Pilot (Sons of Anarchy)

"Pilot"
Sons of Anarchy episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Alan Coulter Michael Dinner
Written by	Kurt Sutter
Featured music	"Can't Help Falling in Love" (by Elvis Presley)
Original air date	September 3, 2008 (2008-09-03)
Running time	56 minutes
Guest appearances
Drea de Matteo as Wendy Case Ryan Hurst as Opie Winston Theo Rossi as Juice Ortiz David Labrava as Happy Lowman William Lucking as Piney Winston Sprague Grayden as Donna Winston Dendrie Taylor as Luann Delaney Mitch Pileggi as Ernest Darby Glenn Plummer as Vic Trammel Emilio Rivera as Marcus Alvarez Tory Kittles as Laroy

"Pilot" is the pilot episode and series premiere of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. It was written by series creator Kurt Sutter, and directed by Alan Coulter and Michael Dinner. It originally aired in the United States on September 3, 2008, and garnered 2.5 million viewers.

Plot

One night in the town of Charming, California, a Mexican-American motorcycle gang called the Mayans break into a warehouse to steal from a shipment of automatic weapons. Unaware that two women are hiding beneath the building, Mayans leader Marcus Alvarez orders the warehouse destroyed. As he's visiting a nearby convenience store, Jax Teller, the vice-president of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club - Redwood Original (SAMCRO), witnesses the resulting explosion.

The next morning, at the site of the explosion, Sheriff Vic Trammel – who is on SAMCRO's payroll – tells club president Clay Morrow that the warehouse was destroyed by arson, showing him the bodies of the two women. Clay instructs Trammel to set up a meeting with the One-Niners, an East Bay street gang who buy weapons from SAMCRO. One-Niners leader Laroy Wayne, who needs SAMCRO's guns to cover for an incoming shipment of heroin, gives Clay more time to replace the lost weapons.

Meanwhile, Jax has moved into a spare room at SAMCRO's clubhouse after splitting up with his pregnant wife Wendy Case, who is addicted to methamphetamine. Looking through old belongings in his parents' garage, Jax finds old photographs of his late father John, the founder of SAMCRO, as well as a journal written for Jax detailing the history of the club. Jax is called away to a club meeting where SAMCRO's intelligence officer Juice Ortiz has traced the stolen guns to the Mayans in San Leandro. Clay wants to steal back the guns and torch the place where they were found.

Jax's mother, Gemma Teller Morrow, finds Wendy unconscious, necessitating her being hospitalized and her baby being delivered ten weeks premature via Caesarean section. She takes her to the hospital and calls Jax, who then also shows up at the hospital. Dr. Tara Knowles, Jax's high school sweetheart, tells him that the baby has a heart defect which, combined with Wendy's drug abuse, gives him just a 20% chance of survival. Jax flees the hospital without seeing his newborn son and beats Wendy's dealer. He later asks his best friend and lapsed club member Opie Winston to come along on the approaching raid on the Mayans' warehouse. Opie, an explosives expert, only reluctantly agrees as he was recently released from a five-year prison sentence after being caught during a similar raid.

Jax suggests that SAMCRO look into other ways of earning money besides gun running, but Clay prioritizes retrieving their stolen weapons. Later, Clay tells Jax that he can't be "getting cold feet" about the club, telling him that he and John sacrificed a lot to build SAMCRO. At the hospital, Wendy asks Jax to get rid of the drug stash at their home before she is jailed. He finds Gemma cleaning the house. Gemma admonishes Jax for abandoning the baby, telling him about the strength of the Teller men. Jax tells Gemma about John's journal, in which his father stated that SAMCRO has strayed away from his original vision of social rebellion. That night, Gemma tells Clay to stop Jax's new found mode of thinking, not wanting "the ghost of John Teller" to tear down everything they've built together.

The next day, the club members discuss the recent parole of Ernest Darby who leads the Nordics, a White supremacist gang of meth dealers. Clay, Jax and Bobby later meet up with Darby at a diner, and warn him to keep his drug dealing out of Charming.

At the hospital, Tara recommends that Abel's heart surgery happen today, and asks to privately talk to Gemma. She asks her to talk to Wendy and let her know that she has somebody, but Gemma says she would only give her vitriol. Tara asks if she has a problem with her being involved with the case, to which Gemma replies that as long as she's a good doctor, she couldn't care less. The two argue, with Tara claiming she's a different person to how she was 10 years ago. Gemma lifts up the back of her shirt, briefly exposing a biker tattoo. Tara claims that she has kept it to remind her that her past is behind her. Gemma exits, calling her a bitch as she leaves.

That night, Jax goes to Opie's house to bring him along on the raid and finds that his wife Donna is angered because Opie is again involved with the club. Jax tells Opie to stay with his family, and makes an excuse to Clay that one of his children had an accident that needed his attention.

Meanwhile, when Bobby arrives in Tahoe with Half-Sack, he is informed by the owner of the club where he is performing that there has been a double booking and that he will have to make a booking for another time. The other act that night is also an Elvis impersonator but is Asian and there are a number of Korean tourists going to see him, which means that he is favoured over Bobby. Half-Sack goes to the Asian's dressing room and beats him up so that he can't perform and Bobby can.

In San Leandro, Clay, Jax, Tig and Chibs Telford have ridden into town and they soon find the Mayans' stash of guns and heroin. However, after they break into the warehouse, a group of guards show up and Clay and Chibs shoot and kill the first few (wearing Mayans vests), leaving one that Clay forces Jax to kill. This man is White and has a Swastika tattoo, implying that he is a Nord (and that the Mayans and Nords now have an alliance). Jax is hesitant to kill the man, implying that he truly is getting cold feet about the club, and Clay eventually does it when the Nord reaches for a gun. The group then use explosives to blow up the stash, and the corpses in the process, before riding back to Charming with the guns.

Tara performs a successful surgery on Abel and Gemma visits Wendy, ridiculing her and telling her that the District Attorney is dropping any charges against her. Wendy says that she will get clean, now that she has her baby. Gemma threatens her, saying that if she tries to get custody of the child, she will kill her. Gemma then gives back the Bible Wendy was reading, now containing a needle, hinting that Gemma will discreetly allow Wendy to commit suicide via overdose. Jax also returns to the hospital, and reunites and embraces with Tara. She notices the blood on his clothes, and tells him to clean himself up. Wendy has an overdose in her hospital bed, as the doctors desperately try to save her. Jax finally visits his son.

Production

Originally, Scott Glenn was cast in the role of Clay Morrow and an entire pilot episode was filmed with him. However, series creator Kurt Sutter decided to go in a different direction with the character and re-cast Ron Perlman in the role, and Clay's scenes were re-shot.Additionally, Emilio Rivera was originally cast as a Sons of Anarchy club member named "Hawk," who eventually evolved into the character of Tig Trager.Also, the One-Niners street gang who buy weapons from SAMCRO first appeared in The Shield, which Sutter produced.

Reception

IGN gave the pilot episode of Sons of Anarchy a 7.2/10.0 rating, stating, "At first blush, Sons of Anarchy is not nearly as assured or gripping as The Shield. Charlie Hunnam is excellent as Jackson, and Perlman and Sagal are great as usual. The show looks good, the dialogue occasionally crackles and the story has rich possibilities. However, the show rides very close to being self-parody. While Jackson might be having second thoughts about the Sons lifestyle – the show itself is certainly in love with the bikes, the guns, and the brutality. This isn't good enough to recommend without reservation – but if you need to get your manliness on- this might be just the thing."

External links

• "Pilot" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode