Chris and I have recently become riveted to the new FX TV series “Sons of Anarchy.“
I read somewhere that there are parallels to Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the character relationships of Jax, his mother Gemma (Katey Sagal), and her second husband (and the gang’s leader) Clay (Ron Perlman, by himself the reason we watched the pilot). Mindful of this, I’ve been paying particular attention to what is being developed on the series about Jax’s relationship to his late father as well as to his mother and stepfather. If the tension there is fully explored, at some point Gemma will be caught between her flesh-and-blood son on the one hand, and her husband and the figurative family the gang represents, on the other.
If this were a Lifetime-TV series, she would of course choose Jax over Clay. But “Sons of Anarchy” is from the creators of “The Shield,“ and though I’d never watched that show I quickly saw similarities between “Sons of Anarchy” and “The Sopranos.“ No, Gemma wouldn’t side with Jax. But she can’t turn against him either, since family ties have been paid some serious lip service so far even by Clay. How she tries to hold it together will be interesting to see.
Readers of the story I’ve been writing are aware that family ties are one of the larger themes being explored. Chapter 4 in particular deals with the familial relationships among the three Scruggins men that you’ve met so far, though some of the tensions glimpsed have been only partly exposed. I know why the source of Bob’s given name is an issue between Seth and Caleb, but I haven’t decided whether it will be more than a side strand to that thread. It gives some insight into the Scrugginses themselves but may only be a matter of texture rather than an actual plot point. I will admit that Seth, never having appeared directly in anything I’ve ever written before, is proving to be extremely interesting to me. I’m finding it challenging to move away from the Scrugginses and back onto the other plot threads I want to write about.
I’m gradually working my way through a revision of another Scruggins-centric story I wrote years ago, bringing it more into the continuity represented by “Play Rough, Fight Dirty,“ and will have it posted fairly soon. Maybe the work I’m doing on it will slake my interest in that clan long enough to get back to the Calhouns and Ironwoods, et al, for a few more chapters.
Update, Wednesday: I reached a cliffhanger situation of sorts in rewriting the old short story, and posted it here. I’m sure I’ll resolve the cliffhanger.
Eventually.
