A couple of the hottest closers on Sunday’s San Diego Holy Day offered a varying display of mayhem. Knowing Moody wanted to take the day off in reverence of Mr. Exhibit Hall and the lord himself (*cough* himself), leave it up to The Divine One to take care of business.
And, why not?
Coming to Hall H & 6BCF on Sunday afternoon is a lot more relaxing than the camping Father McPhail had to endure on previous days I’m sure. Both Sons of Anarchy and Under the Dome offered a solace and solitude, despite the TV series’ differences as a menacing “Hamlet on wheels” and, well, a sci-fi “Hamster wheel.”
The FX network wasn’t playing around when it came to finishing off the Con 100% pure renegade style, with the bulk of SOA‘s brawlers making headway in Hall H: Pacific Rim‘s Charlie (Jax) Hunnam & Ron (Clay) Perlman, Maggie ( Tara) “Lady” Siff, Mark Boone (Bobby) Junior, Kim (Tig) Coates, Tommy (Chibs) Flanagan, Theo (Juice) Rossi, Dayton( Unser) Callie, Paris Barclay-Producer, Executive Producer Kurt (Otto) Sutter & his lovely wife, Katey (Gemma) Sagal.
With only four episodes having aired thus far on CBS, UTD still represented in front of a near full audience in the more-massive-than-you-think 6BCF; and that very audience, including the Deacon himself, were treated to an early screening of Episode 5 (before it aired the next day, anyway, yippee!). Even so, the room rocked following the show in front of panelists, Dean (Big Jim) Norris (“Breaking Bad”), Rachelle (Julia) Lefevre (Twilight), Mike (Barbie) Vogel (“Bates Motel”), and Executive Producers Brian K. Vaughn (“Lost”) and Neal Baer (“L&O: SVU”).
Let’s take it to the floor, now, shall we!
-When asked if all the folks onstage for “Sons” will be back for Comic-Con next year, Sutter laughingly replied: “No.” But, hey, the showrunner immediately turned serious and gave a more confident “not sure.” Despite the show’s tremendous success for FX, “Sons” is still nearing the end of the line and the seventh season will, perhaps, be its last.“What I’ve never wanted is for us to overstay our welcome. For [“Sons of Anarchy”] to stay believable and real, I think it ultimately has to find its endgame. As much as I love doing this show I feel I’d being doing the mythology a disservice to do it longer than it should be done.” Looks like the McMoody still has some chances to get back on the show.
-As for “Dome,” Baer was asked about his show’s — perhaps even surprise — summer success, as it’s being watched by 13 million people. “The characters are in a place where they’re trapped and their secrets are coming out. We want to know more about them. When we’re writing the show we want to know what happens next.” Also, ideal about UTD‘s fifth episode, and, perhaps, held by the restraints of network television is the romantic involvement of Barbie & Julia. Lefevre answered the usual “hookup” question with it being their “Adam & Eve moment. It is the beginning of something. They have a long way to go and I think a lot to talk about.” Nice to see that not everything leads to sex. Shit, that’s what Sons of Anarchy‘s for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpnf94mAsyc
-Thankfully, this season of SOA will become more about the “learning curve,” as everyone’s roles on the show have seemed to change or at least had their engines revved up a notch.“I feel Jax fell into the trap of becoming powerful and not really listening to his brothers — but I think he’s learning from those mistakes,” Hunnam said, while also weighing in on how the death of Opie (Ryan Hurst) is still affecting his club leader. “It left a little bit of a hole in me. I always anticipated that it was going to be Opie and Jax sitting at the head of the table in the end. And I think that has left a big hole in Jax that I don’t know if it’ll ever get filled.” Maybe this season, Jax will find a new BFF?
-Moving on to “Big Jim,” the tremendously popular Mr. Norris, we wonder why his son is such a psycho?! “He’s just misunderstood. He’s a sweet kid.” Oh, yeah, Dean. They’ve said that about a lot of serial killers. So where do these psychotic tendencies come from? “His mother’s side. Not me!” Way to blame the woman when she isn’t around to defend herself! Interestingly enough, Norris reveals that Junior’s deceased mother will be soon coming into play. Oh hell! She is certainly not gonna be happy about the mess Junior has made in the basement. When an audience member praised Norris for his work as a good guy on “Breaking Bad,” he’s asked about how it is to play a bad one: “It felt really fun, actually. Playing a good guy takes a lot out of you. It’s a lot easier to play a bad guy.” Seems like it. (Poor Reverend Coggins!) Is Big Jim going to start piling up the bodies or what? “It’s all sweet and poetic after this,” Big Jim said with his car dealership smile.
-“Hellboy” on where the disgruntled, distraight and nearly discontinued Clay stands: “This is the first time in his life where he’s not in a position to have a fight left in him, because he’s worn out all his choices. And he’s completely at the mercy of other forces.” Katey on the continuing tension between Gemma and Tara: “There is that power struggle — and certain things will intensify in Season 6.” Maggie’s reply? “I don’t think she realizes that in order to survive in this world, there are certain rules and modes she needs to live by just in order to survive — and they happen to resemble Gemma. Her methods pretty deeply resemble Gemma, but what she desires is totally different.”
-Revered Y: The Last Man scribe Vaughn on how the producers have been going about shooting “Dome,” while staying loyal to Stephen King’s original vision. “We wanted to do something different. King told me initially that he wanted to do this story about a town that was trapped for years. ‘Use this ongoing television series as an excuse to take my characters to places where I couldn’t’. Even if you read the entire novel and think you know where the Dome comes from and what it’s all about…you don’t.” And, what’s the future look like for a second season? “These guys are shooting the season finale right now and it ends with a hell of a painful cliffhanger. So, if we’re not lucky to come back for another season, you guys are all screwed!”
Hell, we’re all just lucky to have these two bad-ass programs on TV — if you ask me.
You can catch “Under the Dome” every Monday on CBS at 10pm, with Sons of Anarchy returning to 10pm Tuesdays on FX September 10th.