There's a difference between victory and survival, and that chasm is as far as it is wide.
Through five seasons of FX's testosterone-laced outlaw motorcycle drama "Sons of Anarchy" we've watched Jackson Teller commit some terrible and outlandish acts to protect three very simple things we can all relate to: family, friends and his home.
We've seen Jax end lives, hurt women and manipulate friends. In those five years, Jax grew from a clean-shaven young man desperate to appease the ghost of his father and win the love of his high school sweetheart, to a gruff, bearded and at times savage gang leader who is less than mindful of both.
The Jax we see throughout "Straw," the 90-minute opening act of SOA season 6, is not the master of all he surveys, but he's closer than he's ever been. He's ousted Clay. He's gained control of, or neutered, his political enemies within the club. The Sons are a sprawling criminal network with hooks outside of Charming and control within, for the most part free of the looming influence of gangland heavyweights like Romeo Perada, the Irish Kings or even Damon Pope.
Jax has seemingly won the battle, but he's claimed no spoils. At least not the ones he set out to get.
Tara is in prison. Despite its powerful appearance to the outside world, the club is in tatters, with longtime members in various states of depression or exile, and others on the verge of mental collapse. Even Jax's sons, the ones he seems to have an unquestionable love for, are at a distance, shown throughout the episode cradled in the arms of anyone but the SAMCRO president.
The only time Jax shares with his children comes in the form of letters they may not read until he's swallowed up by the life he's chosen, at a time when they may see him as the same specter that Jax views J.T. as.
"Straw" is the latest in a series of powerful premiere episodes for Kurt Sutter and the rest of the writing team on Sons of Anarchy, but for all the plot movement and exposition, it's an episode that really thrives not when it's racing forward, but looking back.
Jax, Gemma, Tig and other characters are living in a time when they seem to have vanquished some of their fiercest or most dangerous rivals, and they've wound up with little to show for it.
We've known for a while that Jax Teller is not a good man, but there are moments when his actions cross the line from anti-hero to bastard, evidenced in the episode's gut punch of a closing shot. The idea of Jax cheating on Tara can be shrugged off at this point, but the fact that he's in bed with another woman while she's fighting for her life in a prison that he inadvertently helped land her in is enough to make my stomach turn.
It's a move that's both selfish and impulsive, and pretty much sums up the Jax we see throughout "Straw." The ascent to the throne has hardened Jax, making him prone to the same insular manipulations that eventually felled his stepfather and predecessor Clay Morrow.
He's gambling on deals made with criminal powers beyond his means like August Marks, and he's making decisions on behalf of trusted business partners and friends like Nero Padilla. He's keeping secrets from the club. He's even starting to use Chibs as an of off-the-books leg breaker and confidante in the same way Clay once twisted Tig.
Through it all, he's distant and invisible to Tara, both literally and figuratively, as she sits in a jail cell for a crime she had little to do with. It seems like I was way off the mark when I suggested Jax helped tip the cops off to Tara's involvement in Otto's murder plot last year. This Jax is not that callous ... yet.
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As for the woman who may have had a role in Tara's current predicament, Gemma is experiencing a similar sense of loss. SAMCRO's Queen Bee has helped tie her grandchildren and son to Charming, keeping them far from any of Tara's Oregon dreams, but she's also wound up distanced from the two men who were at one time most important to her: Jax and Clay. Her son doesn't trust her, and Gemma seems hollowed out by her betrayal of Clay, no matter how many times she flashes lovestruck eyes at Nero.
That idea of victories poisoned by loss is repeated throughout the episode. Killing Pope did nothing to heal Tig, who seems to finally be crumbling under the weight of his daughter's death and a life spent as an executioner. Bobby has slipped away from the politics and schisms that destroyed the club he loved, only to wind up more adrift than ever. Otto's earned a measure of revenge on the club, and it's landed him in a daily hell of rape and bloodshed while trapped in a body that mercifully stops him from seeing what he's going through.
Even through some of its darker episodes and story lines, Sons of Anarchy has shown flashes of humor from the sophomoric fraternity stupidity of a mess of a biker criminals who double as drinking buddies. But there's no room for that here. "Straw" is all about the price of the outlaw life, and the unfair tabs paid by those around it. Nobody wins, no matter how far outside the sphere of influence they seem.
The real trick to this episode is the fact that we've known most of these characters for long enough to feel a pang of sympathy for them, too. Sure, Tig is a murderous bastard, but he also watched his daughter burn alive only a few weeks ago in the show's timeline. Clay Morrow is a horrible human being, but we can all relate to the idea of being betrayed by those we hold closest. Even Lee Toric (welcome back Donal Logue!), who has been portrayed as a sadist and drug addict, is reeling from the death of a loved one.
Sons of Anarchy is headed for a dark place, just on the character notes alone. I've been holding off on discussing the school shooting scene because I'm not sure what to make of it yet or where that plot line is headed. I will say the tension and dread I began to feel when the boy revealed the scars on his arm was horrific, and only overshadowed by the sight of a 10-year-old clutching a machine pistol moments later.
I have to assume that sequence was inspired by the spate of tragic mass shooting incidents across the country last year, most likely the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. The boy appeared to be related to Nero's right hand man, and most likely took the weapon from the Latin gangbanger. I'm reserving comment here until we see where the storyline goes, but I am hoping this does not end in a heavy handed message on gun control.
This is the part where I again remind everyone I'm writing about a television show, not trying to start a political discussion. That above paragraph has nothing to do with any opinions I have on firearms and everything to do with the fact that I think Sons' is better served staying in its lane and away from trying to send a message.
All in all, and as always, Sons of Anarchy is back with a strong premiere. After a rocky season 3 and and unforgivably awful season 4, here's hoping the show is back on track. The show has started out strong the past couple of years before stumbling to the finish line, always good enough to keep me hooked for the next 12 or 13 episodes but never really matching the must-watch status it held for me in seasons 1 and 2.
Like I said, there's a difference between winning and surviving.
Random Musings:
» Last year, Sons of Anarchy made a great addition to its cast with Jimmy Smits filling in as Nero Padilla. We've got two major additions this year as well, and so far the show is 1-for-1 with Peter Weller (yes, RoboCop, but he's also directed a handful of SOA episodes) as Barosky, a no-nonsense ex-cop who now runs the Stockton ports and is set to do business with the Sons going forward. CCH Pounder will appear later in the season as a district attorney who is fed up with her fiscally and morally bankrupt law enforcement partners, a character that seems to be a kindred spirit to the role that first made me fall in love with Pounder on "The Shield" years ago.
» Speaking of Barosky, I loved his correction of Jax's reference to "Persians" as opposed to "Iranians"
» With good dialogue must come bad. Nero's Zero Dark Thirty reference made me cringe.
» So Unser is living in a trailer on the Teller-Morrow lot working as Gemma's babysitter now? My how the not so mighty have fallen.
» Could have done without Lee Toric being a heroin addict. Donal Logue played the character as a fierce and calculating opponent for Jax last year, I don't love that he now has a weakness that is easily exploited.
Questions. Thoughts. Haiku? Leave 'em below.
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