What I’m Watching: Sons of Anarchy

Sons of Anarchy: Season 3, Episode 10 “Firinne” (B+)

Even with all the bad guys that the members of SAMCRO have done and do each episode, it’s still jarring to see them execute people point-blank. I can’t decide which is more shocking: Jax shooting a bloody and tortured Liam in the head or Clay pushing McGee off a roof. I’d probably have to go with the latter since it’s such an emotional, heartbreaking goodbye. I’m especially impressed that this show managed to handle an incest scare in a mature and dramatic fashion while infusing an appropriate amount of extremely dry humor into it. These biker old ladies really know how to put the fear in their underlings. While Gemma may prefer smacking Cherry across the face with a skateboard, Maureen’s methods seem to be just as terrifying and terrifyingly effective (nearly as fearsome as what the men in the club have done to their own resident traitor). This was a good episode for terror, since Jax managed to frighten Father Ashby enough for him to hand over the location of Abel. Back in the United States, it’s interesting to see the stragglers – Piney, Tig, and Kozik – try to handle Tara’s kidnapping without involving the Belfast boys. I won’t soon forget the sight of Alvarez with his baby in one hand and a gun in the other, and he’s got quite the protective wife himself. Three more episodes left in this season, and we haven’t even dealt with the problem of Jimmy. There’s still more time for things to get even more violent.