Sons of Anarchy - what am I missing?!

[XelaM]

Everyone seems to love SOA and it got rave reviews everywhere, but WHY?!?

The "good guys" (Jax and Tara) are extremely unlikeable and lack any chemistry.

The storylines are bizarre and the whole guns/drugs/IRA stuff is so overcomplicated with all groups betraying and killing each other constantly that it's impossible to follow (maybe I just stopped caring). Everyone seems to be murdering each other and there is no explanation as to why anyone would be loyal to a club that clearly does not protect and in fact constantly murders its members (or members of their families). No one cares about club members who go to jail and Otto's life is just completely destroyed by the club with no consideration at all for him or his family.

Gemma and Unser are the only characters that stop me from switching off. Clay and Twig are meant to be ultra bad guys but they are a lot more likeable than the "good guys".

At the moment I'm feeling it's one of the most overrated shows ever. What am I missing?!

DH loves it, I don’t get the hype. I also didn’t get Sopranos or Breaking Bad hype

See I loved Breaking Bad and really liked the Sopranos, so I also expected to love SOA, but so far I don't get the hype at all.

Did you start at the beginning? Sounds like maybe you came in at s3, which is one of the worst IMO.

Overall I enjoyed it but I agree that the some of the storylines are too complicated for me.

I'm surprised to hear you say that everyone loves it, Id have thought it was a pretty niche series, it's not something any of my friends watched, I remember when it first came out talking about it and not finding anyone else who watched it.

I started at the beginning but funnily enough am on S3 (I clearly have way too much free time 😂 so persevering).

By "everyone" I meant all the online reviews I read of it - not actually people in real life 😂

I would've given up on in it s3, but my (now ex) husband was keen so we carried on. It gets better.

I won't give a spoiler, but the very last shot of the whole series made me scream in frustration.

I think mostly I stuck with it because some of the actors are so engaging. I could probably watch Katy Segal fold laundry and be happy.

That makes more sense 😁

Apparently it's based on Hamlet, none of the characters are meant to be terribly sympathetic. I agree that season 3 is a low point and it's mostly worth watching for some of the actors.

I've heard loads of real life "you have to watch it!" like I got with game of thrones and breaking bad, but I too couldn't get into it

Starts off good. Gets over complicated from Season 3 as per most series

Based on Hamlet, I did not know that!

Wait until Jax takes his shirt off.

Ending is pants

I love SOA (except the bit in Ireland - I thought that was a bit crap) but I don't think they're meant to be good guys. I think it's more to show how far you can keep deluding yourself that you are the good guy when all of the evidence says otherwise.

I did not know it was inspired by Hamlet but I guess that makes sense. I enjoyed it overall. I think the core characters can be quite complex , but I agree re the lack of chemistry with Jax and Tara.
Season 3 in Ireland was a bit pointless. It gets better next season.

So very pants. And it so didn't need to be. Very badly shot.

Fake Brad Pitt 😂

He's pretty but his character is not at all likeable and his acting wooden, even though the viewer is endlessly pushed to like him - I don't 👹 and Tara especially gets on my nerves

I liked Jax with Wendy 😈

Wait until you get to those huge highways in Ireland, you are in for a real treat.

I absolutely loved it - although not sure if that was just because I got to watch Charlie Hunnam 🤤

I personally loved how absolutely ridiculous it all was - Tara the superstar tertiary neonatal cardiothoracic surgeon who works out of a GP clinic somewhere in the desert up until she gets her hand tragically slammed in a door, the ridiculously histrionic/gothic prison deaths, the trip to “Irishland” which was clearly the California desert with a green filter on the camera lens… it’s wonderful. Watch it with wine and popcorn and shout at the screen. Sheer bathos.

Yep, traditional Irish tumbleweed, traditional Irish cactuses. 🌵 ☘️ 🌵

I think it was one of the best series ever. I've watched every episode several times. However, I think the spin off series Mayans MC, which started after SoA ended, was even better.