Sons of Anarchy is a TV show centred around Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and the motorcycle club he's a part of. His particular charter of the MC as a whole is known as SAMCRO, (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original)
Each charter has these nicknames, named for where they're based. The nicknames for each charter were good for keeping the audience orientated while watching and following the story.
Rising Stakes
The entire show built up to this idea of Jax getting out of the MC and with each passing season there were new obstacles placed in his way, and the stakes grew as each obstacle was overcome with the addition of his growing family and the danger that his wife and two sons were being placed in.
These rising stakes kept me invested in what the outcome of the show was going to be and was the true north for the main character.
One big obstacle he had to overcome was Clay, the original president and suspected murderer of Jax's father and founder of the MC. Jax eventually dethrones Clay, takes his place at the head of the table, and seeks vengeance against him, even while being advised not to by another member of the club, Bobby.
Bobby tells him that he can't kill the Clay, because it'll lead him down a dark path, and one which he won't be able to turn back from. In a way, he was acting as a voice of reason, and giving him a way off the path he was currently walking. This in a way, turned out to be a foreshadowing of Jax's demise.
Descent Into Darkness
Throughout the show, Jax grows into a character hell-bent on retribution, and as the show goes on, he finds more and more people to take vengeance upon, either for the deaths of friends, family of friends, or his own family.
He soon realises that anybody close to him can and will be burned, and this becomes more and more apparent as time passes.
What also becomes apparent to Jax - and us as the audience - is that he will never be able to walk away from the MC, or his town. He comes to realise that no matter what he does, his fate is sealed and as Bobby warned, it was sealed with the killing of Clay.
His true descent into darkness however comes a while later.
Tara - his wife - wants to get out of Charming, and away from the MC and soon realises that she won't be able to with Jax due to the lifestyle he was born into, and his new responsibility at the head of the table.
She conjures up a plan to break away, and while this goes to plan, she is found out and is given no choice but to run with the two boys. Soon, Jax finds her, and thanks her for doing this, and together they come up with a plan for Jax to hand himself over to the police, so Tara and the boys can get away.
The only problem here is not everyone was privy to the idea, and that led to Tara's murder. Jax wants blood in the final season and is sent on a wild goose chase to get revenge, and while doing so puts a lot of things in motion which means that death is his only way out.
Kurt Sutter
The creator of this show is really good, and he not only makes compelling characters, but plenty of twists and turns throughout the plot which keep the audience guessing.
As well as this though, he goes by the fundamentals of good storytelling, which is everything must lead to the next thing.
Everything that happens in this show, all the way throughout and to the inevitable end, happens for a reason. Things don't just happen, and characters don't just do things for no reason.
He went on to create Mayans, which I'm starting now, but he was let go by Disney (who now owns the rights to all things SOA) due to a joke he wrote into the second season of that show.
I'm enjoying Mayans so far, but I'm skeptical of how it will go without Kurt being involved in it from season 2 onward.
