I'm a little disappointed. Season 4 was better than the previous season without a doubt and it's far from bad television, but let's just say at this point in the show, I have lowered my expectations from what I thought this show could become.
Let me explain. Sometime in the middle of the first season, Sons of Anarchy began an incredible run of television that I think rivaled some of the best television out there. The downfall of this run was when creator Kurt Sutter went overboard at the very end of the second season. He had Gemma Teller framed for murdering two people with a cop present and Jax's baby was stolen. These are two things that aren't easy to come back from and I'm not sure they handled it well.
Basically, when he decided to go out with a bang to end the second season, the show lost all momentum it had been building. I didn't know it then, but that decision plagued the third season. The third season dragged out the storyline with the stolen baby and it didn't have anything pay off until the 11th episode when Jax ultimately decided to give up his kid. There was no threat of that baby being killed or lost for good so those 10 episodes were frustrating for me. The correct way to handle that baby theft would have been to get it resolved quickly, because in my opinion there's not much tension that the baby will die or get lost. They did the exact opposite and made it a season-long storyline.
And the Gemma story line was never going to work either because Katey Sagal is too damn good in this role. She was going to get out of it some way, some how. Let's just say that the way she got out of it was entirely ridiculous and implausible.
So Season 4 essentially started from scratch. Let's go back to the basics and go to what made this show work. But it's very difficult for a show to get back on track. This season came across more as a very flattering yet lesser imitator of the pre-S3 show. It's almost like they took the things that worked, and copied that for the fourth season. That doesn't sound like a bad plan in theory. The problem is that it's been done before so they need to put a new spin on it.
Sons of Anarchy is a bit too plot-focused. There's so much going on in this season that there was barely any time for character work. Charming Heights is being built. They need to stop the unstoppable force that is Mayor Jacob Hale. They have a criminal investigation led by Linc Potter trying to bust the Sons. There's a new sheriff in town who won't put up with the Sons' shit. The Sons are getting into bed with the Mexican cartel. The two leaders of the Sons are more in it for themselves than the club. Tara has information about Jax's father. Opie's marriage happens and simultaneously is put in question. Juice is worried the club will find out he's black after three seasons where the audience is given no indication the club would even care. I mean some of these stories should have been more spread out and not all put in the same season.
The fact that I just watched two seasons of The Sopranos is doing this show no favors of course. To defend my review though, I watched half of this season about a month ago (before The Sopranos) and the other half in the past week. Watching The Sopranos felt like getting dropped in everyday life. Some events led to something important, others didn't. Watching Sons of Anarchy feels like I'm getting the highlights of their exploits, not anything resembling real life. I suppose that's ok, except I thought I was watching a different, better show when I started.
It's not all bad though. While Lincoln Potter (played by Ray McKinnon) is repetitive, he's basically a better version of Agent Stahl. He's more calculating, he's better acted, he's more interesting, and he's unique. I mean yes, ultimately, he's kind of nuts and doesn't care about the law just like Stahl, but he's a nice twist on a familiar formula that works for the Sons.
On that same note, Eli Roosevelt (Rockmand Dunbar) is a better version of David Hale from earlier seasons. He's better acted, more compelling, and is not quite as super clean as Hale as to make it impossible for him to do anything. (I refer to the time when he destroyed the Sons' clubhouse) He's also in power and can do things about the Sons, unlike Hale under Unser.
I have mixed feelings on this season overall. I straight up didn't like the season until "Kiss," the ninth episode. I was seriously contemplating quitting the show for good (after finishing the season of course). Then "Kiss" was a strong episode and it followed that with the best episode of the season and the best episode of SOA I've seen since Season 2 in "Hands."
The season was going in the right direction, and then the finale happened. And almost nothing that happened in the season mattered at all. Clay's not going to die, which is bullshit. The writing manufactured a way to keep him alive unfortunately. The RICO investigation didn't matter at all it turns out. None of the Sons - except for Otto - will be serving time. Juice begins next season without any indication that his storyline in this one happened. The problem with the finale is it absolves just about every problem presented in this season - I'll call it the Dexter problem.
One big thing happens of course: Jax becomes president of SAMCRO. Clay is forced to step down. Tig loses his position (whatever position that was: right-hand man to president?) to Chibs. So that's the one interesting thing that happened. I want to find out how they operate with Jax as the president and Clay on the outs.
Overall, this season was hit-and-miss. It started slow, picked up speed toward the middle, and ultimately fizzled in the finale. A strong finish to this season would have catapulted it, but ultimately for me, it lands as the second worst season of the series only ahead of Season 3 - which at least was ambitious.
Programming Note: For the remainder of the fall, I will post two times a week on Sunday and Thursday. Sunday is the day where I review an episode or episodes of a classic show. Thursday is going to fill up my season reviews.
Beginning this Sunday, I will finally finish Season 1 of The Sopranos and also give my thoughts on Season 1 as a whole after I'm finished with the episode reactions. After that, I will be doing Friends episodes from Season 1. I'm going to go over multiple episodes per post.
In the season review portion of my blog, I have Season 2 of Downton Abbey scheduled. Following that is the second season of The Walking Dead. Further along the line will be in some order The Simpsons (S3), Star Trek (S2), and Justified (S1).
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy songs)
1. House of the Rising Sun - Battleme & The Forest Rangers
2. House of the Rising Sun - The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers
3. Strange Fruit - Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
4. Los Tiempos van Cambiando - Franky Perez & Los Guardianas del Bosque
5. What a Wonderful World - Alison Mosshart & The Forest Rangers
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