Sons of Anarchy: Hamlet on a hog or Sopranos on wheels?

December 2, 6:14 PMMotorcycle ExaminerKen Bingenheimer

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  Sons of Anarchy: Hamlet or Sopranos?

I'm a little late coming to the show but I only recently heard about this TV show on FX, Sons of Anarchy. It's about a motorcycle gang but it's supposed to be loosely based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

So of course I had to check it out, and at that link up above you can go and watch any episode you want, free of commercials, on your computer. I have watched the first two.

Now, what's this about being based on Hamlet? I'm sure it will take some further watching, if I decide to do so, to see the story line develop but the basics are in place. You've got the Prince Hamlet figure, a young guy named Jax whose father (John/King Hamlet) was a founder of the gang and has since died. The current leader is this guy Clay, who is another founder and who has married John's wife, Gemma. That makes him Claudius, and makes her Gertrude.

This is where it starts to get interesting, because in Hamlet, Claudius murdered King Hamlet and the play is all about Prince Hamlet learning the truth and seeking revenge. That suggests the likely plot direction.

So fine, but what does all this have to do with motorcycles? Sure, they're a motorcycle gang, and they ride around on bikes, but is that all? Well, from what I've seen so far, yes, that is all. In short, just judging from the first two episodes, these guys could be cruising around in Honda Accords and it wouldn't change the plot line one bit.

Now maybe, and I would hope this would be the case, there will be other episodes where the bikes actually come into play. Otherwise, it's just a gimmick. If anyone can speak to this point I'd love to hear from you. This show is really violent and the characters introduced so far are not particularly sympathetic, so if your connection, like mine, is bikes, you may not get very far into it.

There's one thing I do feel good about. In the bad old days, the incident in Hollister, CA, led to a general public identification of motorcycles with bad guys. Today I think the general public is sophisticated enough not to let this show smear their image of bikers again. 

Anyway, be your own judge. But I'd love to hear your thoughts.