“Clay is like a wounded animal. He’s gonna rip apart anything that gets too close.” – Unser
Comparing a TV show/movie/book to a “roller coaster ride” is pretty cliche, I know. But in the case of this season of Sons of Anarchy, I think the metaphor is actually appropriate. Sons Of Anarchy isn’t like a roller coaster ride, it’s like the coaster itself. It’s big, powerful, noisy. It’s tense, nerve-racking, exciting. But if you keep your eyes open you can see the track in front of you. Pay attention and you can sense the next drop coming around the bend.
Perhaps a more apt analogy for recent arcs on Sons of Anarchy would be a quarterback with a rocket-arm, but a limited ability to read defenses. To channel my inner-Gruden, Sons of Anarchy is “telegraphing its passes.” Sure, Sutter is launching 60-yard frozen ropes, but he’s “staring his receivers down and not looking the defenders off with his eyes.”
All of this preamble is basically to say that I don’t have a problem with what the show is doing, I just wish it wouldn’t be so obvious about it. Inherently, we as viewers understand that all of our favorite television characters are little more than puppets, just do us the courtesy of at least trying to hide the strings.
Take the events at the end of last night’s “Kiss” for example: Gemma (Katey Sagal) discovers the truth about Clay’s (Ron Perlman) involvement in Piney’s (William Lucking) death. From there, she extrapolates that Tara (Maggie Siff) might be next on his hit list. (Which, of course, she is). In the same breath she begs “You have to promise me you won’t hurt Tara,” she also happens to break down the good doctor’s itinerary for Clay, ensuring that he will be able to spring his trap at just the right moment.
Moments later, Jax (Charlie Hunnam) informs Tara that he will be accompanying her on her trip to Portland. Next week’s episode basically writes itself at this point. Jax and Tara take a trip up to Oregon. Somewhere along the way, they are ambushed by Galindo assassins. Jax survives, but Tara most likely, bites the dust. Or maybe Tara survives as well. It doesn’t matter either way. Jax will put two and two together and he will be forced to take down Clay once and for all. The only question that remains is whether or not Clay makes it to the Season Four finale alive. My money is on “Yes”, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jax kills him next week.
Speaking of Jax killing Clay, I’m curious to know how people are responding to this (sort of) new “Evil Clay.” Granted, Clay has been straddling the line between hero and villain for pretty much the entire run of Sons of Anarchy, but it wasn’t until very recently that he has crossed over into full-blown heel territory. After the murder of Piney and the hit on Tara, there is no arguing the fact that Clay is this season’s “big bad.” And believe it or not, I’m actually all for this. Sons Of Anarchy hasn’t really had an interesting villain since Zobelle (Adam Arkin) and Weston (Henry Rollins). What do you guys think about the writers’ decision to have Clay fully “break bad” this season?
Some stats and info about Sons of Anarchy, “Kiss”
TV SHOW – Sons of Anarchy
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 9
AIRED ON – November 1st, 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.