The Tribune

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, SAMCRO is on its way to hopefully rebuilding its clubhouse, its image and its identity. One of the core themes of Sons of Anarchy has always been about the importance of being initiated into a group. This initiation is supposed to give one's life some sort of meaning and purpose. Ideally, membership in SAMCRO is special because with it comes the expectation that you have earned your place at the table, amongst your family, and in the world. This is the great hope of SAMCRO, and not only is it the ideal that Jax is always trying to get the club to live up to, it is also the ideal that despite everything, makes them at least in some way very admirable. America is similarly idealised as the land of endless opportunity where, despite class differences, anyone who is willing to work hard can overcome obstacles and become a success. This beautiful ideal is played up so much in Hollywood and US programming that it's almost accepted as a cultural fact over here. However, class mobility does not occur with anything close to this sort of frequency in America and this noble ideal is more often than not just a myth. In a society that values materialistic goods, what happens to the spiritual soul of its inhabitants? Arguably this is the very reason that a club like SAMCRO exists in the first place. When we combine this idea with the numerous references to Christianity that constantly pop up in the show, perhaps Kurt Sutter and his writers are making a comment about a spiritual emptiness that exists not only in the US but in all societies. Perhaps it is a lack of a meaningful religious or spiritual connections to each other that is the true tragedy of modern times. The return of Mayor Jacob Hale this week further cements this idea into our minds as viewers. Hale is worn out and his Charming Heights project is still on hold. We see Charming in the midst of an economic decline and the beloved mayor who pretends to be helpless is called out by Bobby, the ultimate soothsayer, who says in regards to the empty storefronts that "This block is half empty because your buying them all out for fifty cents on the dollar. The economic destruction of Charming and the failure of politicians to pull us out from this because they were busy trying to line their own pockets is of course an indictment of the very worst aspects of any political system. This inability to act is also what make us continue to root for SAMCRO, especially under Jax's leadership, because these men have convictions and will fight for them. Sons of Anarchy has done an excellent job over the last three weeks of reestablishing our connection with these anti-heroes and like many of the classic heroes of so many western tales, these outlaws live by a moral code (albeit a distorted one) that is at the very least admirable. Furthermore, like the western heroes of yesterday, these men were almost always presented as being part of the very landscape that they were inhabiting and particularly in this week's episode, our beloved bikers were pictured in the main strip of Charming for the first time in quite a while. This was an interesting connection that to me proves that good, bad or indifferent, SAMCRO will always be a part of Charming.