Sons of Anarchy Season 7: Episode 7- “Greensleeves”
Sons of Anarchy Season 7: Episode 8- “The Separation of Crows”
Sons of Anarchy Season 7: Episode 9- “What a Piece of Work Man Is”
Sons of Anarchy Season 7: Episode 10- “Faith & Despondency”

goggins
Goggins: Best tits on TV.

I’ve been struggling to get through the last few episodes of this goddamn brutal (not in a good way) overlong season of Sons of Anarchy. When I first decided to tackle this mission to watch SOA in “real time” I never once thought it’d be so bad that I would want to give up and get mowed down in a poorly executed, overly contrived shoot out.

The biggest take away from watching these four episodes is how everything just bleeds together. One could say this is a sign of seamless storytelling, but I call it a sloppy piece of fiction. For example, I give you the dearly departed Bobby. It took three episodes for Bobby to get a bullet in his head, THREE FUCKING EPISODES. When he was kidnapped at the tail-end of  “Greensleeves” I actually thought he was dead right then and there, killed off-screen (a rarity for SOA I know, but felt it would have been appropriate for the box reveal) and gifted to Jax & Co. by August Mark’s main henchman. That moment of bravado was quickly dissipated when it was revealed to be Bobby’s eye. WHY? I know, I know— As a bargaining tool to use against SAMCRO. But in the narrative Bobby has served no purpose this entire season (arguably longer than that) and killing off a major character in such a dismissive way would have been a bold decision, especially considering the Sons have been murdering people by the truckloads this year with no loss on their end (except for an anonymous SAMCRO goon, and uh… Tara).

Three episodes of wheel spinning. The same wheel spinning also applies to our boy Juice, who (off-screen) made a deal with Jax to get his cut back, as long as he got locked up and put into play to murder Lin. Of course this is all leading to a double-cross of some kind, but Sweet Christ is this shit tedious. The way this season has gone, it would have been more beneficial to have a miniseries event (four two hour episodes) serving as an epilogue to seasons six, which seems now more than ever a true “end” to the series with the tragic murder of Tara and the end of Clay at Jax’s hands. S7 just hasn’t had enough story to fill out a 13 episode, extended length series.

The one interesting piece of business this year was the implosion of the Sons of Anarchy charters, with Jury eating a bullet at the hands of Jax, resulting in the other charters second guessing the holier-than-thou Jax Teller. I wish Jury had lasted longer, but with only three episodes left I have a bad feeling this story will be sidestepped to allow Chibs and Jax to smoke some cigs on the roof while pontificating.

Three eps down and three left to go. That being said Jax has finally learned that Gemma murdered Tara all thanks to the convoluted set up laid out in “Faith & Despondency”. Abel has turned on Grandma, and really I’m just glad it’s out and in the open. PLOT ADVANCES .001%.

STUFF:

  • I was wrong about Officer Jarry (Annabeth Gish), that’s for sure. No mole or plant here, just another fucked up law individual entranced by the outlaw nature of SAMCRO. I’m all for Chibs getting some, but this has been superfluous and clearly just an avatar for Chibs to avenge when she’s inevitably mowed down in gunfire.
  • August Mark’s ex-Navy Seal henchman sure walked into SAMCRO’s trap awful easily. It was a visceral thrill to see the club exact revenge on Bobby’s killer, but other than that this entire scene was ridiculous.
  • For a brief moment in “Faith & Despondency” I believed Unser was going to eat a bullet courtesy of the Nazi Supremacist. I then realized that he had to figure out Gemma’s entire plan, including Juice’s betrayal, moments before getting caught in a hail of bullets inadvertently from the Sons. Tragedy, and all that jazz.
  • Wish I had something interesting to say about Wendy, but her vibrator scene was probably her best character moment yet this season.
  • Marilyn Manson butt-fucks Juice. Pretty much some things up from where I’m sitting.
  • Everyone seemed to realize how awful the Anarchy Afterword show was, replacing the awful Chris Franjola with the equally awful replacement host… Kurt Sutter. Oops. Kurt, stick to your day job! Wait… Don’t. “THIS IS LIVE TV, PEOPLE!” Seriously, watching this (and don’t get me started on how SOA bundles Afterword on the DVR, forcing this onto my television) makes you truly appreciate the talent Chris Hardwick has to make a recap show entertaining.
  • Abel has had great timing with overhearing Gemma reveal her misdeeds. For someone who has been so good with keeping secrets over the years (John Teller, I’m looking at you) she has really lost a step. This woman really needed Clay to play off of.
  • Nero continuously talking about the farm. Buying it and moving on from Charming. Buying the farm. Very subtle Mr. Sutter. The only thing subtler would be buying his new boat the “LIVE-4-EVER” one day before his retirement.
  • Tig and Venus is a great story line on another show. What I’m saying is I’d watch a spinoff of these two riding cross-country, going on adventures, and solving crimes. .

I promise I will do my very best to get through the entire episode tomorrow and get a review up as soon as possible. I know everyone’s desperately waiting for my jilted opinion!

With my Leave of Absence from work earlier this year, I began devouring TV shows and movies on Netflix by the pound, powering through series upon series until I was all caught up with each individual selection. I originally did this when the 5th and final season of Breaking Bad was about to premiere, and sitting through all four seasons on Netflix was like a religious experience for me at the time , and made me realize what I was missing out on. I soon realized binge watching doesn’t always turn out to be so enlightening, but as a completest I always feel the need to finish what I’ve started.