Sons of Anarchy - Season 5 [DVD]

I don't really know what to make of this series. The Sons exist in a world characterized by a fatuous sense of juvenile mateship and 'loyalty' and conducted in an environment of utterly senseless violence and feuding. They're like scorpions in a barrel where an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth take on epic proportions and make the Old Testament read like a nursery rhyme. They have absurd pretensions to honour and family sensibilities, commodities which they overturn without a thought, yet treat everyone else as completely disposable extras. Oddly they seem to live in their own exclusive world where they can meet with their hoodlum contacts openly in railroad yards and have shootouts in the street (or anywhere else) that appear to go wholly unnoticed by the police or anyone else. Members of the public are all but non-existent, even in the background. The Sons act largely with apparent impunity - even jail terms are little more than transient inconveniences before they're back on the streets free to kill and rarely inconvenienced by any semblance of officialdom. More oddly, their enemies are generally stupid enough to load their guns with blanks before firing at the Sons. This would explain the remarkable survival levels exhibited by the Sons, something normally only enjoyed by James Bond. This series takes violence and a macabre fascination with their murderous lives to new depths. Jax receives a freezer box with a severed thumb and breast to appease some of the thugs he has dealings with in a pretence of having killed a young woman he has promised to. Naturally, we get a look at those. He hasn't killed her, of course - he's far too much of a gentleman for that, but whose breast and thumb they are remain a mystery. Of course, being a Son he obviously had a contact for when he needed these things. We're also treated to Jax hacking up some of his victims with an axe. The remarkable thing about Sons is that every single character (apart from Lyla Winston) is a completely revolting, psychotic, homicidal lunatic which at least helps my feel my own life isn't too bad. It's fairly watchable but I can say I haven't got the faintest idea of what is going on. I can just live in hope that they all get blasted away one day and buried in one of their own mass graves which is where they belong.

5 seasons in and I'd guess that, if I didn't like SoA, I'd know it by now and stop ordering the DVDs! Looking back, though, I;d say this might be the best season yet. It's got everything in it the previous seasons had - intrigue, violent death, double-crosses, humour - but more so. There are real surprises scattered throughout the season; clearly no-one on the cast list can consider themselves in a nice, safe job as well-established characters still die as the story progresses. Jax undergoes a real baptism of fire in terms of leadership whilst banged up in the chokey and it's by no means obvious whether he'll be able to tie up the loose ends and still be the Jax Teller we've come to know. It's spooky (and no mean feats of writing and acting) to see him gradually turning into Clay as the season progresses.As usual, the set ends on a cliff-hanger, you know it's going to but it still comes as a shock when it all pans out as it does. If you've liked the previous stuff, buy this one, you won't be disappointed. But, please, don't jump in here and hope to pick it up - there's just too much history you won't fully understand and you'll miss a lot of the effect.

Jax has taken the gavel and the pressure is even greater this season. He has to keep the cartel/irish gun deal alive while working on extracting the club from the deal. Damon Pope, an afro american gang boss wants revenge for his daughters death, and dealing with him will bring both death and new opportunities to the club. A new partnership with an escort angency creates interesting opportunities but also problems for both parties. Clays attempts to get back the gavel and the presidency leads to more problems for Jax, the club and the town. Tara finds herself drawn deeper into the clubs affairs and as usual matriarc Gemma has ideas for the future of the Teller name in the club. The club is fighting for its survival and Jax finds that trying to do the right thing is becoming more and more difficult, as nasty decisions have to be made.As with the previous seasons, Kurt Sutter has once again delivered a spectacular season with plenty of good stories and plenty of action. What ever he has planned for season 6, i am confident will be just as great as the first five seasons. The man is a true genious.

Highly recommended to anyone who has already watched any of the earlier series. Season 6 has already been made [just waiting for the DVD] and I understand season 7 [the last] is in the pipeline.Everything about Season 5 is excellent but beware - there is a nasty shock awaiting true devotees and fans as we lose a really great character this time :o( That said, the writing, production, costumes, acting and the twisting, weaving story line just gets better and better with each new season. Kurt Sutter is an amazing writer. One of the best things about this is the total lack of the "F" word. In my book if the subject is strong enough and the scenes are properly written you just don't need the over-used expletive. I can't recommend this highly enough.DVD packaging is excellent. There are a number of deleted scenes which perfectly bridge small gaps in the story.Superlative stuff.

With my fiancé being a massive fan of Sons Of Anarchy he was desperate to see season 5 and with no signs of it being shown here in the UK he was worried that he was never going to see season 5, so when I got Sons Of Anarchy Season 1-4 I had a look at the price of this and I knew I could afford it so I ordered this quickly incase it was sold out. Just like when my fiancé opened season 1-4 on Christmas Day morning he was so happy and so excited. Great value for money and fantastic quick delivery.