Sons of Anarchy, up until this point, had been a flawed, yet oftentimes solid series. Guns, motorcycles, alcohol, smoking, fighting, drama, rock & roll meets biker meets outlaw sort of thing going on, right? This is the style. You'd think perhaps that maybe, after a certain number of episodes, this series would become tiresome or repetitive. Well, I sort of agree but I kind of think it's a bit later in the series that it becomes this - and yet, season three was a much weaker season than that of its predecessors, cuz seasons 1 and 2 were better than 3. How? To me, their pacing, consistency, dialogue, and the writing as a whole. It felt livelier, fresh, intriguing, explosively fun at times, and was true to its thrilling joyride nature. Three is this, but it's just a bit mixed and jumbled, and its inconsistencies are shown, especially the whole back and forth Belfast, Ireland thing. NS, however, is *that* good a finale, you're almost carefree regarding its season's status. NS is a so damn good a finale that in my wholehearted opinion, it may even be better the second time you watch it. It's because the twists, the technical aspects of its decision making and every bit of what's going on, it's so compelling, it's just phenomenal. First time, I was like "woah, wait, what?!" But found myself more calm and collected watching it next time around, taking in everything bit by bit of what's happening and what the story is unfolding. I was listening, unlike on first view so much happens so fast, it is just pure mayhem. I just understood perfectly clear on second viewing, everything from the letters to the 14 months time to the ambush and getting Jimmy (again) and finally getting agent Stahl(?) I think that's their spelling of it, and every little in between from Unser and his badge to Gemma and her tag as she reads the letter before burning it, to Tara reading the letters herself, of course one of the big things is you're led to believe at first that Jax rats on the club, but he obviously didn't, and the little nuances like the motorcycle beeping their horns to confirm their deaths, how Jax is saying mom, if you're reading this, Jimmy and Stahl, they're dead.. it's a more technically written, complex in its execution type of episode - finale - than you would think. Or maybe I'm just slow. Haha. Whatever the case, the writing, dialogue, nuances, twists, action, everything in this episode was utterly enthralling. It was riveting, flawless, explosive, monumental, memorable, versatile, dark, brutal, excellent, magnificent and beautiful, all wrapped into this engaging and truly engrossing finale. If you're looking for the best Sons episode, this probably is the one. Only three episodes come close, they are "Hands"(season 4, episode 10), "Laying Pipe" (season 5, episode 3- heartbreaking episode), or the very last episode, which is "Papa's Goods"(season 7, episode 13). Sure , there are plenty other amazing episodes- most of my favourites are actually beyond season 3 cuz they're mostly of season 4 and 7 (7 sort of redeemed itself from 6, the worst season alongside 3 despite 3 having this masterpiece finale. Season 6 was still good though, but I think 7 was much better.) NS is one of the greatest episodes in TV history, make sure you watch it. Gripping, exhilarating, tremendously, absolutely expertly written.
Review of NS
