Sons of Anarchy Opens with Surprises, Cliffhangers

The third-season premiere of the FX Network's Sons of Anarchy series explored the world of motorcycle mayhem on Tuesday, Sept. 7. The show featured bullets, philosophy and tears in a decidedly different episode from the series' rough-and-rugged approach during its first two years.

Jackson Teller: the Philosopher

His son has been kidnapped and his mother is still on the run, charged in one killing she didn't commit and a murder that avenged her brutal rape. Now Jax, who is played by Charlie Hunnam, wonders where his Harley-Davidson is headed along the highway of life. Should he have brought childhood sweetheart Dr. Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) along for the ride?

Clay Morrow: Pulling Things Together

Sons of Anarchy president and founding father Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) runs a chapter that seems to be falling apart. He's faced with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and its three-year investigation to break up the club and arrest its leaders. The investigation has destroyed the Sons' gun-running business, and led to the club-sponsored death of a wife of one of its members. Worse yet, the Sons have lost territory to the rival Niners and Mayans. The club has lost respect in the world of 1-percenters. As the third season begins, the club buries Prospect, a lovable character who was knifed to death as a result of the lies of ATF investigator Agent June Stahl. Morrow must sure up the founding chapter and set the example for its worldwide organization to follow.

Prospect: Gone, But Not Forgotten

Just when Iraqi War veteran Kip Epps had performed well enough as a prospect to receive a full patch, he was killed at the end of the Sons of Anarchy's second season. His loss leaves a show full of villains without the one down-to-earth and genuinely likeable character. He seemed like a little brother to everyone. During the series' first two years, Epps (Johnny Lewis) endured a bad implant that could have caused him to lose his "Half-Sack" nickname. He was once forced to ride a scooter while he trailed a club member to a rival gang's bar. He once had to remove a deer from the windshield of a BMW that was brought into the club's auto repair business. Who will become the show's innocent funny guy now?

Gemma Teller: Life on the Run

Gemma Teller, played by Katey Sagal, is a manipulative matriarch who will do anything to save the club from the world and ATF investigators. More often than not, she is the glue that holds the Sons of Anarchy together and saves the club from itself. Now she is on the run, holed up in a far away Sons of Anarchy chapter in the northwest. She is miles from home and seemingly further away from those she cares about and those who need her. Will she be found guilty? How will she help the club? When can she return?

Dr. Tara Knowles

During the day, she wears a medical uniform and saves lives. At night, she wears black leather and has become the heir apparent to Gemma Teller. Can Knowles continue to juggle the world of performing as an established doctor while she peppers it with a mix of violence and crime that the club commits on a daily basis? Will Knowles and Jax survive the kidnapping of their son? Will their relationship survive after seemingly surviving the test of time? Will she run away from her hometown and the Sons of Anarchy for a second time?

Drive-by Shooting

As members from Sons of Anarchy's charters from around the West Coast stand in the street and mourn the loss of the Prospect, a van pulls up. The side door opens and a gunman sprays bullets across the street. A child, who is the son of a member's girlfriend, slumps to the ground, his chest covered in blood. The van rolls over the town's Deputy Chief, David Hale (Taylor Sheridan), who is left brutally injured and lying on the ground. Does he survive? Who was the gunman? Will Jackson Teller be charged with assaulting the gunman who fell from the van as it sped away? How can the Sons of Anarchy become the feared motorcycle club it once was? Is the club losing control, never to regain it?

Source:
FX Network