"Sons of Anarchy" Season Premiere Tonight on FX

Tonight is the premiere of the second season of Sons of Anarchy, an FX series that purports to be a modern rendering of Hamlet set against the backdrop of a biker gang. The show has delighted me not only with its pacing, its intricate plotlines, and its cinematographic merit (the camera work and the soundtrack are both spot-on), but more so with its psychological depth and allusions to everything from Emma Goldman to Shakespeare, an aspect of the show that might escape many but is nonetheless present. I am always impressed with a show that functions on both a high culture and a mass culture level -that is a show that entertains without compromising its artistic integrity.

Sons of Anarchy follows the story of Jackson (Jax) Teller, the second-in-command of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcylce Club, Redwood Original, (SAMCRO, as it is referred to in the series), as he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the club following the birth of his first son. Feeding his doubts is an unpublished manuscript he unearths that contains his father's memoirs of the "rise and fall of SAMCRO," his father having been one of the original founders. Sons of Anarchy, Jax learns, was founded as a quasi-utopian anarchist club in the radical fervor of the '60s and evolved into a criminal enterprise over the years, giving new meaning to the old phrase about every great movement starting up as an idea and ending up as a racket.

Trying to quell Jax's newly-found idealism (and covering up their own secrets) are his mother, Gemma Teller (who could give Lady Macbeth a run for her money) and her new husband, the current president of the club, Clay Morrow. As events progress in the series, Jax becomes increasingly distanced from Clay, offering a competing vision of the club; their differences crystallize in what appears to be the beginning of an inter-club civil war, sparked by Jax assaulting another member of the club in the final episode of Season 1.

What I find most interesting about this show are the various philosophical sub-themes explored. The transformation of SAMCRO from a haven for utopian radicals to a hardboiled crime organization mimicks the fate of all radical movements once their abstract plans run into concrete hurdles (the Jacobins, the Bolsheviks, etc.). There are also meditations on globalism; located in the small town of charming, SAMCRO is allowed to operate unhampered by the local county sheriff's office so long as it keeps both drug dealers and developers off of Charming's territory; banditry becomes a means for the preservation of the integrity of small communities (a reason why so many folk heroes are bandits; one is also reminded of Hobsbawm's primitive revolutionary). Also interesting is the distinction made between outlaws and cirminals; SAMCRO considers itself a band of outlaws, but not, properly speaking criminal, because though it operates outside of the law, it tries to preserve a certain moral integrity (a pirate's code, so to speak).

An entertaining, fast-paced drama replete with literary and socio-political allusions, Sons of Anarchy is a smart man's popcorn movie, Hamlet meets Hell's Angels; tune in.