This first (and spoilerish) clip from Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, explores film's the parallel storylines.
Cloud Atlas, directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, opens October 26.
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Sons of Anarchy: "Laying Pipe" Review
Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Like most shows with a big cast and a ton of storylines going on at the same time, Sons of Anarchy is usually busy jumping from plot to plot, making sure that everything is moving forward. This week’s episode, “Laying Pipe”, directed by former guest star Adam Arkin, was more focused, which set the right tone considering the significance of what happened. There’s a spoiler warning at the top of this review, but this is another warning: if you haven’t seen the episode yet and don't want to be spoiled, go watch it and come back here afterwards.
Let’s discuss the less heartbreaking items first. First up: Gemma’s bad day. If trying to undermine Tara by working with Wendy wasn’t bad enough, pretending to Tara that she hadn’t tipped Wendy off ended up making Gemma look a tiny bit silly. As Gemma herself pointed out, Tara is the smart one. And then there was the fight with the prostitute (Ashley Tisdale) who was with Clay at Nero’s. Clay’s sly smile confirmed that this was exactly what he was going for; it was disappointing to see Gemma gave him what he wanted.
Of course, all of this was completely in character for Gemma, who has been known to go off half-cocked when things get her riled up. Katey Sagal put a great tone into all of her lines, especially with Tara (“Where is this sad song going?”). Even when she knew she didn’t have a leg to stand on, she was feisty. Tara’s declaration that she loved Gemma but wouldn’t put up with this was the perfect response. My question is how long Nero is going to be ok with the chaos that accompanies Gemma everywhere. Their discussion afterward was another example of the great chemistry between Sagal and Jimmy Smits; the ease they have with each other makes it fun to watch the relationship unfold.
It was just last week that I was looking forward to seeing what would happen when Clay and Nero met up, and I got my wish pretty quickly here in just the third episode of the season. I should have known that Nero would be cool as a cucumber, unwilling to let Clay get him worked up. Although there was no violence between Gemma’s men so far, I think Nero will prove to be more than capable of holding his own if Clay decides to take him on.
After all the angst with Juice last season, it was like a breath of fresh air to see him more lighthearted again. In this episode Theo Rossi brought out the humor every chance he got, and it was a great way of easing some of the tension from the other storylines. Juice’s reluctance to take Clay to Nero’s was cute, but it was when Carla called him “white trash” and he made the correction that he was Puerto Rican that made me laugh out loud. It was good to see the old Juice back.
Diana was too sad to write a funny caption this week
And now to the heart of the episode – what happened to Jax and the other three Sons in county lockup. To start, Harold Perrineau and Charlie Hunnam’s scenes together were great. They started off on unequal footing, with Jax trying to keep things from spinning out of control. The change in Jax by the end of the episode was profound, and Pope recognized it right away.
Charlie Hunnam and Ryan Hurst also made the most of their time together in this episode. As glad as I was to see the heart to heart where Jax came clean about the events of last season, I knew it didn’t bode well for Opie. But even if we could sense it coming, it didn’t make it any less painful to watch that scene unfold. It was brutal, made more so by Opie’s resignation and Jax’s horrified reaction. Sons of Anarchy has a history of being unafraid to show shocking violence and this was no exception.
Opie (and Hurst) will be missed. The impact on Jax was immediate. He was already struggling to keep things together and it will only be more difficult without Opie as backup and moral compass. The way he “held court” at the end with Chibs and Tig showed us the change in him as he used Tig to solidify his control of SAMCRO. If I had a complaint about the episode, it was that I wanted to see the conversation when Jax called Tara in the end. We got to see Jax’s reaction to what happened to Opie, how it affected his dealings with Pope, and how he dealt with Chibs and Tig. When the scene ended without showing us how Jax explained things to Tara, it felt like we were missing something. Maybe they will give us some of the fallout in the episodes to come, we will have to see.
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Sons of Anarchy: "Sovereign" Review
Note: Full spoilers for the Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 premiere follow.
Sons of Anarchy returned with its usual complex storylines and characters intact, introduced new twists and turns, and added intriguing new recurring cast members in Jimmy Smits (Dexter) and Harold Perrineau (Lost). As SAMRCO’s reigning President, Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) had to deal with threats on various fronts, from the business side of things to the personal. So, in other words, just a typical day for SAMCRO.
There was plenty of plot to go around between the deal with the cartel, Roosevelt still snooping around, the battle with the Niners, home invasions in Charming and the new danger from revenge-seeking Damon Pope. Add to that all the interpersonal drama after the fallout from the power shakeup in the last season, and you’ve got a packed episode that didn’t have any trouble filling up the extra time it had for the season premier. The confrontational scenes - Jax and Opie, Gemma and Tara, Roosevelt and Juice, to name a few - were given enough time to help us keep the various threads in mind, and none bogged down the episode's momentum.
After the events of last season, Clay (Ron Perlman) appeared to be a broken man, both physically and emotionally. But if you thought that losing his position of power would make Clay less dangerous, that was a mistake. Using a trick I wouldn’t have guessed Clay had in his arsenal, he played a version of the sympathy card. Feeding the club partial truths, he managed to spill enough facts to potentially be let off several hooks. That all of this happened under Jax’s disbelieving glare from the other side of the table made for a great scene. It will be interesting to see what happens next between these two perpetually sparring opponents.
Jax is not amused.
With an introductory scene that was memorable, to say the least, Smits joined the cast as Nero Padilla, who humorously described himself as a “companionator,” rather than the more mundane term of pimp. So far, Smits was a breath of fresh air, with his smooth talk and immediate affection for Gemma. And it was somewhat amusing that on this show the pimp character was the one portrayed as carefree and (comparatively) above-the-law.
Gemma’s state of mind was troubling, especially seeing the tough former queen of the club so confused about how she ended up at Nero’s. Gemma’s behavior was paralleled nicely with Tara’s situation. Tara may appear to be dealing with things, but the quick shot of her at the end of the episode contradicted that. Both Katey Sagal and Maggie Siff continued their excellent performances of two strong women navigating the tricky waters of SAMCRO, trying to control their situations the best they can, while things continued to unravel for both of them.
With a less flashy intro than Smits, Perrineau also made his first appearance count as Damon Pope, father of the girl Tig killed last season. Pope’s quietly powerful demeanor was convincingly menacing, even before he set in motion the object lesson for Jax and SAMCRO where the new head of the Niners was murdered in front of them. His ruthlessness combined with his desire to appear to be an upstanding member of the community was a bit reminiscent of Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring, one of the more frightening villains TV has given us recently. If there was any question that Pope is a force to be reckoned with this season, the horrific scene with Tig and his daughter should put that to rest.
With all the above in play this season, I almost laughed out loud at Tara’s exasperated, “Now what?” when the phone call came in that the police were looking to arrest Jax, Chibs and Tig. She should know by now that there is always going to be something going terribly wrong with this group of guys. If previous seasons are any indication, the mess SAMCRO is in so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
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