'Sons of Anarchy' is back

Labor Day is past us, and fall is coming on fast. But for the next 13 weeks we can still get plenty of motorcycle action on TV, because "The Sons of Anarchy" begins its fourth season tonight on FX.

I wasn't one of the privileged few to get a preview disk, but I did get all caught up watching the prior seasons again to refresh my memory. It's a complicated story — the kind I have a hard time following, so I tend to watch it again on DVD with subtitles turned on.

The crew did some time in prison and they get out tonight, 14 months after the last episode of Season 3. Jackson Teller is a father once again, with a second son by his loyal girlfriend (aka "old lady") Tara. Check out the DVD extras on Season 3 to see them what happened while the guys were imprisoned.

Tara presents baby Thomas to Jax in a prison visit.

Thomas is named after Jax's dead brother.

Proud gramma Gemma.

Here is my review of the Season 3 DVDs  and a few SPOILERS:

SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS
From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Over the first three episodes, fans will see the emergence of a heightened concern for stability and the future on the part of both Clay and Jax. Clay is talking about retirement and wants to make a lot of money as a cushion, something that he figures he can’t do on the strength of gun sales alone. That means climbing in bed with a Mexican drug cartel, despite the club’s longheld belief that the line would always be drawn at drug sales. Meanwhile, Jax not only wants to marry Tara, but take himself out of the club and adopt a normal family lifestyle in a year.

(Police Chieft) Wayne (Unser) has turned in his badge and is living in sad squalor in a trailer, his spirit broken as the cancer eats away at him, and very weird U.S. attorney Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) is out to rid Charming of SAMCRO altogether. The town’s sleazy new mayor, Jacob Hale (Jeff Kober), is promoting a new subdivision in Charming, which would make it harder for SAMCRO to go about its business.

But the potential for new growth in town reflects the overall theme of changing times mirrored in Jax’ and Clay’s consideration of their own futures. That may seem a bit “Men of a Certain Age,” but there’s enough blood in the first three episodes to dispel any concerns that “Sons of Anarchy” is turning into “All My Leather-clad Children.”
— By David Wiegand, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE