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Sons Of Anarchy: Season Three
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (5th November 2011). |
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The Show
 Hamlet with motorcycles no more? Season three of “Sons of Anarchy”, easily one of the most badass shows on cable let alone FX, is a bit of a different beast in its latest bakers-dozen of episodes. Creator Kurt Sutter’s focus shifts slightly away from crafting an at-times-not-so-thinly veiled, but always well-done, adaptation of Denmark’s most tragic price and his story. The familiar is replaced with the unknown and new—or meaner, more driven versions of the old, in the case of ATF Agent Stahl (Ally Walker) who returns with the force. Epic in scope the twisting, turning web of intrigue and backstabbing in which Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), his stepfather Clay (Ron Perlman) and the other Sons of Anarchy get entangled, make the arc for season three still decidedly Shakespearian. But the tone and the tale are different. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Not wanting his series to go stale, Sutter has taken the SAMCRO motorcycle club out of their element—out of the town of Charming—and set them down a path of death and destruction that eventually leads to Ireland. Changes abound, with the most obvious—and one that is perhaps needed before Sutter turns his attention back to the original storyline for son, ghostly father, and villainous stepfather—is that Clay (Sutter’s King Claudius) and Jax (of course, his sad Hamlet) are forced to put aside their differences, come together and form a united front for the good of the club and the family. The SOA’s President and VP have no choice. After last season’s cliffhanger, which left Half-Sack (Johnny Lewis) dead, Jax’s son Abel in the hands of a crazed kidnapper, Gemma (Katey Sagal) on the lam after she was framed for murder by Stahl, and even the Sons in trouble with the law over trumped up gun charges, the club is fractured and hurting in a bad way. The third season begins almost exactly where the second left off. As Jax and Clay look for Abel, a quest that leads them to Vancouver and then across the Atlantic to Belfast, Gemma is hiding out in Oregon with Tig (Kim Coates). In Belfast, SAMCRO meet up with sister club SAMBEL only to get caught up in some nasty business with the IRA. Meanwhile, Gemma reconnects with Nate (Hal Holbrook), her senile father who’s suffering from dementia and slowly dying. Back home Tara (Maggie Siff), dealing with the realization that she’s pregnant with Jax’s baby, begins the final stages of her transformation from good-girl doctor to “old lady” of the club vice president. SAMCRO’s enemies are only getting more violent and volatile, with Irish and Russian gangs opposing the club on a more international scale. But it’s Agent Stahl who reminds everyone that, nope, Ethan Zobelle (Adam Arkin)—the clean-cut neo-Nazi in a suit and tie who fled the country after the Sons waged war on him and won last season—wasn’t really the one to fear. She is, and always has been the one to watch (especially now with the full support of the government behind her back, making her even more dangerous). Stahl’s three-season-long arc is finally given extremely satisfying closure during the closing moments of “NS”, the finale. But not before she instigates one of the third season’s tightest and most twisting threads, using Jax as an informant inside his own club. The only downside to Stahl’s eventual departure is that Walker, who plays the character with impressively vicious glee, leaves too and will be sorely missed. As they had in seasons one and two, Sutter and his production team craft an intense, smartly written, heavily serialized narrative that provides the perfect balance of character drama and action. Sutter’s focus may have shifted, and the type of story he tells in three’s 13 episodes may be slightly different than what he explored in season’s one and two, but what worked before still works. His terrific ensemble cast—anchored by Katey Sagal who finally received the recognition she deserves with last year’s Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Drama—continues to deliver emotionally earnest performances. In season three, Gemma gets a softer edge from the storyline with her father. Her scenes with Holbrook are brilliant and a major reason for this season’s excellence. And the softer scenes only make Sagal’s other moments as the ruthless Matriarch all the more menacing. Season three ends not with further fragmentation, as viewers might expect, but actually a strengthening bond between son and stepfather. The slight twist on the usual “Sons” formula may turn off some viewers, who are looking for more of the same, but I think Sutter’s broadening of scope and the shift in location make the series all the more interesting. The perfect casting, superb acting, and strong writing and direction continue to make the show worth watching, but right now I’m most excited by the promise of what’s to come in season four. If only because the final moments of season three leave me curious to see how it’ll tie into Sutter’s ultimate endgame and his variation on the Hamlet theme. “Sons of Anarchy: Season Three” includes 13 episodes on three discs. Three episodes—“SO”, “Bianne” and “June Wedding”—are available in both their original broadcast and extended forms. The episodes are: “SO”—Still reeling from Abel’s kidnapping, Jax is thrust into turmoil over his future with the club. Meanwhile, Gemma, still on the lam, is hit with some unexpected news from her past. “Oiled”—Jax and the club make a deal with a bounty hunter in order to obtain information on Abel’s whereabouts. They also seek answers about the attack at Half-Sack’s wake. Meanwhile, Gemma struggles with Nate’s dementia. “Caregiver”—In need of money, the club exploits its poor connections to entertain Henry Lin’s (Kenneth Choi) clients, which doesn’t sit well with one member. Jax’s decision to search for Abel in Canada gets derailed. And Gemma’s dad goes MIA. “Home”—Jax and Clay, split off from the rest of the club, head towards Canada after Jimmy (Titus Welliver) provides misleading intel on Abel’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Gemma tries to put an old family matter to rest. “Turning and Turning”—To help his mother, club, and son, Jax conspires with an unlikely source. Meanwhile, the MC puts Chucky (Michael Marisi Ornstein) undercover. “The Push”—To protect their territory from the Mayans, the Sons of Anarchy must handle a rat at St. Thomas. “Widening Gyre”—T.O. (Michael Beach), Lander (Marcello Thedford) and The Grim Bastards have a problem that could jeopardize SAMCRO's new business arrangements. “Lochan Mor”—When SAMCRO heads to Ireland and pays a visit to another chapter, not everyone is happy to see the mother charter. “Turas”—Still in Belfast, the club embarks on a protection run, the likes of which they’ve never seen before. “Firinne”—As the search for Abel intensifies, the IRA wants proof that one of their own has flipped, and SAMCRO intends to give it to them. “Bainne”—As the club goes on a manhunt for Jimmy O, Jax faces the toughest decision of his life. “June Wedding”—A SAMCRO family member is held hostage and Jax must choose between revenge and the good of Charming. “NS”— Both the ATF and the Russians prove to be obstacles as SAMCRO looks to heal old wounds.
Video
The first two Blu-ray releases of the series (reviews found here and here) boast terrifically faithfully, often striking 1080p 24/fps high definition transfers and the AVC MPEG-4 encoded “Sons of Anarchy: Season Three” continues the trend of excellence. Despite some slightly overcooked contrast, a tiny bit of black crush, and an intrusive yellow or blue filter invading most scenes, “Sons” (framed in its original broadcast ratio of 1.78:1) looks mighty good. Detail is strong with pores and facial features of Ron Perlman’s grizzled mug looking crisply rendered. Long and medium shots, particularly moments of SAMCRO and their bikes on the road, have the expected clarity and sharpness of a solid high definition transfer too, with exterior textures and writing on faraway objects clearly legible. The show has a gritty and often stylized appearance—overblown and ultra-bright whites, and an elevated (or, where appropriate, desaturated) color palette. The show is shot on HD video with the Panavision Genesis, but a peppering of artificial grain lends a more cinematic lens to DP Paul Maibaum’s verité photography. Hand-held camerawork helps add to this style. Aesthetically, “Sons” isn’t conventionally pretty. The series isn’t, nor has it ever been, picture-window perfect. Then again, it isn’t a show that’s supposed to be a pristine Technicolor showcase and the stylized cinematography is rendered beautifully on Blu-ray. As with the first two sets, I did notice a few (fleeting) moments of aliasing in a handful of episodes and a couple of other anomalies scattered throughout. Season three is lavishly spread across three dual layer BD-50's. As such, evidence of severe macroblocking or other artifacts is a near non-issue. Instances of banding in backdrops and skies, despite “Sons” heavy color grading, are also few and far between. The artificial grain and inherent (but light) source noise is nicely rendered, never reducing the overall image to tiny blocks. And the series is unmolested by post-processing “tools” like Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) or edge enhancement. I think “Sons of Anarchy” looks very good, and the few moments that come apart at the seams—the brief flash of a moiré burst, a cluttering of a noise and tiny bit of clipped detail in a dark scene—are hardly noticeable against the otherwise impeccable picture. Fox has delivered another fine TV on Blu release to be sure, and once again rewards the viewers who wait for “Sons” on disc rather than watch the, frankly horrible and over-compressed, FX broadcasts.
Audio
Season three’s 13 English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio tracks (48kHz/24-bit) are just as impressive as the lossless tracks were in seasons one and two. Dialogue is nicely balanced, clear, precise and never unintelligible. Surrounds come alive when called upon, and are populated by exhaust rumbles from the bikes and the clatter of gunfire. But rears also do just as well with subtle ambient and discrete effects, from wind to whispered dialogue. Effects pan smoothly; gunfire is supported by a crisp and stable high and low-end. Explosions, of which there are a fair few in the series, have strong support from the LFE channel (which also rumbles from the passing Harley’s). A mix of blues and rock music—and the similar-themed original score by Bob Thiele Jr.—permeate the soundscape and help add an eclectic flavor, and an attractive backing, to the show. “Sons” continues to be an example for the format, and easily rates among the best sounding TV on Blu releases currently on the market. Optional English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Chinese subtitles are also included.
Extras
Commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, a 45-minute table read, a gag reel, three unrated extended episodes, and a few nifty playback novelties that make season-viewing all the easier—what more could a boy ask for? Well, more commentaries perhaps, but this is still a serviceable collection of supplements that will certainly sate the appetite of “Sons” fans. DISC ONE: A few of the episodes in season three have a longer cut available via seamless branching. These extended unrated versions usually add about five or six minutes onto the original broadcast runtime with both more violence and time devoted to developing subplots. The season premiere, “SO”, is offered as an extended episode (1080p, 55 minutes 43 seconds) on disc one. “SO” also includes audio commentary with series creator Kurt Sutter, and series writers Dave Erickson, Chris Collins, Regina Corrado, Liz Sagal and Marco Ramirez. This track is only available on the broadcast version of the episode. Unlike the other two commentaries—both of which are dominated by actors and are more scattershot—the discussion of the season premiere from the perspective of the writers and producers is perhaps the most worthwhile. They talk themes, arcs, and the different approach season three takes in telling its story. Each platter includes a deleted scenes reel of excised material from various episodes on that disc. Disc one includes 8 deleted scenes (1080i upconvert, 10 minutes 16 seconds total runtime). Most of the material—including a three-and-half minute music-less montage—are from “Home” and don’t really add anything to the episode. It’s worth noting that while last season offered its excised material is brilliantly sharp native HD quality, Fox has gone backwards. Techically the scenes are encoded in 1080i, but they’re clearly upconverted from a standard-def source. All I ask is, why? The first disc also includes the following bonus trailers: - "FX" promo (1080i, 1 minute). - "Fox on Blu-ray and DVD" promo (1080p, 1 minute). - “Spartacus: Blood & Sand” (1080p, 38 seconds). “Sons of Anarchy: Season Three” is BD-LIVE enhanced with access to the Fox web portal including—under “Live Extras”—a Blu-ray exclusive featurette called “Sons at Comic-Con 2011” (720p, 4 minutes 57 seconds). The featurette is an excerpt from the series’ panel with Kurt Sutter, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal and Charlie Hunnam. Each disc also includes the usual resume playback and optional bookmark functions and something called season mode, which allows you to watch every episode from the season without interruption and will remember your place even after you’ve ejected the disc for your player. Season mode plays extended episodes where available. This feature is great for marathoning the series. DISC TWO: Series creator Kurt Sutter, and cast members Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff and Tommy Flanagan sit down for an affable actor-heavy audio commentary on “Firinne”. Sutter spends a lot of time talking about the “Irish” cast, the second unit work in Belfast and believably blending it with the first unit stuff shot in southern California, and writing the episode. The actors tackle their characters and ask lots of questions, which Sutter is ready and willing to answer, but spend an excessive amount of time watching instead of talking. Each platter includes a deleted scenes reel of excised material from various episodes on that disc. Disc two includes 12 deleted scenes (1080i upconvert, 14 minutes 10 seconds total runtime). Again the scenes are mostly forgettable extra bits that don’t add much. There are two scenes from “Turning, Turning”, two from “The Push”, one from “Widening Gyre”, three from “Turas”, and four from “Firinne”. The scope of the stuff from “Firinne” suggests it could have easily been added back in to make an extended episode; why they didn’t do that is anyone’s guess. “Sons of Anarchy: Season Three” is BD-LIVE enhanced with access to the Fox web portal including—under “Live Extras”—a Blu-ray exclusive featurette called “Sons at Comic-Con 2011” (720p, 4 minutes 57 seconds). The featurette is an excerpt from the series’ panel with Kurt Sutter, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal and Charlie Hunnam. Each disc also includes the usual resume playback and optional bookmark functions and something called season mode, which allows you to watch every episode from the season without interruption and will remember your place even after you’ve ejected the disc for your player. Season mode plays extended episodes where available. This feature is great for marathoning the series. DISC THREE: Disc three includes two extended episodes. Both “Bianne” (1080p, 51 minutes 48 seconds) and “June Wedding” (1080p, 48 minutes 43 seconds) are expanded by about five minutes from their broadcast form via seamless branching. Both extended cuts add a smidge more violence and additional breathing room for subplots. “NS”—the supersized hour-long season finale—includes an appropriately super-sized audio commentary with series creator Kurt Sutter, and cast members Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Mark Boone Jr., Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Ryan Hurst and Dayton Callie. This is a great track full of fun and high spirits surrounding the season send off. One caveat: the number of participants and different-yet-similar-sounding voices make it a bit confusing as to who’s saying what in the more heated moments. I much preferred the way season two handled its gargantuan finale commentary with an optional video stream and it’s too bad that for season three we’re back to a plain audio track. “The Future Begins Now” (1080p, 9 minutes 41 seconds total runtime) is a collection of 4 mini episodes exclusive to home video, described as “season-spanning scenes that show you what’s in store for season four.” They are: - “Pay Phone”—Jax tries to call Tara from inside. - “Tara and Piney”—a very pregnant Tara talks with the old-timer on oxygen. - “Jax Meets Thomas”—Jax meets his son. - “Mexican Basketball”—Tig takes on the Mexican gang at a little game of B-bal, while Jax and Clay talk business. “The Writers Roundtable” (1080p, 18 minutes 14 seconds) is a featurette with Kurt Sutter, Dave Erickson, Chris Collins, Liz Sagal, Marco Ramirez and Brady Dahl, recorded at the Arnie Morton’s Steakhouse in Burbank, CA in 2011. The creator and his flock of writers field questions submitted by fans via Twitter. It proves to be pretty interesting discussion about the writing process and what’s changed in the four seasons of work behind-the-series. The next featurette, called “Bike Customizer” (1080p, 15 minutes 45 seconds), is a look at the crew’s custom bike built for the Wounded Warrior Project. Sutter and others talk about how the charity project came to be and what they wanted to do for returning vets. Unsurprisingly, a majority of the runtime is devoted to the actual build. A shorter featurette titled “Directing the Finale with Kurt Sutter” (1080p, 5 minutes 35 seconds) is pretty straightforward. The series creator talks about directing season three’s thirteenth episode, “NS, and his process. The second-to-last featurette has perhaps the bluntest title—“NS Table Read with Cast” (1080p, 44 minutes 5 seconds)—and as it says, the full cast does a rough read-through with Sutter. I don’t know what it is about these sorts of pieces, but I find them fascinating. There’s just something really cool about watching an episode come together organically on such a simple level. Season three’s gag reel (1080p, 3 minutes 2 seconds) is short and sweet and sort of funny. The typical barrage of slip ups, flubs and the occasional “fuck” are accented by a couple of amusing goofs involving a car that’s not suppose to start but does, and binds that are suppose to hold but don’t. Disc three’s deleted scenes reel (1080i upconvert, 3 minutes 19 seconds total runtime) consists of two scenes from “NS”, both centered on Gemma in a jail cell. The final featurette is a fluffy promo piece called “Fox Movie Channel Presents World Premiere ‘Sons of Anarchy: Season Three’” (non-anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen, 5 minutes 12 seconds). “Sons of Anarchy: Season Three” is BD-LIVE enhanced with access to the Fox web portal including—under “Live Extras”—a Blu-ray exclusive featurette called “Sons at Comic-Con 2011” (720p, 4 minutes 57 seconds). The featurette is an excerpt from the series’ panel with Kurt Sutter, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal and Charlie Hunnam. Each disc also includes the usual resume playback and optional bookmark functions and something called season mode, which allows you to watch every episode from the season without interruption and will remember your place even after you’ve ejected the disc for your player. Season mode plays extended episodes where available. This feature is great for marathoning the series.
Packaging
All 13 episodes from the third season of “Sons of Anarchy” are included on three BD-50 discs. The set is Region Free, despite logos to the contrary on the packaging, and comes in an ordinary blu-ray keep case. I’m disappointed to see Fox go slip-less with season three, especially after they included a sturdy slip-cover on season two.
Overall
Because “Sons of Anarchy” is so serialized, I can’t really recommend season three to anyone but the fans of the series who’ve already seen the previous 26 episodes. For those fans though, this is a must own. Fox’s three-disc set sports faithful near-perfect video, excellent reference quality audio and some decent extras.
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