Sons of Anarchy

Sons of Anarchy, and we've got them first! The men (and women) of Samcro are back and looking more badass than ever. Click one of the thumbnails below to get your first look at Jax (Charlie Hunnam), Clay (Ron Perlman), Gemma (Katey Sagal), Tara (Maggie Siff), Opie (Ryan Hurst) and all the rest in season two. Now, that said, we have seen SOA's second-season premiere, "Albification," and if you've never watched the show before, you must not under any circumstances sample Sons of Anarchy for the first time when it returns to FX on Sept. 8.

The episode expects you to be familiar with all of last year's developments, which alone would make it grueling for new viewers, but that's not the real problem: New viewers should stay away from the season premiere because by the end of the ep, Sons of Anarchy has turned in a deeply disturbing direction that would probably turn any innocent bystander off the show forever and may even drive away a few fans. It's not that it's bad—there's no value judgment here about storytelling quality—it's just that it's...a lot.

So if you're remotely interested in giving SOA a shot after reading our many testimonies about its quality, please start with season one (available on DVD Aug. 18). FYI, season one gets off to a slow start, but once Jay Karnes rolls onto the scene at the end of episode three as a stalker ATF agent, Sons of Anarchy takes off and stays awesome for the duration. Are you tough enough to face SOA season two? Click on the pics above to see for yourself! And then tell us in the comments which returning fall TV series you're most anticipating!