The SOA S4 Viewin' Pawtee

Havin' been asked to get our refreshments, Mark Mitteer, Katherine Miller, Robert (aka the DH), and myself found ourselves ensconced in these sumptuous leather seats, right down front. The large movie screen was in front of us, and Kurt Sutter, Katey Sagel, and their talented daughter were seated directly behind us. The other members of the cast and crew in attendance were scattered throughout the theatre behind us.

(headin' to our seats. Me, Kat, Mark and Robert)

The lights are still up, so I turned in my seat to remark on somethin' media related to Mr. Sutter, expressing my views on why I left the genre as an employer. Then suddenly, on the giant screen, the opening scene starts up - no previews or anything like that - and the words 'Previously, on Sons of Anarchy' draw our attention like moths to a flame. I turned my back on the Great Man, and was immediately entranced by the episode! All conscious attention of my surroundings went right out the window. Which led to a few embarrasin' moments for me later on down the line.

(the four of us in the front row, Kurt and Katey's daughter is behind Kat)

Now that 'Call to Duty' has successfully aired, I can share my thoughts and feelings that came out durin' the viewin'. I certainly wished from time to time to have been the weapons and explosives vendor for that ep! We'd be on easy street as far as income is concerned. It was definitely a 'booming' episode!

Mr. Sutter's portrayal of Otto Delaney has grown since S1. Mr. Sutter made me cry when Potter placed all the pics of LuAnn Delaney's dead, battered body on Otto's prone, post - suicidal form and let a lone tear ooze from his eye during an earlier episode this season. Otto was scary in tellin' Potter two times, 'No talking!' without raisin' his voice. I murmured, "Don't make him tell ya a third time, Potter, forgettin' for a moment that 'Otto' was sittin' right behind me. I suspect Mr. Sutter enjoyed that comment.

The first surprise came to us when Potter and Otto were talkin'. Kat and I both gasped 'What the Hell?' when Otto tells Potter to move up his (Otto's) execution date. I believe one of us also said 'NO!' very loudly.

Then came the next 'OMG' moment, Kozik gettin' blown up. No one expected that, though I did comment aloud that Kenny Johnson's tweet (on Twitter) earlier in the week made sense. Though the thought crossed my mind at the time, I didn't turn to Mr. Sutter and cry 'You killed Kenny, you bastard!' because the husband would've been shocked and appalled.

So, all y'all are wonderin', did I behave myself when a larger than life Tig appeared on the screen, or did I recreate my IMAX theatre moment in '300' and reach out to squeeze Tig's buns? I behaved. However, the line 'I'm terrifed, and totally erect' is one for the record books after he fondled the life size sex doll. The little tweak he gave to the front of his jeans was classic! Yes, I was tempted to squeeze, but behaved myself.

When Gemma and Wendy faced off in the boys' bedroom, I had my next 'OMG, floor, please open up and take me away!' moment. The camera had zoomed in for a close up of Gemma, and as the fade to black for commercial came, I murmured, "That woman can say so much with just a look." I heard Ms. Sagal giggle behind me. I totally forgot she was there! (She told me later that she whispered to Kurt that my attention to the show then must be how I watch at home).

My chagrin at commentin' on Ms. Sagal's eyes was quickly forgotten as the episode continued and my attention was riveted again to the screen. I remained that way until the end of the episode. I can tell y'all, seein' it without commercials on a very large screen is an incredible experience. Seein' an episode with the creator and cast and crew in the same room is priceless.

The lights came back up, and the Fox Home Entertainment people set up the chairs and lightin' for the Q/A (I'm not sure when it ran, or if it's for the DVD). I got out my trusty leather notebook with the WTFSutter questions printed before we left Indiana, just in case they asked us to join in.

And this brought about my next "OMG, floor open me up' moment. I have an app on my Iphone called Quick Memo. One of the recordin's was from off the car radio so I could locate it later on YouTube. While intiating the app to record the Q/A (and the reception later), I accidentally hit the 'play' button for the recordin', and T'Pau's 'Heart and Soul' starts blarin' right at the start of the Q/A! I turned it off as quickly as possible while gettin' very red faced and mutterin' 'Sorry! Sorry!' I just wanted to die from embarrassment! Fortunately, no one seemed to be upset or mind, and the Q/A went on.

The group went down the line to introduce themselves and their characters. Then

Kurt talked about the body count, and about the decision to kill off Kozik. For those of you not in the know, Kenny Johnson was offered a recurring role in NBC's 'Prime Suspect' and was also appearin' as Kozik in 'SOA'. It also seemed that 'Prime Suspect' was goin' to take off, and because Mr. Johnson was an alum of 'The Sheild' with Kurt, he thought of payin' homage to 'Lem', the character Mr. Johnson played on 'The Shield', and have him go out with a 'bang' (pardon the pun). Unfortunately, 'Prime Suspect' got the axe after production was shut down by NBC. We fans are hopin' maybe Kozik's mentioned brother is a twin and there might be a comeback (well, one can wish and hope)!

Ms. Sagal was asked about her role as Gemma, and about the graphically brutal beating she received at the hands of the Clay character. All of us agreed that the scene was very disturbing. Ms. Sagal fielded that question well, IMO. She indicated that as the season progressed, Gemma was both in love with and hated her husband as well as feared him so that she would eventually go from defending Clay to planning his downfall. She also stated that while she is the EP/Creator's wife, she is on a need to know basis just the same as the rest of the cast.

Tom Arnold was asked about his demise in the show and shared his real life fear of being enclosed in the trunk of a car (and yes, as we saw on tee vee, a full grown man can indeed fit in the trunk of a Mercedes). As it turns out, as a child, Mr. Arnold had been locked in a trunk for several hours, so he had a bit of a fear of such. Lo and behold, he gets locked in the car trunk for his demise. He complimented Mark Boone Jr., Kim Coates, and Ryan Hurst, along with members of the crew and Kurt, for makin' the experience one that he could be comfortable with

Then Michael Marisi Ornstein was asked about 'Chuckie's Chili'. He stated that the head, though a prop, was very real looking, and how a bean had settled right on the head's eyeball. Mr. Ornstein expressed how sympathetic he felt towards the character's original tic from Season 1, and he'd be stayin' around for awhile. It came out that Mr. Ornstein and Mr. Sutter have been friends for years. The mutual affection and respect they have for each other really shows.

During the Q/A session, Mr. Sutter was asked about the presence of the fans. He gave us a shout out and explained how the event came about in the first place (If all y'all don't already know, check out his blog on the matter):

http://sutterink.blogspot.com/2011/09/winning.html

includin' how he determined which fans to pick. When he mentioned that my reportage of bootleg DVD sellers on Ebay, the cast and crew behind us burst into applause which made me blush (Yeah, eternally 49 and I still blush!). Now that Season 4 has ended, I've been scourin' Ebay for bootleg DVDs of the season, and already reported one. Also sent FHE a link to a whole page of SOA cuts, complete with three piece rockers.

Unfortunately, the Q/A session only lasted 15 minutes, and there wasn't any opportunity for Niko Nicotera, Emilio Rivera, Christopher D Reed, and Kristen Renton to say anything. I wish they could've had the opportunity to say somethin' about the Season.

So the Q/A ended, and my questions weren't included. But, I had Twitter messaged @SAMCRO_BLOGGER about the possibility of Mark and I doin' a WTFSutter durin' the fan event, to which this elusive individual messaged back that it was a great idea. While he was still followin' me, I Twitter messaged Mr. Sutter on the idea as well. So the seed was planted.

We started gatherin' our things in order to move from the theatre to the West End Tavern for the reception. Mr. Sutter was asked by the film crew to stay behind so he could film somethin' for them - and then they would get Mark and myself for an interview.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ornstein came over to me, gave me another hug, and we talked briefly about Robert's and my successful return from the Perri Ink Cartel party. He'd called for a cab for us to return to the hotel. I assured him no troubles occurred, as per my tweet to let him know we were safely back. I showed him that the package of swag was with me, and we agreed I'd give it to him at the reception.

One of the FHE staffers announced it was time to move to the West End Tavern for the reception. Poor Robert got turned into a pack mule, bringin' the two bags o'swag from the theatre to the tavern.

We walked out of the theatre and I got an opportunity to speak with Niko Nicotera, who plays Ratboy, one of the season's prospects. This is one of my regrets of the evening, that I just didn't get enough time/opportunity to speak with him, and had not prepared a small bit o'swag for him (I've at least sent the pic of me and Tig with one of the IN quarters attached to the studio where SOA is filmed, so that Mr. Sutter's assistant can get it to him). I did get to wax poetic on the way he handled the enforced 'Russian Roulette' earlier in the season, during the episode 'Brick'. Just wish that there had been more time than en route to the elevator to speak with him.

Le sigh.

So, it's been a month since the event, and despite the rigors and demands of every day life, I still have a warm feelin' from the trip and the event. In the meantime, Mr. Sutter is no longer followin' me and Mark on Twitter, and while I regret and mourn losin' him as a follower, understand the reason for it. If he continued to follow us, every fan on the twitters would expect the same. I managed to copy/paste his Twitter messages to me, and have those to cherish.

So next up, once I get the third anniversary of my 49th birthday out of the way, I plan to share thoughts, feelin's, and memories of the reception with all y'all.