Smallscreen News

'Sons of Anarchy' begins: The sins of the fathers writ large, thoughts

By April MacIntyre Sep 11, 2012, 14:59 GMT

Katey Sagal\'s character Gemma is the matriarch and resident SAMCRO Svengali with sex appeal who has redefined sexuality for women 50 and older, and blazed a memorable female character unequaled on the smallscreen.

Spoiler free zone - Tune in tonight, Sept. 11 on FX 

Years ago, I wrote that showrunner Kurt Sutter knew his wife's acting capabilities, and wrote her a gift of a lifetime, the role of Gemma Teller Morrow.

Katey Sagal's character Gemma is the matriarch and resident SAMCRO Svengali with sex appeal who has redefined the alluring charms of women 50 and older, and blazed a memorable female character unequaled on the smallscreen.

Gemma is hot, and her sexual energy burns her brighter than ever this season, perfectly paired with Jimmy Smits character Nero Padilla - no spring chicken himself - who is drawn to her like a moth to her flame. There's chemistry there.

Mama is back tonight, and her stamp and sway on son Jax trumps wife Tara (Maggie Sif) still as tonight's premiere of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ reveals for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Pray for Tig (Kim Coates).

Sutter’s epic tale of an outlaw California motorcycle club launches its fifth season Tuesday with double the heat from the season previous, and it burns us so very badly tonight in what I can only describe as a gut punch from Hell.

As many of you already know, club leader Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) is a sickly broken man, love has left him and he waits, and tries to do what he does best, manipulate the truth.

Tara (Maggie Siff), the wife of his son Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is seething, sorrowful and seeking her place in the female hierarchy. Siff's Tara is complex and cryptic, and she has never looked better.

Jax (Charlie Hunnam) continues to be the young male epicenter of this potboiler, his acting has been honed like a diamond, and he can eat up the scenes as he balances the truth he knows from the club politics he must manage.

Sutter and the cast were at the TCA's this summer, and he spoke of his gift of knowing the end of days from FX, a season 6 and 7 to wrap up this bloody epic and that he is writing towards a climatic end to what we have come to know and love - family, fidelity and fucked-up incomprehensible shit that has left a mark on us all.

Hard act to follow, but the ride has been rollicking fun.