There was no fucking need for an hour and a half episode here. The show is begining to cut it's self thin. It's like prison break too many fucking plots going on at the same time. -Abortion decisions. -How will Tig and the other guy deal with the Mayans now that everyone is in Belfast -War with the IRA -Getting Able back -Able getting adopted -Lying Priest -Incest -Quitting Prospects -Blonde guy trying to get into the club -Gemma dying -Old man not being able to ride his motor cycle -Hale's brother trying to rule the town -Will Unser get back into good graces with the club Seriously, how in the fuck can they have all this going on? In an hour and a half episode I expect at least 20 minutes of violence. Instead it was mainly showing that the Irish can be just as white trash as the California club.
The episode was also about 10 minutes shorter than it should have been. The average episode is 43 or 44 minutes, that one was 56. An actually hour and a half episode should have been 1:06 or so. This was a boring episode, saddled with bad story lines back in charming. They should have just done the Sons in Ireland, and left the other stuff out this episode, but I guess if they did that they'd be struggling to make the time for a normal episode.
The beginning footage had me pumped, the theme song with an Irish twist had me really fucking excited then the show was 100% meh. They cheated us by showing Jax and McGee fighting all week only to have it be a friendly fight. Speaking of which they both looked remarkable considering they were punched in the face by basically bare hands repeatedly. I couldn't help thinking why Jax just didn't stick his gun in the priests mouth and say "how about I get my kid now?" I'm guessing you don't do that to IRA shot callers. Also SOA should be ashamed by the massive amounts of commercials. I watched the show in real time for some stupid reason and found it impossible to really get into, why? Because of a commercial every six minuets. That and it was those awful Buger King commercials with chants that a six year old can write and the Net Flix commercial with the guy getting shot in the neck by a blow dart. If I see that commercial again I will take my own life. I love this show so I'm not sure if I'm upset because of a non-climactic 90 minuet episode or if they are starting to lose me in the story.
I know a lot of people aren't digging this season, but I'm one of the few who is. I find that I'm invested with the characters enough, and believe their motivations, that I'm not particularly missing the violence. The constant tension of whether Jax is going to bang his half-sister keeps me on the edge of my seat. The fact that SAMCRO have unwittingly found themselves in a shark-pit, with enemies on all three sides gives me hope that there will be episodes with extreme violence in the near future. The fact that we've gotten away from the Clay vs Jax struggle of the first two seasons is relieving. It'll come up again before the show is over (assuming it doesn't get cancelled at the end of this year), so there will be resolution, but for now I'm happy to see SAMCRO work as a unit against external problems. I'm interested just as much in the mythology of the series as I am in the present-day ass kicking. There's an iPhone app they just released that apparently goes into it a bit, but my first gen ipod touch doesn't have the testicles to run it. Bummer. Anyway, Ireland seems just as important to the Sons as Charming, so I'm interested to find out more about it. Sutter has blogged a couple times about how he knows he's going to lose a handful of the meatier meathead fans (my words, not his) with this season. Such is life as an artist with a specific story to tell.
It's more think about how that plays out. Jax sticks his gun in the Priests Mouth. The priest speaks in heavily accented vowel sounds around the barrel. Jax realizes that the kid clearly isn't in the church, and even if he manages to kill the priest, and all the priest's guys before they feed him his own dick, there's no possible way he'll get to his kid before one of the priest's people calls whoever actually has the kid and tells them to feed the kid through a wood chipper. In that situation, The only play for Jax that didn't end with the kid (and probably Jax) dead - was for him to take what the priest was giving him like a choir boy. I'm hoping that the revenge will be biblical - but at that moment - Jax had no options.
Am I the only one who feels the Irish baby kidnapping plot lines doesn't really make a lot of sense? I don't have a clue what the reason for half the crap happening on the show anymore is, and it seems like Able being kidnapped was just an easy way to get SAMCRO to Ireland. Maybe I am forgetting something or maybe it will be explained later but right now I find this current arc to be poorly scripted and somewhat confusing. Mind you, I did have the same feeling during the course of the Shield. Too many plot lines, that weren`t properly thought out and explained.
The lack of violence isnt what is pushing me away, it is the multiple conveluted plot lines. And nothing ever gets resolved. This season on the sons of anarchy in one paragraph: Spoiler The sons go to Ireland to try to get their son back, suprisingly not only does the IRA try to kill them three times an episode, so does their own motorcycle club. While there Jacks Commits incest with his half sister, however she is very religious and won't abort the baby (no matter how many extra fingers it has). While looking for Able (who has been given up for adoption) the Sons must come back to the States, or the rich guy will forfeit all of his land. Tara is in her own little pickle, as she wants to get an abortion but has been kidnapped by a Mexican driving Dwight K Schrute's Car. Only three sons remain in charming to get her back. They also must defend lumpys gym, and kill Hale. If the Sons can't get back to the states with Jimmy O Gemma will go to prison for the rest of her life. Meanwhile Hale is going to become the Mayor and try to drop a Nuclear bomb on the Sons. This and many more things not important to the story line, on the next season of SOA!
It's definitely way more convoluted than earlier seasons have been. I kind of liken it to the middle seasons of "Lost" when they started adding more and more characters and storylines to the detriment of the core cast that we'd come to love. (Except for Kate, who somehow managed NOT to get lost in the shuffle.) The Ireland storyline isn't terrible, but it is meandering. Honestly, I'm more interested in watching Tig and Kozik bitching at each other back in Charming...when they're not teaming up to fuck with the prospects, of course. Did anyone catch Tig using Miles as a human battering ram? "The Shield" had moments where the plot folded over itself a few times, but it usually worked out because a) that was just indicative of Vic's and Shane's normal half-cocked thinking anyway, and b) no matter how tricky the story got we were still dealing with the same managable cast of characters: Strike Team, Aceveda, Dutch and Claudette, etc... I think the problem with "Sons of Anarchy" this season is that previously engaging characters like Opie and Bobby Elvis are basically just standing around at this point while we're forced to deal with Irish ex-girlfriends and Agent Stahl. I wouldn't say this season is bad per se, but it's definitely less interesting than it should be.
It's not as bad as Lost because there is kind of a light at the end of the tunnel. Gemma had better tell Jax soon or he is going to bang his sister. Of course he might just pull a Joe-Dirt and pretend he didn't hear her. How about the tattoo on Tara's boss? I mean that is a gold medal winner for tramp stamps.
I thought that was great. They tied up the loose ends nicely that way. "Your dad always knew the patch was a mistake and so do you."
I had to back up 30 seconds to see Happy's face again during the torture/interrogation scene. Holy shit what a well done character he is. Good progress and this episode brought me back in 100%.
The end of this episode has brought it back to the thought provoking depths of the first two seasons. Bravo, Mr. Sutter. This is hands down right up there with The Shield in my eyes in regards to blurring the lines between black and white.
I think we have a new "David Caradine putting on his sunglasses" move, and it's the "Ron Pearlmen getting right in somebody's face wearing mirrored sunglasses" move. Pearlman owned the roof throwing scene. With an assist from Jax taking dowm O'Neil on the motorcycle getaway.
Wouldn't that be a "putting a rope around his neck" move. I think you mean Caruso. Best line was Jax. 2 more minutes and I'd have been stepping down in Tigg territory.
I watched that like 5 times. Fuckin flying leap. Awesome. I loved the look on Gemma and Mo's faces when they walked in on Jax and Trin. "Well, unless we want to have a three headed grandchild..."
Even better was the difference between how Trinny took the news (pure horror) and how Jax took the news (totally amused).
I see no reason why Jax didn't finish, they are only half brother and sister. He could just pull out.
Dude she's Irish Catholic. Pulling out would be a sin. Without question, my favorite show at the moment. Only show I actively hang out for the next episode.
Great episode in my opinion. Spoiler Can't Believe Tara just didn't waste Salazar too. Oh, I'm going to do some bullshit handoff. Fuck no. Make Salazar give up his gun and then you save the girl. He hesitates, shoot him in the face. Also, the hotel death scene was a little too much. Jax has sex in front of a corpse one season and rearranges them in another...dude obviously has some strange proclivities.
I was really pleased and really impressed with the writing and how they kept us interested in the hunt for Abel this long. However I'm tired of the cliffhanger format. This show has so much action and shit going on with it that it is simply not necessary. We know Tara will not be killed so why even do that? Everything happening with Stahl, Gemma and Jail it is kind of like a constant "soft" cliffhanger anyway. I hate to be redundant but Stahl is so hideously ugly I can not stand it anymore. What a perfect ugly name for her as well "June." I swore that the episode when Hale was eating her out I thought she was hot. I have a question for the board, I must have forgot at some point. How does Jax think his Dad was killed? Also we know Clay and Gemma alluded to have killed John Teller but we really have know definitive proof correct?