Tag Archives: FX

Oct 03 2012
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FX, quotes, Recaps, Sons of Anarchy

sons of anarchy recapping: stolen huffy

Previously on Sons of Anarchy: Laying Pipe

This week of SOA was on the tamer side compared to the previous episodes (four episodes in and we’ve already lost one of our most beloved characters, RIP Opie) However, don’t let this fool you, there was still much drama to behold, as the Sons must face their most deadliest adversary to date.
motorcycles

As promised by Pope, the remaining Sons are released from county prison. In the midst of planning Opie’s wake, Jax and the Sons of Anarchy have an emergency meeting to discuss the happenings in county prison–and how they must move on. Jax explains to the boys that Pope is their deadliest enemy, and their only way of survival is to make amends with Pope, which will ultimately end the retaliation killings with rival gangs, such as the Niners. Jax further explains that Pope revealed that the home invasions were not issued by the African-American gangs, and that Pope offered them assistance on discovering the culprit for a mere fifty grand. The Sons of Anarchy agree to this deal.

After the raid at the brothel, Gemma and the rest of the escorts are in prison waiting to be released. A rumor is circulating that Emma, the prostitute that Gemma beat up in the previous episode, was behind the raid.  Nero and his bottom b*tch are busy clearing up the mess from the raid–and discovering an eviction notice–Jax and Chibs arrive to help. Two dangerous looking thugs arrive as well and want to take care of the Emma problem. This ultimately becomes a race against time as Jax and Chibs must find Emma before the thugs do. Of course, Jax finds her first at a rundown motel doing what she does best, and of course the thugs show up at the same and demand the girl. And guess what happens next? CAR CHASE! The chase is quickly ended after Jax and Emma suffer a small crash, followed by a brief stand off in the front yard of the projects with the thugs, and a deal that the Sons of Anarchy will take care of Emma, who claims she is innocent. It is revealed at the clubhouse that Nero’s bottom b*tch informed the thugs where Emma would be hiding, and justifies her actions by saying she did it for the good of the business and to teach the other escorts to never rat.
Jax and Emma

Opie’s body is brought back from the morgue to the Club House. Opie looks peaceful in his Sons of Anarchy inspired coffin, but the damage the laying pipe did to him is clearly visible on his face. The grieving widow, Lilla, is left with Opie’s two children and her own son, and is obviously devastated by Opie’s death. During the wake, Opie is sent off to a better place with only the best–a bottle of tequila, some new chains for his wallet, and a childhood photo of him and Jax tucked into his breast pocket. The wake was probably one of the most beautiful and equally sad moments of the season. It’s moments like these that it is made clear that Jax has been forever changed and ultimately, the club needs to change in order to keep the death toll from rising.

The Gemma-Wendy-Tara Love/Hate Triangle

Gemma just keeps on switching BFFs here. One minute she hates Wendy, the next she asks her to bail her out of jail. One minute she thinks Tara is the best thing that ever happened to Jax, the next she wants Tara’s enemy, Wendy, to win visitation for Abel. Must be menopause. I thoroughly believe Gemma is threatened by the person Tara has become (Tara is now the queen of the Sons, she has really stepped out from her shy demeanor since season one, and Tara demonstrates that even with a cast, she can beat someone up). However, all of these women are connected by a common cause: the personal welfare of Abel. While Gemma keeps switching sides for the welfare of Abel, Tara and Wendy both hold solid ground for their arguments. Tara (and Jax) both believe that Abel is not ready to hear all the damages that Wendy has done to him, while Wendy believes Abel is going to want to know who his real mother is and why she has been in the shadows. Looks like we are in for some interesting baby mama drama this season. Gemma is obviously a loose cannon this season, and this could easily become the catalyst for an all out war between the matriarch and the up-and-coming matriarch.
Gemma and Tara
The Question of Opie’s Family

Opie’s family has been hit with devastation since season one. First with the death of Donna in season one, the death of Piney in season four, and now Opie’s untimely death. Will Lilla be able to handle the challenge of a single mother with three children, or are viewers in for another Opie family tragedy?

How Jax has changed, For Both Good and Bad

Jax was obviously and understandable changed after witnessing the death of his best friend. Jax was already on a rocky and perilous road once he became the president of the Sons, and this only adds to the challenges. It is clear Jax wants to keep the Sons out of the ominous and deadly grasp of gang warfare. It is commendable that he wants to save his club for a better future, but at what cost? It has already been hinted that Jax has plans for Tig, which could ultimately turn Jax into the man he claims to never want to be–Clay. Furthermore, Jax is dealing with Pope as a way to end retaliation killings. But, what does getting in bed with Pope mean for the Sons. Will Pope use this power and leverage over the Sons to create more death and despair after the death of his daughter? Probably. Jax is also willing to offer Nero a part in the porn business as a means to make money (to get the Sons out of the drug business perhaps?) and to help out a friend. What will Jax’s deal do for Gemma and for the Sons? We will have to wait til next week to find out, but I think some drama just might ensue!

Quotes

Jax: “I think Opie has been looking for a way out since Donna died. He hasn’t been the same since. He went out a warrior.”

Clay: “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

Gemma: “Why don’t you bounce my face off the floor, then maybe you’ll recognize me.”

Gemma: “What the hell is happening to us.”

Jax: “Look mom, I have a few things on my plate today. I’m burying my best friend. So your need to be loved and worshiped is a little low on my list.”

Jax (to Tara): “You’re the only one who will call Abel ‘son'”.

Jax (to Opie): “I’ll see you later, brother.”

When not obsessively catching up with current and ’90′s television shows, aliciawrites19 enjoys nerding out to her favorite books and learning survival skills from horror films.

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Sep 12 2012
2 Comments
FX, Recaps, Sons of Anarchy

sons of anarchy recapping: sovereign

The premiere of season five of this unbelievably addicting show does not disappoint. The motorcycle gang/vigilante group Sons of Anarchy is in turmoil after murder, betrayal, and revenge reared its ugly face amongst the gang members. The series picks up with the question: How can we rise from the weakening state that the gang has succumbed to?

The season picks up right after Jax Teller, the extremely handsome vice-president of the club, peacefully overthrows president Clay Morrow (his ape-faced step father). This was enacted after learning Clay was responsible for Jax’s father’s death. Throughout season four, Clay embarked on a murderous rampage to protect his secret of betrayal. This rampage included murdering club members and ultimately putting a hit on Jax Teller’s wife, Tara. This pivotal end to season four is exactly what viewers had been waiting for since the start of season one.

Jax’s first mission as new president is to end the beef between the Son’s and rival gang, The Niners. In the conclusion of season four, Tigg, an amusing and somewhat disturbed member of the Sons of Anarchy, takes matters into his own hands–ultimately murdering Veronica Pope in a drive by shooting. Pope is the girlfriend of Niner’s head hauncho LeRoy. It is later revealed in the series premiere that Veronica was the daughter of “businessman” Damon Pope, who is set on revenge against the Sons for the death of his daughter. Damon Pope becomes the new villain in the series as he proclaims that “I will decide who lives and who dies”.

Clay Morrow, inexplicably crippled from an injury due to a bullet in the chest, returns to the Club. Jax is now sitting in Clay seat and makes decisions for the club as Clay watches on with a disgruntled look on his face. Clay remarks to the club that his injury was a means of self defense (Lies!!). Clay claims that Opie, another young club member, accused Clay of murdering his father, Piney, and in an act of extreme hate, shot Clay. The club members meet this revelation with sympathy and shock. Jax looks on and supports Clay’s lie, because the already weakened club is not ready to hear the truth, and it’s now his job to protect the club. Clearly, Clay is not the mea culpa type.

The episode ends with witnesses identifying Jax and other Son’s members as involved with the Veronica Pope murder and the murder of other Niner’s members. Jax is warned with enough time so he and the other accused can make a run for it until a solution to the problem can be found.

  • At the beginning of the season, it is clear that Jax Teller wants to rid the club of it’s accepted acts of blood shed and revenge, and return to peacefully running black-market guns. However, as good as Jax’s intentions are, it’s obvious that that dream of “peace” is just a mere memory.
  • The mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship between Gemma Teller (Jax’s mother and Clay’s wife) and Tara Knowles-Teller has reached it’s breaking point. Could this be because power has shifted from Clay and Gemma to Jax and Tara?
  • Although Clay’s ailments are clearly visible, both physically and emotionally, it’s hard to feel sympathy for the man. Once he opens his mouth, any form of sympathy is blown out the window. There must be a reason for this man’s continued existence, possibly for evil. What poisonous lies will he spit out in order to keep the blame for himself–and possibly–to regain his position as president. He had no problem murdering his best friend, what more is a stepson?
  • The new arch-nemesis Damon Pope (Played by Harold Perrineau, who should be familiar to fans of Lost and Oz) poses as an interesting character, as he has proven quite early that he is ruthless and disturbingly just . His “eye for an eye” policy and his god-like statement that “I now choose who will live and who will die” seems to be a great threat to the Son’s and Jax’s mission to end the beef between rival gangs.


QUOTES:

Jax: Maybe that’s my lesson, hold onto the simple moments, there’s not many left.

Jax: I’m not going to turn into Clay.

Opie: That’s not what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid I’m going to turn into you.

 

When not obsessively catching up with current and ’90’s television shows, aliciawrites19 enjoys nerding out to her favorite books and learning survival skills from horror films.

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Oct 21 2011
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FX, quotables, Recaps, TV

always sunny recapping: storm of the century

Will’s P.O.V.

Lusting after good ole fashioned big breasticled news reporters is a swell platform – pun intended –  for the opening scene of Sunny. I didn’t think it would go much further than that honestly, but Dennis is a man on a mission. Philadelphia is getting ready for “The storm of the century” and everyone is getting supplies to prepare for the onslaught. Mac, Dennis, and Charlie head to the local supermarket to get food, girls, and batteries (respectively) while Dee and Frank stay back at Paddy’s to storm-proof.

Mac is pretty much a no-show during the entire middle of the episode, but Dennis and Charlie made me forget about that. From Dennis’ failed attempt to get some girls back to Paddy’s for his “Hurricane Party” to Charlie’s plan on accepted incestuous behavior to repopulate the planet Duke Nukem style the episode tickled me. Add in Dennis’ sighting of the aforementioned big breasted broadcaster, while Alone is ballading (<–present tense of ballad) the hell out of your eardrums, and I’m sold.

Meanwhile at Paddy’s, Frank and Dee are deciding what the difference between looting and surviving is. (My personal opinion, if you take anything from a store when there is no natural disaster then you are looting, I’m looking at you LA. But I digress.) I didn’t get much satisfaction from this pairing besides that and the fact that I love Dee so much more when she is especially spastic. They eventually find Cricket in their personal bunker and Frank shoots him. So they head to the supermarket (not the hospital) and Cricket drives the car through the entrance starting a riot.

Meanwhile Mac is at the bunker eating Ben & Jerry’s – I’d like to think it was Schweddy Balls flavored for the obvious comical reasons.

Nicole’s P.O.V.

Jackie Denardo’s (Jessica Collins, Tru Calling) boobs were reason enough to get a 3D television and care about the storm. I was nervous boobs would be the focus of the episode. I’m pro-boobage but I wanted a little bit more from the gang this week and they delivered…kind of. The episode wasn’t “fall out your seat and laugh ‘til you pee” funny, but it was far from a boring episode – mostly thanks to Charlie.

The gang is prepping for a Category 5 storm in the assbackwardsly way only they can. Dee is obsessing over a robopacalypse. Dennis is drawing up (semi-creepy) clauses and contracts to make sure they get “chicks and tits” back to the bunker. Charlie is on battery duty, but somehow he’s the only one to gather up a decent amount of supplies. Mac really only cares about getting the food. And Frank (accurately) thinks back on “that hurricane in New Orleans” and explains the difference between looting and surviving.

While Charlie and Dennis are imagining a big-breasted society they’ll repopulate after the storm, Cricket is back at the bar attempting to raid the bunker and is shot by Frank. When Dee and Frank drive Cricket to the hospital, they of course stop at the All American Home Center to make sure they don’t miss out on the supplies, leaving Cricket in the car…which he crashes….inciting a mini-riot….that triggers the looting/surviving. So we end the night with no storm and a jolly Mac with his 3D TV, food and an empty bunker all to himself.

Quotes

“The Breast make you care about the weather in a really good way.” –Charlie

“We gotta stop pussy-dickin’ around here.” – Dee

“Mayans. Mexicans. What’s the difference?” – Charlie

“Storm coming. Hatchet coming.” – Charlie

“How did you not know…that the reason I invited you back to my bar…was to bang you? GET OUTTA HERE!!!” -Dennis

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Oct 06 2011
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FX, New for Fall 2011, New Show, Recaps, TV, tvdm picks

judgement call: american horror story

American Horror Story premiered last night to the delight of horror/thriller/Ryan Murphy buffs everywhere. I went into the episode never really wondering what the show was about, because the promo art and trailers, along with the promise of a less glee-ful Ryan Murphy were enough for me. Maybe that was a mistake, as I spent the whole episode asking questions they had no intention of revealing in a pilot.

We start the evening in 1978, with two little red-haired, braced twins and a little psychic girl who informs them that going into the house will kill them. I believed her as that Hitchcockian background music played; however, the ginger snaps were less convinced and trashed the house until they were ultimately killed by either Fester Adams or a grown baby hybrid person type of thing (I was clearly confused by what attacked them). With it properly illustrated that this house is haunted, we jumped forward to the present.

Vivien (Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights) returns to a presumably empty home, hears noises and immediately calls 911. The helpful dispatcher says, “Are you sure it’s not a member of your family?” I realize this was done to establish for viewers that no one was home, but c’mon, that can’t be the first thing you ask…unless you’re hoping the crazy ax murderer in the house finds her while she’s answering your pointless questions. I digress. She catches her husband, Ben (Dylan McDermott, The Practice) mid-thrust into one of his 21-year old students…and shortly after, they are relocating.

This is where all of the shows assured creepiness kicks in and we see that the Harmon family is moving into the same house where the twins were slashed-and-dashed. The couple’s daughter Violet hits the trifecta for conveying teen angst: she is a cutter, listens to moody music (Morrissey) and has a style made popular by Seattle in the 90s. Of course new school transitions are never easy, so the faux-Mean Girls crew let her know how unwelcome she was at their school. While watching these girls, I thought to myself, “Hey…isn’t Mean Girl #3 Kendra from Buffy? And didn’t she also have teen roles in Saved By the Bell: The New Class, Dawson’s Creek AND Save the Last Dance? So hasn’t she been playing a teen for over a decade now?” Fortunately all of that was only relevant to my imaginary “no more than four high-school roles per actor” rule.

Back to the story….the family has moved in, met their new housekeeper Moira (Frances Conroy and Alex Breckenridge ), as well as their strange neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange, Cape Fear) and her Addy (the psychic girl from 1978). So far, we’ve seen eerie flashes and that Ben sees a young housekeeper while, everyone else sees a slightly older version. Moira, as the younger model, attempts to seduce Ben, which ends in a sad, shameful masturbation scene complete with tears. This could have something to do with his infidelity or as we later learn, the fact that him and Vivien haven’t been physically intimate in over a year due to their miscarriage.

Intimacy doesn’t seem to be a problem for Ben’s new patient, Tate (Evan Peters, Invasion), as he instantly cozies up to Violet and even helps her with the bullying. His methods and the crazy scene in the basement let us know that he’s also a part of whatever is going on in the house. Ben may not know that, but he sees how disturbed Tate is and desperately wants to keep him away from Violet, which is EXACTLY how you push them together.

Larry Harvey (Denis O’Hare, True Blood), the man with half a face and brain cancer, approaches Ben to inform him that he also once lived in the house and that he heard voices and killed his whole family. Ben, of course, doesn’t believe this…but he has to realize that he’s also hearing things. Or maybe not…what would the fun be in a character in a horror story actually listening to the clues they’re given at the beginning and moving away from their haunted home?

The night ends with a confrontation between Constance and Moira. In this brief exchange we learn that Moira is a seasoned “professional” or at least a little bit slutty, Constance steals jewelry and has killed Moira before. So essentially we learned that these two know each other, without many clues on how, as well as whether or not they’re on the same side or even what side that might be!

I kept noticing a subtle baby-theme throughout the episode, which could be nothing, but between the miscarriage, baby parts in jars and baby pictures/clothing in the intro it also could be something big. Also, Viven had sex with a man (ghost…demon….Ben…Tate…whatever/whoever that was) in a sexual leather bondage outfit and now she’s preggo, so there’s another baby!

So with all that happened, I was left wondering why/how the house is messing with them, but also who is messing with us? Are we being tricked into liking a hopeless gimmick with little/no payoff, or are we seeing the groundwork for a show that really is “none of what you expect”. The “WTF is happening?!” element is what will bring many viewers back next week…maybe then more of what we’re watching will make a sliver of sense.

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Sep 30 2011
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FX, quotables, Recaps, TV

it’s always sunny in philadelphia recapping: frank reynolds’ little beauties

Just as the episode starts and Frank busts up his face – bloody broken nose and all – I was starting to think that this season of Always Sunny I was just going to have to deal with bodily fluids being a main part of each episode. I’m not the most squeamish person but at some point it’s going to get overdone and annoying. But looking pass that, the episode was classic Sunny gold…or yellow…I’m not sure.

Frank’s Little Beauties Pageant was inappropriate and beautiful. The gang makes the pageant about themselves as much as the kids and I greatly appreciated. Anytime the cast gets on stage I will, inevitably, compare it to the blockbuster performance that was The Nightman Cometh and this opening act was just as perfect. Whenever Charlie is given a microphone and Mac’s new belly bulge can’t be contained by his shirt AND awkward semi-stiff choreography is in the mix you can buy me two tickets to that show any day! Dee had a separate performance with a reluctant contestant. Charlie, Mac and Dennis gave “Yankee Doodle Dandy” a rave remix with the help of the lone male contestant. Pure genius.


If I can be promised at least two stage performances every season from the gang I don’t see how they can’t go another seven seasons easily. This was the first episode of the season that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. I can’t lose faith in “the gang” and episodes like this help solidify my stance.

Quotes

“When Dee use to enter pageants when we were kids Mom use to tell her not to waste her time because she wasn’t pretty enough.” -Dennis

“How would you win pageants? Did u have a different face?” -Mac (to Dee)

“I bet you wish you win this pageant don’t you?” -Dee
“My mom says I’m not pretty enough.” -Justine
“Your mom doesn’t know dick! She’s a dumb fat cow and your sister is a stupid little s**t mouth b***h, isn’t she?” -Dee

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