Genre Weekend 9: True Blood Love
By Angela Roberts
June 27, 2011
Waiting sucks. Never has this been truer than with the immensely popular series, True Blood, the phenomenal show based on Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire novels. I would even venture so far as to leave off the Charlaine Harris connection; I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Alan Ball has taken a series of so-so vampire novels with an annoying protagonist, and made a masterpiece of genre drama. I think when it comes down to it, he’s made it his own. And millions of True Blood fans are no doubt thankful for that. True Blood began its fourth season on Sunday, June 26th on HBO, and what an opener it was! I’ve been watching True Blood since it first began appearing on TV screens; certainly it’s one of the reasons I insist on having HBO on our cable bill. And it amazes me how it never gets old. I think we know that Ball still has much to mine from Harris’ novels. But what’s important is that Ball and his awesome cast make it good.
So, last season, Sookie finally learned the truth about Bill’s arrival in Bon Temps and his seduction of her, and told him to take a hike. He basically deserved it. Distraught, she found her way to her Gran’s grave, and met Claudine, her fairy godmother, who whisked her away to that other plane, where her kin, the fae, live. Open on this season, Sookie arrives to find a beautiful and seductive garden full of happy fairies and other humans blessed with fairy blood, all serenely enjoying a round succulent fruit that glows. She even sees Barry, the telepathic bellboy she met in Texas. And to her amazement, someone else, her grandfather, looking exactly as he did when she was a little girl. Turns out he’s been in this place for the last twenty years, and he has no idea that the time has passed so suddenly. Everything seems perfect, except for the odd loss of time, but Sookie is uneasy. Perhaps she’s read all those Grimm’s fairy tales where fairies turn out untrustworthy. Maybe she’s just become naturally suspicious from all of her experiences. Maybe it’s those strange shadows, or the odd glimpses of the fairies in another form that stir her distrust. Either way, she knows something’s wrong. And being Sookie, she gets into trouble.
Now there’s not much more I can say without major spoilers, and this will be published a little too close to the initial airing of the episode for me to be fair in giving too much away. Suffice it to say that Sookie’s troubles in fairyland are only the first ten minutes of this awesome episode, and they end quite dramatically. Sookie returns, but she returns to a Bon Temps that’s undergone a few changes, and that thought Sookie Stackhouse was dead.
We look into all of our favourite characters, and you can tell right from this episode that things are different, and that new mischief and drama are afoot. The most satisfying and frustrating thing about True Blood is how one hour never seems to be enough. It tantalizes you; it gives you just enough to hook you, without ever giving you everything.
Like its vampires, True Blood seduces you. And you love being seduced. You willingly bare your neck.
And waiting for that next episode, for that next Sunday night, to come, really sucks.
Major Squee! Moments:
I am a major Eric Northman fan. He didn’t show up nearly enough in this episode. But those soulful Eric eyes are in high gear. Sookie is way too lucky. ;-)
Capsule Reviews:
Sanctuary: The season finale, “Into the Black,” started off slow, but definitely ended with a bang. Picking up from last week’s revelations, we see the situation with the Hollow Earth abnormals worsening, as a bunch of refugees suddenly appear in the Arizona desert. Helen Magnus has a heck of a time convincing the UN and a private security firm hired by the UN to bring the people into the Sanctuary’s care, but she manages. However, the abnormals end up in a sort of prison camp, and tensions run high. It turns out that they are the outland tribe of Fallon, the traitor who was helping Adam Worth in exchange for his help taking over Praxis, and who we last saw being double-crossed by Worth. She and her people have come to the surface supposedly because their lifeline to Praxis has mysteriously been shut off. Meanwhile, John Druitt returns to the Sanctuary with even more disturbing news; he spared Adam Worth’s life in exchange for the ability to go back in time and prevent the Five from ever taking the source blood and unnaturally changing all of their lives. But Adam has double-crossed him (unsurprisingly), and Helen grudgingly agrees to go with John to try and stop him. They travel to Hollow Earth only to find that the city has been destroyed by one of Worth’s tests of his time machine. And what follows is the layering of intrigue on intrigue, as the Sanctuary team discover just how out-matched they are when they go up against the machinations of the man who inspired the tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The episode was really quite good. Of course, if you haven’t been watching any of this season, you’ll be horribly lost. The plot is amazingly complex, bringing in threads from the entire season, and tying them up or just making them even more insane. But if you have been watching, then it’s great, and you’ll only be left with the sad realization that you have to wait for more. Any good season finale should do that, and this one is no exception.
Outcasts: Episode 2 only solidified my belief that this is another one of those under-appreciated shows that just never get a chance to shine. Drama and intrigue abound in this episode, and it continues to prove that morality doesn’t have to be easy for SF to be good. Characters make difficult decisions, find out the world isn’t as simple as they thought, have hopes raised and dashed, and see things in themselves they hoped were buried. What happens in this episode will no doubt resonate in later episodes. So go. Watch it. Decide for yourself what you think.
So, Geek Recommendations of the Week:
Since we’re all about the True Blood this week, my Geek Recommendations are of the essentials for every True Blood fan:
First, if you need a recap of the last season, hear it straight from the actors themselves in the HBO featurette, Digging Up, available on the HBO website.
Also, for all of your True Blood behind the scenes news, check out HBO’s True Blood blog.
And a major fan site, True-Blood.net.
Fave Podcast of the week: Sookiestackhouse.com publishes the Last Bite podcast, the most up-to-date True Blood podcast I’ve been able to find on the net. Subscribe on ITunes or check out the website.
And last but not least, for Canadians: this Canada Day Weekend, Space Channel will be showing a mega Torchwood marathon in anticipation of the premiere of Torchwood: Miracle Day on July 9th! Three days, three seasons!