'Sons of Anarchy' Season 6, Episode 1 Review and Recap: 'Straw'
"Sons of Anarchy" is back and as cheerful as ever! Well, if you think cheerful is a good word to describe rape, torture porn and drowning topped off with a school shooting. Yes, Kurt Sutter's motorcycle drama is back but it managed to pull off one of the most violent and disturbing episodes in the history of the show. While the violence in general on this show has never been a problem for me, some of the repetitive violence, such as women getting beaten to a pulp, can be hard to take in.
What most "SOA" viewers are probably talking about today is that school shooting. Those who had heard about Sutter's preview of the premiere knew that something of this magnitude was likely to happen at the end of the episode. The scenes with the 10-year-old boy (maybe) walking across town throughout the episode was obviously foreshadowing something terrible. Once the boy pulled a machine gun out of his backpack and the camera zeroed in on his disturbing notebook, you knew what was about to transpire. I'm glad the show decided to not make the scene gratuitous, as the blood spatter on the windows and the multiple shots fired was enough to take in.
I'll admit that I don't follow "SOA" as closely as other shows, so I didn't put together the connection to the boy and SAMCRO until this morning. Those who were paying attention know that this shooting equals a big, big problem for Jax and co. The boy happened to be the son of Nero's cousin Primo's old lady, and that machine gun? Property of Nero's crew which was once property of SAMCRO. Yup, we have 12 episodes left this season and things are already looking grim.
The school shooting aside, there was a lot of other violence throughout the episode. Lyla was beaten to a pulp after unknowingly getting herself into an Iranian torture porn project, which led Jax and his crew to confront who they called Persians. Tig ended up drowning one of the bastards in a tub full of urine after he made a comment about raping his daughter, who as you well know was burned alive last season. The point of this Iranian gang ultimately was to open up new business opportunities for Jax and Co., in the form of a crooked cop (Pete Weller) and the call girl business, led by the lovely actress Kim Dickens ("Treme," "Lost"). For those that are having any doubt about Charlie Hunnam's "Fifty Shades of Grey" performance, the final scene where he's having sex with Dickens's Collette should prove he's up for the challenge. Also, he's already cheating on Tara who's only been in jail for a week.
Otto was the one who was getting raped in this episode, in a highly disturbing visual that portrayed our resident jailbird as someone who didn't even seem human anymore. His torture is at the hands of Lee, who is turning out to be one crazy villain. He's still on a bout of vengeance about his sister's death at the hands of Otto and Tara (who he turned in to the cops), and his ultimate goal is to take down SAMCRO. His way of doing this? Clay Morrow, who has decided to rat. There was so much story happening in this hour-plus premiere that it's hard to get it all in, but I will say it's ironic that Gemma was the only one who's getting what she wants. Tara and Clay are locked up, Wendy says she'll never sign to be a guardian of Abel and Thomas, and her relationship with Nero is on the upside for now.
Skid marks
- Bobby has moved to another club for now and Juice may get back in the club's good graces, but only if he takes a much-deserved beating from Chibs.
- Tara is also picking fights after an inmate stole her blanket. She's slowly but surely turning into Gemma. She also refuses to have Jax attend her hearing, for reasons. And when did she have time to get a haircut?
- Lee likes to insert heroin (?). Someone tell me what that scene was supposed to mean. Is it supposed to mean he has a drug addiction which may lead to his own downfall?
- Unser's new nickname is Uncle Touchy.
- "You just touched my tit. Don't call me ma'am."
- "Persia hasn't been a country since 637 AD. They're called Iranians."
- "You're a stupid whore."
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