True Blood, Season 3

Not really in the mood, so this one will be short...

After the events in Season 2, Bon Temps is in a state of cautious denial. Nothing terrible really happened, it was all just some mass hysteria thing. But Tara can't forget Eggs' tragic death, and Sookie has a very real issue to deal with - someone has kidnapped Bill. Soon werewolves enter the picture, and it would seem a vampire king has outgrown his state, and is looking with hunger towards Louisiana. With intrigue everywhere, political scheming and personal agendas, Sookie seems to be in the center of it all in more than one way, but can she trust anybody? Even the love of her life?

Sounds unfocused? That's because it is. After the absolutely stunning previous season, the third year of True Blood suddenly drops the quality to a level of self-conscious audience-excluding posturing. Literally EVERY character has their own story-line, so the plot barely progresses from an episode to episode. Nobody acts smart anymore (and I don't mean smart in general, but in the campy context of the show), and by this point it seems everybody has some romantic interest in everybody else, which to me is a very powerful sign of screenwriting exhaustion.

Just in case things weren't complicated enough between Sookie, Eric and Bill, now we have hunky werewolf Alcide Herveaux (fitness model Joe Manganiello) to set the stage for a love square - with all the vampires scheming against each other while trying to use Sookie's powers, Alcide is of course a pillar of normality and stability even being what he is.

And then there is the revelation of what Sookie herself actually is, and where her telepathic powers come from. I cannot bring myself to say it, even if I wanted to spoil. It hurts too much...

The writing in Season 3 is simply poor. Even the "main" plot, as much as such could be discerned, is a disastrously uneven affair that ends in the most fantastic anticlimax imaginable, leaving the viewers with a feeling of "wait, is that it?" frustration. Honestly, it feels like all the writers of the previous two seasons have been fired, and the script has been entrusted to the janitor's aunt.

I can't say I actually hated the season, really. Watching it in the span of two days prevented me from hitting the wall in anger which would have been the case if I had to wait a week between the doses of story impotence. There is stuff to like in it, as this is still True Blood. But there is no real joy as the previous two seasons delivered. The show feels tired, and slightly annoyed with you for expecting too much from it when it's not in the mood to play.

I can only hope the next season is better. I don't want Season 2 quality. Just a sign that the show hasn't abandoned all ambition of a coherent storyline.

6/10

True Blood, Season 2

The psychopath Rene is dead, his stream of "fangbanger" murders stopped just before he managed to kill Sookie. But instead of peace returning to Bon Temps, it appearsthat a new killer is on the loose. Season 1 ended with Lafayette being attacked by something unseen, and Tara and Sookie finding a dead body in Andy's (Chris Bauer) car. But as Season 2 starts, it would seem there are bigger fishes to fry. Eric demands Sookie's help with finding the vampire Godric (Allan Hyde), a powerful sheriff in Texas. At the same time Sookie's brother Jason gets more and more mixed up with the vampire-hating Church of the Sun which operates suspiciously close to where Godric disappeared from. Meanwhile back at Bon Temps, Tara falls deeper under the influence of the charming Maryann (Michelle Forbes), even though the life she offers her seems much too good to be true and strange occurrences keep happening around the town. And if that's not enough, Sam is no longer the only shifter in Bon Temps!

Season 2 of True Blood is by far my favorite so far. There is so much to love about it! Having established the whole campy premise of the world, the show can now go boldly into Actual Plot Land, and it does so with great enthusiasm. There are multiple storylines with the Texas mystery and Maryann's rise to power being the central ones. The former is heavy on world-building, introducing us to vampire politics outside of Bon Temps and Fangtasia, while the latter builds on the mythology of the show, revealing that there are powers older and stranger than vampires roaming the land.

There are a bunch of new characters in Season 2. Chief among them is Maryann Forrester who was introduced in the last episodes of the previous season. She is a woman of mystery, obviously rich and powerful, who enjoys throwing parties that get progressively wilder as time goes by. To say anything more about her would spoil basically everything. The Texas line introduces us to Lorena (Mariana Klaveno) - Bill's vicious maker who is still obsessed with him even after he left her almost a century ago. There is also Godric - one of the oldest vampires in America, yet he is more angelic than demonic, and his authority is tempered by an aura of introvert vulnerability. Definitely the first time I see an ancient teenage vampire who actually acts like his age and not his looks. Bite on that, Edward!

My favorite new addition to the cast however is new-born vampire Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) who got turned at the end of Season 1. She is still trying to cope with all the new abilities and urges her body now has, as well as being an actual teenager who is about to fall in love for the first time in her life. Her little plot line is absolutely adorable as well as really funny, and it intertwines with another so-far-minor character - Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack) who has the most unbearable mother in the world. There are other new faces as well, around the disappearance line as well as the Church of the Sun, but none important enough to waste review space on.

The production is still as superb as it was in Season 1. I am not much into the technical aspect of tv and cinema, so whatever I say sounds unprofessional to say the least, but the cinematography of the show looks absolutely amazing to me. The style of shooting corresponds so well with the campyness, the scenes and especially episode endings shot in such an in-your-face shock-value way, that if you don't hate it the moment you witness it for the first time, you are bound to fall in love with the style. Then of course there is the soundtrack. The music of True Blood is generally to die for, and perfectly implemented, while the ending songs - with their small town, often country or retro style - are so much in contrast with the usually shocking cliffhangers that they seem to create a weird resonance together.

A point of interest - True Blood doesn't really do character building that much. Even though some experiences change certain people, it is mostly on the surface - they are pretty much set in who they are, as otherwise they would stop representing the aspects of the world that the show has introduced them to represent. It can be viewed as a drawback, and at certain times I would agree, but in the end, the story that True Blood is trying to tell doesn't really require character growth. What's more, its entire plot is built around the predictability of responses on their part. And in the case of vampires, this also adds to the atmosphere of timelessness around them. Plus, the acting is still absolutely superb from everyone.

If a definite drawback is to be found in Season 2, that would be the spreading of storylines. There are too many of them. They are still manageable (nowhere near the absurdity that Season 3 is), but the end result is that the overall plot does not progress too much in any single episode apart from a few of the last ones. I watched the show on blu-ray and within two days, so for me that was ok, but I can easily imagine the frustration if one has to wait a week for the next episode to come out. My sympathies to all of you who are following the show as it airs - it only gets worse as the seasons progress.

My experience was not like that though. Having seen Season 2 within such a short period of time, I fell utterly in love with it. Both major plots were amazing, their respective culminations - totally epic with the Godric one being perhaps the most memorable moment in the entire show. The characters are still as compelling as they were when True Blood started, even if some of them act in unbearably stupid ways some times. I love it when a second season surpasses the first one in such a spectacular way. Especially when the first one was so good to begin with.

9/10

True Blood, Season 1

I keep getting back to vampires. I don't know why, really, I haven't liked the concept since Twilight. Yet, for some reason the things I watch keep having vampires in them. I actually saw the first season of True Blood a while back, when it started airing, but I never followed up with Season 2, so I decided now is a good time to catch up on how the show has been going.

The setting is really cool - in a world where the Japanese have created a working synthetic replacement for human blood, two years ago vampires have "come out of the coffin" and are now public knowledge. They fight for equal rights, while new forms of entertainment, crime and pop-culture arise around them, but at the same time they are not the typical persecuted minority. Cause, see, they are vampires. Powerful, ancient, seductive, they are all we know from literature, and more. So sometimes the persecuted become persecutors, and then things turn bloody.

In the little Louisiana town of Bon Temps, Sookie Stackhouse (Ana Paquin) lives an ordinary redneck life as a waitress in a local bar. Sure, she is telepathic and open-minded (which, in the place she lives at, makes her a total freak), but other than that, she is just like any other southern gal. Until Bon Temps sees its first vampire. Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), son of one of the original founding families of the town, arrives to claim the family estate and settle there. The very first thing Sookie realizes about Bill is that she can't hear his thoughts. The second is that she is irrepairably attracted to him. And then the murders start.

It is easy to realize what True Blood is going for, but hard - for me - to describe it. The show is what you might call "messed up southern gothic". Vampires, swamps, awesome southern accents!!!, lots of sex, and all the white trash campiness that one could wish for. The show is very self-aware, and while the plot - a whudunit murder mystery - is serious, the attitude towards it is not. The entire vampire concept is an in-your-face allegory for gay rights and homophobia ("God hates fangs" and the opposing derogatory "breathers"), while the setting itself is so absolutely unrealistic - I mean, most vampires are so obviously vicious and evil - that you just know this is a show that wants to laugh at itself while still entertaining you. And if it turns out that it becomes too pleased with itself, and cuts the viewer completely out of the picture, well, apparently it's a risk Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under fame) is willing to take.

There is much to like about Season 1. The trashy campy style in which everything is presented (perfectly captured in the amazing opening theme) is a delight to experience, while the story itself is actually smart. You have barely any idea who the killer is until the next to last episode, and when the revelation comes, it is - again - painted in the same ridiculous smug-dumb way that everything else in True Blood works.

The characters are awesome. Sure, you want half of them to be quartered or defenestrated, but at the same time the acting is all-around great. The spot-light shines on Sookie herself, and Anna Paquin's impeccable (although completely fake) southern accent. She is sassy, self-dependent, and doesn't hesitate to tell everyone what's on her mind. Bill is her complete opposite - reserved, ever the dark brooding gentleman, and with a vocabulary from the 19th century, he is as vampire as one can be, and actually dangerous, unlike most vampire romance love interests.

The rest of the cast are all colorful, with everyone having some unique trait to remember them by. Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) is Sookie's dumb brother who basically tries to have sex with every female he could find, yet somehow still manages to always be in the center of whatever drama is going down around Bon Temps. Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley) is Sookie's best (and only) friend - aggressive, sensitive to a fault (especially where racism is concerned), but also smart and caring in her own broken way. Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) is the owner of the bar where half the characters in the show work. A decent and reliable guy caring a bit of a torch for Sookie, with a few secrets of his own. Lafayette Reynolds (Nelson Ellis) is Tara's cousin. Flamingly gay, a great chef, as well as drug dealer, go-go dancer, male prostitute and occasionally the Wise Black Dude when necessity calls for it.

Then of course there is Eric (Alexander Scarsgard) - the vampire Sheriff of "Area 5" - who, although not nearly as cool as he will be in later seasons, sets the standard for badass sex appeal. Thousand years old, cold and cynical, with the bearing of a king and the attitude of a drug lord, he commands total obedience and respect in the vampires under his control. He is also, occasionally, absolutely hilarious.

But in the end, it is the attitude that makes True Blood so appealing. It is sexy, trashy, doesn't take itself seriously and you could see how everyone involved with it just has too much fun. And in an age where vampires are all but completely domesticated, the violent and vicious approach of the show, combined with the nose-thumbing it gives the genre, is just too much to resist. Hard not to fall in love with it, and no reason you shouldn't give it a chance.

8.5/10