Sons of Anarchy (Season 1)
From Iwe
Sons of Anarchy (season 1) | ||
Season 1 DVD cover | ||
Country of origin | United States | |
No. of episodes | 13 | |
Release | ||
Original channel | FX | |
Original run | September 3, 2008 – November 26, 2008 | |
Season chronology | ||
Next → Season 2 | ||
List of Sons of Anarchy episodes |
The first season of the American television drama series Sons of Anarchy created by Kurt Sutter, about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the then–vice president of the club, who begins questioning the club and himself.
Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008, on cable network FX.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The series begins with the torching of a SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original-the club's full name) gun assembly warehouse and the theft of guns by a rival club, the Mayans. The police attend the scene where Joaquin County Sheriff Vic Trammel, who is on SAMCRO's payroll, finds two dead illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Jax's estranged meth-addicted wife Wendy, who is pregnant with his child, collapses. An emergency C-section is performed and a baby boy is delivered ten weeks prematurely. Wendy has decided that the boy shall be named Abel.
Jax goes to a storage unit to collect some old baby clothes and comes across a box of his father's stuff, in which he finds a "manifesto" outlining what the now-deceased founding member (John Thomas Teller, "JT") of SAMCRO hoped the club would become. This document sends Jax into a dilemma as he struggles with the direction the club is taking. Gemma, Jax's mother, club president Clay Morrow's wife, former wife of JT, and unofficial club matriarch, visits Wendy in the hospital and tells her she will kill Wendy if the drug addicted mother attempts to gain custody of Abel. She says that because Wendy took drugs during pregnancy, Gemma will see to it that the baby never calls Wendy "Mommy." A broken-hearted Wendy overdoses on the methamphetamine supplied by Gemma. Charming's Deputy Chief Hale finds the immigrants' bodies at the burnt-out warehouse, but Tig and Bobby remove them before he can forensically examine them. Tara, Jax's high school flame, recently returned to Charming after several years away earning her M.D. and completing her residency, now works at the local hospital, where she played a significant role in Jax's premature son's survival and eventual recovery. Tara receives a threatening phone call from a former boyfriend, ATF agent Josh Kohn, who comes to Charming stalking Tara, pretending to investigate the Sons, but apparently on vacation status.
To solve a gun trafficking problem under the ATF's watchful eye, the Sons head out to Indian Hills, Nevada, to patch over the Devil's Tribe Motorcycle Club. While there, Clay sleeps with a girl named Cherry, who takes a liking to Half Sack. Kohn follows the Sons and witnesses their shootout with the Mayans. Kohn provides Tara pictures of Jax in compromising situations to try to split them. The Sons soon become aware of Kohn's presence in Charming. Clay is arrested on charges of aiding and abetting a triple homicide after guns sold by the Sons are used in a shootout. Cherry arrives in Charming, and Gemma realizes Clay has slept with her. Shortly afterward, Gemma assaults Cherry with a skateboard and is subsequently arrested.
Tara reveals to Jax that Kohn has been stalking her since she broke up with him, and she has a restraining order against Kohn. Jax throws Kohn through a plate glass window before beating him and telling him to stay away from Tara. Kohn is arrested for breaking his restraining order, which ends Kohn's career as a federal agent. Kohn returns to Tara's house and attempts to rape her, but Tara is able to grab his gun and shoot him in the stomach. Jax comes to her aid and advises Tara to let the police handle the situation. However, when Kohn calls Tara a "biker slut", Jax shoots him in the head. Jax takes Kohn's body to the hills and later returns to burn it. He also throws his father's memoir into the fire, but takes it back out within seconds.
Opie, Jax's closest friend since childhood and fellow MC club member, botches a planned assassination that was a favor for the IRA, and Bobby steps in to complete the task. However, their crime is witnessed by the victim's 17-year-old black mistress. ATF Agent June Stahl tries to crack the club's unity by interrogating the women associated with the club: Tara, Luann, Donna, and Cherry. Stahl arrests Cherry on outstanding warrants, but Charming Police Chief Wayne Unser aids Cherry, who escapes Charming that night. When Big Otto learns that Stahl is trying to use the RICO Act to bring the club down for racketeering, he violently assaults Stahl in prison. The young girl who witnessed Bobby commit murder provides the ATF with sketches of Bobby and Opie, and they are subsequently arrested. Stahl sets up Opie to look like a rat, even though she knows it endangers his life, and Tig and Clay fall for the ploy. They believe Opie has turned informant when they find wire taps in Opie's phone and truck. Clay orders Tig to kill Opie without telling anyone else in the club; however, Tig mistakenly kills Opie's wife Donna while she is driving Opie's truck.
Clay set up the shooting to look like the One-Niners shot Donna, protecting members of the club. However, feeling guilty, Deputy Hale tells Jax that Stahl set up Opie. Jax subsequently realizes that Clay organized the shooting.
Tig, Happy, and Chibs find the witness to prevent her from testifying. Tig is about to kill her, but Jax has followed them and confronts Tig, putting a gun to his head. Instead of killing her, Jax threatens her and gives her enough money to leave California. Jax is clearly unhappy remaining under Clay's rule, as he sees Clay as immoral, and leading the club away from its roots.
[edit] Cast and characters
- Main article: List of Sons of Anarchy characters
Sons of Anarchy is the story of the Teller-Morrow family of Charming, California, as well as the other members of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO), their families, various Charming townspeople, allied and rival gangs, associates, and law agencies that undermine or support SAMCRO's legal and illegal enterprises.
[edit] Main cast
- Charlie Hunnam as Jackson "Jax" Teller (13 episodes)
- Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow (13 episodes)
- Mark Boone Junior as Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson (13 episodes)
- Kim Coates as Alex "Tig" Trager (12 episodes)
- Tommy Flanagan as Filip "Chibs" Telford (11 episodes)
- Johnny Lewis as Kip "Half Sack" Epps (10 episodes)
- Maggie Siff as Tara Knowles (13 episodes)
- Ron Perlman as Clarence "Clay" Morrow (13 episodes)
[edit] Special guest cast
- Drea de Matteo as Wendy Case (6 episodes)
- Ally Walker as Agent June Stahl (6 episodes)
- Tom Everett Scott as Rosen (2 episodes)
- Brian Van Holt as Kyle Hobart ("Giving Back")
[edit] Recurring cast
- Dayton Callie as Wayne Unser (12 episodes)
- Theo Rossi as Juan-Carlos "Juice" Ortiz (11 episodes)
- Ryan Hurst as Harry "Opie" Winston (10 episodes)
- Taylor Sheridan as David Hale (10 episodes)
- William Lucking as Piermont "Piney" Winston (9 episodes)
- Dendrie Taylor as Luann Delaney (8 episodes)
- Sprague Grayden as Donna Winston (7 episodes)
- Jay Karnes as Agent Joshua Kohn (7 episodes)
- Mitch Pileggi as Ernest Darby (5 episodes)
- Emilio Rivera as Marcus Alvarez (5 episodes)
- Tory Kittles as Laroy Wayne (4 episodes)
- Taryn Manning as Cherry/Rita (4 episodes)
- Keir O'Donnell as Lowell Harland, Jr. (4 episodes)
- Glenn Plummer as Sheriff Vic Trammel (4 episodes)
- Julie Ariola as Mary Winston (3 episodes)
- Jamie McShane as Cameron Hayes (3 episodes)
[edit] Guest stars
- David LaBrava as Happy Lowman ("Hell Followed" + 4 as co-star)
- Patrick St. Esprit as Elliott Oswald (2 episodes)
- Kurt Sutter as "Big" Otto Delaney (2 uncredited)
- Olivia Burnette as Homeless Woman (2 episodes)
- Michael Shamus Wiles as Jury White ("Patch Over")
- Kenneth Choi as Henry Lin ("Giving Back")
- Michael Marisi Ornstein as Chuck Marstein ("Giving Back")
- Marcos de la Cruz as Estevez ("The Sleep of Babies" + 1 uncredited)
[edit] Production
[edit] Episodes
- See also: List of Sons of Anarchy episodes
No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Allen Coulter & Michael Dinner | Kurt Sutter | September 3, 2008 | 1WAB79 | 2.53 |
When a rival club cleans out and then destroys their illegal arms warehouse, SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) executes their own sense of justice in retrieving their guns. Meanwhile, family issues take center stage with a medical emergency involving Jax Teller's newborn son. | |||||||
2 | 2 | "Seeds" | Charles Haid | Kurt Sutter | September 10, 2008 | 1WAB01 | 2.20 |
As the club deals with the aftermath of their illegal arms warehouse attack, the Deputy Chief of Police poses a new threat to SAMCRO's reign over Charming. Jax continues to worry about the fate of his newborn son and begins to question the club's rough way of doing business. Opie's financial struggles leave him with a difficult choice. | |||||||
3 | 3 | "Fun Town" | Stephen Kay | Kurt Sutter | September 17, 2008 | 1WAB02 | 2.10 |
When the young daughter of a prominent Charming family is assaulted during a visiting carnival, SAMCRO races the authorities to capture the assailant. Meanwhile, a new shipment of guns arrives from their IRA connection with an additional price. | |||||||
4 | 4 | "Patch Over" | Paris Barclay | James D. Parriott | September 24, 2008 | 1WAB03 | 2.25 |
The club travels to Nevada to store arms with a brother club, The Devil's Tribe. When the Mayans pose a threat, Clay decides to "patch over" the Tribe, making them an official SOA charter. An ATF agent begins investigating SAMCRO. | |||||||
5 | 5 | "Giving Back" | Tim Hunter | Jack LoGiudice | October 1, 2008 | 1WAB04 | 2.19 |
Gemma hosts a town fundraiser, which brings the ex-club member responsible for Opie's arrest back to town and into direct conflict with Jax and Opie. Clay deals with protecting a perverse parolee who can lead to a big payoff. ATF agent Kohn continues to investigate SOA. | |||||||
6 | 6 | "AK-51" | Seith Mann | Nichole Beattie | October 8, 2008 | 1WAB05 | 2.09 |
A small favor for Piney's old war buddy turns into a big problem for SAMCRO. With Clay detained, Jax must step up to handle the situation. | |||||||
7 | 7 | "Old Bones" | Gwyneth Horder-Payton | Dave Erickson | October 15, 2008 | 1WAB06 | 1.87 |
When old bones are discovered on the outskirts of Charming, Clay is forced to deal with secrets he buried long ago. Meanwhile, the club sets its sights on prize money, backing Half-Sack in a bare-knuckle brawl. ATF Agent Kohn's investigation turns personal when his true intentions are revealed. | |||||||
8 | 8 | "The Pull" | Guy Ferland | Kurt Sutter & Jack LoGiudice | October 22, 2008 | 1WAB07 | 2.14 |
With the IRA gun payment looming, SAMCRO scrambles to come up with the cash. The Mayans and Nords take a drastic step in strengthening their alliance. And Jax finds himself in a dangerous position with Tara. | |||||||
9 | 9 | "Hell Followed" | Billy Gierhart | Brett Conrad | October 29, 2008 | 1WAB08 | 2.06 |
SAMCRO plans retaliation on a rival MC while dealing with a wounded ally in the clubhouse. Meanwhile, Jax, Bobby, and Opie aim to put an end to the gun debt for good. | |||||||
10 | 10 | "Better Half" | Mario Van Peebles | Pat Charles | November 5, 2008 | 1WAB09 | 2.14 |
With ATF Agent Stahl pressing the women of SAMCRO, Jax sees Chief Unser as the key to the club's salvation. Tara still reels from the Kohn situation. And Cherry reveals some interesting information about her past to Gemma. | |||||||
11 | 11 | "Capybara" | Stephen Kay | Kurt Sutter & Dave Erickson | November 12, 2008 | 1WAB10 | 2.22 |
When one SOA member is arrested for murder and another goes missing, Jax must choose between friendship and the club. Meanwhile, Abel grows stronger and is soon to be released from the NICU, but he is not the only one coming home. | |||||||
12 | 12 | "The Sleep of Babies" | Terrence O'Hara | Kurt Sutter | November 19, 2008 | 1WAB11 | 2.46 |
In need of cash to fund Bobby's defense, Clay's solution leaves SAMCRO in a vulnerable position. What is supposed to be a happy homecoming for Abel ends in more turmoil for the club. | |||||||
13 | 13 | "The Revelator" | Kurt Sutter | Kurt Sutter | November 26, 2008 | 1WAB12 | 2.48 |
In the wake of a great tragedy, the club must reevaluate their bonds of brotherhood. | |||||||
[edit] Reception
[edit] Home media release
The first season was released on DVD on August 18, 2009.