'Sons of Anarchy' review: Biker brutality

But it may be a clue to the dark soul of "SOA," a vicious series where vicious people do terrible things to one another. Over five seasons, "Sons" has consistently featured some of TV's finest performances -- Perlman's in particular -- and quite often TV's sharpest writing. But endless (and escalating) cycles of violence would threaten to blow any show apart, and that's what almost happened to "SOA" this season.

As a condition of keeping this increasingly insane world afloat, it sometimes fell back on the oldest convention of them all -- the soap opera -- which occasionally pulled the show into places that were crazy even by "SOA" standards. In the early days, "SOA" almost demanded that you recall every twist of the plot, every bit of a character's history. Now, it's probably a good idea just to forget everything and live in the moment.

That moment, by the way, is scary enough, while "SOA" -- as usual -- got great performances out of newcomers, like Harold Perrineau, Jimmy Smits and Logue. But there really is no one left here to root for or care about -- Jax, in particular, has become just another version of Otto, with a better haircut.

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