10 Moments That Proved Sons Of Anarchy Was The Best Show On TV

10. Fire Or Knife?

Given the general public’s likely unfamiliarity with the arcane bylaws and unwritten codes of the outlaw motorcycle club, one of Kurt Sutter’s most important tasks in the first season was to impress upon the audience the ethos and character of SAMCRO and the men who sat at that table. Episode 5 was a defining moment in the early going, proving to viewers the nature of the bond that the outlaws shared.

In the episode mischievously titled ‘Giving Back’, former fully patched member of SAMCRO Kyle Hobart had been voted out of the club and banished after abandoning Opie at a crime scene, causing him to take the fall and a five-year stretch alone. When he arranges special dispensation to return to the town of Charming in safety to see his son’s band play at a fundraiser, Hobart thinks he’s settled the beef with Opie and the MC, and maybe he would have… except that Jax sees that he’s still rocking the club’s signature ink on his back, something he was supposed to have blacked out when he was thrown out.

Cornered at the club, Hobart is given the choice: fire or knife? He chooses fire, and, chaining him up in the garage, they burn the tattoo off his back with a blowtorch, the whole MC watching in silence. It sets the tone for everything to follow: there’s no middle ground with these men and their club, and it’s no picnic being patched.