“I’ve given my whole life for this club, I don’t wanna walk away with nothing.” – Clay
The Sons of Anarchy universe has an interesting way of dealing with the concept of race. At the center, of course, is SAMCRO, a white biker gang. But orbiting around the Sons is a regular Rainbow Coalition of underworld actors. There are The Niners, an inner-city black gang; the Mayans, a Latino biker gang; the Wahewah Tribe, a group of Native Americans who manufacture ammunition on behalf of the Sons; the Irish and all of their various factions; Russian organized crime, and now the Mexican cartel. The Sons’ alliances with these various groups are constantly shifting – which has much more do to with necessity and convenience that it does with ethnicity – but there is always this underlying current of distrust for people unlike yourself.
In Charming, the people you think are your friends (i.e. the Irish and the Russians) can quickly become your mortal enemies. And the people you’ve battled against for years (The Mayans) could turn out to be your only hope of survival. In “Booster”, we learn that Alvarez (Emilio Rivera) was the one responsible for brokering a (short-lived) prison-truce between SAMCRO and the Russians that saved everyone but Jax from being shanked in the yard. Alvarez also brokered a deal between Clay (Ron Perlman) and the Mexican drug cartel. The Sons will supply the cartel with weapons from the IRA in exchange for cash and protection for Russian retaliation.
But there’s a twist: The cartel also wants the Sons to act as couriers in their cocaine business. No big deal, right? Wrong. SAMCRO as an organization has never stooped to the level of drug dealing. But Clay knows his clock is ticking, he needs a big payday, and fast. And the source of that payday is in drugs. Clay knows the only way the others will agree to the coke deal is if Jax (Charlie Hunnam) backs him. And the only way Jax will agree to support him is if Clay agrees to let Jax walk away from the club. “If I do this, I’m out when you’re out… my out for your drugs.”
As we would expect, not all of the members are happy to have been volunteered for dope-duty; namely the principled old-timers like Bobby (Mark Boone Jr.) and Piney (William Lucking). “Push this through, it kills SAMCRO. I love you, brother. But I love this club more. I’m not going to let it happen,” Bobby tells Clay. To which Clay responds, “I love you too, do what you have to do,” as if he knows Bobby is powerless to stop him.
SAMCRO’s newfound friendship with the cartel pays quick dividends for the club. When Jax and Opie (Ryan Hurst) are ambushed by Russians out for revenge, cartel enforcers lead by Romeo (Danny Trejo) and Santos (Benito Martinez) are on the scene to save the day before Clay and company are even on route. “That’s what friends are for,” Romeo smirks before leaving the Sons to do their worst to the surviving Russians. Saving two ranking members from certain doom is definitely one way to win over the swing-voters within the SAMCRO ranks.
Lingering thoughts on “Booster”:
- I started the review by mentioning Sons of Anarchy in terms of race. Rarely does the show address the issue directly, but it did tonight — although somewhat subtly. In order to show the Sons who’s boss, Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) barges into the club house and takes an ax to the SAMCRO Mug Shot Wall of Fame. But before doing so, he remarks, “No brothers on your wall. What’s up with that?” And he’s right, there are no black members of SAMCRO. In fact, the only “non-white” members of the club are Juice (who, if memory serves, is Puerto Rican) and Happy (I’m not quite sure what ethnicity he is, but he’s a little too tan to be your run-of-the-mill white dude). It’s a pretty well-known fact that biker gangs like the Hells Angels avoid allowing black membership, so I imagine it’s safe to assume SAMCRO is similar. Now if that’s true and SOA is a group that discriminates against certain minorities, does this change the way you feel about Jax, Opie, and the other guys in SOA? Openly rooting for racists is tough. Just ask Michael Richards, something tells me his agent is getting flooded with roles for him these days.
- I noticed a sign hanging in the clubhouse that reads: “Can’t ride, can’t vote.” My understanding of this language is that if a person is unable to ride a motorcycle, they cannot be a part of the crew. Of course this makes sense, given the fact that SOA is a motorcycle club after all. This would explain why Clay’s hand problems would force him into early retirement, which is something I had been trying to make a connection with for a while now.
- Did I miss something in the previous seasons? When did Under becomes SAMCRO’s go to guy for the procurement of transport vehicles?
Some stats and info about Sons of Anarchy, “Booster”
TV SHOW – Sons of Anarchy
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 2
AIRED ON – September 13th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Kurt Sutter
CAST – Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, David Labrava, Jimmy Smits, Drea de Matteo
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.