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You can see the whole Earth from the Moon!

But still – something like “Breaking Bad” 

on AMC? Never saw the meth-making, 

dying-of-cancer high school teacher coming. 

And there’s a sublime beauty to the 

uniqueness of the “Mad Men” milieu. 

You can’t look at those premises and say, 

“Boy, what took them so long?”

But a drama about the inner workings 

of an outlaw motorcycle gang? 

Now there’s a cable no-brainer. 

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And finally – gloriously – “Sons of Anarchy” 

arrives tonight on FX, the cable channel 

where it should thrive. 

(Most of the really daring series on basic 

cable started at FX, which developed the 

pilot for “Breaking Bad,” by the way.)

“Sons of Anarchy” premieres one day 

after the opening episode of the final season 

of “The Shield,” and there’s something fitting 

about that, given that “Sons of Anarchy” 

creator Kurt Sutter has been a writer and 

executive producer on “The Shield” 

since it started.

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Here’s a guy who knows how to tell a story 

and who understands the complexities 

of anti-heroes. 

Along with executive producers John Linson 

(this is his passion project) and Art Linson, 

Sutter has crafted what might easily be 

described as a kind of West Coast “Sopranos.” 

More accurately, though, “Sons of Anarchy” 

is “Hamlet” on a Harley.

With John Linson’s love of motorcycle culture 

and his access to an Oakland outlaw club 

(which he doesn’t name), Sutter was able 

to immerse himself in the workings of the 

organization and come out with 

something authentic. 

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The first two episodes of “Sons of Anarchy” 

not only leave you immediately wanting 

more, but they also instill confidence 

that Sutter has created a multilayered 

series, peopled with intriguing characters, 

that can sustain numerous story angles 

over the long haul.

“Sons of Anarchy” is centered on three 

main characters. There’s Clay Morrow 

(Ron Perlman), one of the nine founding 

members. Clay is president of SAMCRO – 

an acronym for Sons of Anarchy 

Motorcycle Club Redwood Original, 

the first club in what has become an 

international network.

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SAMCRO is in the fictional small town 

of Charming, which appears to be 

somewhere in the northern middle of 

California. Clay is married to Gemma Teller 

Morrow (Katey Sagal, who’s fabulous here), 

the matriarch of the club. Her son, 

Jackson, or Jax (Charlie Hunnam), 

is the vice president of SAMCRO.

His father, like Clay, was a Vietnam 

veteran who formed the Sons of Anarchy. 

After his father was killed, Gemma 

married Clay. It’s clear that Jax is the 

future leader of the club. 

While there’s no argument there – 

Jax grew up a member and this is the only 

family he knows – the dramatic tension rises 

when he finds an old journal from his 

father expressing misgivings about the 

path of the Sons of Anarchy.

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What started as a bunch of veterans 

disillusioned with life in America and 

seeking their own culture off the grid 

has evolved into an organized-crime 

syndicate. 

The Sons of Anarchy rule Charming with 

a velvet glove and even operate legitimate 

businesses in town, but they make their 

real money as arms dealers, 

selling guns to gangs in Oakland 

and elsewhere.

As with “The Sopranos,” the peripheral 

characters in “Sons of Anarchy” are 

exceptionally well drawn and will no 

doubt have numerous stories of their own. 

Two of immediate interest are Wendy 

(Drea de Matteo of “The “Sopranos”), 

Jax’s ex-wife, who’s a crank addict 

carrying his baby. 

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Then there’s Tara (Maggie Siff, who played 

the department store heiress on “Mad Men”), 

an early love of Jax’s who went to medical 

school and came back as a pediatrician 

at the local hospital.

Let’s just say Gemma has a field 

day with those two.

As with “The Sopranos,” “Sons” 

has plenty of guns and violence, but 

it prefers to find its drama in the dialogue, 

in the internal struggles of the characters. 

Here, of course, there’s a much 

larger Shakespearean mythology at work.

And though that may prove to be too 

obvious in time, Sutter shows in the 

first two episodes that he’s a storyteller 

who can lay down an intriguing 

narrative framework. 

There’s a Mexican gang working to mess 

with the Sons of Anarchy for selling 

weapons to their rivals in Oakland. 

There are white supremacists trying 

to upstage the Sons of Anarchy 

right in Charming.

And though the local police department 

and county sheriff are on the take, 

there’s a rising force in the police 

department ready to clean up the town, 

not to mention feds ready to pounce.

Elsewhere there are other struggles. 

Jax is feeling the changes of impending 

fatherhood. He believes that the club’s 

philosophy – “brains before bullets” – 

has been all but abandoned. 

There’s a mystery about Tara’s return 

to town (it has raised flags with Gemma – 

probably the smartest one in the club). 

And then there’s the manuscript Jax finds, 

which raises doubts about all 

kinds of things.

Few series have exploded onto the 

scene with such a rich array of potential stories 

and inherently interesting characters. 

A biker gang. 

What took them so long to get here?

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