Chris Bryant | On 16, Nov 2014

“I know how hard it is to look past the shit we do.”

Guns and roses. This episode of Sons of Anarchy is split almost perfectly into two halves. The first represents the vengeance, massacres and betrayals that drive the plot forward each week; the second shows what drives the characters that carry out those crimes. Faith and Despondency revolves almost entirely around every different kind of love.

The episode begins with a montage of bare realism, in which every major character is shown during sex, including Wendy’s loneliness and Juice’s unsettling circumstances – this episode displays them at their strongest. Fuelled by confused love, true love and brotherly love, the Sons and their associates are willing to do anything for their family. Having back-to-back scenes of romance, sex and beautiful struggles could potentially cause Sutter and co. some issues. Lesser production teams could never fathom a scene in which a cop and a robber berate, abuse and doubt one another before making love, let alone how to follow it. But Kurt, his co-writers, Gladys Rodriguez and Kem Nunn, and director Paris Barclay, manage it masterfully.

This leads us to one of the most important questions currently asked by TV fans: Why does Walton Goggins not have every award available?

Goggins’ performance as Venus Van Damme, transsexual friend of the club – and one of the most soulful, articulate characters on the small screen – is frankly unparalleled in any format. Starring in a few episodes, and entering as an in-joke for fans of The Shield, Goggins has become an integral part of the show. Van Damme is a huge fan favourite and has enabled Kim Coates’ oddball Tig to show true love and become more than a murderous object of ridicule. Sutter and Goggins have created one of the most interesting – and most important – roles on television right now.

Aside from the above-satisfying violence and above-heartbreaking love scenes, Episode 10 manages to move forward the storyline in three major leaps without seeming forced or predictable. Without build up or guesswork, Sutter, Nunn and Rodriguez deliver a stylish, tender script, in which the progression appears as natural milestones. At a crucial point in the tale – now nearly everything is out in the open – Sons of Anarchy pulls on the heartstrings and reignites that fear of the future in every viewer. Except suddenly we’re not fearing the ingenious torture methods or the deaths of leather-clad criminals, we’re watching as several white lies unravel to ruin the lives of family members whose company we’ve come to relish.

Sons of Anarchy Season 7 is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription, and on Amazon Prime, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription.

 

Where can I buy or rent Sons of Anarchy online in the UK?

For more information, see where can I watch Sons of Anarchy Season 7 online in the UK?

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