Sons of Anarchy Season 6 - Blu-ray

Content: Clay (Ron Pearlman) and Tara (Maggie Siff) are in prison, former U.S. Marshall Lee Toric (Donal Louge) wants to avenge his sister's death and hold Jax (Charlie Hunnam) accountable for it, for which he gets support from tough-as-nails District Attorney Tyne Patterson (CCH Pounder). The IRA won't let SAMCRO get out of the arms supply business, and the Nazis are also making life difficult for the Sons once again. But that's nothing compared to the disaster that happens next: a boy goes on a rampage at his school, killing several children. The weapon comes from SAMCRO's stockpiles and is also easily traced. It's getting harder and harder for Jax to keep the squad together and keep them from going to jail or getting killed by rival gangs. All he wants to do is get out of all the illegal business and finally become a role model and a good father to his kids. With Nero (Jimmy Smits) he wants to start an escort service and he also wants to expand his porn business. But he keeps getting caught up in the past. And he knows that this will go on and on if he doesn't finally draw a radical line. What he doesn't suspect is that Tara has other plans - plans that Gemma (Katey Sagal) wants to prevent at all costs. Whatever the cost...

The sixth and penultimate season of Sons of Anarchy sets the mood perfectly for the series' upcoming swan song. The drama ramps up as the season progresses and some very drastic events create a foreshadowing of what fans can expect in the final episodes. There are several storylines in this season that are extremely exciting and engagingly executed. The vendetta of Lee Toric, who literally walks over dead bodies to avenge the murder of his sister, is part of it, as well as the increasingly bloody conflict with the IRA. It shows very well how much Jax seems to fight against windmills in his efforts to maneuver the club out of the illegal business. This also makes him miss all the signs of what Tara is planning, which will lead to an extremely dramatic event at the end of the season.

There are many extreme moments, such as the school massacre scene, which is very intensely realized in its restraint. Prison abuse, snuff pornography and brutal gang rivalries are not exactly easy material to digest either. But the team around series creator Kurt Sutter manages very well to lighten up the very hard aspects of the series with some humor or classic thriller and drama elements in a way that they still come across as rousing and shocking, but just not repulsive or too striking. Thus, especially in this season, the tension level is again kept very high even in the quieter moments, which makes waiting for the final season a real challenge, especially after the drastic finale.

Next to some side characters, season 6 also means saying goodbye to two main characters. While the demise of one character was foreseeable, the death of the other comes as a bit of a surprise. However, it is the logical consequence of the development of two characters, which at some point simply had to be discharged in an explosive manner. That this will end in a murder, however, was not necessarily foreseeable. For the events of the last episodes, however, this will be guaranteed directional.

Sons of Anarchy is a good example of the interesting development that television has made in recent years. Series heroes are no longer unambiguously positive characters. Even very shady characters like Jax and the other members of SAMCRO can become sympathetic. And that makes their stories infinitely more interesting and the character development extremely exciting. A must for all series junkies and therefore again in the sixth year: absolutely worth watching!

Picture + Sound: At the technical implementation has not really changed compared to the last seasons. The picture of the new episodes is absolutely clean on Blu-ray and convinces with a very earthy, atmospheric color scheme. The overall sharpness is also at a very good level, which is also evident in a convincing presentation of smaller details. The lively DTS 5.1 mix allows dialogue to come through clearly and powerfully, while some well-executed effects such as gunfire, explosions and of course the rattle of motorcycles provide an excellent surround feel time and time again. And for a TV series, that's really quite good!

Extras: In addition to an audio commentary on the first episode of the season, the first disc also features some dropped scenes (approx. 4:42 min.), as well as an episode from the show Sons of Anarchy: Epilogue to the Season Premiere (approx. 45:12 min.). Here, stars and creators talk about individual episodes in the behind-the-scenes of the series. Definitely entertaining and worth watching for fans. There is another epilogue episode on DVD 2 (approx. 44:04 min.), which also features more cut scenes (approx. 3:57 min.). The rest of the extras can then be found on Disc 4.

Here there is an audio commentary on the season finale, some amusing outtakes (approx. 2:57 mins), an epilogue to the finale (approx. 59:50 mins), as well as a featurette on the characters who have passed on in this season (approx. 7:05 mins). Finally, there is a very watchable short documentary about a fan event held to benefit hurricane victims (approx. 19:55 min.). Worth seeing!

Conclusion: Sons of Anarchy is slowly but surely approaching the final climax. The sixth and penultimate season is not stingy with dramatic climaxes, through which all the course is set for the events in season 7. Especially the finale makes it clear: after what happened here, nothing will ever be the same again. There are a lot of great suspense and action moments, but also always a little bit of humor and a lot of drama. However, this season is not boring at any moment. The Blu-ray presents the episodes in the usual good picture and sound quality and the extras are particularly pleasing the three worth seeing epilogue episodes. Therefore, also for this box applies again a very clear: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp