korea	XTM	July, 2009
Turkey	FX	August, 2009

External links

• Sons of Anarchy at FXNetworks.com
• Sons of Anarchy at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Sutter Ink Blog - official blog of show runner Kurt Sutter
• Metacritic.com: Sons of Anarchy