'Sons of Anarchy' Season Six Premiere, "Straw"... And The Twists Keep Coming

What ensues in this recap are SPOILERS for Sons of Anarchy, season 6, 90-minute-ish premiere.  (I love 90-minute-ish episodes.  It does the show a wonderful service and gives viewers more than what a basic 42-minute episode would give fans.  (That's what's left of a one-hour show after ads.))

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We only have two seasons to go of this criminal drama about the biker gang based out of the fictional town of Charming, CA.  And in these next two seasons, the sins of the father is something we must always remember in the background as we watch things.

Charlie Hunnam in Sons of Anarchy, ep Straw (season premiere)

"Straw" opens hearing Jax's (Charlie Hunnam) self-talk over the opening scenes, talking about the precarious mix of this lifestyle, family and the tricky balance this creates. {see below}

We see that Toric (Donal Logue) has made arrangements for a daily morning butt-plundering for Otto.  In prison, Clay has been segregated from the general population, thanks to Toric.  But the continued protection will be to give things up on SAMCRO and Jax.

Later Toric tries to put pressure on Tara (Maggie Siff), suggesting she can give up info on Jax, and alludes to her and her kids continued survival.

But we learn in the latter part of the episode that Toric has his own substance abuse issue, which, down the road, will lead to a much darker plot.  (You'll see)

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We meet a new player I think we'll like.

Lyla gets banged up pretty bad by a "Persian" torture porn production club. She said stop, they got uglier.  Jax and gang visit with this group of filmmakers down in Stockton and things turn to gunplay.  Then cops show up.  But the cops are under the auspices of an ex-cop named Charlie Barosky (Peter Weller).

Barosky makes it clear this is his turf and to talk with him first if they do things like this again.

With things cleaned up, the gang leaves Tig (Kim Coates) to clean up the studio, but the one guy left behind says something alluding to what he'd like to see his daughter end up doing and, well, Tig being Tig, loses it and does a beautiful thing... drowns the "filmmaker" in a tub of piss and sinks his body under the docks.

So poetic.

Kim Dickens in Sons of Anarchy, ep Straw (season premiere)


But this situation sets up a new relationship that Barosky asked for from Nero (Jimmy Smits) and Jax.  A new whore house that needs to branch out and go legit, run by a woman named Collette Jane (Kim Dickens).

And Collette is a fast mover, making quick moves on Jax.

Jax has been dissed by Tara from within prison and that seems to help him fall prey to Collette's wiley ways.

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The Tara, Jax, jail thing gets a tricky play.  Jax learns from Tara's lawyer that Gemma (Katey Sagal) set her up for the fall.  Gemma denies it to Jax like the perfect mom/club lady she is.  She later threatens to kill the lawyer if she keeps delivering news like that.

Ah, I swear, Gemma is reminding me of Breaking Bad's Walter White with every new episode.

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Bobby (Mark Boone Junior) has moved to Nevada and looking to go Nomad.  He can't support what Jax has done, setting up his father.

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There's worry amongst a few that Juice (Theo Rossi) can't be trusted, but Jax, after pushing him into setting up Clay (Ron Perlman) last season, is slowly working his way back into the fold of trust.

But Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) needs to get something from him.  And that's a good beat down on Juice, and Juice, needing to prove his loyalty, stands up and takes it, hit after hit.

Later, we see Chibs cleaning him up.

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AH, let's address that red herring in the room.

All throughout the episode, we see a young boy kiss his mom goodbye for the day and head out the door. He's dressed in a school uniform with a coat and tie.  We see him all throughout the episode.

At first, because we saw him at various points in the episode, that Kurt Sutter changed up his homeless girl ghost that keeps showing up.  (played by Olivia Burnette)

The ghost, as Kurt Sutter once said, is a mythical point in the story he'd like to see play out in time.  She always showed up when Jax or Gemma was in a world of emotional hurt.

But this young boy was not a new version of the ghost.

No, much, much worse.  Turns out, with cut wounds on his arms, and demonic art in his notebook, he went to school with an automatic weapon and opened fire on his classmates.

The gun used was one of Nero's and Jax's guns.

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During the episode, aside from the obvious ballsy shocker that Sutter delivered with the school shooting, there were so many "contrasting image of characters" throughout the episode.


Katey Segal in Sons of Anarchy, ep Straw (season premiere)


- The rough and tough bitch called Gemma, is called ma'am by a prospect.  She takes his hand, puts it on one of her boobs and says he can no longer call me ma'am.  Pure shocking fun. (Note to self, I'm going to start calling more women ma'am!!!)

- Tig kills a man, drowning him in piss.  This has got to be one of the more gruesome deaths on Sons of Anarchy, and yet, so perfectly poetic, for who it was. 

And then later, we see this murderous madman (who is rather entertaining at times) babysitting with the innocence of a babe in his arms.

- Tara seems defeated and yet, after having her blankets stolen from her, she gets up and puts a beat down on the girl.  Which is good, showing she isn't going to take that kind of shit from anyone.  And shows her protecting herself in the long run, by not advertising that she's a victim.

- And Jax, sitting around in the new whore house, and getting tapped to help with the laundry, and sitting there holding a bright white laundry basket.

Seriously?  A club president with a basket of laundry?  Nice.

Sutter really is f*ing with us.

Ron Perlman and Donal Logue in Sons of Anarchy, ep Straw (season premiere)

And through it all, Toric has angles on everyone in jail through his connections. From being in control of the jailed SAMCRO members, to seeing that he's at the mercy of an addiction we never saw coming, what a conflict of terror.  He's a loose cannon with a sharp whit.

Oh frack.

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And that pretty much sums up the season premiere of season six for Sons of Anarchy.  THAT, was a pleasantly exhausting episode to watch, write up and conjecture on.

Kurt Sutter rocks...  oh speaking of Sutter...

In interviews about the school shooting in the episode, he has balls.  That's for sure  and he's not afraid of public outcry when he writes his stories.

Unlike in Breaking Bad, where we never see the ilk of society getting high on the blue (well, I think once we did), here, Sutter is showing us the blow back or ramifications of the gun running business SAMCRO is in.

And that this moment will be a catalyst for what unfolds throughout this sixth season.  And he also felt that he couldn't not do it.  It would have been a disservice to what the story is about... criminals.

Plus, if the showrunner, network and the show survives what blow back there might be from this shocker, it did serve as an incredible emotional anchor, reminding us of something so horrible that we don't always want to think about them.

{THR}

Jax's Opening Monologue:

{
I feel like my life has taken a turn.

I'm heading down a road I've never been on before. Nothing is familiar. The signs don't make sense.

Do I get off the road or do I keep riding?

Do I go alone or take others with me?

Who do I trust for the journey

I now understand why being a leader requires isolation.

I have to remove myself from those whose lives were affected by my decisions those I love as well as those I hate. Its getting more more difficult to be a brother when my decisions are the ones a father has to make.

By the time you're old enough to make sense of this life you'll know everything about me-the things I'm proud of, and the things I regret -- and then you'll be faced with your own decisions - and as much as I want to help you tell you what to do, those choices will be yours alone. The only advice I can give you sons is to examine who you are as men. Figure out what's important to you. Know yourselves. Know what's in your heart. Don't be swayed by fear or history or the opinions of outsiders-find your own truth.

It will lead you to the things you love.

}

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