A very entertaining (but unnecessary?) hour.
One of the clear advantages that cable channels hold over their network counterparts when it comes to serialized dramas is the length of their respective seasons. Generally, cable show seasons run 13 episodes (or in the case of The Sopranos, however many damn episodes David Chase felt like), while network seasons are in the neighborhood of 24 episodes. Episodes of good cable dramas are often described as mini movies. The shorter season allows writers to create tight, concise story arcs without the burden of having to stall and stretch plots. That said, sometimes cable shows (even excellent ones, which SOA certainly qualifies as) get caught spinning their wheels. For the most part, “Home” is a very entertaining but ultimately unnecessary hour. There is really no good reason why the plot points that “Home” revealed could not have been included in last week’s episode.
While the Abel kidnapping is certainly compelling in a tug-on-your-heartstrings kind of way, I really hope they find a way to wrap it up sooner rather than later. SOA works best when plot stays close to its “Hamlet with Harleys” framework. The most compelling stuff has always been the struggle between Jax and Clay for the hearts and minds of SAMCRO and Charming in general.
There was really no need for the whole “road trip to Canada” ruse, as everyone knew the crew was going to be making a trans-Atlantic voyage at some point this season. I’m glad it looks like we are finally heading to Belfast. We got a bit more clarification this week on the specific of the situation in Ireland. If I’m interpreting everything correctly (and given the accents, accurate interpretation is a legitimate concern) Father Ashby and Jimmy O are on opposite sides of a power struggle within the IRA. Now, I am not an expert on the history of the Emerald Isle or its current internal politics, but from what I can surmise the faction represented by the priest is the “real” IRA – the “freedom fighters” that are still committed to fighting Loyalists. Jimmy O’s (Titus Welliver) group is made of more gangsters than soldiers, people more interested in smuggling guns and making cash than independence.
In the interest of good business, Jimmy wants Father Ashby (James Cosmo) to return Abel so the gun pipeline to California remains open. What he doesn’t realize is that the priest plans to use the baby as a bargaining chip to entice SAMCRO to pressure the Belfast SOA chapter to side with him against Jimmy. This is an extremely interesting development, but I wonder how the momentum of the other stories (the upcoming election, Gemma and Stahl, etc.) will be affected as Jax and much of the action get further away from Charming.
The Gemma and Jax (Charlie Hunnam) stuff in “Home” was great and Katey Sagal continues to prove that hers was by far the biggest snub from this year’s Emmys. But again, we didn’t learn much we didn’t already know about her character. Yes, we know she loves her family and would bear any burden to keep them safe (including having them put into nursing homes and turning herself into Stahl to be closer to them). Yes, we know she has been a bit off her rocker since the rape (and possibly before it). Yes, we know she carries with her some sort of resentment towards her late mother. And yes, Jax is furious at the Irish for taking his son and at himself for putting the people that he loves in danger with his lifestyle. We don’t have to see Jax punch the sidewall of a panel-van to remind us.
To Sons of Anarchy’s credit, these scenes, while somewhat redundant, were fabulously written and performed. Charlie Hunnam nails it in the scene when Tara tells Jax that she plans to accompany him to Canada, prompting him to explode, “You wanna be an old lady?! Act like one, do as you’re told.” Tara (Maggie Siff) trumps him by spilling the beans about Amelia’s death then breaks down when Gemma asks her to stay in Charming to take care of Abel. The tension in this scene was ratcheted up to a level beyond excruciating as I waited for the inevitable moment when Tara could no longer keep the kidnapping from Gemma. And then the moment never arrived. It was actually brilliant that way.
It’s just a shame that that brilliance was paired with one of the crappier “B plots” of the series. Sure, don’t get me wrong, I loved watching Bobby and Piney shoot it out with a couple of tweaker stick-up artists, but the whole exercise was basically pointless. Again, it was just a way for the show to emphasize something that fans already knew. (I wonder if Kurt Sutter and company felt like they might get a new audience this season who might not be familiar with the nuances of the show, so they figured they would remind us?) The writers pretty much slapped us in the face and called us “morons” when Piney tells one of the robbers, “We’re the good guys.” Yeah guys, we know, that’s why we root for SAMCRO. It would have made more sense if the lady prescription dealer they were protecting was a Charming resident, that way they would have at least been able to partially repair the club’s reputation around town. But she didn’t even live in Charming!
Let’s talk briefly about the final scene. Gemma gets a call from Maureen Ashby (a call that should have been made in the final scene last week, but at this point I’m beating a dead horse and I’ll stop now) and finally learns of Abel’s abduction. She collapses as soon as the meaning of the words sink in. Is it a heart attack or do we think she is having a Tony Soprano/Don Draper-type panic attack moment? Am I seeing things or did the camera kind of focus on vertical scar between Sagal’s breasts as the episode ended? Somebody remind me, have we ever had an explanation for the scar? It has been there for the whole series and she even gestures towards it during the open credits sequence. I always assumed (and I’m not really sure why I assumed this) it was from a past breast cancer surgery. Did I miss something in one of the prior seasons about a history of heart problems?
More thoughts on “Home”:
- We get a shot of baby Abel in what appeared to be an Irish orphanage. In the background is a woman behind a desk counting a fistful of cash. That can’t be good, right?
Some stats and info about Sons of Anarchy, “Home”
TV SHOW – Sons of Anarchy
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 4
AIRED ON – September 28th, 2010
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.