Sons of Anarchy - Season 2 - DVD

Content: Even if it doesn't seem like it at first glance - peace is far from coming to the small town of Charming: the Sons of Anarchy, the motorcycle gang around roughneck Clay Morrow (Ron Pearlman), have to take care of a new source for their gun smuggling, which forces Clay to make a deal with the Irish. Opie (Ryan Hurst) returns after Donna's death and is out for revenge. He wants to bring his wife's killers to justice at any cost, unaware that she died at the hands of one of his friends. Instead, the blame is placed on the Mexican Mayans. And soon Opie murders a member of that gang, with Jax (Charlie Hunnam) managing to destroy the message Opie cuts into the man's chest at the last moment. As if those weren't problems enough, tensions between Jax and his former role model Clay are also mounting. But these are all minor things against what lies ahead for the Sons of Anarchy with the emergence of Ethan Zobelle (Adam Arkin) and his lackey AJ Weston (Henry Rollins) of the League of American Nationalists. Zobelle has made it his goal to put a stop to the gang and their arms trade once and for all. To do this, he works with the Nazi gang led by Ernest Darby (Mitch Pileggi) and wants to send Clay a particularly powerful message. To do this, he has Gemma (Katey Sagal) kidnapped and raped. But the message doesn't get through to Clay, as Gemma keeps the brutal assault to herself...

Once again, Kurt Sutter (The Shield) has delivered high-level TV entertainment in the second season of Sons of Anarchy. Drama, humor, thriller, romance and violence in front of a deceptive small town idyll carried by a great ensemble of actors and accompanied by a harmonious soundtrack give these thirteen new episodes again a very special charm. Especially the storyline around the League of American Nationalists is captivating this season, as the emergence of the slick Ethan Zobelle leads to some very dramatic events in the ranks of the Sons of Anarchy. This also highlights the quality of acting the series has to offer, right down to the small supporting roles. For example, how Gemma deals with the emotional consequences after the violent assault and thereby distances herself more and more from the person she actually loves, attains an enormous intensity through the play of Katey Sagal. But also guest stars like Adam Arkin, who often played lovable characters in a quirky way (Alaska of all places, Chicago Hope) or ex-Akte X actor Mitch Pileggi deliver quite great performances here.

Another dramaturgical highlight of the season is the gang's entry into the porn business, which Tara (Maggie Siff), Jax's girlfriend, is particularly uncomfortable with, as one of the performers seems to be too interested in her boyfriend. And when some members of the Sons of Anarchy have to go behind bars for a short time, the viewer is treated to a particularly strong episode. And the finale, which lays an exciting foundation for Season 3, leaves little to be desired. However, the creators always keep the right balance of suspenseful and gritty and light-hearted scenes in mind, which means that the series never loses its relaxing entertainment value despite some very heavy moments.

Great scripts with effectively worked out tension arcs, a very multilayered drawing of the characters, very good actors and technical aspects like camera, sound and equipment on a high level make Sons of Anarchy in its second year again a prime example for the high quality of some US series. Since the fifth season was already shown there, there is still enough supply for German fans, for whom season 3 probably can't come fast enough after these excellent 13 episodes. For fans of series like The Shield absolutely worth watching!

Picture + Sound: Also in technical terms, season 2 is absolutely equal to its predecessor. The picture is absolutely clean, pleasing with a very earthy, atmospheric color scheme and very good overall sharpness. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix allows the more centrally mixed dialogue to come through clearly and powerfully, while some well-executed effects such as gunfire, explosions and, of course, the hum of motorcycles always provide audible movement on the surround channels. Good!

Extras: Although the extras aren't quite as extensive as they were for the first season, there's still plenty of good extra fodder for fans of the series. The first DVD has 8 minutes of deleted scenes for three episodes, as well as an audio commentary on the episode The League by Kurt Sutter, Ron Perlman, Adam Arkin and Guy Ferland. On the second disc there is a total of 13 minutes of cut footage from four episodes, on DVD 3 this amounts to 15 minutes. There's also another audio commentary on the episode Balsam with Kurt Sutter, Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Paris Barclay and Dave Erickson.

Finally, DVD 4 also has some dropped scenes (about 6 mins) and an audio commentary on the season finale, voiced by series creator Kurt Sutter and ten (!) cast members. There are also some amusing outtakes (approx. 4 min.), as well as a short documentary on the moral code of the Sons of Anarchy (approx. 10 min.). Finally, there's a roundtable discussion with Sutter and the stars of the series, who answer fan-submitted questions in a Los Angeles bar for just under 40 minutes. Especially this last feature is absolutely worth seeing for fans and has a lot of amusing, but also some very serious moments.

Conclusion: Konnte Sons of Anarchy already convince in the first season, the series in season 2 qualitatively even increases. The confrontation of the motorcycle gang with the League of American Nationalists, the increasingly strong tensions between Jax and Clay or even the entry of the SoA into the porn business, the brutal attack on Gemma, a short prison stay for some gang members or even a car bomb, by which one of the SoA is seriously injured - all these are the ingredients from which 13 exciting and extremely entertaining episodes are mixed. A great season that culminates in a furious finale that leaves you wanting more. If you liked the 1st season, you have to get this one! And who does not know the series so far, should definitely catch up!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp