Sons of Anarchy: Season One – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

sonsofanarchy1

It really seems in the last few years that a bit of vacuum has started to open up at the top of the food chain when it comes to really badass TV series. Sure, 24 is still on the air, but the last few years have seen the end of several shows that helped to start the current revolution that allowed Television to really compete with movies in the areas of drama and violence. Examples such as The Sopranos,The Wire, Deadwood,Rome and The Shield, all broke down barriers that many series get the benefit of today, and yet the grittiness that all those shows brought is seen very little on most networks these days. Thankfully, there’s a still series like Sons of Anarchy on TV; a place that manages to give a home to the type of wayward antiheroes we don’t see as much of anymore.

Now to many, the show’s premise may seem a little too grindhouse to be able to take seriously, but watching this series episode to episode, this saga of bikers and gun running goes from guilty pleasure to legitimately great pretty quickly. By the end of the season, you get a story filled with tension that may not come close to the best of the series I named above, but one that can definitely stand on its own, leaving the possibility for the future of Sons of Anarchy wide open. It might be the outlaws, leather jackets and the biker babes that get you in the door, but you stay there because you end up caring about these people by the time it’s all said and done.

Standing with much of the weight of the series on his shoulders, Charlie Hunnam (Green Street Hooligans) comes out mostly unscathed in his performance of Jackson “Jax” Teller, the vice president of the long established Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, a man who looks to try and take the group away from its history of violence and crime. In this aspect of his character, Hunnam seems to do his best work, as the conflict in Teller drives a lot of the show’s action. He is in constant conflict with other crew members, and yet is still dedicated to the group as a whole, and that dynamic never seems to get tired throughout the entirety of this first season.

Less successful is the love triangle revolving around Jax, as his ex-wife Wendy (Drea de Matteo) and the prodigal love of his life Tara (Maggie Siff) both vie for his affections. While one of the subplots to come out of this storyline is an exemplary one this season, most of the scenes involving the threesome tend to weigh the show down a bit when compared to the run and gun struggle of the Sons versus other organizations like the street gang the One-Niners, who also appeared in The Shield, and Mexican rivals, The Mayans. That’s not to say that Siff and de Matteo don’t do good work here, but taking this aspect of the series in a different direction next season might improve the show overall.

Not lacking at all are the internal struggles of the gang itself though, and Hunnam gets a lot of help here with the presence of acting heavyweights like Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Katey Sagal. Perlman is no stranger to playing dark characters, and his club leader Clay is hardly any different. The actor shines here as Clay must try to justify his crimes to himself as a necessary evil to support his brothers and his family. Like Tony Soprano and Vic Mackey, this is a character firmly planted in a dark gray area, and that seems to be where he likes it and where Perlman does his best work. Playing people against each other ends up making sure Clay’s powerbase stays strong, and the character is ruthless enough to try and keep it that way. As the show progresses there seems to be only one way this man can go, and there’s no telling just how deep Perlman can be in this role as long as Clay’s world gets darker and darker.

As for Katey Sagal, she ends up with a career highlight as Gemma, wife to Clay and queen of all she surveys, and mother to Jax, struggling to keep her son under her control. In a Hamlet-like dynamic, Jax’s father seems to have died under mysterious and vague circumstances, with Gemma then choosing Clay to complete the classically broken family structure. A more apt comparison to Gemma may even lie with Shakespeare’s most reviled villainess, Lady Macbeth, as she seems to manipulate all around her behind the scenes, trying to get her way by any means necessary. For those that only know Sagal as Peg Bundy on Married…with Children or even as the awesome one-eyed Leela on Futurama, her work here is a revelation and hopefully we get years’ worth of time with Gemma before this show’s run is through.

The rest of the cast is filled with familiar faces and newcomers doing solid work. Standouts such as Mark Boone Jr. as Bobby Elvis and Kim Coates as Tig give legit tough-guy appeal to the members of this gang, and serve up some terrific comic relief, while Ryan Hurst (Remember the Titans) nearly steals the show as Opie, a second generation biker just returned from a five year stint for arson. Dealing with struggles at home and in the gang, Hurst gives a soulful performance that pays off big, and will probably continue to do so in the coming year. Trying to decide whether to give his life to the Sons is a struggle mirrored by Jackson, and the results are shocking and absolutely the best this show has to offer.

So while this show never seems to skimp on action or excitement as it explores this world of the biker gang, don’t expect it to be all shootouts and drunken revelry. While there are plenty of both on this series, it’s a very basic example of family drama that manages to keep Sons of Anarchy riveting and above the sensationalistic campiness that the show could fall into. While there is still a lot of room for improvement, with The Shield and The Sopranos off the air, it’s nice to see a show trying to build a similar kind of legacy of its own.

The show looks pretty terrific with this transfer, with even this non-HD image coming in pretty strong. The DVD never gets too dark or grainy, and is a big improvement over the recent release of the final season of FX’s former crime heavyweight, The Shield. Sound is also solid all the way through and with soundtrack or effects never overtaking dialogue in any way.

The Making Of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Season 1 – This is a decent enough Featurette with a ton of interviews with the cast and crew. Everyone talks about the progression of the story this season and also about the authenticity of the show which is all pretty interesting. This is the deepest of Featurettes, but it’ll do.

The Ink – I really like this one, as it goes into how the tattoos on the show were all picked to try and say something about the individual characters. They also show the process by which the tattoos were put on, which is basically your usual temporary tattoo procedure.

The Bikes – Similar to The Ink, this Featurette goes into how each bike says things about the personality of each character. Pretty neat overall, we get to see the differences between each bike on the show.

Casting ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ – One of the best Featurettes on this set, this one shows some auditions and tells us why each actor was cast.

Deleted Scenes

Anarchy On The Set – This is a highlight/gag reel and pretty effective overall.

Commentaries – You get some great commentaries on this set. You get the tracks on three different episodes and they’re all group commentaries where tons of actors and crew are in the room at the same time. Really insightful and funny, these are some of the best TV commentaries I’ve heard.


So I was expecting some fun to be had with Sons of Anarchy, but I wasn’t expecting just how terrific this show really was. Going places I didn’t expect, this season really surprised me with its intensity and great characters. This set isn’t too bad with extras either, making this is a definite recommendation.



20th Century Fox presents Sons of Anarchy: Season One. Created by: Kurt Sutter. Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, and Ron Perlman. Running time: 594 Mins. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: August 18, 2009. Available at Amazon.com

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.