Sons of Anarchy - The Final Season (Season 7)

Season seven of Sons of Anarchy started tonight. Damn Kurt Sutter is a twisted man, Those scenes at the end with Jax had even Tig squeamish.

Since this is the final season, I wonder if Sutter has plans to write a part for Michael Chiklis +/or Catherine Dent in the finale. They're about the only series regulars from "The Shield" that haven't appeared in SOA other than Michael Jace who's busy getting ready for his trial for killing his wife.

A recap of S07E01 at hitfix.com: http://www.hitfix.com/monkeys-as-critics/recap-sons-of-anarchy-final-season-premiere-black-widow

 

Had to laugh at Marilyn Manson's arrival.

 

Gemma strikes me as the oddest/least redeemable character ever - she justifies all the crap she does "for the boys" yet with Tara out of the way she seems to find every excuse possible to not hang around her grandsons.

And I have no idea why Jax believes anything that comes out of her mouth. And if you're Nero, and you realize that this woman's two husbands have been killed in gang beefs, her daughter in law has been killed in a "gang-beef" - you'd stay the hell away.

 

I don't know why I'm still watching. Or why I stayed up until 11:45 last night to watch that.

 

It's essentially Nero's way of life, too. There are factions of society where killing each other isn't as out of the norm.

Of course, I've been binge-watching Breaking Bad.

 

As a die hard fan of the show from the start, I didn't love the season 7 premiere. Not a lot of it made sense on a character development level with Jax, or at least the way I see Jax.

A frequent complaint of TV critics is that Sutter runs long, needs an editor. I didn't feel that way about any of the 90 minute one last season, but last night's was the first one that felt stalled and long to me.

Having said that, Jimmy Smits and CCH Pounder are gold. Looking forward to what I hope is better stuff the rest of the way.

 

I still find it odd that CCH Pounder is playing a different character but the BizLats are still the BizLats...not that I mind.

I wonder why The Sopranos was universally lauded, yet SoA seems to be the red-headed step-child during awards season. Was it mostly Gandolfini?

 

Gandolfini was a great actor and he made The Sopranos work, but he was also a more likable character than Jax.
Charlie Hunman is a very stiff actor, let's be honest. As a lead character, he shouldn't be the guy. The show's story and its violent and semi-nude scenes keep people hooked. Plus, you've got good actors like Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Jimmy Smits, CCH Pounder, etc. And let's talk about Sagal. I really hope there is no way Gemma lives out the show. And, yeah, Jax definitely has a blind spot when it comes to her sick mind. She even called herself a psychopath, so she's self-aware of her evil ways, yet finds ways to try to justify them like any psycho would.

 

I disagree. Maybe its my age but I find it much easier to relate to Teller than to Tony. Hunman wasn't great in season 1 but he's some some great moments in seasons 3-6 and I've really enjoyed his performances.

As for the awards I'd put it as Sutter vs. Chase more than on the lead actors. Seems like Sutter just rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

 

Charlie Hunnam (write that down somewhere for future spelling reference. ) has been exactly who he should be as Jax Teller. He's not a rocket scientist. Sometimes his base instincts are ... well, primitive.

 

I'm not all that squeamish, but the level of violence has become way too gratuitous and cartoonish. I think Sutter's ego has gone out of control as the ratings have increased and he's just doing shit to see how much he can get away with. I loved the show up until about season 5. I'm really only still watching because I'm a completist. I was very close to stopping during the ridiculous Donal Logue storyline, but at least that ended pretty quickly.

 

I always watch it on DVR, Sutter might turn in 45 min. episodes and FX adds 30 min. of commercials