Sons of Anarchy Season 3 Premieres Tuesday, September 7, 10 PM E/P
There is one show you will quickly come to see that I have a major passion for, that being the brilliant FX drama ‘Sons of Anarchy’ from the mad genius himself Kurt Sutter who acts as Series Creator/Executive Producer/Head Writer/Bad Ass Biker Big Otto Delaney and husband to star Katey Sagal. Kurt Sutter has a gritty and fantastic violent writing style, which you may be familiar with if you where a fan of Shawn Ryan’s The Shield, which Kurt worked on as writer, director, actor and producer throughout all 7 seasons.
About the Show: Sons of Anarchy is an FX television series starring Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, and Katey Sagal about the lives of a close-knit motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in the San Joaquin Valley in Northern California. Sons of Anarchy was created by Kurt Sutter, a former writer and producer on The Shield, another FX television drama.
Below you can find season summaries for the two seasons that have already aired, just know that there are some very spoiler heavy moments throughout the text, so if you have not yet watched them do yourself a favor and skip over them to the Season 3 casting section for the latest news, and than go out and watch the first 2 seasons.
Season One
The Sons Of Anarchy (SOA) is an outlaw motorcycle club with many chapters in the United States and overseas. The show focuses on the original and founding chapter, Sons Of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, referred to by the acronym SAMCRO or Sam Crow. This nickname is also reflected in the original title of the show, Forever Sam Crow.
The Redwood chapter is headquartered in Charming, CA, in a clubhouse adjacent to the Teller-Morrow auto mechanic shop. Led by President Clay Morrow, the club protects and controls Charming through close community relationships, bribery and violent intimidation.
Club members wear vests or "cuts" (jacket with the sleeves cut off). The SOA patch on the back is a grim reaper wielding an M-16 with a bloody scythe blade and holding a crystal ball with the anarchy "A". Only full members can wear the "patch." Other smaller patches on the vest stand for different things, examples being "Men Of Mayhem," which is worn by club members who have spilled blood on the club's behalf, and "First 9", worn by the original nine members of SOA. Jax has also worn a baseball cap that says "Reaper Crew", and at least two female characters affiliated with the club (Gemma, Tara) have crow tattoos. The sons mostly ride customized Harley-Davidson Dynas.
Club members have "day jobs" in local industries, most of them working at the Teller-Morrow garage, but they primarily make money by illegally importing weapons, modifying and selling them to drug gangs in the East Bay, along with protection runs for local businesses by protecting valuable truck shipments from hijacking.
SAMCRO keeps meth traffickers and drug dealers out of Charming, which puts them at odds with the meth-distributing white supremacist "Nords", headed by Ernest Darby. SAMCRO also has to deal with a rival Oakland-based MC, the "Mayans" led by Marcus Alvarez. Other groups in SAMCRO's orbit include the San Francisco-based Chinese American mafia Lin Triad, led by Henry Lin, the Italian American Cacuzza crime family, the True IRA of Ireland, which supplies them with illegal Russian-made guns, the One-Niners, an African American street gang (who also appeared on The Shield, thus possibly putting the two in the same fictional universe) to whom SAMCRO sell weapons, and various affiliates in the state prison system, where many members of the club have been incarcerated at one time or another.
The club operates out of a clubhouse on the same lot as the Teller-Morrow auto shop. The clubhouse includes a living area (where members sometimes crash for the night), a bar, a pool table, a kitchen, a work out room, and the "chapel", a room with an elaborate conference table made of redwood that has a reaper logo carved into the top. The club also owns a secluded cabin in the woods and formerly had a warehouse outside of town where they assembled the illegal weapons. They start the series looking for a new warehouse space and end the first season with most of their finances tied up in building a new one.
John Teller and Piermont "Piney" Winston co-founded SAMCRO in 1967 following their return from service as paratroopers during the Vietnam War. Six of the "Redwood Original 9" members were vets; Clay Morrow was the youngest of the original members. John died in 1993, and his widow, Gemma, married Clay.
Only three of the Original 9 are still living, Clay, Piney, and McGee (president of the Belfast charter). The original 9, in order of joining were: John "JT" Teller. Piney Winston (founders) Wally Grazer, Thomas "Uncle... Tom" Whitney, Chico Villenueva, Louis Maynard, Clay Morrow, McGee, Otto "L'il Killer" Moran. (Not to confused with Otto "Big Otto" Delaney who joined much later and was given his name so he wouldn't be confused with "L'ill Killer" Otto)
John and Gemma's surviving son Jax (another son, Tommy, died in childhood of the "family flaw", a congenital heart defect) is second in the club's line of succession after co-founder and sitting president Clay. Jax is divorced from Wendy, the mother of his son Abel, who was born 10 weeks premature as a result of his mother's heroin addiction. Jax is also connected to Tara, a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital. The two were high school sweethearts.
Season Two
The season opens with the arrival of a new threat in Charming, white separatists (who claim they are not supremacists) called the League Of American Nationalists (LOAN for short). Led by businessman Ethan Zobelle and backed by Zobelle's enforcer, A.J. Weston, the two seek to drive the Sons of Anarchy from the town of Charming and gain a foothold in the Northern Californian heroin trade. They involve themselves with a group of wealthy would-be developers (including Deputy Chief Hale's brother, Jacob) looking to expand the town beyond the sort of "Small Town USA" status maintained by SAMCRO. The duo make their intentions known when they walk into the garage and tell Clay that he is done "selling guns to color." Zobelle then arranges for the kidnapping and sexual assault of Gemma, with his own daughter, Polly, orchestrating the kidnapping, and Weston and two other members of LOAN gang-raping Gemma as a warning to SAMCRO. But the warning goes undelivered when Gemma chooses not to tell Clay or the club what happened. Instead, the only ones who know the truth are Chief Unser (who found Gemma after she was raped), Tara (who treated her injuries), and later, Deputy Chief Hale. LOAN spends the rest of the season trying to undermine SAMCRO within the community and drive the club to self-destruction.
The animosity between Gemma and Tara has cooled and even turned into a bit of respect for each other. This is largely due to Tara’s help with Abel and with Gemma after her rape. Gemma tacitly gives Tara her blessing to be with Jax by telling Tara to demand complete honesty from Jax in order to ensure that their relationship can survive Jax's dual loyalty towards Tara and the club. Unfortunately, while Jax and Tara grow closer, Gemma and Clay’s relationship struggles, and Gemma struggles with the after affects of her rape, complicated by the fact that Clay knows nothing about it.
From prison, Big Otto reaches out to SAMCRO, asking them to help his wife, Luann, and her porn studio after a raid from law enforcement and intimidation from a rival pornographer, Georgie Caruso, threaten her business. Jax proposes that SAMCRO become partners in Luann’s porn business and offer protection to her and her performers, a move he hopes will raise money for the club legitimately while they re-build their other revenue streams.
Opie, struggling to deal with Donna’s death, throws himself fully into the MC and, consequently, becomes increasingly distant from his children. Opie’s relationship with Jax also becomes strained as Opie, who is unaware of Clay’s role in Donna’s death, becomes increasingly loyal to Clay and distant from Jax. Later on, Opie becomes involved with Lyla, one of Luann’s performers, who is, herself, a single mother. This development is not received well by some involved with SAMCRO -- particularly Tara and Gemma, who do not think Opie’s children should be around a porn star.
Fueled by SAMCRO’s role in Donna’s death, the rift between Clay and Jax continues to widen, with Jax challenging most of Clay's decisions. Clay warns Jax that if Jax does not drop the subject of Donna’s death, he will kill Jax. When a L.O.A.N. car bomb nearly kills Chibs, Clay demands immediate retaliation. But retaliation was what L.O.A.N. wanted, and several members of the MC, including Clay, Jax, Bobby, and Tig, are arrested in a botched attempt to attack Ethan Zobelle. While in jail, Agent Stahl from the ATF returns in an attempt to get SAMCRO to rat out their IRA connections. Although they don't give up the IRA, Stahl succeeds in provoking Clay and Jax into a physical confrontation in jail. Out on bail, the divisions in the club only get worse. Further complicating matters is SAMCRO’s suspicion (later confirmed) that their IRA contacts are starting to sell guns to L.O.A.N. instead of the MC. Also, the Mayans are pouring on the pressure, receiving free guns from L.O.A.N. in order to wage war on the Sons of Anarchy.
When Luann is later murdered, presumably by rival porn producer Georgie Caruso, Clay holds Jax personally responsible. The tension between Jax and Clay reaches a breaking point when the porn studio burns down shortly after Clay announces he wants SAMCRO out of the porn business. Jax initially believes that Clay had the place torched (it was actually L.O.A.N.) and announces that he is going to "go nomad," which means that while he'd still be a member of the Sons of Anarchy, he would no longer be a part of any particular chapter of the club. Most of the SAMCRO members are upset with Jax's decision but ultimately vote in favor of him going nomad. After the vote, Gemma has Jax and Clay sit down in her home, where she reveals that Weston and LOAN members raped her. As Jax leaves her house, he takes back his SAMCRO tag, symbolizing his intent to stay in Charming rather than go nomad.
Gemma's revelation brings Jax and Clay back together. The two inform the other member of SAMCRO what happened to Gemma and the MC begins to plan their revenge. The club, however, nearly falls apart again when Tig, overcome with guilt, confesses to Opie that he murdered Donna because Agent Stahl and the ATF had made it look as though Opie had become a rat. At the same time, Chibs agreed to help Stahl take down the IRA and its head, Jimmy O, who is in town to repair the IRA's relationship with SAMCRO and who Chibs had a long and dark history with. Based on information supplied by Chibs, the ATF was able to apprehend Edmond Hayes, who they then wanted to use to apprehend his father, Cameron, and Jimmy O. Opie later witnessed Chibs leaving a meeting with the ATF and informed the club of what he saw but asked them to confront Chibs before acting. Chibs, already having doubts about becoming an informant, revealed to the club what he did after having a heart-to-heart talk with Gemma.
Meanwhile, the Sons learn that Ethan Zobelle's true intentions were not racially motivated but were to get in business with the Mayans on the prison heroin trade. The MC was able to exploit this information when they reveal it to AJ Weston, who was deeply committed to his racial beliefs and would not tolerate doing business with the Hispanic Mayans. This caused a split between AJ and Zobelle. Unfortunately for the club, they were not initially able to capitalize on this split as their first attempts to take down Weston and Zobelle were thwarted by Deputy Chief Hale. First, AJ Weston was arrested in connection with the fire at Luann's porn studio. Later, Hale arrives at Impeccable Smokes as the Sons are confronting Zobelle. In attempt to save his and his daughter's lives, Zobelle informed the police that he was in possession of narcotics and is arrested. However, both were released by custody and Unser learns that Zobelle, unbeknownst to both the ATF and Weston, has actually been an F.B.I. informant for the past three years. With the loss of Weston's support, Zobelle turned to the Mayans for protection. Weston, however, was on his own and was eventually gunned down by Jax.
Agent Stahl continued to hold Edmond Hayes in an attempt to use Edmond to lure and arrest his father. Cameron, knowing the situation his son was in, told Edmond that he needed to kill Stahl. Edmond had a gun stashed at the safe house he was staying at and tried to shoot Stahl but was unable to pull the trigger on her. However, the ATF was already aware of the gun's presence and Stahl informed Edmond that they had loaded it with blanks. Edmond then attempted to escape ATF custody but was gunned down by Stahl. Shortly afterward, Polly Zobelle, Ethan's daughter who had been having an affair with Edmond, arrived at the safe house. She had been followed there by Gemma. At the safe house, Gemma shot and killed Polly. Stahl witnessed the shooting and let Gemma escape but then proceeded to frame her for Edmond's shooting. After learning of Edmond's death from a police scanner that said Gemma killed Edmond, Cameron broke into Jax's home, tied up Tara, stabbed Half-Sack, who was assigned by Jax to protect Tara and Gemma, then kidnapped Abel.
Meanwhile the rest of the Sons had ambushed Zobelle and the Mayans forcing the Mayans to retreat while Zobelle fled on his own. The Sons followed him to a Deli some distance along the highway, possibly the next town over. Zobelle attempts to hide himself amongst children who had just arrived off of a school bus. The Sons chose to wait until the children had left before making their move on Zobelle, who has called Deputy Hale only to be told his daughter was found murdered and that he would be sending officers to assist him. After getting off the phone with Zobelle, Hale instructed his department to ignore what he had said to Zobelle.
Earlier, Tara called Jax to tell him Gemma was on the run only to be interrupted by Cameron. Concerned, Jax returned to his home where he discovers the body of Half-Sack (actor Johnny Lewis wished to move on.) Distraught, Jax notices Tara is no where to be found and frantically searches the house for her only to find her tied up and gagged next to Abel's crib. After ungagging her Tara tells Jax that Abel was taken by Cameron. Jax calls Clay who returns to help track down Cameron without killing Zobelle. The Sons pursue Cameron who makes his way to the docks where he takes Abel and boards his boat. Chief Unser, after receiving a phone call from Gemma, is last seen driving in his police cruiser with her past Charming's city limits, apparently running off with her. Ethan Zobelle is seen quickly getting on a chartered plane back to Budapest without his dead daughter, Polly. The season ends with The Sons arriving just as Cameron is leaving the docks with Clay comforting a sobbing Jax.
The second season of the drama ranked as the highest-rated single season of an original series in FX history: It averaged 4.48 million viewers and 3.16 million adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
According to series creator Kurt Sutter, season three will deal with SAMCRO's roots. Additionally, Sutter wants to "take the Sons into a world that is outside their own, where they don't have control, where they are subject to other people's laws and beliefs and parameters, Where they aren't quite the big fish in the small pond." Hal Holbrook will appear in a four-episode arc, beginning with the premiere episode. He’ll play Nate Madock, the father of Gemma Morrow Teller (Katey Sagal). Production on the next 13 episodes of Sons of Anarchy begins tomorrow. Kenny Johnson who you may remember as Curtis Lemansky from the Shield, made his debut in the Season 2 Finale "Na Triobloidi" as Kozik a SAMCRO member from the Tacoma Chapter who has some kind of twisted history with Tig (Kim Coates) and will return for a six episode arc in Season 3. Paula Malcomson is signed for an eight episode arc as Maureen, someone who is tied in to the Belfast Chapter. James Cosmo has signed for 8 episodes as Kellan Ashby, an irish priest connected to the RIRA. Stephen King, will appear in the third episode. as a quiet loner who appears in Gemma’s time of need.
Season 3 Spoilers and Episode Titles:
Remember when Stahl told Gemma to scoot “before we pick you up,” after she popped Polly? Well scoot she did, and when Season 3 arrives, Gemma’s a fugitive with a $10K bounty on her head. And speaking of “missing” persons, Jax’s baby boy will still be unaccounted for.
Episode 3.02 - "Oiled"
Episode 3.03 - "Caregiver"
Episode 3.04 - "Home"
Episode 3.06 - "The Push"
Episode 3.07 - "Widening Gyre"
Episode 3.08 - "Lochán Mór"
Episode 3.09 - "Turas"
Episode 3.10 - "Fírinne"
Episode 3.12 - "June Wedding"
Episode 3.13 - "NS"
BTW, for those of you wondering about how to locate
Kurt Sutter's Blog and
twitter I am always referencing for my info, just click those links and you can get the same info I do without having to wait for me to post it here.
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