3 out of 5

Creator: Kurt Sutter

Covers up through season 5. 

Sons of Anarchy wants to be many things.  Though it has its continual undercurrent of grit and brotherhood since we’re dealing mostly with a pack of manly men and their manly pastime, creator Kurt Sutter smartly weaves classic dramatic elements into the mix via family drama, relationship drama, some light whodunnits, and then sprinkles it all with action and comedy so its nice and balanced for television.  It is consistently written and acted, even if the overall plot wanders a bit and only a few roles require their actors to actually switch gears, but it isn’t exactly ‘addictive’ because its main hitch – the morality play between Charlie Hunnam’s idealistic Jax and the bent leanings of his motorcycle club under the leadership of stepfather Ron Perlman as Clay – is a tough sell.  We do immediately like and dislike characters and will be swayed back and forth over the course of the show, which is evidence of effective scripting and design, but we’re never exactly on the side of the club, since they murder, cheat, steal, mistreat women and etc.  Season 1 mostly focuses on teaching us the club dynamics and internal struggles that ‘threaten’ it and has the toughest time finding its footing.  From season 2 onward Sutter flips the focus to external issues and their resultant effect on the club, and this is much better viewing, giving us relative goods and bads.  Katey Sagal has the toughest role as Jax’s mother and does an amazing job.  Select episodes will have you anxiously going right to the next one to see what happens.  But overall it’s just a TV show.  It has high stakes – your favorite characters can and will die – and thankfully doesn’t try on any britches too big (except maybe an overlong plotline in season 3), and is rewarding to the returning viewer.  It gives insight into those dirty corners most of the unbearded of us will never see, which is part of its ‘hook.’  FX has delivered another solid show that can be walked away from easily enough, but equally doesn’t feel like a waste of time do just plop down and watch it back-to-back.