Sons of Anarchy; mirroring life with a slightly skewed perspective

At first glance it would be easy for one to jump to conclusions about this show. Its about a motorcycle gang. It's about criminals, drug abusers, alcoholics, and outlaws. And although all those things are incorporated in the show, it's really about family. A dysfunctional family, yes, but family none the less. It's about complex and complicated relationships in the face of hardships, trauma, and a world that they don't quite fit into.

The relationship of a father and a son, a husband and a wife, a criminal and the chief of police.

This quote taken from the "Patch Over" episode in 2008. Jax Teller reading from his deceased father's memoirs.

John Teller: First time I read Emma Goldman wasn't in a book. I was sixteen, hiking near the Nevada border . The quote was painted on a wall in red. When I saw those words it was like someone ripped them from the inside of my head.
Jackson 'Jax' Teller: Anarchism... stands for liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from shackles and restraint of government. It stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals.
John Teller: The concept was pure, simple, true, it inspired me, lit a rebellious fire, but ultimately I learned the lesson that Goldman, Prudot and the others learned. That true freedom requires sacrifice and pain. Most human beings only think they want freedom. In truth they yearn for the bondage of social order, rigid laws, materialism, the only freedom man really wants, is the freedom to become comfortable.

Clay's sense of morals, and values are for the most part, considered and followed throughout the club. His vision of the Sons is to sell weapons, and invest in other business opportunities in Oder to keep the club strong and enable them to keep drug dealers, rapists, and other motorcycle clubs out of Charming (his home town).

Best Friends and founding member with John Teller, Jax's father. After John's death Clay married Gemma Teller-Morrow, becoming Jax's stepfather.

Normally the voice of reason, but with a bit of an edge, Jax finds himself struggling with the direction the club is taking. After finding a manuscript titled; The Life and Death Of Sam Crow; How the Sons of Anarchy Lost Their Way, his father had written, he sees that his father's vision for the Sons Of Anarchy is not what the club has become.

In addition his struggles with the club are compounded when his addict ex-girlfriend bares a child, Abel, born premature and sick. Jax takes custody of Abel and finds even more complications when his high-school sweetheart Tara is Abel's doctor.

Bobby is probably the most level headed of everyone in SamCro (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Ooriginal). He is more often than not the voice of reason in every situation. Though he is prone to his bouts of, I guess immaturity would best describe it. He is the one everyone seems to look to when they are looking for a straight forward, no B.S. honest answer.

Tigger, Tig is an all around bad guy. Good to have on your side, but a bad guy. Never having any aversion to killing anyone has earned him the place of Clay's trigger-man. Dirty deeds, back ally deals, anything low, slimy, or potentially damaging usually falls in his lap.

Despite all this he's a fun guy to have around and is usually good for a laugh. Unless he's missing a party, then he'll piss and moan all night.

Juice is the youngest initiate to the club, and therefore receive most of the s#*@ details, and is the brunt of a lot of jokes. He's good to have in a fight, and will do anything for the club. I don't understand how they call him and intelligence officer, he's most often the low man on the totem pole, and having to work any jobs that others may deem disgusting, or beneath them.

 Piney is old, set in his ways, stubborn, and intolerant to most outside of the club. I love Piney because most of us have known someone just like him at one time in our lives. He has a way of never sugar coating anything he says, and speaking exactly what is on his mind.  Though he is retired from most club events, he still sits in on church (where decisions and votes are cast in regards to the club), and has a vote in the outcome of any club business. 

At the beginning of the series, Opie was just getting out of jail. His wife Donna very much did not want him going back to SamCro. So for the first two seasons, he's kind of half in/half out. Opie, though prone to periodic fits of extreme rage and violence, is a quiet man, especially considering the company. He only really speaks when he has something to say. And when Opie talks, people listen. He has a flare for demolition, and is expert at anything that explodes.

Chibs ("chib" is Scots for scar or knife) is your all around good guy. Good to have in a fight, good to have on your side, and has unfaltering loyalty to the club. His connections with the IRA keep the gun pipeline open from Ireland, and overall he has good relationships with everyone in SamCro. Chibs is known for being a stand-up guy in any situation.

A killer without hesitation, rivals Tig in his cold-bloodiness. Willing to do anything in the name of SamCro. Went Nomad after an incident with killing a potential witness. Still has a seat at church if he so chooses.

Called Half Sack as he lost a testicle in the Gulf War. Sack is a prospect, meaning he's not a full fledged member of SamCro yet. He works at Teller-Morrow auto as a mechanic, he's good in a fight and is a lot tougher than he looks. His loyalty is only slightly diminished by his occasional thoughtlessness.

Otto "Big Otto" Delaney

(Directer Kurt Sutter) is currently in Stockdale Prison for 2nd degree murder. He's still in contact with the club, and helps with their dealings on the inside. He's a smooth character who knows in the ins and the outs of both life in the MC and on the inside. In Season 2 he was jumped in prison and left with only 10% of is vision.

Gemma Teller-Morrow

Wife to Clay, mother to Jax, as much a member of SamCro as a woman can be. She is logical, calculating, and vindictive. Nice to have on your side, just don't cross her, you may not see what's coming.

Dr. Tara Knowles

Dated Jax in high school, got a crow tattoo on her lower back and was arrest 3 times in Jax's company. Left town when Jax was 19, recently returned and is once again Jax's love interest. As a Pediatric resident she tended to Abel, Jax's premature andvery ill son from the time of birth. Was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend and ATF agent from Chicago, whom she left because he was abusive. Tara and Jax come together when Tara shoots agent Kohn after he broke into her home and attacked her. Jax and Tara fall into each others arms and make love over the fresh corpse of her ex-boyfriend.

Chief of Police Wayne Unser

Understands that the Sons are the only way to keep drugs, corrupt developers, and violence away from Charming. Has been aiding SamCro for years, he is also owner of Unser Shipping which comes in handy any time the club needs to "boost" a truck.

Deputy Chief David Hale

Heir to the chair of Chief, David Hale had been crusading against the Sons declaring them a cancer, a virus to Charming. But Deputy Hale has begun to see the light, that the only way to keep Charming safe is to work with the Sons of Anarchy.

Agent June Stahl ATF

Ruthless, calculating, vindictive, underhanded are just a few words to describe agent Stahl. To go on her record, she implied testimony that got an innocent woman killed. Committed murder and proceeded to frame Gemma. And she's only one of the problems the Sons have to deal with.

 To say that the Sons of Anarchy is about a bike gang would be naive. The depth of the characters, the struggles of family life, personal relationships, all these things are made increasingly more complicated when you have to have loyalty to the club first. Then you start throwing in drugs, gun smuggling, shootings, rival gangs, murders, rapes, castrations, the ATF, the FBI, it's almost enough to make personal relationships impossible. But somehow they find a way, and are stronger for it. See, their life is just like ours, only slightly more complicated, slightly skewed.