Sons of Anarchy S02E01: 'Albification'

'Look da fuck out, Peg Bundy... it's about to be some shit...'

(WARNING: SECOND SEASON TOPICS DISCUSSED AHEAD)

My sister got me the first season of Sons of Anarchy for my birthday. I hadn't watched it when it was in its original run, having finally gotten some free Tuesday nights with The Shield being over. But I'm always down to check out a promising new TV series, and Sons was pretty sweet. Not only that, but the producer/creator, Kurt Sutter, was an exec producer on The Shield, AND he brought the One-Niners gang with him to the show, technically putting the two shows in the same fictional universe.

This, of course, has me slobbering for Shield cameos. Clearly, Vic Mackey's not going to show up on an ICE bust.
That would be too obvious. But I would love for Sutter to reintroduce Tavon, from the Shield's third season, as a new cop in Charming. It would make for some pretty sweet drama.

Then again, there's plenty of drama as is... especially for poor Peg Bundy, who was the victim of a horrifying, brutal gang-rape on the season two premiere. All I could think of the first time I watched it was that Sutter and Katey Sagal are married, and how exactly would you bring this scene up? "Heeeey honey, so look, this season, you take care of the baby some more, stir the pot with Hellboy aaaaaaand oh yeah, you get gang-raped by Henry Rollins."

"Wha...?"

Actually, I think the introduction of Rollins and Alan Arkin's kid as the League of American Nationalists (or, in Clay Morrow's words, "Nice car, shiny suit, all your teeth... you must be the top of the Aryan food chain.") as a threat to the club's monopoly on Charming is a brilliant plot move. When the last season ended (don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it), you were left hating at least two members of the club. The situation the pair fomented is definitely going to run throughout season two, but the League storyline does an interesting thing: it introduces a group that's worse than anyone else. Darby is a hardhead criminal, and Rollins' AJ Weston character basically calls him out as a Nazi poser ("I'd button your shirt... you haven't earned it."), and despite Clay and Tig's big sin, these League guys represent a threat to the whole club... to Jax's vision of it AND Clay's. It's something the club can unite behind.

I'm curious as to how Gemma is going to handle the gang-rape, in terms of telling Clay. If she just comes out and tells him, I gotta believe it's all-out war, and then the League storyline is over after a few episodes. I gotta believe she's going to cover it up until either she's found out, or found  way to make it suit her purpose. 

Notes:

• I still don't like Deputy Hale. He's just too Mayberry. Needs a new haircut, or maybe unbutton that top button... loosen up or SOMEthing.

• Henry Rollins is the perfect Aryan shithead. He just sits there all tattooed and scary-looking, and talks in a very reasonable-sounding voice.

• Arkin's kid, however, is not all that convincing. First off, he doesn't look the part, and he just seems too nice. Maybe they'll shatter that façade in upcoming episodes.

• Half-Sack: "You guys didn't really mean you want me to-"/Clay: "GETOUT!!!" BWAAAA HA HA HA... Half-Sack gets all the best lines ("Yeah, that's real great, guys... just shoot off the one good nut I got left. Thanks.")