Premiere Date: Tuesday, September 9, 10pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

Warning: this article contains some minor spoilers.

Sons of Anarchy returns on September 9 for its seventh and final season. After a nine month hiatus, fans of the show will be delighted to learn how quickly the story lines hit the ground running from the opening episode. As a teaser, I’ll add that the premiere will involve some nudity and a party.

As a preview of the upcoming season, here’s a list of the story lines and plot arcs that fascinated me most, and which I think fans should be on the lookout for:

The  Sons of Anarchy’s  “Black Widower” premiere airs Tuesday, September 9, 10:00 pm e/p)

1. Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) is a changed man: dreamer Jax is long gone and has been replaced by full-outlaw Jax.
2. The dynamics between the club and other criminal organizations have reached sky-high tension levels and survival mode is in full effect – think escalating DEFCON levels!
3. SAMCRO has a few allies, and I expect the revelation of the exact purpose or strategy behind these relationships will be riveting.
4. The “intelligence” gathered around certain events is dubious, and anyone with half a brain should be questioning the facts presented. But will anyone have the cojones to actually challenge the evidence?
5. The lies do get bigger and bigger just as Katey Sagal shared with us during Comic-Con press interviews.
6. Can’t wait to see what San Joaquin County District Attorney Tyne Patterson (C.C.H. Pounder) has up her sleeves.
7. Wendy’s (Drea de Matteo) continued presence in Charming. What are her motivations, and will her mousy demeanor finally be a thing of the past?
8. Nero continues to rock his signature cardigans as he presses on with his challenging role as peace maker between SAMCRO and other organizations. Traditionally, he’s been an advocate for dialogue as a primary means for conflict resolution but will battle lines be drawn for him?
9. Let’s not forget how August Marks (Billy Brown) is way more upfront and unforgiving than Damon Pope (Harold Perrineau) ever was. He’s also an extremely patient but calculating man.
10. The ways in which new sheriff Althea Jarry (Annabeth Gish) will leverage her experience in Stockton’s Organized Crime Unit in handling SAMCRO, and investigating Tara Knowles’ (Maggie Siff) murder.

In addition, a very important observation made by Sons’ Executive producer and principal director Paris Barclay during our Comic-Con interviews comes to mind: “There are a lot of hints in the premiere, and some are very early in the premiere, on what’s going to happen later on.”  I can confirm that Paris is right on the money about this!

Tune in for Sons of Anarchy’s premiere episode “Black Widow” on Tuesday, September 9 at 10pm ET/PT, only on FX.

For more on the show, go to http://www.fxnetworks.com/soa and http://www.sutterink.com/.

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