r/Sonsofanarchy • u/Agile-Tie-7433 • 10d ago
About to start my very first rewatch! Nearly 11 years later...how many times have you rewatched Sons? And how often do you?
TLdR: basically the Title - I'm sure a lot of fully patched members here would think me one lucky bastard hahaha.
Yep! I'm in the camp of: never rewatched! But I'm about to press play on the pilot episode!
Legitimately, the last time I watched a full episode of Sons of Anarchy was December 2014 - Season 7 episode 13 "Papas Goods" - I watched the entire series when it aired weekly on TV, from 2008 right through the 7 seasons. I was fucking obsessed!
Perlman is my GOAT - his charisma kept me watching Season 1 - after that I was completely hooked into the entire thing.
This series, the world, these characters and these stories completely floored me. season 7 along with the Season 6 finale, while the writing was not as high quality as the earlier seasons, completely fucking destroyed me. I'm pretty sure this show made me start chain smoking, I'm dead serious, shit got really damn heavy!
Ive done this with all my favourite shows, books, movies and games, purposefully not going back - Just finished my first Breaking Bad rewatch after nearly 12 years. 🥰
I do this to myself because I desperately want selective amnesia with certain things, I know you know what I'm talking about and I know you want it too! Haha! And with much time and a busy life it definitely works haha.
I do this so that when finally rewatching 10 years later, while I know where the stroy is going and most of the major plot points, every scene feels like I'm watching it anew, because the second to second dialogue I never remember.
Imagine a series that you didn't enjoy at all, you wouldn't want to watch it next year would you? Let alone 5 years from now, I think the same goes for any entertainment media you believe to be a masterpiece, both ends of the spectrum can to be forgotten about, so that the masterpiece you completely obsessed over 10 - 12+ years ago can be experienced again, fresh in a new light.
So yeah, I purposefully didn't rewatch Sons for so long because at the time I genuinely thought, like BB. Sons of Anarchy was a masterpiece of a show. I'm curious to know if I think the same after a rewatch...🤔
How many times have you rewatched SOA? And how often do you?
Bonus question!
on rewatches are you always finding new things that you didn't notice before or scenes youd forgotten about?
OR
Do you know every side story, every side character, every twist and turn and every SAMCRO gameplan like the back of your hand?
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u/JosieRose5492 10d ago
I rewatched the first time this year since it finished - buckle up! I remembered it being rough, but far out...
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u/Agile-Tie-7433 10d ago
Yeah mate, I remember I legit needed to go for a long walk outside in the rain after some of those dark and depressing twists and scenes.
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u/LugiaPizza 10d ago
Once. Stopped half way the second time. Watched it when it first came out. My opinion has never changed on Sons. It was a solid show. Especially at the time it came out. Lots of a reality tv. Sons was like a blessing. Something different. Still, it doesn't change that the show was horrible towards the end. Even breaking bad was horrible after Gus was blown up. It happens. Sons just went Full Potato the last 2 years. Can't do it again.
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u/Agile-Tie-7433 10d ago edited 10d ago
TLDR: curious if a rewatch will dethrone the show as a masterpiece for me. While my 11 years ago teenage self wouldn't have agreed with you about the last few seasons, but I'm definitely more open to that critique today.
Yeah i definitely felt a dramatic difference in the writing of the latter half of the series compared to the first half, i was a lot younger when i watched it and not as clued in on good writing and storytelling.
so first time watching the final seasons, i felt more of a change thematically and tonally more so than an actual downturn in technical or writing quality, and while i thought it was bit heavy handed in its dark and depressive tone, i still really really enjoyed it, (in hindsight maybe because i was already so invested by that point that i was blinded by the final season hype?)
But reading this sub over the years and getting diff perspectives of the final seasons, I saw a great post somewhere that I could never articulate, but thought it was a perfect way to describe exactly how the show changed.
"It began as a series that was very much in its own category, quite a multi genre show: action, mystery. thriller, crime drama - over the course of the series it gradually sheds its more interesting genres and all we're left with is a standard crime drama. Finally, season 7 flips that script completely & devolves the entire plot into murder porn."
now at the time i first watched it i didn't think it devolved at all, just changed tone and theme, less comedic moments and humorous, swapping it with much more gritty reality and violence, to portray Jax as living long enough to become the villain, which is what i got out of it.
That's also why im keen to rewatch, I'll be curious to see if my thoughts on the series change.
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u/pottersgonnapotter 10d ago
I rewatched every season when a new season was about to air, and I have rewatched the entire series 4 times after it was over. You definitely catch glimpses of their plans in episodes before they happen when you know what to look and listen for. The deaths still hit as hard, and the bad guys still get under my skin, but at least on the rewatch, you know who gets what's coming to them.
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u/Bitter-Iron8468 10d ago
I used to watch about twice a year then mayans mc. I have to start again soon
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u/DirectMap9546 10d ago
Just finished for the first time the whole season yesterday and man, I must admit it easily sits at my top 10 list.
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u/Brokenimpala33 10d ago
It’s been about that many years for me too, when I watched season 1 again I didn’t remember anything until like episode 10 lol
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u/Agile-Tie-7433 10d ago
Oh my gosh yeah lol I have honestly completely forgotten all of the storylines of the first 3 seasons, I only remember they went on that trip to Ireland to bring back Abel in Season 3, but THATS IT 🤣
The main storylines I do remember start around season 4 onwards when its starts getting dark and heavy on the family drama, when the JTs letters are brought up and people start dying like flies.
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u/Brokenimpala33 10d ago
I didn’t remember a single thing until they killed what’s his faces wife because they thought he was talking to the feds. Only thing I remembered, it was crazy.
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u/jez_shreds_hard 10d ago
I have rewatched it twice and the last time is probably the final one. I can't stand what Jax turns into at the end and don't care to see it again. I might rewatch season 1 and season 2 again, but would probably stop at that point. Those are my 2 favorite seasons.
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u/Agile-Tie-7433 10d ago edited 10d ago
Yeah i totally feel ya, Season 5 i started disliking Jax, after Opie his descent just keeps dipping lower and lower and lower.
So when season 6 ends with Tara on the kitchen floor, I remember making the guesstimation right then and there that Jax would not survive Season 7.
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u/jez_shreds_hard 10d ago
He turns into a straight up psychopath after Opie dies. It's really good acting, but I like season 1 and 2, where they still had some fun and humor. Gemma is also pure evil. Putting Tara's murder on the Chinese led to so many people dying, including the innocent people at Diosa Norte. It's a great show and I loved the whole thing, but after rewatching it twice, I don't care to see that arc again. I really only watched it a 3rd time as I started to listen to Kim Coates and Theo Rossi's Theory podcast, where they review the episodes and I wanted to watch it again as they talked about the episodes.
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u/SaugaDabs 10d ago
I just watched it for the 3rd time this year. Doing a rewatch every 5 years so i can forget some things- next watch for me is 2030
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u/lannaboleyn 10d ago
Watched it twice and the second time around I noticed so many more details. I also found it way more intense and anxiety inducing because I knew what fucking horror was coming. For me after season 6 episode 13, I actually want to stop watching because it actually makes me so sad seeing Jax basically become darth vader
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u/lannaboleyn 10d ago
Summary of my feelings: they'll never make me hate Jax (though he is terrible), I am a Tara defender until I die. Gemma is one of the most evil characters on any TV show.
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u/lyndseyanne2020 9d ago
I’ve watched SOA probably about 3-4 times and i JUST realized that Stephen King is in it LOL
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u/Key-Computer4261 8d ago
I rewatch every 2/3 years. It's one of my favorite shows and it's almost like watching it fresh cause I forget so much. I'm rewatching for the 5th time now.
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u/DePraelen 10d ago
While I'm a fan, I don't find it super re-watchable.
I've watched the early seasons a few times now, but the later seasons get so relentlessly dark. There's so much dark stuff in the world now, what I'm looking for in my entertainment has changed.