Sons Of Anarchy [FX (US) -Spoilers]

Like all the series premiers to date this years retread the well worn path of letting us get reacquainted with the gang, a whole lot of nothing that goes nowhere and then caps it all off with a grisly event which will shape the series to come. Unlike previous series this years big event didn't see the gang earn a new enemy but that's only because from where I'm sitting, they've got more than they can keep track of at this stage.

One thing that struck me this episode is that the juxtaposition of violence against a sweet soundtrack no longer carries any weight. We've seen it done too many times before and as soon as you hear the first sad note you know that murder is afoot. The irony of the combination is one that has been at heart of the show from the start, Jax is basically a decent enough guy whose faced with committing unspeakable acts but there's no longer that sense of loss we feel when watching him surrender a little more of his soul. The opening scene of Jax beating on a snitch is something that in the past we could forgive, after all if someone is threatening your family then you react but almost killing a snitch so as to get close to neo Nazis is something else. It seems that Jax has gotten a little too comfortable doing despicable things and has started to enjoy them. The death of the three innocent reverands is one of the episodes more upbeat scenes but it's also perhaps the darkest. Jax and the gang kill three innocent people and rather than feel guilt they instead smile and not one of the club seems to care. A couple of series back and the same scene would have played completely different.

The most telling moment in the episode is Jax telling everyone that he's no longer in trying to make the club legit. They're all he has left and he'll go down swinging to protect them. It's a nice way to kick off the end stretch and without all the moral hand wringing and whining the club may finally take that final step to the dark side and should see the series play out with more bodies dropping than remain upright.

At this point Jax is no longer in a position to redeem himself and there's a sense of finality to his actions. The only way he's getting out of this with any humanity left is to die to say another. Perhaps he'll kill Gemma to save his children as at this stage there's nothing Gemma can do to redeem herself. She's easily the most evil character in the show and I had hoped that this series would see her unravel a little but by the end credits she's everything neatly set out for herself. I think the problem is that rather than use the death of Tara to explore how Gemma operates it seems to be more a case of business as usual. I think that the shows biggest misstep has been the lack of developing Jax's kids as characters. They're the last innocents in the show but honestly, it's hard to card what happens them as to us they're little more than names and without whom the show would work just as well.

Unser and Juice is the most interesting aspect of the episode. Two deeply flawed individuals whom have repeatedly tried to do the right thing but it never works out for them. Juice should be dead by now but given how the show works it wouldn't be the least bit surprising to see him be the only member of SAMCRO who walks away at the end.

It's hard to care too much about the show, at this stage the only thing keeping me watching is the fact that it's promised to be the final series. Episode one was a decent start but much of it felt like the show going through the motions. The extended run time felt unnecessary and could easily have lost 15 minutes. Hopefully this won't be a series full of extended episodes as the show has never really earned them.

Special mention goes to the wheelchair scene which is one of the most ridiculous looking things I have ever seen. It's obvious that it's being played for laughs but it's hard to know if were laughing because it's funny or more to do with the atrocious CGI on display. It looked like something out of a mid 90s video-game.

I'm still not sure if the Wendy brings shopping to her home scene was just really poor writing or are they trying to have her step into Gemma's shoes.

I don't know how anyone can think that Gemma is more sympathetic. She sentenced an innocent man to a horrible death and then seems her son off with a kiss and an enjoy yourself smile.