‘Sons of Anarchy’ to premiere on FX

associated Press

“Sons of Anarchy” is the name of a fictional motorcycle club. It’s also FX’s newest series, an antihero saga that premieres tonight at 10.

There’s something of a dream deferred for the Sons of Anarchy. This motorcycle club was formed a generation ago as an idealistic, even hippie-dippie kind of “Harley commune.”

Then its ideals gave way to the practical demands of violence and profiteering. Its members have to pay the bills, provide for their families and eliminate people who interfere.

They talk a lot about “living off the grid” while making sure nothing happens in their little town of Charming, Calif., “that we don’t control or get a piece of,” declares club president Clay Morrow, one of the founders.

But however free they think they are, they’re never free from the hassles and perils being free throws at them.

“Two in the back of the head,” mutters Morrow (played with crusty toughness by Ron Perlman) to his stepson Jax, wearily reacting to his latest tribulation. He points to the spot on his skull for Jax to aim at.

“It ain’t easy being King,” says Jax, who feels his pain.

With “Sons of Anarchy,” FX is adding to its roster of outstanding dramas (such as “The Shield,” “Rescue Me” and “Nip/Tuck”) that showcase fascinating anti-heroes who buck the system, doing some good but leaving plenty of collateral damage. They are shrewd go-getters who, more than anything, keep creating problems for themselves.

Besides Morrow, “Sons” presents a colorful mismatch of loyalists bonded by the club’s independence and all-for-one policy. Standout characters include Jax (Charlie Hunnam), who’s a sexy free spirit with a newborn son, a hair-trigger temper and nagging doubts about the club’s lawlessness.

Completing the triangle is his mother, Gemma, Morrow’s current wife, who, played powerfully by Katey Sagal, has no doubts whatsoever about the organization she is helping build.

Raw and often bitterly funny, “The Sons of Anarchy” savors the inherent contradiction at its core: an organization self-described as anarchy. How can anything about it not have unforeseen results?