Sons of Anarchy “Funtown”
Original Air Date: Sept 17, 2008
Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writer
tomr@thetwocents.com
So the saga of SAMCRO enters its third week, and I’m trying to figure out why this show isn’t cracking the barrier into “must-see” territory. To me, it’s kind of hovering in the “watchable” area. Maybe The Shield is casting its shadow further than the network thinks, especially with Jay Karnes joining the cast. Maybe it’s Katey Sagal’s habit of whispering every line she has. Maybe I know too much about the behind-the-scenes hubbub and I’m still comparing Ron Perlman to the original choice of Scott Glenn. And maybe it’s that FX sets the bar so high. I know they can’t all be Damages or Rescue Me, but maybe the impact of those shows makes it hard on the newbies. I’m not going to stop watching, but every time they run a promo for another FX show, I do get distracted.
Anyway…on to the recap…
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[photo: Prashant Gupta / FX]
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Sons of Anarchy
ReplyDelete“Funtown”
Original Air Date: Sept 17, 2008
Tom R - TwoCents Staff Writer
tomr@thetwocents.com
So the saga of SAMCRO enters its third week, and I’m trying to figure out why this show isn’t cracking the barrier into “must-see” territory. To me, it’s kind of hovering in the “watchable” area. Maybe The Shield is casting its shadow further than the network thinks, especially with Jay Karnes joining the cast. Maybe it’s Katey Sagal’s habit of whispering every line she has. Maybe I know too much about the behind-the-scenes hubbub and I’m still comparing Ron Perlman to the original choice of Scott Glenn. And maybe it’s that FX sets the bar so high. I know they can’t all be Damages or Rescue Me, but maybe the impact of those shows makes it hard on the newbies. I’m not going to stop watching, but every time they run a promo for another FX show, I do get distracted.
Anyway…on to the recap…
A carnival called Funtown sets up shop in Charming for a double dose of irony. Clay and Gemma fool around in the photo booth, Jax and a couple club members harass the clown working the dunk tank, and all seems to be a break in the action until a local businessman named Elliot Oswald finds that his daughter has gone missing. He comes to SAMCRO to find the perp before the police, to make sure that justice is done.
At the same time, Elliot’s business partners talk to Hale to press him to beat SAMCRO to the punch. The Sherriff even tells Jax that he needs the police to record the collar. Hale stations police outside the SAMCRO clubhouse to watch their activity. The nice boys from the club generously give the officers coffee, which knocks them out for a few hours while they investigate in their own way.
But it’s ultimately Gemma who cracks the case after sitting with the daughter. She confronts Mrs. Oswald outside the hospital, knowing that the daughter knows more than she is telling. Gemma paints the country club mother as just wanting everything to go away. She reminds her of how long this will affect her daughter. After some consideration, the mother finally tells Gemma what the daughter told her, which was that her rapist was the carnival clown. SAMCRO storms the carnival and drags the clown into the woods, where Clay asks Oswald to castrate the man. When he can’t do it, Clay finishes the job, telling Jax he can use this as leverage to protect Charming from “Old White Money”.
As the episode draws to a close, Jax has let Wendy see the baby, and reads what his father had written on the subject o f justice. Agent Kohn of ATF (Karnes) arrives in town and meets with Hale. There is a past between him and Tara, whose secrets probably make her the most interesting character on the show.
Watching the scene between Jax and the Sherriff (Dayton Callie of Deadwood), the acting by these two and Tara seems far more compelling than any of the others, including Perlman and Sagal. Well, Jax is the main character, and should be worth watching. Tara has her secrets, and the Sherriff has tons to deal with. The other performances aren’t dreadful by any means, maybe I’m just expecting more based on their reputations. Oh well…we’re just out of the starting gate, anyway.
So that’s my two cents. Care to contribute? Say so in the comments or drop me a line at tom@thetwocents.com.