Three episodes into the third season of Sons of Anarchy, and there are so many things going on, it's hard to make a judgment until something breaks. For now, the show's in a holding pattern, juggling several large plots at once without fully committing to one, and current momentum is agonizingly slow. Hopefully that'll pick up very soon.
While Nate is out contemplating suicide (Hal Holbrook was exceptional) and Gemma is out looking for him, Tara decides to be stupid, letting one of Amelia's hands loose and then turning to her back. Obviously Amelia clunks Tara on the head and tries running, before Gemma returns. The tussle results in Amelia dead and a body to be rid of. Luckily, there's Stephen King AKA Bachman, a creepy guy who quickly deals with the body.
Back at Charming, townsfolk are starting to distance themselves from the Sons, setting up a possible mayoral win for Hale, who's already making trouble for the Sons.
In "Caregiver," the most pressing issue is money to deal with the Mayans in Lodi. Their solution is to pony up some girls for Lin's porn party. It's going fine until Opie spots Lyla about to go down on some guy, and starts a fight, nixing the deal.
My least favorite part of the third season has been the Belfast business, and Cherry's impromptu return didn't do much to help. But she does provide the link from Belfast to the Sons in the States, which should prove necessary later. At the end of the episode, Juice pulls up a photo of Cameron dead in Belfast. No Canada road trip?
When there are a multitude of plots, it's hard not to feel a little wary whether everything will spiral out of control a la the fourth season of Big Love. Still, I'd like to stay positive and think Kurt Sutter has a master plan that will blow our minds.
Score: 8.7/10
