Anybody else watching this? It sounds crazy-- Hamlet in a motorcycle gang-- but it's really good.
The episode before the latest had a great crisis/dark moment. Gemma, the mother, my choice for the best woman anti-hero, saw her husband and son (his stepson) at odds, so much so that Jax, the son, has decided to leave the gang, and Clay (the husband) has voted him out. Very powerful, and well-acted. Okay, so Gemma sees this, and in her desperation to keep them both (she is afraid, btw, that Jax will kill Clay or vice versa, as they have been more and more in conflict during the season), she confesses something that she has kept secret for months, that the bad guys gang-raped her to send Clay "a message". She covered it up and never told her men or the gang because she feared their reaction, especially Clay's-- she thought that his ethos would mean that he had to reject her as she had been "violated".
Anyway, you can find this episode ("Balm") online, and it's On Demand for a lot of cable systems. Watch the ending. (Very nice Patti Griffin song accompanying, explicitly connecting Gemma to the Virgin Mary, for all you other parochial school dropouts.) Gemma, hard and tearless, explains in harsh detail what happened to her. The men are of course blasted. Jax comes to her and takes her hands and kisses them-- a sign of fealty and respect. As he leaves, he puts his hand on Clay's shoulder (understanding Clay's own dilemma here), and Clay covers that hand with his own. Very affecting. Finally Clay reaches over to embrace Gemma. Fade-out.
So her decision coming out of the dark moment is confession-- truth-telling. And it's painful and hard, as it should be. And it transfers the terrible pain to the men she loves most-- and forces Jax back into the group, and Clay to decide between his love and his code. (See how the dark moment decision can actually cause other characters to change too.)
Beautifully done. This is a very good show, and don't let the crazy premise get in your way. There are similarities to Hamlet, but in this, Clay and Jax do love each other in a way, and I hope that they'll end up reconciled and not dead!
Alicia
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I haven't seen the episode yet, but I watched last season and then got too busy to keep up with it (except for the episode when Jemma got raped - hard to watch, but so well done). And yes, I definitely agree. It is a quality show, and a classic complicated drama - and I look forward to catching up when I'm chilling over the holidays.
It's really well-structured. Oh, and I like it that they really look REAL and not Hollywood. No one is "pretty" and "perfect". All the bikers are sort of scrubby and working-class, and Gemma is sexy in a tough, proletariat way.
Good casting. Would we believe a biker who looks like Jake Gyllenhall? Probably not.
Alicia
I just remembered I wanted to watch this show... didn't see season 1, but I started with what's online on Hulu with season 2, and watched all three eps this evening.
I agree entirely, "Balm" was very powerful. Wow.
Wonderful post, thanks.
Merc, I am going to rewatch S1, because I don't remember being blown away.
Alicia
Oh, hi, Denny-- miss you! Email me and tell me what your world is like!
A
Oh, hi, Denny-- miss you! Email me and tell me what your world is like!
A
I'm just the type who likes to read/watch all the previous books/seasons to the current one, even if I dive into the current one first. ;)
(Though I admit I like Ron Perlman a lot *cough* so that is also a reason. O:))
Ron Perlman is wonderful in this. It's the part he has aged for-- every line in his face, every expression, works. There's one moment when he mutters, "He doesn't love me." (meaning Jax), and it's perfect. I think not enough shows deal with parent-child issues in an honest and deep way, so I was really intrigued with that. For Clay, he has only one son-- his stepson. But Jax has two fathers, and he can pick and choose, and he's chosen the ideal, dead one.
Wow.
Heartbreaking. And true. I sort of wonder if the parent-child dynamic is just too intense to write about much. It's too scary, exploring it. And it's hard to admit how dangerous the intensity is, how you can destroy each other so easily, and how you can't move on to another parental relationship.
Anyway, this is a great examination of a pretty typical 21st C American family structure (the stepdad/mom/kid structure, not the motorcyclegang/Hamlet one :).
Listen, really. My other obsession is Nip/Tuck, and that makes me feel like a slimeball. I mean, really, it's slimy. But Sons of Anarchy is really good. Really. I mean, you don't have to be a slimeball to like it. :)
A
That's what's fascinated me most in the three eps I've watched so far--the father/son dynamic (and family relationships in general).
Christmas is coming up, and I think I have found what to put up at the top of my wishlist. O:)
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