Sons of Anarchy (season 2)

The second season of the American television drama series Sons of Anarchy created by Kurt Sutter, about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley. The show centers on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the vice president of the club, who begins questioning the club and himself.

Season Two of Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 8, 2009, on cable network FX.

Plot

The season opens with the arrival of a new threat in Charming, white separatists called the League of American Nationalists (LOAN).^[1] LOAN's leader and backer, businessman Ethan Zobelle, and Zobelle's enforcer, A.J. Weston, seek to drive the Sons of Anarchy from Charming. To send a message to SAMCRO, Zobelle has Gemma kidnapped and gang raped by Weston and two others. Zobelle's own daughter, Polly, lures Gemma into this trap. Gemma chooses to keep silent about her rape to prevent her husband and son from retaliating.

From prison, Big Otto reaches out to SAMCRO, asking them to help his wife, Luann, and her pornography studio after a raid from law enforcement and intimidation from a rival pornographer, Georgie Caruso (Tom Arnold), threaten her business. Jax proposes that SAMCRO partner in Luann’s porn business and offer protection to her and her performers, a move he hopes will raise money for the club legitimately while they rebuild their other revenue streams.

Opie, struggling to deal with Donna’s death, throws himself fully into the MC and, consequently, becomes increasingly distant from his children. Fueled by SAMCRO’s role in Donna’s death, still not known by Opie and the majority of the MC, the rift between Clay and Jax continues to widen, with Jax challenging most of Clay's decisions. When a LOAN car bomb nearly kills Chibs, Clay demands immediate retaliation. But retaliation was what LOAN wanted, and Clay, Jax, Bobby, Tig, Juice, and Happy are arrested by the San Joaquin sheriffs for the club's botched attempt to attack Zobelle. While in jail, ATF Agent Stahl returns in an attempt to get SAMCRO to rat out their IRA connections. Although SAMCRO does not give up the IRA, Stahl succeeds in provoking Clay and Jax into a physical confrontation in jail.

Out on bail, the club's divisions only worsen. The tension between Jax and Clay reaches a breaking point when the porn studio burns down shortly after Clay announces he wants SAMCRO out of the porn business. Jax initially believes Clay had the place torched and announces that he is going "Nomad". Most of the SAMCRO members are upset with Jax's decision but ultimately vote in favor of his going Nomad. In order to convince Jax to stay, Gemma tells Jax and Clay about Weston's raping her, which reunites Clay and Jax.

The club, however, nearly falls when Tig, overcome with guilt, confesses to Opie that he murdered Donna because Agent Stahl and the ATF had made it look as though Opie had become a rat. At the same time, Chibs agrees to help Stahl take down the IRA and its head, Jimmy O, who is in town to close a gun distribution deal. Based on information supplied by Chibs, the ATF is able to apprehend Edmond Hayes, whom they then want to use to apprehend Edmond's father, Cameron, and Jimmy O. Opie later witnesses Chibs leaving a meeting with the ATF and informs the club of what he saw but asks them to confront Chibs before acting. Chibs, already having doubts about becoming an informant, reveals to the club what he did.

Meanwhile, the Sons learn that Ethan Zobelle's true intentions are not racially motivated; rather, he wants to do business with the Mayans on the prison heroin trade. The MC is able to exploit this information when they reveal it to AJ Weston, who is deeply committed to his racial beliefs and will not tolerate doing business with the Hispanic Mayans. This causes a split between AJ and Zobelle.

Weston is soon arrested in connection with the fire at Luann's porn studio. Later, Hale arrives at Impeccable Smokes as the Sons are confronting Zobelle. In an attempt to save his and his daughter's lives, Zobelle informs the police that he is in possession of narcotics and is arrested. However, both are released from custody and Unser learns that Zobelle, unbeknownst to both the ATF and Weston, has actually been an FBI informant for the past three years. With the loss of Weston's support, Zobelle turns to the Mayans for protection.

Weston, however, is on his own. Jax and others discover him in a tattoo parlor with his son. They instruct the tattoo artist to jab Weston so that Weston must wash the cut in the bathroom. Jax is waiting in the bathroom for Weston, but Weston has his young son with him. Weston sends his son away with instructions never to tell the police anything. Resigned to his fate, he sits on the toilet as Jax shoots him several times.

Agent Stahl continues to hold Edmond Hayes, in an attempt to use Edmond to lure and arrest his father. Out of loyalty to his father, Edmond attempts to kill Stahl, who shoots him when he tries to escape. Shortly afterward, Ethan's daughter Polly, who had been having an affair with Edmond, arrives at the safe house. She has been followed there by Gemma, who then shoots her. Stahl witnesses the shooting and lets Gemma escape but then proceeds to frame her for Edmond's shooting. Falling for the frame and becoming emotionally distraught, Cameron breaks into Jax's home and stabs Half Sack before threatening Tara and kidnapping Abel.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Sons have ambushed Zobelle and the Mayans, forcing the Mayans to retreat, while Zobelle flees on his own. The Sons follow Zobelle, who stays in public places, knowing the Sons will not attack him in the open. Zobelle calls Hale for help, but is ignored. After a strange call from Tara, Jax returns to his home, where he discovers Half Sack's body and finds Tara tied up; she tells Jax that Cameron has taken Abel. Jax calls Clay, who returns to help track down Cameron without killing Zobelle. The Sons pursue Cameron, who makes his way to the docks, where he takes Abel and boards his boat. Chief Unser, after receiving a phone call from Gemma, is last seen driving in his police cruiser with her past Charming's city limits, apparently running off with her. Ethan Zobelle is seen quickly getting on a chartered plane back to Budapest without his dead daughter, Polly. The season ends with the Sons' arriving just as Cameron is leaving the docks.

Cast and characters

Sons of Anarchy is the story of the Teller-Morrow family of Charming, California, as well as the other members of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO), their families, various Charming townspeople, allied and rival gangs, associates, and law agencies that undermine or support SAMCRO's legal and illegal enterprises.

Main cast

• Charlie Hunnam as Jackson "Jax" Teller (13 episodes)
• Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow (13 episodes)
• Mark Boone Junior as Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson (13 episodes)
• Kim Coates as Alex "Tig" Trager (13 episodes)
• Tommy Flanagan as Filip "Chibs" Telford (11 episodes)
• Ryan Hurst as Harry "Opie" Winston (13 episodes)
• Johnny Lewis as Kip "Half Sack" Epps (10 episodes)
• William Lucking as Piermont "Piney" Winston (7 episodes)
• Theo Rossi as Juan-Carlos "Juice" Ortiz (10 episodes)
• Maggie Siff as Tara Knowles-Teller (13 episodes)
• Ron Perlman as Clarence "Clay" Morrow (13 episodes)

Special guest cast

• Adam Arkin as Ethan Zobelle (12 episodes)
• Ally Walker as Agent June Stahl (6 episodes)
• Tom Everett Scott as Rosen ("Gilead")