For some it might be a very lofty, if not a hyperbole to say it, but Kurt Sutter's show is just that damn good that it's impossible for me to not hold it such high regard. I know if I said that to my dad right now, he'd raise an eyebrow and try to call me on a bluff. Though if you are familiar with this blog, you will know that I've said nothing but praise for "
Sons Of Anarchy." Yet with the fourth season ending last night, Sutter is no longer on the outside looking in. He's sitting at the table with David Simon and Ed Burns (creators of "
The Wire") along with J.J. Abrams (creator of "
Lost"), and did so by kicking in the door with one of the best single-season journeys of any television show I've seen.
While the show may never be discussed in a sociology class the way "
The Wire" has been. Those that have tuned into "
Sons Of Anarchy" are seeing something very good and we have to credit the mad genius creator responsible for it.
Sutter recently
wrote in his blog about the now standard (or as he calls it, cunty) protocol that comes with covering television shows. The demand for instant coverage moments after, if not hell maybe as the show is going on in a live commentary manner takes away from the creative process. Yet this is the way in which media operates and along with the archaic system of ratings, determines if show lives or dies. I don't like the system and I agree with Sutter that it's still a necessary evil. At the same time, it's the instantaneous demand of covering a television once the credits roll that I know for myself I could never do. Make fun of me if you want, but I'd rather watch an episode of a television show that I enjoy greatly, from start to finish and sit back and absorb what I just saw. Let it sit in my mind and recover from whatever emotions I experienced as the story unfolded. This is what Sutter has done with "
Sons Of Anarchy," with specifics to this season as there was plenty to be happy about (Jax playing with his boys), to feel rotten and sick to your stomach (Juice's identity crisis, and the whole of the episode titled "
Hands"), and the anxious curiousness about what is going to happen next (who is exactly Lincoln Potter and at the same time I'm scared of him). In fact, the element of fear was often discussed between me and fellow fan of Sutter, Shane Charleson (creator/editor of the blog
Film A Day) in which the fourth season offered a lot of characters to fear. The aforementioned Lincoln Potter, the emergence of Tara into the very definition of the saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn." There was also the Juggernaut-like rage of Opie, and of course there was Danny Trejo being well, Danny Trejo.
The other telling aspect about the fourth season that Shane and I discussed and agreed with on multiple occasions was that not one episode felt like it was a filler episode. If there's one thing anyone can take from Sutter's blog posts and tweets (to which I can also assume is how he is if you spoke to him face to face) is that he is direct and right to the point. No bullshiting around. It sure carried on with every episode this season as he might have very well written an updated guidebook on plot advancement that a lot of television shows could use to spend a night reading. Someone might at this point jump and scream how could I say this and at the same time call the show the new "
The Wire." Here's the thing. "
The Wire" was meant to be slow and methodical because it was a detective saga. Creators Simon and Burns designed it that way so for once we the viewers would have a realistic portrayal of detectives doing their job as opposed to something being neatly wrapped up in one hour. "
Lost" did the same thing, albeit not without some bumps in the road, but Abrams (cannot forget to include Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) still gave us one of the more memorable rides in television history. The way Sutter is telling us a story, he's doing so with adrenaline and he wouldn't dare hit the brakes, to which even then the brake lines would probably be cut. Truth be told, that's what you'd expect from a story centered around a motorcycle gang with a colorful history. The modern day outlaws with their own code isn't told through them sitting around and shooting the breeze. Here in lies another connection "
Sons Of Anarchy" has with "
The Wire" and "
Lost." The characters. All three shows have characters you root for, wish suffering upon and the beauty comes in the fact that it's not always clear cut. There is that proverbial gray area. Sure it's nothing new, but very few television shows have pulled it off to where you walk away remembering it. Half of it is the writing, which credit goes to Sutter and the rest of the writers. The other half goes to the amazing cast, pulling off some incredible performances. It's not just one person taking on the identity of Atlas and carrying the world on their shoulders. It's a genuine, collective ensemble cast doing some of the best work around. Hunnam, Siff, Perlman, Sagal, Rossi, Boone, Jr., Coates, Hurst, Lucking, Callie, LaBrava, and everyone else make the episodes memorable. If there's one thing I think all award shows need, it's a category for ensemble cast. It's for damn sure a category that "
Sons Of Anarchy" need to be nominated for, if not win it.
In last night's season finale, new sheriff of Charming, Eli Roosevelt (played by Rockmond Dunbar, another amazing performance all-season long) says to Juice, "You're a criminal. You do bad shit. And I have to stop you." Then later on Potter closes the scene saying, "The good guys gotta win something." At the same time, do we really know who are the good guys and the bad guys in the "
Sons Of Anarchy" world?
Note: What Roosevelt and Potter said may not have been word for word accurate. Forgive me as I had to draw it up from memory.
This is what Sutter has done in his own style. He will tell you himself he is not striving out to be like "
The Wire." As I write this, he just
posted on his blog about the critics' reaction to the close of the fourth season, hammering in that he is not trying to be like "
The Wire." It's true, he is not. No one can replicate what "
The Wire" did. But as far as giving me something to watch and ultimately end up saying, "Damn that was great." "
The Wire" did that, so did "
Lost." This is what the fourth season did for me, and in general what "
Sons Of Anarchy" has done. So if I were to answer the headline in Sutter's latest post, "What is Sons Of Anarchy?"
Ask me, a fan more ever than a critic, and my answer is it is the best television show around.
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