It feels like it’s been a decade since the SONS OF ANARCHY season 2 finale left me crying in my iced tea over the kidnapping of baby Abel, Gemma’s sprint for the Charming border, and the cruel stabbing of Half Sack at the hands of baby-napper Cameron, after Cameron falls victim to the trap set by that horrid bitch-of-an-FBI-agent Stahl (she convinced Cam via police radio that Gemma had killed Edmond, his son, so he set out to exact revenge).  I still get over the heartbreaking sight of Jax screaming and collapsing on the docs as his baby gets further and further away.

The season premiere of Season 3 wastes little time, picking up just a short time after we left off, showing how the fallout from Abel’s kidnapping, and, sadly, Sack’s unfortunate end, has affected our man Jax, and his fellow club members.  The theme of Season 3, at least from what I’ve seen in the first few episodes, seems to be a true sense of for better or for worse (murder, mayhem, babynapping, the IRA), these people will do anything to support their “family.”  With Gemma on the run, and a rift between them a mile wide, Jax and Clay (and the entire club, really) need to find the strength to come together, no matter what personal issues or John Teller “madness” has been slowly pulling them apart since day one.

As I sat on the couch, watching the season premiere with fellow fan, @plainoldglenn, I found myself unable to speak, unable to move for fear that I’d miss something, in an hour that ratchets up the tension and the action.  I cried four times; I held my breath at least twice as many times.  The twists and turns with what is happening to Abel, to Jax, to Tara and Jax, to Charming, to our favorite outlaw biker gang – I really can’t oversell it because it’s really that good.  Right along with the twists and turns is the subtlety Katey Sagal brings to Gemma as a woman reconnecting with her long-suffering father, in quiet scenes that killed me slowly.  When the show ended, I sat, speechless, processing what I had just watched, and thought to myself, “season 3 is going to kick my ass” and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you haven’t watched the show, set the DVR for S3, go get the DVDs for S1 and S2, and have yourself a little marathon viewing party.
If you have watched, there’s no excuse to miss tonight’s brilliant premiere.

SONS OF ANARCHY premieres at 10PM/9c on FX.  After you watch, come back here to let us know what you thought of the episode!