Is Sons of Anarchy an underrated masterpiece?
To some this’ll be a divisive question and possibly one not even worthy of debate, yet ‘Sons of Anarchy’ has proven to be a lot of things to a lot of people over its six-year life.
***Warning: Season 1-7 spoilers ahead***
Personally, I’d class myself as a fan. Having binged seasons 1-5 of ‘‘SoA’ within a matter of weeks back in 2014 - mainly because I was after a new series to embroil myself into, but also because it was available on Netflix and had heard mostly good things. Having then had to wait for seasons six and seven was excruciating to see what happened next in the well-made, intense show that was somewhat hit-and-miss at times.
In short, its seven seasons were solid enough, with some noticeable ups and downs and a number of massive twists and plot developments that always kept me attached.
Its debut season, for me at least, took a while to settle into. At first it’s hard not to see it as just another badass wannabe show, but once we start to witness the depths of the characters - notably Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller, Ron Perlman’s Clay Morrow, and Katy Sagal’s Gemma Teller Morrow - is when it’s hard not to become utterly hooked.
Season two builds well, but the third, which a bulk of it is set in Ireland (even complete with an additional Irish twang to its intro music), almost lost me. It was slow, largely uneventful and not of a satisfactory pacing that you’d expect from a drama that’s purpose is to engage and thrill - it all felt rather stagnated until its final few episodes where it exploded into action.
Seasons four, five, and six develop nicely, with each raising the stakes more and more as it progresses. However, when Clay finally meets his maker at the end of season six, the show definitely loses a vital element of its intense dynamic. Yes, it was a long time coming and something of an inevitability but losing the character was a massive blow. In fact, it actually left me feeling a little empty, regardless of how much of an evil person the guy was; he was one of the key components woven into the lives of SAMCRO and the colourful history of everyone involved.
Fortunately we were able to move on from this, with season seven presenting us with more dilemmas and indeed new characters (including the marvellous CCH Pounder) that continued to enrich the show after losing massive players like Clay and Opie. Season seven quite rightly has a sense of finality to it, especially with how poignantly the ending plays out. For all the over-the-top scenarios and general sense that Jax and co. decided to simply start killing anyone that stood int heir way, the show did threaten to spiral out of control. Yet this seemed a fair reflection of how tormented and volatile Jax’s life had become. His self-sacrifice at the end it harrowingly mirroring his own father’s death is both deeply sad and rather poetic.
in many ways Sons’ is fantastic television - it has massively tense storylines and huge moments and twists comparable to the likes of ‘The Shield’ and ‘Lost’, albeit it in different contexts. Yet memorable characters are not enough to make a television show truly great. Clay Morrow and Jax Teller are without question well-written and along with most of its seasons go hand-in-hand with a compelling, well-written narrative.
To many, ‘Sons of Anarchy’ is without doubt a great series. Filled with drama, superb character development, and incident. To me it’s certainly up there as one of the better shows I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Are you a ‘Sons of Anarchy’ fan? Where do you rank it in the list of TV’s greatest shows?
Mike P Williams is a freelance TV, film and entertainment writer, with an obsession for all things Game of Thrones, Jurassic Park and Pixar. Over the years he’s written for the likes of MTV, Total Film, BuzzFeed, and Yahoo Movies UK.
Picture credit: Linson Entertainment
