Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2009 > November > 18 > Entry
“Sons of Anarchy”: “Service”
Review and spoilers after the jump
As a relative of mine who will go mercifully unnamed here put it, “I love this show, but I’m not sure if it’s just a soap opera or something more.”
I think we have our answer, man.
Yet “biker soap” is a genre I can live with.
Last week, it was time for Gemma (Katy Sagal, the best sport on television) to come clean about the assault by white supremacist Zoebelle’s men (the confession was set to Austinite Patty Griffin’s “Mary,” which might be the best use of a song in a TV show this year). This got Clay (Ron Perlman, America’s craggiest man) and Jax (Charlie Hunnam, still acting just as hard as he can) to squash their beef.
This week, the plots start to snowball as everything comes together while falling apart. The increasingly unhinged Trig (Kim Coates) confesses to Opie about the hit that was supposed to be on him that instead offed his wife. That sends Opie on the warpath against Agent Stahl.
Bobby (Mark Boone Jr.: stellar, lumpy) notes to Clay that if word got out that “one of the founding nine” put a hit on a member “that is some very bad PR, brother.” Word.
Stahl is in the process of getting Chibs (Tommy Flannagan) to rat out the absurdly dangerous Jimmy O (Titus Welliver, another “Deadwood” refugee like the wonderful Dayton Callie, who plays morally complicated police chief Wayne Unser on “Sons”).
Stahl tries to twist it up a bit; she chronically Peter principles these deals, always trying to manipulate these guy just very slightly too far.
Meanwhile, white power leader Ethan Zobelle (noted Jewish actor Adam Arkin) is cutting a drug deal with the Mexican gangs the Mayans, which will likely hack off his true-believer right hand A.J. Weston (Henry Rollins, going gray with the dignity befitting the man who gave us side two of “My War”). As someone figures out, this isn’t about race, it’s about controlling the drug trade in this area of California.
Half-Sack’s testicles are still played for laughs and, oh, Trig and Gemma, both in terrible mental places, almost have sex.
Lordy.
Opie is played by the brilliant Ryan Hurst, still delivering the show’s best performance by a country mile, very easily one of the most intense turns on TV — someone just give him a Best Supporting Emmy now. Hurt does “haunted” better than anyone around right now. His confrontations with Stahl and Clay were hypnotic.
Or rather, you can’t take your eyes off this guy whenever he’s on the screen - the guy owns every scene he’s in. I feel a little bad for Hunnam in scenes with Hurst; it’s like watching a mouse in a room with a tiger.
Segal is another MVP. Check out the way she has distinct relationships with each character. See also excellent conversation between a former heroin-addict priest and Gemma, who notes that he is a priest because “service to others is the only thing that keeps the self-loathing to a tolerable level.” Not sure I’ve ever heard that desire to sever put so well.
Two episodes left. What did you think?
Comments
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By Randy
November 25, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this
I agree about Ryan Hurst. I have seen him over the years (I saw him in Remember the Titans) and he just gets better and better. He is a very quiet actor, which that is very good for this show which is so busy a lot of the time.
By Vic Mackey
November 18, 2009 1:09 PM | Link to this
A worthy follow up to The Shield (arguably the best cop show ever). FX makes the most realistic and gritty shows on television. It's a shame they don't air more programs like this one.