Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie Review

The Anarchy of the Irish

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater September 1, 2011

My vote for the singular most badass show on television, FX’s Sons of Anarchy is to male wish fulfillment what Jane Austen novels are to female desire. That is, if you’re a guy—even a comparatively namby-pamby, poetry-reading, organic produce-eating milquetoast like myself—there’s at least some small part of you that wishes he could tool around on a motorcycle for a living, smuggling guns in bedrolls and getting in fist-fights, hanging out with strippers, growing a scraggly-ass, who-gives-a-damn beard, and wearing leather pants like it’s no big deal. I may never shiv a rival gang member in the ribs or use a shotgun to blow down a locked door, but by golly I can live vicariously through the blood-soaked, sweat-stained, grease-smeared lives of the titular Sons, who make the Hells’ Angels look like the Vienna Boys’ Choir. And this is the show’s superficial allure. But Sons of Anarchy is more than just fast bikes and loose women, hard drinking and cyclical violence—at the show’s core is an overarching exploration of family, loyalty, and free will. It’s been referred to as “Hamlet on Harleys,” and the analogy is apt; the show is high on Shakespearean drama and there are even some direct allusions to the Bard’s skull-toting soliloquist.

If you’re new to the show, by all means watch seasons one and two before taking on this latest season, lest you miss out on the subtlety and depth of the characters’ histories and interpersonal relationships. Sons of Anarchy is about as far from “episodic” as you can get—there are no tidily-wrapped-up-in-40-minutes plotlines—so it’s practically impossible to just jump into the middle of the story and have any idea what’s going on. The show centers around the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, specifically the “Redwood Original” charter—the founding group—who collectively refer to themselves as SAMCRO. (Or, “Sam Crow.”) They’re classic anti-heroes. On the one hand, they make their money gunrunning—selling assault rifles and automatic pistols to skeevy street types, drug dealers, and organized criminals—and they’ve got the corrupt local police department on a short leash, providing bribes and favors in exchange for immunity. So, no, they’re not exactly what you’d think of as good country people. But, in a way, they are. They protect the tiny town of Charming—an isolated hamlet (har har) in Northern California—from the very same dealers and creeps that make up their clientele, and they live by a moral code that’s violent but fair.

SAMCRO president Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) is the group’s grizzled, long-in-the-tooth head honcho—arthritis in his hands threatens his ability to ride, and subsequently, his suitability as a leader—and the torch is set to be passed to his step-son, Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), a conflicted “prince” whose real father was one of SOA’s founders. And that’s all you need to know if you’re just getting started. Trust me; if you’re a guy and you have even the tiniest inkling of interest in the motorcycle gang sub-culture, Sons of Anarchy will be worth your time. Go track down the first two seasons and report back here when you’ve blown through them. This is one of those “you can’t just watch one” shows on home video, so it should only take you two or three weeks to get caught up.

Now, if you’ve been following Sons of Anarchy since the beginning, you’ll be happy to hear that season three takes the show to new places —literally and figuratively—while staying true to itself and what its fan-base expects. (Namely, a serpentine storyline with ever-shifting alliances, sly humor, and lots of bike-riding, gun-shooting badassery.) The premiere episode picks up right where the season two finale left off, with Jax and his girlfriend Tara (Maggie Siff) distraught over the kidnapping of their baby son, Abel, who’s been taken to Ireland and placed in the dubious care of corrupt priest Father Ashby (James Cosmo), a consigliore who acts as an intermediary between the True IRA and rogue gun supplier Jimmy O (Titus Welliver)—the season’s main antagonist. Most of the season consists of SAMCRO trying to track down Abel’s whereabouts, and in the latter episodes some of the crew actually go to Ireland to deal with Jimmy O and his cronies face-to-face.

In true Sons of Anarchy form, the scenario gets a lot more complicated than it initially looks, and the few club members left back in Cali are also forced to contend with twisting sub-plots concerning double-sided, self-serving ATF agent June Stahl (Ally Walker) and Hector Salazar (Jose Pablo Cantillo), the vengeful former leader of a rival motorcycle club. Most of my complaints about the season stem from the way it seems a bit too spread out at times. With so many characters to follow—on two continents—it’s hard to get invested in all of them, and some get dramatically short-shrifted, serving only to advance the plot. (This is especially true of the new characters we meet in Ireland.) Secondary Sons like Opie (Ryan Hurst) and Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) aren’t given as much to do this time around, either, and Salazar is a rather boring villain compared to the truly despicable louts from the first two seasons. Still, the core story—Jax and his uneasiness over being a father and a leader—is satisfying and full of surprises.

As always, you can expect plenty of brutal, wince-inducing violence this season—machine gun blasts to the head, torture, stabbings, a “Glasgow Smile”—and while some of this stretches the bounds of credulity, the series’ more gratuitous elements are counterbalanced by the layered drama between characters. The perennial beef between Jax and Clay takes a back seat due to more pressing concerns in the club, but there are some interesting developments between Jax and Tara—both of whom grow a lot as characters this year. There’s nothing in this batch of episodes that’s quite as gut-wrenchingly affecting as the rape that Clay’s wife Gemma (Katey Sagal) endured in season two, but there are some powerful suckerpunch moments that I’ll leave unspoiled. The acting from the series regulars is characteristically excellent—particularly Katey Sagal, who deserves more recognition—and this season boasts some fantastic cameos/bit parts, including Hal Holbrook as Gemma’s dementia-prone father, and Stephen King as an exceedingly creepy “clean-up” man. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for season four.

Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sons of Anarchy is shot natively on high definition video, which makes for a simple, faithful, digital-to-digital 1080p/AVC encode. If you've seen the show on cable, you'll have a good idea of what to expect, but the Blu-ray is definitely cleaner and less compressed, with comparatively few compression artifacts. Digital noise does get somewhat heavy during darker sequences, and there are two or three isolated shots where it spikes considerably for no apparent reason, but barring these few brief moments, there are really no distractions here. Most of the time, the image is clean and sharp, with a frequently impressive degree of clarity, crisply rendering facial hair, pores, and the texture of the leather "cuts" the Sons wear to show their club pride. The series sports a very realistic, unstylized color palette that's more than sufficiently dense, riding on a foundation of deep black levels and strong contrast. Whites and other highlights can be slightly blown out on occasion—this happens a lot when shooting digitally—but this has the happy side effect of giving the picture an appropriately hard-edged look.

Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the previous seaons, 20th Century Fox presents season three with a solid lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. I'll basically repeat what I said for last year's release, as it still applies here. While the presentation that may not offer the intricate sound design of a theatrical film, it leaves most TV shows in a wake of dust and exhaust. With all of the motorcycles in this series, you can bet there's a lot of throaty LFE rumble, accompanied by deft cross-channel movements as the bikes zip out of frame. The rear channels are frequently filled with quiet environmental ambience—chatter in the clubhouse, the street sounds of Charming, Belfast, etc.—and when gun battles erupt, explosive shots pop off from every direction, effectively putting you right in the middle of the action. Many of the episodes are punctuated by hard rock tunes, which blast forcefully from all channels with defined bass and growling guitar. The "heaviness" of the dialogue seems improved from last year—where it had a bit too much low-end resonance—and the vocals are always clear and easy to understand. Overall, the mix is intense and far better than you might expect from a basic cable TV series.

Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: Like the sets for seasons one and two, there are only three commentary tracks included here, but they're all worthwhile. Kurt Sutter, Dave Erickson, Chris Collins, Regina Corrado, Liz Sagal and Marco Ramirez have a writer-centric chat for the season premiere, and the "Firinne" and "NS" episodes feature discussions with Sutter and various members of the cast.
• Extended Episodes: Three slightly extended cuts for the premiere and the last two episodes.
• Season Mode: Turn on season mode and you can watch every episode in series without interruption. As soon as you pop a disc back in your player, it will take you straight to wherever you left off.
• The Future Begins Now (1080p, 9:41): Four short vignettes—Pay Phone, Tara and Piney, Jax Meets Thomas, and Mexican Basketball—that bridge the gap between season three and the upcoming fourth season premiere.
• Writer's Roundtable (1080p, 18:14): Show creator Kurt Sutter sits down in a steak house with his team of writers to field submitted questions from fans.
• Bike Customizer (1080p, 15:45): The show teamed up with Illusion Cycles to build a custom bike to be auctioned off for charity, with proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Project. Here, the guys at Illusion guide us through the process of building a motorcycle from scratch.
• Directing the Finale with Kurt Sutter (1080p, 5:32): Sutter discusses his storytelling/directing process.
• "NS" Table Read with Cast (1080p, 44:05): Don't know why, but I love watching table reads and seeing an episode in a raw, preliminary, pre-visual form. Worth checking out.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 3:02)
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 10:24, 14:10, 3:19)
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: World Premiere - Sons of Anarchy Season 3 (SD, 5:12): Red carpet interviews with most of the Son of Anarchy cast members, along with clips from season three.
• BD-Live Exclusive - Sons at Comic-Con 2011 (720p, 4:57): Perlman, Sutter, Katey Sagal, and Charlie Hunnam give some love back to fans at this years Comic-Con.

Sons of Anarchy: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sons of Anarchy's third season isn't quite as affecting as last year's powerhouse narrative, but I like that showrunner Kurt Sutter isn't afraid to take big risks—like setting half of this season in Ireland, a welcome change of scenery. The fourth season premieres on September 6th, so you've got just enough time to get caught up if you're behind. As with the previous Blu-ray season sets, this one looks great, sounds punchy, and includes several fan-servicing special features. Recommended!