As readers will recall, I have been an avid fan of Sons of Guns, the story of Red Jacket Firearms, which has been a show on the Discovery Channel. I have compared it favorably to another show on the same cable channel, American Choppers, for its lack of soap opera effects and its emphasis on the workmanship involved with innovating existing firearms for their legal and military usefulness. Well, this season, for the first time, the show has changed its emphasis, I fear, and not for the better.
This season, the program has transformed itself into emphasizing heartthrob Stephanie developing a romantic relationship with Chris, whose positive attributes are difficult to see, especially for those of you who don’t live in the Baton Rouge area, where guys like Chris seem to be plentiful at most sports bars and taverns. Then, because of this emphasis, the producers of the program and Will apparently decided to make Chris the lead manager on what was termed ‘the most important weapon the firm has ever produced in a recent episode. As viewers know, Chris not only was incompetent, he lost a part necessary for the weapon to function.
While all this was going on, the gunsmith (a fairly important employee), Vince Buckles has been treated rudely in order to emphasize Chris’ value to the company. Well, it turns out that, in real life, Vince has been bought out by the company recently. But, even goofier, Vince has since reported that, at least pro forma ownership of the company was transferred to himself and some other employees because Will and Stephanie were forced by the federal government to surrender their Federal Firearms License because they have lost a number of guns that were in their custody (the weaponry may be in Mexico as part of the deal that WTH has written about).
Then, on this week’s episode, after Will berated Vince over the phone and Vince walked out of the shop, Will tried to be heavy-handed with the program’s producer. He said that this was more important than the producer’s television program. The producer then told Will that it was ‘our program’, at which Will became unfamiliarly meek.
So, now we have a show about making firearms without a gunsmith. Instead, an employee who seems to have the skills associated more with an apprentice but who makes sure that he says ‘Yessuh’ particularly loudly at least 10 times per episode and who has managed to convince Stephanie that his love (lust) is central to the firm’s existence, will be a featured character on the program. So, I’ll be bidding a bittersweet adieu to this program.
Here is the video of the season finale that I just described:
January 19th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I quite agree! This season has been one long steady decline. The ’showmance’ between Kris and Steph, apparently they’re married now or thinking about it, was bad enough. Vince has been treated badly. I was very upset with Will during the Ted Nugent visit. I hope Ted hooks up with Vince at some point down the road. The other guys left better watch out.
January 20th, 2012 at 7:53 am
So, you don’t like anything about relationships.
That fits.
Why don’t you go and get in bed with your guns.
January 20th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I actually do sleep with my gun. Makes the wife feel safe (but don’t tell her it isn’t loaded). When an unemployed liberal sneaks in the house it will at least be useful for cracking head.
January 20th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Hah, Klo! Living in Duh-troit, I do not go to the bathroom without a gun! Of course I sleep with a gun! Its a necessity here.
I have nothing against true love and relationships. But Arriba is very correct in that this Kris guy is a LOSER! Maybe ‘looks’ wise he might be a 6 or a 7. He has a stash, a bit of a goatee, and a bunch of tattoos. He thinks he’s some budding rock star.
Beyond that, he’s a klutz! He’s always breaking stuff in the shop. His ’showmance’ with Stephanie distracts him from learning anything new about his job and interferes with him doing his job. I might add that he moved in on her awfully fast when Steph broke up with her previous boyfriend. Statistically speaking, such ‘on-the-rebound’ relationships generally fail within a few months.
January 21st, 2012 at 8:34 am
I have to say, I am not impressed with any of these types of shows. The people in them all sound and appear to be unintelligent.
January 21st, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Really People? You forget that Family comes first and what about everyone else? For the past 2 seasons i saw Vince complain, whine and act like a complete spoiled kid. He does have the skill to make great weapons but he just doesn’t fit into that group.
January 21st, 2012 at 8:11 pm
JT,
This is the first season that the show emphasized relationships like this. In other years, they spent the whole time discussing why the weapon should be improved, figuring out to do it, make the adaptation, then test it.
Instead, this year’s shows were some silly soap opera about a woman and her boytoy, and the efforts of the woman’s father to make the boytoy feel like he was integral to the ‘team’.
After the last show aired, who do you think was responsible for the screw-ups with the gun? Do you think Will thinks that Kris messed it up, even in retrospect? Heck no.
January 22nd, 2012 at 3:16 am
My opinion is Will was in the wrong for how he treated Vince in the Ted Nugent visit and Stephanie was wrong into pushing her dad into having her boyfriend the project lead.
On the other hand, if Kris is going to be part of the family he does need to know what goes on in running a project though he screwed up. since he is not a gunsmith, he should have started the project by talking to the experienced employees for their ideas and utilized their strengths. Kris is trying to imitate Will, who is a gunsmith, without the training. I’m sorry but you NEVER throw a gun around, not even in frustration that you can’t get it to work.
January 22nd, 2012 at 6:56 am
I think most reality shows end up being a soap opera. I wonder how things would have turned out if the show was never on. Either way i see the shop as Wills and there are plenty more gunsmiths out there who would love to be on a reality show and show leadership and compassion. If you know how to do everything and choose not to show others your skill than what’s the point?