TVSquad

"Pull the trigger man. That's the only way this leather is coming off my back." - Jax to Alvarez, the head of the Mayans who orders him to give up his club jacket

Jax is supposed to be the hero of this little modern day Shakesperian epic, but he's starting to look more and more like the enemy in each episode.

I don't mean that he'll be the one in the end who has been scheming the whole time behind SAMCRO's back with the white power. This is a well-crafted, slow paced, high caliber drama, not a badly written Schwarzenegger movie with a thrown together twist ending (cough, Total Recall, cough).

Jax is more of an enemy of himself. He might have good intentions at heart, but his moves are nowhere near his brain. Maybe his loyalty to his family runs deeper than he ever imagined. Logic and family hardly make a decent cocktail. Anyone with a brother-in-law can tell you that.

(S02E03) - "I'm talking about creating a temporary problem that allows you to flush out the permanent one." - Ethan Zobelle

The thing that surprised me most about this week's episode are the number of times it made me laugh. That's hard to do for a show that cracks more skulls per episode than a plastic surgeon.

It doesn't do so by sacrificing the things that make it great. It's still just as hard-edged, emotional and violent as before. You're just chuckling for all the right reasons, this time.

Here's an observation TV fans wouldn't expect: If you know your Shakespeare, you might have a good idea where Sons of Anarchy is headed in its second season.

I paid a visit to the show's sweltering North Hollywood set last week as series creator Kurt Sutter (The Shield) and his cast were putting the finishing touches on the show's second season.

In fact, the show's writers were so close to revealing its final secrets to the cast that my PA and FX PR tour guides slammed a door in my face lest I wander into the writer's conference room and see the white dry erase board full of plot points for season two's final episode.

Evidently, if I'd have seen the final, bottom-right panel on that wall-wide white board, I'd have been chained to show star Tommy Flanagan's motorcycle and taken for a drag around St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank.

(S02E02) - "Unraveling the matriarch will destabilize them. They're all little boys who need a strong mommy."

The thing I'm starting to love about this show is the way it switches gears on just about any incline. They are so swift and sudden that the law should go totally "nanny state" and require me to wear a helmet during each week's episode.

For example: in this week's chapter, we see the aftermath of Gemma's rape and the toll it takes on her as she tries to keep it from the club. Then the very next shot is of Tig, played by Kim Coates and some random fishnet whore slowly waking up with hangovers that could stun an elephant, together in a spent 69.

And I ain't talking about a broken down '69 Chevy.

(S02E01) - "I'm not going to swap one outlaw for another one."

How do you turn a group of gruff biker outlaws who deal potent drugs to street trash and hardcore hardware to ruthless killers into a likable group of huggable stud muffins?

That's easy. You make a group of radical white supremacists into their enemies. It's the old "lovable by association" tactic of TV writing. Is the audience not buying your childhood version of Darth Vader? Then throw in a wise-cracking alien that sounds like Pee Wee Herman with Down's Syndrome.

However, in the case of the second season of Sons of Anarchy, it's a pretty sweet power play for a show that already packed more punch than an Absinthe smoothie.

The level that FX's Sons of Anarchy's second season has to reach to top their outrageous first might seem unfathomable. But the man helming this ship is writer, creator and executive producer Kurt Sutter - the man who helped steer The Shield through seven strange and unpredictable seasons of treacherous waters that were once deemed unchartable for the likes of basic cable.

It's tight control on what appears to be complete chaos. Sutter and company are a fleet of reckless Sledge Hammers who are willing to blow up whole buildings to get the job done. Trust him. He knows what he's doing.

FX's white hot biker drama kicks off Tuesday and it brings all of the blood, guts, bullets and glory that the first season did in buckets. And that's just in the first five episodes.

I've been hearing about an awesome new show on FX since it aired last year, and finally got around to watching season one of Sons of Anarchy this week for Jane After Dark. Being a motorcycle babe myself, I love any show where bikes or gangs are the central focus.

But even if you've never mounted a bad chopper, there are plenty of reasons to love this badass show about the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Originals (SAMCRO). They run a legal automotive business while dealing arms, battling rival gangs, and working with the cops (sometimes) to keep their town of Charming, California a pleasant place to live. You can see all the irony at work here.

With Rescue Me plowing through it's massive 22 episode fifth season, it's a little weird to think that we'll be tuning into Denis Leary's FDNY hijnks until September 8th - especially since we're used to having the show be over after about three months.

I'm not really sure what my point is mentioning that, because all I'm doing is piling good news on top of more good news - once Rescue Me ends, Sons of Anarchy is back.

The FX motorcycle drama began filming it's second season recently, with two notable cast additions - Henry Rollins and Adam Arkin. At the time of Rollins casting, nothing was known about his character other than his role as a "new antagonist." Now, according to Fancast, it turns out that both Rollins and Arkin will be playing neo-nazis. If you recall Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and Clay's tumultuous relationship with Darby (Mitch Pileggi) and the Nords, then you know they ain't gonna get along with these two.

If you feel like being spoiled beyond that, pictures and more character info after the jump...

Things just got a helluva lot more complicated in Charming, CA.

FX announced today that Henry Rollins has joined the cast of Sons of Anarchy for a six episode arc. Season two, which begins filming later this spring on April 27th, will undoubtedly pick up following the shocking events of Opie's (Ryan Hurst) wife Donna's (Sprague Grayden) murder. Unfortunately, there's no indication as to what type of role Rollins will be taking on - just that he's a "new antagonist" who "poses a deadly threat" to Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and the rest of his SAMCRO buddies.

FX has dubbed SOA as a worthy successor to The Shield and based Sons' season one ratings, I couldn't agree more. The freshman season started out flat but picked up steam as it progressed. As for Rollins? Look at the guy! If there's one person out there that looks like he belongs on this show, it's him.

(S01E13) "... there's only one face I see." - Jax

Well that was pretty impressive. Sons of Anarchy went from a show that I really didn't care for (Kurt Sutter admits that the first two episodes were a bit "ambitious") to one of my favorite new dramas of the '08 fall season. I'm echoing just about every critic around the country by saying this, but Sons really did get better each week. As far as season finales go, last night's capper gave us the perfect amount of answers and questions as well as one of the most layered, metaphorical, and nuanced ending sequences I've seen in quite a while.

It's a rare occasion that I re-trace my steps and openly admit that I was wrong. Typically, I stick with my gut and I'll fight you until I'm blue in the face. But it takes a big man to recognize the error of his ways and it takes an even bigger one to admit it to others. So here goes...

Initially, I wasn't impressed with Sons of Anarchy. After watching the pilot (twice), I panned it. Nothing special, nothing new. The second episode didn't do much for me either. But I promised I'd stick with it since it was on FX (in today's TV landscape, that counts for something) and after last night's installment (S01E08, "The Pull"), I'm here to say something I didn't agree with eight weeks ago:

FX has done it again.

With Rescue Me failing to bring in the ratings FX really needs or wants, and even this final, and for the record brilliant, season of The Shield under-performing, it's pretty awesome that new series Sons of Anarchy seems to have found an audience. I'm a couple episodes behind (so I'm not helping with the ratings I guess), but after a slow start, this story of a biker gang of criminals is really starting to suck me in.

Apparently I'm not the only one. In five short weeks, Sons has managed to not only retain 3.5 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demo, but it's retained 97% of its total audience since the premiere. Which is why FX decided to pick the show up for a second season.

(S01E02) "I will not look the other way Jax." - Hale

I'm still on board with Sons of Anarchy, but there are just too many things that are rubbing me the wrong way. Much like my minor complaint on this season of The Shield, Jax's father's manuscript has reached the point of becoming über-important just like Cruz Pezuela's blackmail box (the one Mackey stole) without any solid explanation. One gets the feeling that without that manuscript, the story would just crumble.

If this thing is so important, then why didn't Gemma or Clay have it destroyed years ago? Did they even know it existed? It was just lying out in the open in the family storage unit. While I appreciate the tension that builds as Jax slowly reads one page at a time, I'm still unconvinced that when he gets to, I dunno, "page 86," that we're going to be that shocked when the inevitable bomb is dropped. Why else would Gemma want it so bad if there wasn't some horrible family secret buried in it?

(S01E01) "Just pretend it's carve-your-own steak night at Sizzler." - Jax

FX is taking a fairly big gamble with Sons of Anarchy. With their trademark drama The Shield ending its seven season run this fall and their other two big hits (Damages and Rescue Me) pushed to 2009 because of the WGA Strike, the network is in dire need of some fresh buzz. The one thing they have going for them? Even FX's previous flops (Dirt, Starved, Over There, Thief) were better than a lot of other things on TV and Sons of Anarchy certainly fits that mold. Once the fall season is in full swing, the only network competition will be CSI: NY, as I don't see Lipstick Jungle or Dirty Sexy Money getting in the way. Sons has the potential to do well. It'll just rest on creator Kurt Sutter and how he plans to make the show appealing beyond this pilot episode.

You're going to hear a lot of things about FX's new motorcycle club drama Sons of Anarchy. It's different, it's edgy, and it covers a fairly taboo topic that, up to now, hasn't really been addressed in a TV drama.

However, strip away the leather jackets and exhaust fumes and you're looking at something we have seen before: Sons of Anarchy is The Sopranos on Harleys. You've got your powerful crime family, illegal gun smuggling, rival gangs, conspiracy, and for good measure? Drea de Matteo (of Sopranos fame) plays a crank addict. Trade the crank for blow and we've seen that before too.