Wednesday, September 16, 2009

TV 'n Stuff

Reader, tonight I watched one episode of the newish FX motorcycle club drama, Sons of Anarchy. I'm not sure that it will be a keeper but I was delighted to see two actors I liked very much from two of my very favorite shows, Mad Men and Deadwood.

Maggie Siff, who played department store heiress Rachel Menken on Mad Men:



And Dayton Callie, who played the wonderful Charlie Utter on Deadwood:



Interestingly, the show also has lots of parallels to The Sopranos. Maggie Siff's character Tara's struggles with learning just how elbow deep in crime her lover Jax really is. Katey Sagal's (formerly Peg Bundy) advice to her, "You love the man. You learn to love the club" had such a Carmela vibe.

So far neither the writing nor the characters of Sons comes close to their earlier shows, but it's great to see these actors again. Who knows, it could get better. Hulu will have episodes up eight days after air date for three weeks.

California people might be a bit more interested; the show takes place in the town of Charming, which I think is supposed to be Stockton, and features all kinds of Bay area references.

5 comments:

jdub said...

Did you watch season 1? This is my new favorite show (I loved the Shield and one of the writers is from the Shield).

This is a total ripoff of Hamlet (intentional), right down to some of the names. Stepfather/King Claudius/Clay, mother Gemma/Gertrude. Hints in Season 1 that Jax's father John didn't die of an accident.

Professional Critic said...

No, I haven't seen Season 1 yet. This could explain why I'm pretty confused about ... everything. What happened to Donna?

jdub said...

2 last parallels: Opie could be a reference to Ophelia (could be a stretch) and SAMCRO is at war with the Nords (Darby's aryan group), which reflects Denmark's war with Norway in Hamlet.

In Season 1, ATF set up Opie to look like a rat, Clay took the bait, and Tig went out to kill Opie. Opie and Donna had switched cars and Tig killed Donna, making it look like a driveby.

Rent Season 1 and watch it. I'd even start Tivo'ing this season and watch last season first. There is some depth to this show, and it's worth it to catch it from the beginning.

My one gripe is too much naked Jax.

Professional Critic said...

Thanks for the recap, jdub. I'll try to catch up.

No complaints about naked Jax here, though. But--the relationship with Tara? Not buying it. Perhaps Season 1 will convince.

jdub said...

it does. Tara is Jax's HS sweetheart, went off, etc. Don't want to give too much away.

Drea De Matteo as Jax's meth-head ex-wife (Abel's mother) is fantastic.