DJariya

Episode 10 of 13


Yes, it's 150 minutes tonight. Most likely 30-45 minutes will be devoted to Anarchy Afterword. Kurt Sutter, Charlie Hunnam, Tommy Flanigan and Kim Coates are scheduled to appear tonight.

TGM

limping along..............

wirefan

The repeat shows are showing up as 96 minutes. Which leads me to believe Sutter is now supersizing the aftershow; either they are stuffing extra commercials in on the first airing or the after show is nearly 1 hour! (hasn't it been about 30min in the past?) I guess it's hard to go through all the intricate plot development with a mere 30min aftershow!

I wonder if another member dies - these aftershows seem to track with a major character dying.

Brian Gentz

Probably after shows till the bitter end, because next week is 2 1/2 hours also

anomynous

It's finally happening.

dex14

I really liked the scene with Jax, Abel and Wendy at the end... but at the same time I think about all the shit that he did to her and it gets thrown out the window. This whole episode was trying to paint Jax as a good guy, trying to pound that in after weeks of crap to set up for the finale stretch. I just don't buy it.

Another bloated episode with scenes that don't need to be there.

Also, how did they set up that trap? How did they know they would be grabbed and would lead them there?

MikahC

- If I'm church lady, I think twice about going home when Marks will be back on the street in the few days.

- Venus was an amusing character, but I could have done without that whole scene.

- I don't normally mind when entertainment is long as long as it's entertaining. Normally when people say something is too long, it doesn't bother me much. But I actively felt like this episode was just dragging on forever.

- There are only 3 episodes left, so hopefully things come to a head with Gemma. Of course with each episode running as long as a feature length movie, there may still be plenty of time for characters to walk around confused instead of finding out what Gemma did to Tara.

- Jax continues his charmed existence. He inspires more loyalty and trust than anyone with his track record has any right to expect.

HN

Creepy little Wallhammer finally did something useful. That last few minutes was like

wirefan

It is kind of mind boggling how anyone actually listens to and trusts Jax at this point. Every one of his plans are crazy high risk and usually turn out poorly only for him to say "I'm sorry and I love you" and for everyone to forgive and forget and execute the next crazy plan.

I thought the Tig/Venus lovin' was gratuitous, but it turned out to be a key plot point. Them getting it on.... led to the AB finding out about it.... which led to the confrontation between TIG and the AB guy... which led to TIG shooting him in the dick...which led to him confessing the plan to kill the cop... which led to Unser saving the cop. Clean and crisp Sutter storytelling, every detail matters.

Through the one niner guy. He fed the Grim Bastards guy and location to Marks' security guy in the beginning - I assume at Jax's request and the Grim Bastard guy was obviously in on it too. From there it was just "confessing" the setup location. I don't think it was too big a leap (especially for this show) for Jax to assume Marks/his security guy would look to lean on the pastor's family after his arrest and use the one-niners to find out where SOA was stashing them. It did seem like a crazy risk of Rat and the Grimm bastards guy though, a good chance the one niner guy never gets a chance to actually save them and they both end up dead.

Baron Of Hell

Pretty poor season but I liked this episode. That eye hanging out was gross. The entire trap plan was a little over the top but whatever. I liked the kid plot line. The kid can't act but it was still good. Now will Jax believe him or not.

I think they went a little to far with Juice being made a prison B. I think they could have left the last scene out with Mason reading him poems. In fact they could have just left it at the rape scene in the beginning.

Loved the Venus scenes. Always nice to see trans gendered people being treated with some respect.

Don't like how Jax is being played off as a good guy. Don't like how Wendy has forgotten Gemma tried to kill her. Didn't like seeing Jax screwing and then seeing his mom being screwed. Kind of made it seem Jax was having sex with his mom.

Tommy didn't have enough lines. All he did was sit in a highchair while his brother tried to frame him for a crime he didn't commit.

Gemma asked Nero what everybody has asked. Why the hell is he with Gemma. Where the heck is Nero's kid anyway. Gemma probably killed him.

I hope the show continues with the good episodes.

Geofferson

Most of the SoA gang was on Conan last night if anybody caught it. Was pretty funny and Conan's intro was great.

They showed a couple clips from last night's episode which I hadn't watched yet. Gave some stuff away, but at this point I don't much care.

dex14

Brian Gentz

The finale is going to be a 3 hour clip show around the device of Abel telling the cops everything he's seen.

creekdipper

Not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic, but this type of thing drives me crazy...and it happened twice last night.

First, Wayne saves the day only due to the coincidence with the redneck confronting Tig & then blurting out Landon's plan while writhing on the ground. Sloppy storytelling...not to mention the unrealistic "fake-out" shower scene). What sort of hospital allows a patient in a critical care unit to be moved to another room by a civilian (even the ex-police chief)? If the doctors & nurses are aware of the plot, why is everyone walking around in normal fashion? Why hasn't security been alerted? If Wayne hated to shoot the guy, couldn't he have ambushed him & taken him down in the lobby with security personnel (unless he planned to kill him to eliminate any possibility of his implicated SAMCRO)? Again, it's hard to swallow the idea that Wayne can just come into a hospital and move somebody around (unless he hid her in the closet...which means she's not being monitored too closely by the staff).

Second, Marks' main henchman lets Jax's boi hang around where Rat & the Grim Bastard are being kept. This despite forcing him to come along with them when they grabbed the guys and then not letting him go (doing exactly what Jax wanted) despite telling him, "We'll see" when the guy asked if they were good after the location was revealed. Why wouldn't Marks' guy have taken the fellow along with them to the cabin? Of course, the ambush would still have succeeded, but Rat & the G.B. would have paid with their lives. And the trailer bomb was badly telegraphed...for the lead guy to have military/security force training, the whole approach was just crazy (beginning with them piling out & bunching up when they first got there).

I know it's just a show & logic isn't a huge priority with Sutter (recalling all of the magic bikes which can dodge automatic weapons fire from vans traveling a few feet away), but all of these "coincidences" seem forced...just like Gemma's verbal/physical beat-downs of any citizen or public servant who crosses her while managing to stay a free woman. Additonal gripe: the stunt casting of Love & Manson...they're passable (slightly above Zombie Jax), but I'm sure there were a lot of better actors who would work cheaper. Doubt that the ratings increased due to their appearances.

Tried to watch the after-show but got tired of Sutter's incoherent rambling while Hunnam & Flannigan had to sit there waiting for a turn to talk. SOA is entertaining, but Sutter really needs to have his cranium extracted from his lower intestines. He's rumored to be insufferable in his personal dealings with people (and by his own admission, seems to revel in that)...his chats don't do anything to dispel that image.

Did LOVE Hunnam's socks, though. Couldn't find a pic, but maybe this is some of his other wardrobe gear. http://ak1.polyvoreimg.com/cgi/img-s...7bw/size/y.jpg

creekdipper

Yep, it'll take that long to get a few coherent sentences from him.

Best supporting actor last night was Wendy's rabbit.

dex14

I also love how they made a joke about the mass murder of innocent prostitutes, and actually had the characters laugh about it.

creekdipper

Oh, yeah, good catch. We commented about that too during the show.

Ah, can't be too hard on them for that. Common irritation is seeing movies in which characters' best friends/spouses/relatives/colleagues are eaten, squashed, vaporized, dismembered, blown up, shot, etc. and have the survivors joshing around fifteen minutes later at the movie's conclusion. Short term action movie memory loss is a common ailment.

Of course, in SOA last night, you're right in pointing out that they actually made a reference to it & then laughed. Especially a bit callous considering how enraged Jax & the boys were right after the massacre. Time evidently does heal all wounds. A few more sessions with the current skank-of-the-month, and Jax will be joking about how funny the fork looked sticking out of Tara's head. I'm sure that, now that revenge has been extracted, Bobby's missing eyeball & fingers are a grand source of amusement around the clubhouse. Fun times for all!

It's good to be the king.

wirefan

It was sarcasm. Sutter's plotlines are like a Rube Goldberg machine. To get from A to B he goes through about 35 intermediate steps which rely on people not talking to each other, crazy coincidences, general stupidity and a whole lot of things working out perfectly. And he mainly does this to introduce shock scenes, gratuitous violence, and allow his wife to either make some badass comment or act like an emotional wreck to show her acting range.

Even something small like the fork thing was absurd and unnecessary ... he already had cuts on his face and could have just blamed Gemma for those when the teacher asked him.

Or another simple one... They want Lin killed in prison. The Aryans, who seem to be running things, can't just do this? Of course having Juice do this keeps his character alive (despite being a rat, killing a member and betraying Jax) and allows Sutter to give Manson more scenes/airtime and show some more good pison lovin and do stuff like have Juice shove a shiv up his ass after the strip search. I guess it would have been too simple to just have one of Manson's guys kill Lin? At this point I have to wonder if Juice is being kept alive to eventually confirm to Jax what Gemma did.

The plot is just a big convoluted mess and it's hard to believe this is the same guy that did The Shield.

DJariya

Juice taking it in the ass from Marilyn Manson. Tig boning Venus and having regrets the day after.

That opening sequence was interesting. Guess everyone needed to let off a little steam.

I like them bringing the Israeli chick from Gang Related on this. She is pretty cute.

DthRdrX

The Shield had a lot of hands carefully working on it, not just Sutter. I still can't believe they took Shield actors and gang names but didn't keep it in the same universe.

DJariya

Just finished all 2 1/2 hours. A few thoughts.

I actually liked this episode a lot. It was gritty and had some really emotional scenes.

I liked the ambush scene and Jax getting revenge for Bobby. The guy was a fucking psycho, so I was glad that Jax was brutal and showed no mercy.

I also liked the Jax, Abel and Wendy. Just a nice moment between the 3.

at Abel self mutilating himself and then telling Jax "The truth" about Grandma at the end.

Regarding the Tig and Venus scene. I know that type of scene probably makes some of you squirm or uncomfortable. But, I thought it was a really well written and directed scene with some solid acting by Goggins and Coates. It could have come across as really corny or even gross, but I thought Paris Barclay did great work shooting and directing that scene.

Did anyone stay around for the almost 1 hour Anarchy Afterword? Much better than the previous week with that goofy host. Sutter kind of goes off & rambles too much with the self praise, but he was a slightly better moderator.

at how many times they had to cut out some obscenities during the post show.

I enjoyed hearing from Kim Coates and especially Goggins. Goggins got really emotional talking about the show and his character.

creekdipper

Gotcha, wirefan. Totally agree with this & the rest of your spot-on post.

No squirming...more like giggling. Can't get away from the casting of Goggins as Venus. Really like him as an actor (guess we first noticed him in The Apostle) & love him as Shane & Boyd, but this role seemed to start off as a lark when he first appeared, and we can't shake that impression. It doesn't help when they air promos for Justified during the same episodes featuring Venus.

Mind you, we're not giggling at Venus' character...it's just seeing Boyd Crowder dressed in drag. Too soon, maybe...or perhaps it's just the mannerisms from past shows with the over-the-top eyelash-batting. We get the same vibes from some of the hookers/porn girls (you know, all the ones with hearts of gold who are great baby-sitters & homework tutors), but at least they're pretty much all unknowns.

It's the same reason that casting Manson & Love gets in the way of the characterization IMHO (although Goggins is obviously a far better actor). That said, a lot of the SOA cannon fodder members aren't exactly convincing, either...about as convincing as Ben Davidson & the former surfers & bodybuilders cast by John Milius in Conan the Barbarian (but at least that may have been partially to offset Ahnold's deficiencies).

***BTW...Still get a kick out of Peter Dinklage's Emmy acceptance speech in which he acknowledged the other nominees for supporting actor, calling them all his friends (including "Walter" Goggins).

dgmayor

He was a writer and then EP on The Shield. Shawn Ryan created it and was shrowrunner throughout.

Jimmy James

I think you can tell Sutter heard all about the Ryan way of doing things (which was possibly passed from his time on Angel) because the first two seasons were pretty tight and worthy of being called good TV. At that point it appears Sutter's own excesses overran the process and it all went to hell.

slop101

God, Sutter's the worst. It's not so much that his writing is stupid, it's that he thinks his writing is all deep and profound. He's his own biggest fan, which is why the show is so stupid, as he doesn't second guess a thing that comes out of his feeble mind.