"Sons of Anarchy" raises stakes in new season

Pacing and scale are two absolute musts when it comes to good television. Where is the fun in following a story with long stretches of dull inactivity and insignificant stakes? "Sons of Anarchy's" third season premiere has gone above and beyond the aforementioned criteria, returning the titular small town motorcycle vigilantes for a mission that keeps the momentum moving at full speed.

The end of the previous season saw Sons of Anarchy (SOA) vice president and series protagonist, Jax Teller (played by Charlie Hunnam), angry and broken at the kidnapping of his eight-month-old son. The kidnapping was the result of a plan, gone horribly wrong, to rid the town of Charming of drug runners. The fallout of this plan has left "Sons of Anarchy" matriarch, Gemma (Katey Sagal) on the run for a framed murder, Jax's girlfriend Tara (Maggie Siff) blaming herself for the kidnapping, and Jax is helplessly moping until SOA president Clay (Ron Pearlman) confronts him with a choice – find his son and bring him back alive or take revenge if he is dead.

"Sons of Anarchy" has been building its reputation as an excellent show on FX for about two years now, and the key to its success is slowly becoming evident. All of the phenomenal performances throughout the series taken into account, with particular praise going to Pearlman and Hunnam's ability to portray a completely believable father-son relationship, "Sons of Anarchy's" greatest strength is its ability to organically keep things moving forward, while still distinguishing where stories end and begin. The series keeps building and building until it reaches a shocking or emotional climax, but rather than drop the tension back to a nonexistent level to prepare for the next season, new stakes are piled on an already a high risk operation.

One of the more notable feats of the show is its moral ambiguity. The main protagonists are criminals, several of which have broken the law enough to secure five life sentences. However, they struggle internally about which lines to cross, as they only seek to protect the people of their town in ways that the law cannot. They also have to deal not only with rival gangs, but law enforcement agencies that are not above bribery, framing, and generally playing dirty in order to successfully put the SOA out of business once and for all. The lack of glorified criminal activity is the key factor that sells the plight of Jax and his gang with a sympathetic undertone.

"Sons of Anarchy" is quickly working to become one of the greatest television dramas of all time. There are still several more episodes to come in the current season, but to say that the series has put its strong foot forward with this premiere would be a dramatic understatement. If what is to come has even a fraction of the power that this single episode has, I might just have to get a preorder for the inevitable box set release ready now.