Sons of Anarchy: Season Four

The 2011 fourth season of this addictive drama about motorcycle outlaws in the small Southern California town of Charming begins with the clannish group known as SAMCRO rebuilding after a prison stint. Before long, club president Clay (Ron Perlman) plunges the leather jacket brotherhood into the narcotics trade, the one area they had previously pledged to avoid. The new business brings renewed violence to the organization and the community, attracts the attention of a determined ATF agent, and tips the gang into a brutal fight over its soul that divides the members. The series was once all about family and commitment, but those ties are long forgotten in the volatility here, as the gang start killing their own. Charlie Hunnam is still the moral backbone as Jax, son of the founder and heir apparent to Clay, but torn between conflicting forces as everything begins to fall apart. But it's still aging lion Clay and fierce den mother Gemma (Katey Sagal)—once devoted partners, now split by the turmoil—who dominate and drive the series. Compiling all 13 episodes, extras include four extended episodes, audio commentaries, and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)