Reviews · TV

TV Review: Sons of Anarchy 1.10 – Better Half

With ATF agent Stahl pressing the women of Samcro, Jax sees Chief Unser as the key to the club?s salvation.
By  · Published on November 6th, 2008

Sons of Anarchy, FX, Airs Wednesday 10/9c

Episode: “Better Half” (Season 1, Episode 10)

Synopsis: With ATF agent Stahl pressing the women of Samcro, Jax sees Chief Unser as the key to the club?s salvation. Tara still reels from the Kohn situation. And Cherry reveals some interesting information about her past to Gemma.

Review: Seven days later, another explosive episode of Sons of Anarchy. This seems to be a new weekly ritual — Wednesday nights mean crazy drama with the best-cast show on television. I say that it is the best-cast show because it is, hands down. Charlie Hunnam has been brilliant all season, giving Jax Teller enough layers to keep us wondering whether or not he is good underneath that hard outer biker badass shell or if he is just like Clay Morrow, another evil guy in an evil world.

This week’s episode saw the return of Ally Walker, who plays the foul-mouthed, sexually charged lady ATF agent who is all over SAMCRO like white on rice. And from the look of things, she is starting to make plenty of headway — that is, until the explosive (there’s that word again) final moments of the show. Just like we saw two weeks ago when the fate of Agent Kohn (Jay Karnes) was decided, this week’s show ends with a bang and the promise of escalation in the future. Hold on to your seats, friends, because the last four episodes of season one are going to be off the charts. And perhaps that is what is so intriguing about Sons of Anarchy, it continues to give without giving too much. It continues to give us all of the badass biker action — the sex, guns and rock and roll — but it always promises to give us more. It always promises to turn things up a notch next week. That, and it continues to give us strong characters with whom we can connect, despite the fact that none of them are in any way decent people. It is a hard balance to find, but Kurt Sutter and his writing team have found it — and here’s to hoping that they can continue their success.

Up Next Week: When one SOA member is arrested for murder and another goes missing, Jax must choose between friendship and the club. Meanwhile, Abel grows stronger and is soon to be released from the NICU, but he?s not the only one coming home.

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Did you see Sons of Anarchy this week? If so, feel free to discuss below.

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Neil Miller is the persistently-bearded Publisher of Film School Rejects, Nonfics, and One Perfect Shot. He's also the Executive Producer of the One Perfect Shot TV show (currently streaming on HBO Max) and the co-host of Trial By Content on The Ringer Podcast Network. He can be found on Twitter here: @rejects (He/Him)