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Tonight 'Sons of Anarchy' begins at the beginning, lead up to S4 (VIDEO)

By April MacIntyre May 14, 2011, 16:18 GMT

"Sons of Anarchy" is the construct of showrunner Kurt Sutter (The Shield) who also is a player in the SAMCRO fold. As an actor, Sutter shines as the incarcerated Otto Delaney, who shoulders Christ-like burdens for his brothers.

What began as a new drama at FX back in 2008 has turned into a worldwide obsession for so many fans.

"Sons of Anarchy" is the construct of showrunner Kurt Sutter (The Shield) who also is a player in the SAMCRO fold.  As an actor, Sutter shines as the incarcerated Otto Delaney, who shoulders Christ-like burdens for his brothers. 

Otto has lost his eyes in jail over "Sons" related business dealings; he has lost his woman Luann (Dendrie Taylor), murdered over a retaliation from Jax's (Charlie Hunnam) attack on porn King Georgie (Tom Arnold), and his freedom, keeping the coda of silence and not helping law enforcement get any further damning intel on his brothers.  His violent interview with the manipulative Agent June Stahl (Ally Walker), nearly caving her brains in, guaranteed his stay in the big house for a very long time.

There's a lot of character history in the three short years its been on. Now you have an opportunity to watch it from the very beginning, before Abel's birth, before Jax was wizened to his father's real walk (happens in season 3), not just the talk of the famed manuscript he left behind, the one Gemma (Katey Sagal) tried hard to conceal from her son.

Season two was a gut wrenching tour de force, the year Katey Sagal was utterly robbed by the Emmys. Sagal's Gemma endures a horrific assault, and yet we see her character's intelligence prioritize the club's survival over her own hurt, as the crew headed by Ethan Zoebelle (Adam Arkin) is dealt with in a bloody and epic battle.  Gemma emerges as the most compelling female character scripted and portrayed on TV, period.

Season three was the frantic road trip to Ireland to save Jax's son, as it delivered the old secrets and history from the previous seasons, where the talk of "the Irish" now has vivid context. 

We see and now understand the depths of Gemma's hurt masked in her steely poker face.  And that SAMCRO is not just an island unto itself in California. 

Jax has a complete shift in his outlook for the club. The villain of season one, white supremacist Darby (Mitch Pileggi) has a subtle change of heart, spurred by injuries in the Cara Cara warehouse fire and the death of boxing gym owner Lumpy Feldstein (Michael Fairman), a Jew, who he cared for. 

The guest stars have been remarkable and will continue to be so, as we know Danny Trejo is slated for season four. We hope to see Georgie Caruso and Ethan Zoebelle once again, as they are lurking out there, somewhere. Author Stephen King's quirky turn as a cleaner of sorts too was exceptional; he was perfectly cast as Tig's (Kim Coates) problem solver.  The scenes with Gemma's father Nate (Hal Holbrook) were real, beautiful, tragic and deeply moving.  Punk, poet and actor Henry Rollins as the neo Nazi Weston was spot on and fierce.

And Chucky (Michael Marisi Ornstein), the role that could have been a side note has morphed into one of the most interesting cast regulars. "I accept that" is now part of the SOA vernacular. He throws this macho testosterone world of bikers off-kilter, keeping them guessing, and amused. Chucky has earned his way into the brotherhood through his loyalty.

FX has announced that in anticipation of season 4, all three past seasons will begin airing Saturday May 14, late nights from 11PM-2 AM on FX.

Fans of the show defy demographics. They are young, old, black, Hispanic, Asian, white, academics, bikers, blue collar, industry players, male and female.  Kurt Sutter has also established a youtube channel for the diehards to go and gather more insight for the show that counts fanclubs in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and all over the States. 

So, you know what I'll be doing tonight.