STACK #129 Jul 2016

DVD & BD

FEATURE

visit www.stack.net.au

UNEASY RIDERS

As Sons of Anarchy speeds towards its final season, Jax Teller and the SAMCRO gang will find their lives and world irrevocably changed.

A s far as biker odysseys go, Sons of Anarchy makes Easy Rider look like a day trip. And given the epic nature of the journey, it’s not surprising that the series has endured more than a few speed bumps over the years, along with the occasional mechanical meltdown – yes, the Irish excursion in season three still rankles. But as with many American drama series, now that the finish line is in sight, creator Kurt Sutter and the rest of the gang have dramatically raised their game. The key to SOA's success lies in its characters. Along with their propensity for violence and illegal, life-threatening activities, the SAMCRO gang are bound by a strong moral code and unbreakable commitment to the club – both of which will be tested to the limits before the seventh and final season. The sixth and penultimate season is one of the strongest – and bloodiest – installments yet,

strived to bring a Shakespearean dimension to this gang of not-always-noble bikers. "I don't want to overplay that but it's there," he has said. "It's not a version of Hamlet but it's definitely influenced by it." So, will SOA's own conflicted prince, Jax Teller, meet a similar fate to Shakespeare's hero? We'll find out in the seventh and final season. "I would say that this is the season coming up where Jax needs to decide," Sutter told The Hollywood Reporter . "There is no more debate. I think it's the season where he's in or out."

[ Sons of Anarchy ] is not a version of Hamlet but it's definitely influenced by it

give up SAMCRO. Meanwhile, Jax (Charlie Hunnam), is still determined to get the gang out of the gun-running business, something that becomes even more of a priority when it’s discovered that a pupil who carried out a high school massacre used a weapon that can be linked to SAMCRO. As well as the regulars, newcomers to the show this season include former RoboCop Peter Weller as a cop-turned-crime boss, Kim Dickens ( Treme ) as a brothel madam, and CCH Pounder ( The Shield ) as an ambitious DA. Sons of Anarchy remains something of a guilty pleasure – the testosterone levels are off the chart and the violence gets progressively more graphic each year – but Sutter has always

and without wanting to spoil the surprises in store, let's just say that a number of the series’ biggest story strands are finally resolved, and two cast members who've been with the show from the very beginning won't be returning for the final season. Moreover, Season Six features the punchiest cliffhanger finale in the series' history. Season Six opens with Clay (Ron Perlman) and Tara (Maggie Siff) both in prison on trumped up murder charges, and under pressure from renegade lawman Toric (Donal Logue) to

• Sons of Anarchy: Season 6 is out July 15

JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

046