Sons of Anarchy

While Sons of Anarchy made a splash this week by killing off a major character, a real-life tragedy involving one of the series’ former cast members has emerged. TMZ reports that Johnny Lewis, who played Halfsack — a character who was killed off in Season 2 — was found dead Wednesday in the driveway of a Los Feliz, Calif., where he apparently fell to his death. Inside the home, an 81-year-old woman was found beaten to death. Lewis is believed to have been on either PCP or meth before attacking the woman. Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter tweeted about […]

I totally thought it was going to be Chibs. Oh, by the way, SPOILER ALERT!!! But hey this is a recap, so that should go without saying. Anyway, when murmurs got loud that the new episode of Sons of Anarchy would include the death of a major character, one logically starts looking at which actors have other projects going on. That road led nowhere, so then it became a matter of deductive reasoning. It was likely to be one of the four Sons to head to prison: Jax, Opie, Tig and Chibs. Cross Jax off right away, because duh. Opie […]

It’s hard to imagine topping the emotional peak from last week’s season premiere, when Tig saw his troubled daughter Dawn burned alive right in front of him. Never was there a more literal embodiment of the sins of the father being visited upon his child. This blood feud between Tig and Pope, two men who had never before met but were now responsible for killing each other’s daughters, made all that Jax and Clay business seem like a couple of pikers fighting over scraps. So consider “Vested Authority” a bit of a breather, letting the audience calm down after enduring […]

Henry Rollins, Danny Trejo, Mitch Pileggi, Chuck Zito … these are the sort of tough guys you expect to see turning up on a show like Sons of Anarchy. The relentless, take-no-prisoners biker drama traffics heavily in R-rated-levels of sex, violence and profanity, so there is always a healthy amount of sweaty machismo on display. But what makes SOA exceptional is its ability to surprise. When it was announced that guest stars for the upcoming Season 5 would include Community funny man Joel McHale (as a con artist) and High School Musical alum Ashley Tisdale (as a high-priced hooker), viewers […]

By Stacey Harrison Follow @ChannelGuideSRH One of the many bright spots on this season of Sons of Anarchy has been the addition of Rockmond Dunbar as Deputy Sheriff Eli Roosevelt, a cop determined to take down SAMCRO, but who is not willing to break his principles to do it. It’s left his character caught in the middle between the criminals he’s trying to bring to justice, and the ruthless methods used by a federal attorney (Ray McKinnon) that put making the case above — far above — personal integrity. Roosevelt is perfectly willing to go into SAMCRO’s clubhouse and bust […]

I get sent a lot of screeners here at the office, a fact I bring up not merely to brag (OK, maybe just a little) but to stress how much of an event it is when I receive something I was actually looking forward to. Think of it as a handwritten note from an old friend amid a sea of junk mail. The new season of Sons of Anarchy is like that. The second I get it, I pop it in the computer and catch up with the foulmouthed, violent and infinitely compelling adventures of SAMCRO, a ruthless California biker […]

By Stacey Harrison The title of the season finale is an Irish term for “the troubles,” referring to the longstanding ethno-political conflicts that plagued the two Irelands and England through much of the latter half of the 20th century. In other words, brace yourself. This Chinese box of a wrap-up may have one too many coincidences and contrivances, but I’ll be damned if you’re not too busy picking your jaw up off the floor to get too upset. There is no cheating here — blood is frequently, shockingly, spilled — and it all ends with one of the more shocking […]

By Stacey Harrison The penultimate episode this season is one long call to battle, with the opening musical montage consisting of the West Coast chapters of SAMCRO coming together to assemble a task force to fight Zobelle and The League, while the old ladies — yes, Tara included — stand by their men to the plaintive swoon of “Someday Never Comes.” It’s all headed toward an epic throwdown between the Sons and Weston’s faction of The League, all orchestrated by a united Jax and Clay fully in control of their dispute with the neo-Nazis for the first time. They tell […]

By Stacey Harrison You always knew Opie would find out. But what would he do about it? Would he do what most of us believe we would do, and quit the group that sanctioned and carried out his wife’s murder? As each character in this show can attest, the ties to SAMCRO run deep, and not even Donna’s death can come between Opie and his gang. Maybe it has something to do with how he found out. Having Tig break down out of guilt — which was compounded by a near-miss sexual encounter with Gemma that really came out of […]