Supernatural Soap Opera That Outlived Its Substance: True Blood The Complete Series!

The Good: Moments of performance, Moments of character, Moments of plot, Themes
The Bad: Unfortunate descent into soap operatic plot developments, Loses decent performances, Initially intriguing characters get buried amid a bloated cast!
The Basics: A series that loses its initial spark and substance, True Blood The Complete Series is not worth picking up!


2014 saw the end of several long-running television series’ and many of them had, unfortunately, not been cancelled in their prime. One of the shows that had long outlived its coolness and quality was True Blood. The seventh season of True Blood aired in 2014 and shortly after it came to an end, HBO released True Blood The Complete Series on DVD and Blu-Ray, which tried to capitalize on the few people who still were enamored with the show.

True Blood The Complete Series is the study of a show that illustrates well diminishing returns. The series began with a great deal of potential and a thematic sensibility that made it must-watch television. But, as the series belabored explaining its own universe, it became diluted – from a cast that grew to an unwieldy size to storylines that hinged more and more on reversals that were more at home at a daytime soap opera than on HBO. True Blood was a supernatural drama series and True Blood The Complete Series is comprised of all seven seasons and includes the DVDs that were previously released as:
True Blood Season 1
True Blood Season 2
True Blood Season 3
True Blood Season 4
True Blood Season 5
True Blood Season 6
True Blood Season 7

Set in Bon Temps, Louisiana, True Blood is largely centered around Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie is a waitress at a local bar and grill, Merlotte’s, where she has been working for years, a fixture in the small town. Unbeknownst to almost everyone in town, Sookie has the ability to read minds and her telepathy has made her feel somewhat isolated in her hometown. One day, a vampire comes to Bon Temps and Sookie realizes she cannot read his mind. The vampire is Bill Compton, a former soldier in the Civil War, who has a mansion near Sookie’s house.

But the relationship that Bill and Sookie begin soon attracts the attention of the locals and makes Sookie a target of those who fear vampires integrating with humans. As Sookie and Bill defend one another and their romance, they find themselves at the mercy of psychopaths, orthodox vampires and supernatural beings like werewolves. Their relationship is put to the test as powerful vampires and human politicians clash and devious humans fight to remain in control of the world by setting plagues against the vampire population!

True Blood starts with initially intriguing characters and the series includes:

Sookie Stackhouse – The telepathic waitress who falls in love with Bill Compton, she is protective of her brother Jason after their Gran is killed and they inherit her home. Despite being romantically involved with Bill, she gets into relationships with Eric Northman, Alcide Herveaux, and she learns that her boss has a long-running crush on her. But her love for Bill experiences torsion when she is continually put in danger by being associated with him and the unnatural attraction other vampires have to her cause a truth about her heritage to be revealed that leaves her and Bon Temps shocked,

Jason Stackhouse – The dimwitted brother of Sookie, he gets into every stupid situation imaginable. From drug addiction (vampire blood being a powerful hallucinogen) to affairs with married women and religious zealots, Jason slowly grows to become the sheriff deputy of Bon Temps,

Tara Thornton – Sookie’s best friend for decades, she is a human who has an alcoholic, Evangelical, mother who has been abusive. Unnerved by how life in Bon Temps is changing, she runs away and ends up in the company of an evil witch. She returns to Bon Temps and her life falls apart,

Lafayette Reynolds – The bisexual cook at Merlotte’s, he is the local drug runner. But dealing in vampire blood is exceptionally dangerous and he soon draws the ire of Eric Northman. When his life is saved, he gets shellshocked for a while, but slowly comes out of his shell when he gets involved with a practitioner of voodoo,

Arlene Fowler – Another waitress at Merlotte’s, she has terrible luck with men. But after she has one supremely disastrous relationship, she finds love and redemption in the form of Terry. She is reticent to accepting supernatural beings in her life, though the more she is surrounded by them, the more she accepts them,

Terry Bellefleur – An Iraq War vet, he is shellshocked and works as a cook at Merlotte’s. He tries to rebuild his life and he does it successfully with Arlene,

Hoyt Fortenberry – Jason’s best friend, he has an overbearing mother. After a relationship with a human woman his mother approves of goes bad, he develops a love for Jessica. That relationship, though, is threatened by Jason and his raging hormones,

Steve Newlin – A religious zealot who organizes a war against vampires,

Sam Merlotte – The owner of Merlotte’s, he has managed to hide the fact that he is a shapeshifter from everyone for years. He falls in love with a werewolf and then a pro-supernatural activist,

Holly Cleary – A local witch who pops up,

Alcide Herveaux – A werewolf who rejects the violent nature of the pack mentality of the local pack. He works for Eric Northman and does favors for the vampire sheriff. He and Sookie become involved the more Sookie falls out of favor with Bill and Eric,

Pam De Beaufort – Eric Northman’s progeny, she is a deeply sarcastic former prostitute who reluctantly assists Eric in rescuing Sookie and getting involved in whatever danger she puts Eric in,

Jessica Hamby – A human girl who comes from a very conservative family and sheltered household, she is turned by Bill as punishment against Bill when he kills another vampire. Suddenly reckless, empowered, and vampire, she takes time to calm down and become a useful member of vampire society. Groomed by Bill to be a smarter, more human-considerate, vampire, she develops relationships with Hoyt and Jason,

Eric Northman – The vampire sheriff of the Louisiana Territory, he has long enjoyed being an elite life form, with little consideration for humans. When Sookie comes into his life via Bill, he has to turn against some of the most powerful, genocidal vampires on Earth. In the process, he develops a romance with Sookie,

and Bill Compton – The relatively young vampire intrigues Sookie and he becomes protective of her when an anti-vampire zealot threatens him and Sookie. Forced to do things he disagrees with, like turning Jessica, he argues in favor of peace between humans and vampires. His love for Sookie puts him in constant danger and puts him in the crosshairs of the Vampire Authority at a time when religious fundamentalists take it over!

True Blood stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer and their initial on-screen chemistry made their off-camera relationship entirely viable. Performances by people like Ryan Kwanten (who should be able to play George W. Bush for the rest of his career), Nelsan Ellis (who plays Lafayette as an utterly convincing chameleon who adapts to every situation and relationship), and Rutina Wesley (Tara), start out wonderful before the plot turns their characters into filler. Ellis, especially, starts with a wonderful part in True Blood before the series loses focus for the character and he is eventually relegated to such a minor part that it’s almost forced keeping him around.

Such is the bane of True Blood The Complete Series; so much of the potential that it began with is diluted and lost as the series progresses.

For other works that are or were on HBO, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Game Change
Veep - Season 1
Game Of Thrones - Season 4
Girls - Season 1
Carnivale
Rome
Extras
Six Feet Under
Sex & The City - Season Three
Da Ali G Show
Jim Henson's The Storyteller

4/10

For other television episode, season and series reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Death Of The Supernatural Soap Opera: True Blood Season Seven Disappoints!

The Good: Decent-enough acting
The Bad: Ridiculous plot direction, Poor character arcs, Erratic special effects
The Basics: The final season of True Blood takes a disappointing turn for the series, making it a virtually unwatchable end to the story of Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton.


Over the course of a series, how a television show will end is always a big consideration for the writers and executive producers. The audacious shows have big endings, the shows that did not begin with a firm goal often fizzle out. True Blood is definitely the latter.

The seeds of destruction for True Blood were built into the sixth season finale, “Radioactive” (reviewed here!) when the penultimate season ended with a six month leap forward in the True Blood timeline. The move forward would not have been so troubling had True Blood not already done a narrative skip forward seasons before and the climactic events were ridiculous teases. The death of Eric Northman at long range, not seen clearly was a suspension of disbelief that no fan in their right mind bought; the sudden appearance of (essentially) zombie vampires was a left turn that made no rational sense (given how the vampires in the sixth season reacted to Hepatitis V infections at the Governor’s compound, six months after the infection broke out, all of the infected would be long dead).

The seventh season opens up immediately where the sixth left off, where a town mixer where Mayor Sam Merlotte has pitched pairing humans and healthy vampires for mutual protection, is surrounded by Hepatitis V-infected vampires. In the slaughter that follows, a few of the townsfolk are abducted by the invading vampires and Tara is killed. As Sookie, Jason and Alcide investigate the nearby town of Saint Alice and discover that the town has been wiped out by the Hep V-infected vampires, fears in Bon Temps grow. To try to bring down the villains, Sookie uses herself as bait while the townspeople rally against the vampires and other supernatural beings around Bon Temps. When Alcide is killed, Sookie is emotionally adrift.

Meanwhile, Pam goes in search of Eric and finds him alive in Europe. Unfortunately, Eric is infected with Hep-V and is very slowly dying of the disease. Goaded by Pam, Eric returns to Louisiana and goes on a hunt for Sarah Newlin. The search for Sarah Newlin turns from an opportunity for Eric to get revenge on the woman who started the outbreak to a business opportunity he can exploit. Together, Pam and Eric negotiate to produce a new product for vampires that will treat Hepatitis V, but not cure it (making them rich). The storylines converge when Bill gets infected with Hep V and refuses treatment for it, causing Sookie to freak out.

The final season of True Blood is erratic, melodramatic and defies what semblance of reason existed in the earlier seasons of the supernatural drama. One of the strengths of True Blood in its initial concept was exploring the way the real world would interact with supernatural creatures. Throughout the seasons, the addition of more and more supernatural beings and more preposterous situations has gutted the metaphoric bent that made the series clever and any sense of realism. The seventh season is like a soap opera in the character relationships as the show strains to resolve all the dangling character arcs and a series of plot contrivances that are ridiculous. Amid episodes where Sookie loses more people in her life, True Blood struggles to make viewers care about what is going on with Lafayette, Arlene and Sam. Most of the beloved characters from True Blood are treated as afterthoughts in this season; Tara is even killed off off-screen, robbing viewers of a reasonable catharsis.

Nevertheless, the show has characters who fans have grown to love over the prior six years and the final season of True Blood finds them thus:

Sookie Stackhouse – After the death of her closest friend, she and Jason try to save the rest of Bon Temps. Discovering how widespread the carnage in the world goes, she becomes more ambivalent toward vampirekind. But, when Alcide dies and she finds herself alone again, she turns toward Bill and discovers she still loves him,

Bill Compton – After championing vampire rights and trying to make amends for his time possessed by Lilith, he drifts. When he is infected with Hepatitis V, he makes the difficult decision to finally die and be at peace, a decision Sookie cannot understand,

Jason Stackhouse – His relationship with an ancient vampire having progressed, he finds himself giving into all of Violet’s desires. But when he Violet goes crazy, he is rescued by the least likely person. In the aftermath, he steps aside so Hoyt and Jessica may resume their romance and he befriends Hoyt’s girlfriend, though he takes a stab at not sleeping with her,

Andy Bellefleur – The sheriff of Bon Temps struggles to protect his remaining daughter and he goes hunting for Holly when she is captured by the Hep V-infected vampires. Desperate to protect both his love and his daughter, he has to turn to Jessica for assistance. When Sam’s girlfriend give him an ultimatum, it is Andy who must take charge of Bon Temps,

Eric Northman – Having managed to survive nearly being burnt alive when his immunity to the sun expired, he finds himself infected with Hepatitis V through his own carelessness. He goes to hunt down Sarah Newlin until he learns that she possesses the cure that will save his life. Teaming with the inventors of Tru Blood who were ruined by the outbreak of Hep-V, he goes into business exploiting the outbreak Newlin caused,

Pam De Beaufort – Bound to Eric, she experiences a loss when Tara is killed and she is angered when Eric appears ready to give up. After goading Eric into returning to the United States, she teams up with him to hunt Sarah Newlin,

Jessica Hamby – Feeling horrible for slaughtering most of Andy’s family, she vows to protect his remaining daughter. When she succeeds in stopping the Hep V-infected vampires from taking the half-fairy daughter of Andy, she is captured by a vengeful Violet. When she is rescued, she begins to find herself drawn back to Hoyt,

Arlene – Captured during the raid on her new bar (formerly Merlotte’s), she appeals to the humanity in one of the remaining Hep V-infected vampires. Upon being rescued, she allows herself to get seduced by a vampire herself,

Sam Merlotte – Almost an afterthought this season, he tries to protect Nicole (who is pregnant with his baby), but fails horribly. Despite coming to her rescue, she loathes remaining in Bon Temps, forcing the mayor to make a difficult choice,

Lafayette – Also a virtual afterthought, he helps Lettie Mae search for Tara’s ghost. He get involved with Jessica’s prison boyfriend and nearly breaks her heart. After that, he just hangs out in Bon Temps until the end,

Alcide – Happy dating Sookie, he tries to protect her. In the battle with the Hep V-infected vampires and townspeople, he pays the ultimate price,

and Tara – Before she has a chance to grow or develop, she is killed, which sets her mother on a drug-riddled trip to follow her ghost.

Any number of issues arise with the characters in season seven of True Blood. In order to draw out the relationship between Jason and Violet, her initial characterization has to be obliterated. In a similar fashion, Eric Northman becoming infected with Hep-V only jives if one forgets how careful he has been and how smart his character is. Moreover, for a character who evolved beyond his absolutism and vengeful qualities in the past, the way he degenerates into a completely avaricious vampire for his final arc is disappointing.

True Blood in its final season robs its performers of any big moments. Outside of the last two episodes when Deborah Ann Woll is given a genuine romance to play off Jim Parrack and Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are given the chance to infuse their love back into their characters, the season is devoid of great performances. Instead, the actors plod through their final ten episodes in a location once magical, now full of death.

For more information on this season, please visit my reviews of the individual episodes:
“Jesus Gonna Be Here”
“I Found You Here”
”Fire In The Hole”
“Death Is Not The End”
“Lost Cause”
”Karma”
“May Be The Last Time”
“Almost Home”
”Love Is To Die”
“Thank You”

2/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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True Blood Finally Reaches Its End: “Thank You!”

The Good: Decent-enough acting
The Bad: Dull plot, Light on character, Entirely contrived
The Basics: “Thank You” sees the end of True Blood and the conclusion does not keep the focus on Bill and Sookie enough to be a truly satisfying end for fans.


This is a big week for television! With the Emmys come and gone (was I the only one who didn’t know it was last night until the event passed?!), my focus is turning to the ends and the beginnings that are the highlights of this week in television. Chief among the endings (for me and other genre fans) is the series finale of True Blood. True Blood has had a rough seventh season and the shortened ten-episode season saw its end with “Thank You.” It is worth noting that because True Blood is a heavily serialized show and “Thank You” is its series finale, that some spoilers might be contained within this review, if for no other reason than that all that comes before led to “Thank You.”

Given the rocky nature of the seventh season of True Blood, I was not heartened by the trending topic relating to “Thank You” was that True Blood ended with a “wacky” finale. “Wacky” is not a word I would use to describe the sometimes-erotic, sometimes nauseatingly-gory supernatural soap opera. So, with lowered expectations, I rewatched “Love Is To Die” (reviewed here!) before tuning into “Thank You.” And

With Bill Compton having refused treatment for his Hep-V, he tries to explain his decision to Sookie. Having felt more alive since meeting Sookie, Bill does not want to live beyond Sookie, so he asks her to use her fairy light on him to bring him the true death. Faced with the choice of outliving Bill and having vampires interested in her and her fairy blood, Sookie seriously considers giving up her fairy light to kill Bill. Back at Fangtasia, Eric decides to betray Gus Jr. by setting Sarah Newlin free, stealing Gus Jr.’s New Blood (cure for Hep-V) and eradicating the human and his goons. Sarah begs Pam to vamp her and while Pam refuses, she does use the human for a Hep-V vaccination.

With Bill indelicately pushing the issue between Hoyt and Jessica, all of Bon Temps leaps to make arrangements for the abrupt wedding of the human and vampire. Those arrangements take the form of the predictable – Hoyt asks Jason to be his best man, Jessica scrambles to get a wedding dress – and the painfully mundane (Bill sits Andy down and asks him to “rent” his mansion to Hoyt and Jessica after his death because Bill cannot will the property to Jessica). During the wedding, Sookie is surprised that she can hear Bill’s thoughts. As Sookie debates putting Bill out of his misery, she talks to Jason, Reverend Daniels and Bill himself. After Sookie and Bill get closure, the episode flashes forward to show some resolution on how Eric and Pam’s business venture into New Blood went and then how everyone in Bon Temps is doing years later.

Starting “Thank You” out heavy with Bill Compton, Sookie, Eric and Pam sets the finale up for a satisfying conclusion. With the main – and most popular – enduring characters of the show getting the spotlight, fans are given some hope that the show might end on a high note. For as much as I might love the weird love story of Jessica and Hoyt, when “Thank You” shifts focus to them and the relationship between Jessica and Bill and then flashbacks with Sookie, Gran, and Tara, the episode takes a turn for the plodding and melodramatic. When “Thank You” seems like it might become an abrupt and somewhat ridiculous wedding episode, it seems like True Blood’s finale was going to be one of the least satisfying endings of television history. And it is, largely, unremarkable and unsatisfying.

In addition to completely contrived character moments – Hoyt has no memories of his friendship with Jason, so that he leaps to asking him to be his best man seems more satisfying for the viewers than honestly an organic plot/character development – “Thank You” is mired in trying to service the large cast (which is a pretty consistent problem the show has faced as it has gone on). Arlene and Holly being a part of the wedding is not entirely inorganic, but it does seem forced the way Arlene runs around prior to the wedding.

The idea of ending with a wedding is a pretty ridiculous one for a story that has been much more action-based and gory than it has been a relationship story in its later years. More than that, by focusing on Jessica and Hoyt, “Thank You” is mired in preaching to the choir. True Blood fans are by and large, smart and liberal. From the first episode, True Blood made a strong allegory between vampirism and homosexuality. So, the concept that the marriage of Hoyt and Jessica might not be legal, but it is loving and sanctified by god, seems to be beating the metaphor home for the people who already get the point.

In a similar way, Sookie turning to Reverend Daniels makes for a weird scene that makes very little sense for the character. Given the telepathic nature of Sookie Stackhouse, a crowded church seems like it would have hardly been a place of refuge for young Sookie. Turning to Daniels this late in the story seems forced and like Sookie is just taking advice from anybody in the world, regardless of their perspective and personal relationship with her. In fact, in the supernatural realm in which True Blood and Sookie Stackhouse exist, “Thank You” would have been the ideal time to bring in angels as a final supernatural creature, but the show does not. Instead, viewers are asked to believe that Sookie would turn to Daniels.

On the positive side, Anna Paquin’s performance of the episode’s pivotal scene sells the emotional depth of the moment. Whether this is great acting or not is debatable as Paquin having to contemplate a mercy killing for her real-life husband Stephen Moyer seems like it would be a wrenching experience. Paquin plays the scene with all of the intensity one expects from such a moment.

But fans of True Blood are rightfully unsatisfied and part of the reason has to be the final scene of “Thank You.” While some might wonder who the man Sookie is with is or why she is pregnant (if there had been no man at the head of the table, fans could easily have made the leap that Sookie was acting as a surrogate for Jessica and Hoyt, an idea that would have made their otherwise pointless wedding in the episode far more compelling), the real kick in the nads to fans is the conceptual shift that the final scene implies. Fans of True Blood have sat through seven seasons of partner-swapping, complex relationships mixed in with supernatural entities and monsters. Four years after the wedding of Hoyt and Jessica, EVERYBODY is still together with the partner they were with at the time.

Really?!

“Thank You” makes that assertion. So, between Sarah Newlin getting the penultimate scene, in a moment entirely reminiscent of how Alias concluded the Sloane/Rambaldi arc and a contrived happy ending where monogamy and traditional family values wins out, “Thank You” closes True Blood on a downbeat and leaves us uninterested in rewatching the season, much less the series.

For other notable series finales, please visit my reviews of:
“Goodbyeee” - Blackadder Goes Forth
“What You Leave Behind” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

3/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Penultimate True Blood: “Love Is To Die” Has One Good Arc As It Cuts Ties!

The Good: Good acting between Jim Parrack and Deborah Ann Woll, Moments of character
The Bad: Light on plot, Blasé character moments, Mostly unexceptional performances
The Basics: “Love Is To Die” moves True Blood much closer to its end; without leaving a compelling hook for fans to come back for the finale.


With only two episodes of True Blood left, the penultimate episode works very hard to frame how the series will end. True Blood’s “Love Is To Die” sets up a finale that is likely to be less bang and more “fade away.” The way the second-to-last episode feeds into the finale is actually somewhat unsurprising; the seventh and final season of True Blood has been a lot of fizzling out and the cramped cast has struggled to find a compelling story to tell. In fact, given how serialized the show is, it is almost surprising that “Love Is To Die” bothers with a “previously on” montage at the beginning of the episode.

“Love Is To Die” picks up where “Almost Home” (reviewed here!) ended and it continues the trend of the last few episodes of cutting ties for the characters. In fact, given the tone of most of “Love Is To Die,” the finale is almost unnecessary. There is a “ho-hum,” “this place is becoming a ghost town” attitude toward Bon Temps that the show feels like it is just waiting out the clock at this point. In discussing “Love Is To Die,” it is not possible to discuss where the characters are without (potentially) spoiling prior events from the season.

With Bill refusing to drink Sarah Newlin’s blood and be cured of the Hep-V infection that is ravishing his body, both Jessica and Sookie are furious at Bill Compton. After Bill renounces his ties to Jessica, she turns to Pam and Sookie finds herself in Eric’s arms. Sookie and Jessica visit Sam’s house where they find it abandoned and two letters waiting for them. Sookie’s letter explains to her exactly why he and Nicole have abandoned Bon Temps; the letter Sam left for Andy is simply his resignation as mayor. As Bellefleur’s, Jessica makes peace with James and LaFayette. Hoyt and Bridgette fight, largely because Bridgette is jealous of Jessica. Things get worse for their relationship when Jessica shows up. Bridgette gives Hoyt an ultimatum and Hoyt follows the vampire out into the night. Jessica and Hoyt reconcile and Jessica tells Hoyt their story.

While the bulk of the remaining town has dinner together at Bellefleur’s, Eric visits Bill Compton (who has returned to his mansion). There, Eric tries to convince Bill to take the cure and live on for Sookie. When Jason tries to rescue Bridgette from Hoyt’s house, he gets knocked out and she ends up rescuing him (though he helps book her a ticket back to Anchorage). Pam restores Sarah Newlin to her traditional look in preparation to sell her to the highest bidders (billing her as potentially the highest paid trollop in history). As the party at Bellefleur’s breaks up, Eric approaches Sookie to try to explain why Bill is allowing himself to die. Sookie returns home to attend to Bill as he dies. At Fangtasia, Eric almost fucks Ginger and he descends to the basement where Gus Jr. has Pam captured. Forced to be honest to save her life, Eric tells Gus Jr. where Sookie lives.

“Love Is To Die” is a mediocre episode that continues the trend of writing out characters to the series in thoroughly underwhelming ways. Earlier in the season, Tara died off camera and her arc in the season had her existing as a ghost to essentially further the unlikable character of Lettie Mae. Sam is similarly written out with an off-camera departure, which is incredibly unsatisfying for viewers who have stuck with the series so long. It is somewhat ridiculous to make Sam mayor only to have him have only one tiny arc! Sam’s big character arc was over at the end of the prior season when he proposed the pairing of humans and vampires for protection. This season, he has been a non-entity and his promotion to mayor has had less impact than Andy Bellefleur wanting to marry Holly! One of the essential characters at the beginning of the series, Sam has faded to not at all a presence by “Love Is To Die.”

The scene between Hoyt and Bridgette is more melodramatic and like a soap opera than it is realistic and compelling. Far more interesting in “Love Is To Die” is how much time the episode devotes to Jessica and Hoyt. Hoyt was a supporting character at the outset of True Blood and his arc with Jessica was a good one for the seasons they were involved. “Love Is To Die” capitalizes on the on-screen chemistry that Jim Parrack and Deborah Ann Woll have. Boosted by the scene where Jason tells Bridgette about his childhood with Hoyt and the relationship Hoyt and Jessica had before. More than any other relationship in True Blood, “Love Is To Die” frames Jessica and Hoyt as the great love story of the series.

This late in the story, the burgeoning relationship between Jason and Bridgette seems somewhat forced. In fact, not since Star Trek: Voyager contrived a relationship between Chakotay and Seven Of Nine in the final few episodes has a relationship seemed so forced on television near its end. At least the almost-sex scene between Ginger and Eric is treated with appropriate ridiculousness.

“Love Is To Die” is an episode where virtually nothing happens; the characters are realigned, but there are no stellar events to make one want to bother with the finale.

For other penultimate episodes to television series’, please visit my reviews of:
“The Dogs Of War” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Parallel Lives” - VR.5
“Episode 28” - Twin Peaks

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

4/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Best Of The True Blood Graphic Novels? True Blood: Tainted Love Might Well Be It!

The Good: Accurately references key moments of True Blood and foreshadows well, Good character development
The Bad: Mediocre artwork
The Basics: True Blood: Tainted Love smartly develops a story involving contaminated Tru Blood years before the television series did it!


As True Blood winds down, I am finding that I am more eagerly filling in the gaps with the True Blood franchise by catching up on some of the graphic novels I had missed. Interestingly enough, I was working at a comic book shop when True Blood: Tainted Love began, but I never managed to take the time to read it until now. For the last few years, the six individual issues of Tainted Love have been compiled as a single graphic novel, Volume 2 in the True Blood graphic novel series. Unlike some of the other True Blood graphic novels I have read, True Blood: Tainted Love lives up to its potential and the expectations of fans of the franchise in that it tells a decent story and does so quite well.

Having not read any of the Sookie Stackhouse novels upon which True Blood is based, my perception of the franchise is based entirely upon the television series and their accompanying graphic novels. True Blood: Tainted Love capitalizes on the relationships from the television show, while still telling an engaging story with a compelling villain. Perhaps one of the best aspects of True Blood: Tainted Love is that it does not directly contradict True Blood . . . at least not at the time the book was written. In fact, True Blood: Tainted Love essentially foreshadows events of the final season of the show by creating a scenario with tainted Tru Blood making vampire life much more difficult.

As Sookie finds herself somewhat distressed over fantasizing over both Eric Northman and Bill Compton, Hoyt Fortenberry realizes his relationship with Jessica is a lot more complicated than he initially thought it was. When Jessica sees that Bon Temps is having its prom, she misses the normal growing up moments she never had. Flashing back to her conservative, homeschooled upbringing and the near-misses she had as a young adult with teenage rebellion and sexuality, Jessica gets more and more upset. Hoyt decides to take her to the prom and as Jessica gets excited for the event, she consumes a batch of Tru Blood that makes vampires feral killers.

Under the guise of being tainted to free vampires from the shackles of civility, vampires near Bon Temps begin to go psychotic after consuming the Tru Blood and the hunt begins for the perpetrators. While Jason and Hoyt hunt for Jessica, Bill and Eric desperately search for the vampires involved with spiking the Tru Blood and the cure for the additives that corrupted the batch. But Tara helps point the gang in the right direction; that Steve Newlin’s Light Of Day Institute (the Church of the Sun) might be behind the corrupted Tru Blood and that time is running out for Jessica and the other infected vampires!

True Blood: Tainted Love is smart and well-assembled. Instead of bothering to try to include the full cast of True Blood, True Blood: Tainted Love tells a more focused story. Given the immense popularity of Jessica, she becomes a great subject for a graphic novel and writers Marc Andreyko and Michael McMillian seem to realize that. Sookie Stackhouse, who is the protagonist of the novels upon which True Blood is based, is basically a supporting character in True Blood: Tainted Love. Sookie, Bill and Eric work to save Jessica and expose the plot-based elements introduced in the book, but most of the actual character development is centered around Jessica.

The writers of True Blood: Tainted Love smartly recall the origins of Jessica, which is something the writers of the HBO series seem to have lost. Jessica was a sheltered, home-schooled, ultra-conservative girl before Bill Compton turned her. In True Blood: Tainted Love, her origins are explored in greater depth, which enriches her character. The prom story is a great concept for her character and the way the story turns into a feral Jessica revenge story is pieced together well as the king of the prom is a boy who once maligned her in her pre-vampire days.

One of the nice aspects of True Blood: Tainted Love is that all of the important aspects of Jessica’s s character are included in the graphic novel. Anyone can pick up True Blood: Tainted Love and get everything essential to the story within the pages. Sure, fans of True Blood will catch more allusions than those who are not fans, but anyone can read and enjoy the graphic novel as a self-contained “episode” with a decent character arc.

The artwork in True Blood: Tainted Love is muted in its colors and sloppy in its lines. The characters look only vaguely like the characters from the series. Panel to panel, the book features renditions of the characters that frequently look like anyone but Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgaard, Stephen Moyer. Only Jessica, Hoyt and Jason Stackhouse are truly accurately rendered consistently. True Blood: Tainted Love is a bit unsatisfying on the art front and fans of the series are likely to be a little disappointed or at the very least underwhelmed by the book.

Even so, True Blood: Tainted Love is well worth picking up and worth reading for anyone who likes a good supernatural love story and mystery.

For other True Blood graphic novels, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Volume 1, All Together Now
Where Were You?
Volume 5, The French Quarter

7/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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True Blood Comes “Almost Home” As It Nears Its End!

The Good: Characters, Good performances
The Bad: Still cluttered, Minor characters get big parts
The Basics: As True Blood nears its end, a number of minor characters gain significance as the storylines begin to converge.


When a television series knows it is going to end, I find myself fascinated by the process the producers go through to bring about resolution to the characters and plots they have established. There are so many television shows that have conclusions that disappoint the fans and regular viewers and I often wonder how so many executive producers and writers could fail when it comes to ending the stories they have begun. True Blood is nearing its conclusion and the third episode from the finale is “Almost Home.” In “Almost Home,” True Blood continues to sheer the sprawling storyline and, in the process, some of the generally insignificant characters are given big roles and characters who have been absent from the narrative return in significant ways.

Chief among the storylines that is concluded in “Almost Home” is Tara Thornton’s character arc. Tara was somewhat artlessly killed off, off camera, in the seventh season premiere, “Jesus Gonna Be Here” (reviewed here!) and since then, there has been wild speculation that Tara’s mother herself killed the vampire Tara. Lettie Mae has never been a popular or even a very interesting character, so the fact that she has picked up airtime that could have been used to focus on Tara (should Tara have survived the first fight of the season) was a pretty lousy choice on the part of the producers. “Almost Home” brings a reasonable conclusion to Tara’s post-death arc and the storyline involving Lettie Mae. Fortunately, much of the episode focuses on more popular characters as “Almost Home” picks where “May Be The Last Time” (reviewed here!) concluded. Perhaps one of the smartest moves from the producers this season has been starting and finishing as many episodes as possible with Eric and Pam. “Almost Home” smartly begins with them and it makes the episode immediately engaging.

After Eric is forced to spare the life of Sarah Newlin, the Yakuza take the cure for Hep-V away to begin synthesizing a cure en masse. Bill finally reveals to Sookie that he was assigned to find her. Sookie and Bill realize that their love for one another was all that caused Bill to turn from Queen Sophie’s plan to breed Sookie and the two find some peace as a result. Meanwhile, LaFayette, Lettie Mae, and Reverend Daniels visit the Thornton childhood house, convinced that Tara has a posthumous message for them. Feeding off James, the trio of humans is led by Tara’s presence into the house. There, they see Tara’s 7th birthday and the conflict between her father and Lettie Mae that quickly turned unspeakably violent. As Jason hangs out with Hoyt and Hoyt’s fiancé, Bridget, he gets a message that Violet torturing is Jessica. Back at Fangtasia, Gus Jr. reveals his New Blood will be intentionally imperfect, in order to keep a market for the product alive. Jason and Bridget come to rescue the others, but Jason is captured by Violet.

Back in the flashback, Tara reveals how she had the chance to kill her abusive father, but did not and her guilt consumed her from that point on. Tara and Lettie Mae forgive each other and Tara ascends to a higher plane at peace. Eric returns to Bon Temp to tell Sookie he is all right and she is shocked that he has been cured. Eric flies off to get the cure to Hep-V for Bill when Sookie tells him she is to blame for his infection. Jessica and Jason reconcile following their ordeal. Sookie stupidly pursues Eric to Fangtasia. Jason and Hoyt sit and talk about Jessica and how Bill is dying, which leads Hoyt to visit Bill. Sookie discovers that Sarah Newlin is alive in the basement of Fangtasia and that she is the cure. Compelled to save Bill, Jason and Jessica bring him to where Sarah is imprisoned.

“Almost Home” is one of the most character-driven episodes of the seventh season and that plays well, despite how much time is devoted to some of the minor characters. Tara Thornton’s character arc is finally resolved in a way that leaves viewers satisfied in a way that her off-camera death did not. The fact that Tara’s death is used to bring about an (apparent) spiritual rebirth for Lettie Mae is somewhat more disappointing in that Lettie Mae was, at best, a supporting character in Tara’s arc. In a similar way, ending Violet’s arc on True Blood seems like fixing a poor decision more than progressing an interesting direction for the characters she was involved with.

Far better executed in “Almost Home” is the tease of a relationship budding between Jessica and Hoyt. Hoyt left Bon Temps glamoured by Jessica after she cheated on him with Jason. Returning to Bon Temps without any memory of his relationship with Jessica, Hoyt starts to find himself thinking of Jessica and that makes for a delightfully compelling twist for both his character and hers. In “Almost Home,” the potential is broached, but the relationship (smartly) does not explode yet. This gives Deborah Ann Woll a chance to play Jessica across a wide range of emotions in “Almost Home” and it’s wonderful to see her given the chance. The embodiment of anticipation she plays in her physical performance as Jessica meets Hoyt at the door to the house is perfect.

Amid all of the minor characters getting resolutions, deaths and screentime, Sookie and Bill manage to forge a rebirth of their relationship (which is pretty good given how they ended up naked in bed in the prior episode). Sookie is given a decent role in “Almost Home” where she is assertive without being whiny. Bill is not given much in the way of depth, save for a dream sequence that seems to foreshadow the episode’s final moment. The focus on Bill and Sookie peppered throughout “Almost Home” is one of the episode’s more satisfying character aspects. While there is some lingering tension between Eric and Sookie, the implication of “Almost Home” is that the relationship that fans have been invested in for the bulk of True Blood is the one that the series will ultimately focus on.

Progressing the plot, making even the uninteresting characters grow and giving actors the chance to shine makes “Almost Home” the best of the seventh season so far!

For other works with Nelsan Ellis, please check out my reviews of:
The Help
The Soloist
Veronica Mars - Season 3

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Building More Plotlines For True Blood “May Be The Last Time” With The Late-Series Episode!

The Good: Engaging storyline, Moments of character, Decent performances
The Bad: Cluttered with new/ridiculously minor characters
The Basics: “May Be The Last Time” pushes True Blood forward as Bill nears death, Eric nears Sarah Newlin and other residents of Bon Temps struggle with deciding the town’s future.


As True Blood eeks toward its end, the structure of the show is beginning to foreshadow the type of finale the series will have. Shows that end with something of a cataclysm tend to start clipping the wings of the various characters as the series finale approaches. The type of big, bold ending that comes from a series with a large cast trimming down its plotlines does so in order to bring focus to the narrative. If “May Be The Last Time” is any indication, True Blood will go out on a much softer note. Given the attention to ridiculously minor characters (like Adilyn and Wade) and the addition of new characters this late in the story (Gus Jr. becomes a genuine presence and Dr. Ludwig pops forcefully into this new episode) create the impression that True Blood will, as a series, be a story that is a snapshot of a larger continuum. In other words, “May Be The Last Time” foreshadows a series finale that will end the show on a note that leaves viewers with the impression that life goes on for the citizens of Bon Temps and the world (whomever survives).

This late in True Blood, the main storylines involve Eric and Pam searching for Sarah Newlin while the citizens of Bon Temps recover from being besieged by Hep-V infected vampires (and the prominent vampires there die of the disease). “May Be The Last Time” picks up moments after “Karma” (reviewed here!) with the Eric and Pam plotline. Having captured Amber Mills (Sarah Newlin’s sister), the pair begins the episode strong.

Eric, Pam and “Gus Jr.” interrogate Amber for the current location of Sarah Newlin, learning that Sarah is now the cure for Hep-V before Eric kills her. Andy and Holly track Adilyn and Wade to Camp Bellefleur, where they find only the kids’ cell phones. Andy freaks out when they go missing and he calls Jessica for help. Lured by Violet back to her home under the pretense of getting the chance to have lots of sex safely, Adilyn and Wade are essentially (witlessly) captured by Violet. Gus Jr. calms Eric’s bloodlust with a business proposal that will give Eric an almost half-stake in Yamamoto Corporation when they find Sarah Newlin. As Bill and Jessica rest, Sookie calls in reinforcements.

Hoyt returns to Bon Temps with his new girlfriend Bridget, leaving Arlene surprised that the young man does not recognize Jason Stackhouse at all. While Jason has lunch with his old (now glamoured) friend, Dr. Ludwig arrives at Sookie’s to perform an examination on Bill Compton. Dr. Ludwig suspects that Sookie is not necessarily involved with the accelerated spread of Bill’s Hep-V and she freaks out when Sookie mentions her relation to Niall. Sookie calls upon Niall, who appears to reluctantly aid her. Sarah arrives at the old compound of the Children Of The Sun where she hallucinates Jason Stackhouse and intuits that her number is up. The Japanese spy upon her and Gus Jr. leads the charge to take her alive. As Sam decides whether or not to stay in Bon Temps, Holly and Andy hit a dead end in the search for their children.

“May Be The Last Time” struggles on its own with the nature of the series. Trying to find a compelling direction for Andy and Holly at this point forces “May Be The Last Time” to include a somewhat witless subplot involving Adilyn, Wade and Violet. Violet’s sex dungeon has no real point other than to add a shock factor to the episode and allow Wade a moment of true honesty with his girlfriend. The thing is, fans who dove headfirst into the series are likely to feel they were robbed of time with characters they care about for the plot involving Wade and Adilyn. Similarly, Arlene’s sexual dream about Keith seems more like filler than compelling character development.

With Hoyt and Niall’s return to the story in the same episode, fans of True Blood are not apt to mind all of the filler that much. Hoyt has a long arc with Jason Stackhouse so bringing him back is far more interesting as a potential way for Jason Stackhouse to be used than the sheriff’s “relationship” with Violet. Hoyt’s re-introduction in “May Be The Last Time” is engaging-enough, though it seems to be the start of a plotline as opposed to tying anything up. Four episodes from the end of the series, it’s intriguing that the show is picking up old plotlines, as opposed to focusing the show. Far more gratuitous is the return of Niall. Sookie’s many times great fairy Grandfather pops back, simply because Sookie calls for him. His return reveals the existence of yet another supernatural race, the Dwarves, who were apparently slaughtered by the fae.

Bill’s character continues to be fleshed out through flashbacks in “May Be The Last Time.” Bill meeting his wife Caroline is shown explicitly in “May Be The Last Time,” as is the everyday miracle of their child. The purpose of the flashbacks is somewhat wanting in this episode. Are we to believe that Sookie seeing Bill’s past is what drives her back to his arms? Why it would is something of a mystery.

“May Be The Last Time” does not have any bad performances, though there is something of a creep-out factor in Bailey Noble’s Adilyn and Noah Matthews’ Wade spending so much time on-screen playing underage characters having sex. Carrie Preston and Anna Camp deliver solid performances and even Anna Paquin manages to sell Sookie as not at all creeped out by the grossly degrading body of Bill when they make love.

Despite being crowded by characters and plots that are less compelling than the main characters, “May Be The Last Time” moves True Blood forward in a way that actually makes the viewer excited for the next episode.

For other works with Will Yun Lee, please check out my reviews of:
The Wolverine
Red Dawn
Total Recall
Elektra
Die Another Day

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Long AIDS P.S.A.: True Blood Works For “Karma!”

The Good: Decent message, Moments of plot/character
The Bad: No stellar performances, Thematically heavy-handed, Continuity issues
The Basics: In “Karma,” True Blood devotes an hour to pounding viewers with the AIDS-analogous Hep-V . . . and makes for an obvious and tormented experience for the characters in Bon Temps.


Fans of True Blood are familiar with their show utilizing metaphor in addition to being a literal narrative. The entire premise of True Blood is steeped in metaphor; vampires in True Blood are analogous to homosexuals in American society, whatwith the entire premise of the show being that vampires have recently “come out of the coffin.” The fifth season of True Blood (reviewed here!) was an entire unsubtle mapping of how a political organization can be overcome by a religious fringe group, cleverly mirroring how U.S. politics have been hijacked by the evangelical Christians. So, as the series nears its end, it is not surprising that some of the episodes would work much better with the metaphoric story the writers are telling than as a literal story. Such is what happens with “Karma.”

“Karma” is an episode that beats viewers over the head with the way that the season’s viral adversary, Hepatitis V is an analogy to AIDS. While prior episodes have featured vampires who are infected with Hep-V being treated as maniacal adversaries, “Karma” is a slower, more contemplative episode that looks at the human aspect of the Hep-V infection. “Karma” picks up seconds after “Lost Cause” (reviewed here!) and it is important to note that there is no way to discuss “Karma” without revealing spoiler-ish aspects of the prior episode. Because “Karma” is so saturated with moody scenes that chart characters reacting to Hep-V and its spread, it cannot be evaluated without revealing how the prior episode ended.

Captured by the Yakuza, Pam and Eric are silvered and stuck in a room where they await dawn and their true death. When Jessica returns home, she overhears Bill talking on the phone, where he admits that he is Hep-V positive. James takes refuge at LaFayette’s house while LaFayette keeps an eye on Lettie Mae. Both humans are surprised when James offers to give them his blood to “elevate their consciousness,” with Lettie Mae using the excuse that Tara has a message for her from beyond the grave. Jason returns home where Violet seduces him (knowing full well he just cheated with Jessica). While Bill waits in his lawyer’s office, Pam and Eric meet the head of Yakonomo North America (the makers of Tru Blood in the U.S.). As the sun rises, they strike a deal with “Gus Jr.” over how to find and kill Sarah Newlin.

Sookie and Jessica meet and when Jessica reveals that Bill is infected with Hep-V, Sookie fears she might have infected Bill. As Bill deteriorates at an accelerated rate while waiting at the lawyer’s office, Sookie waits on pins and needles for the results of her Hep-V test. As Sam’s relationship with Nicole falls apart and Andy and Holly fight over Adilyn and Wade hooking up, LaFayette comes to believe that Lettie Mae might actually be right about Tara reaching out from beyond the grave when the two share a vampire-blood inspired vision. As it looks like Hep-V might be the end of vampire life on Earth, Sarah Newlin reveals to her sister how she might be the only hope for vampires!

The bulk of “Karma” focuses on the internal conflicts of Bill and Sookie as they struggle with how they relate to the spread of Hep-V. Sookie’s angst while waiting for the Hep-V test is a not at all veiled embodiment of what people go through while waiting for an HIV test. Sookie fears that she is inadvertently responsible for infecting Bill and that fear comes from her belief that she conveyed the disease to him through (analogously) a transfusion. “Karma” captures her angst, along with the frustration Bill feels as a new victim who has an accelerated version of the disease, perfectly.

Unfortunately, continuity is not a top priority for writer-director Angela Robinson. From the fact that Pam and Eric are not nearly as scarred by silver as vampires have been the entire rest of the series to how the analogy of Hep-V plays poorly comparatively, “Karma” is something of a mess in-context. While “Karma” takes a sympathetic look at the spread of the infection and makes it into an AIDS analogy without any subtlety or veil, the idea that the Hep-V infected vampires until now have been craven lunatics makes the analogy a poor one. “Karma” reframes the Hep-V vampires as demoralized instead of violent and desperate. As a result, the nature of the infection seems radically changed and that works less-well for the series than for the individual episode.

While I am always thrilled to see Kathleen York in projects, her brief role as the lawyer Madeline Kapneck is overshadowed by the performance Deborah Ann Woll delivers as Jessica. While Anna Paquin is good as Sookie, Woll’s silent emoting of Jessica in angst realizing that her maker is infected plays much more powerfully. Robinson captures her facial expressions wonderfully to sell the internal conflict Jessica feels and that emotionally lands the episode.

The rest of “Karma” is not a wash, but is in no way extraordinary. Anna Camp’s Sarah Newlin seems emotionally flat (especially for a character whose family was just decimated) and Pam and Eric seem to be going through the motions more than being truly motivated by vengeance. The result is that “Karma” is more average than bad or good and the viewer is left feeling browbeaten as opposed to entertained.

For other works with Gregg Daniel, please check out my reviews of:
Hancock
Spider-Man 3
”Live Fast And Prosper” - Star Trek: Voyager

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Everyone Cheats, Inevitable Carnage, True Blood Makes Significant Moves Without Being A “Lost Cause!”

The Good: Decent character development, Good acting
The Bad: A-plot is very soap operatic and limited
The Basics: When the characters of True Blood are not doing somewhat ridiculous things, “Lost Cause” has a bland party offset by an awesome action sequence featuring Eric and Pam!


The seventh and final season of True Blood has been off to a rocky start, but as it reached its midpoint, the writers seemed like they might have had an inkling of how erratic the season was. The fifth episode of the season was called “Lost Cause” and, fortunately, the episodes had gotten good enough that the season did not feel like it would be a genuine lost cause. “Lost Cause” continues the action of the seventh season as a generally tight narrative; up until this point, the season’s episodes have added up to less than a week and “Lost Cause” occurs over the course of only a few hours.

As one might expect of the very serialized True Blood, “Lost Cause” follows on the heels of “Death Is Not The End” (reviewed here!) and cannot truly be evaluated without referencing significant elements from prior episodes, though (ironically) not much from the previous episode. “Lost Cause” is intriguing in that it has two very focused plots, which consolidate the sprawling cast of True Blood remarkably well. Despite the elements that might remind viewers that True Blood is essentially a high-class, supernatural soap opera, “Lost Cause” does a lot to remind viewers why they loved the show from the beginning!

After Willa reveals to Eric and Pam that Sarah Newlin has a vampire sister, Eric abandons his progeny and Ginger and heads out to kill Sarah before he meets the true death. Sookie arrives home, where LaFayette and James offer protection long enough for her to get some rest. She awakens to Jackson bringing food to help her mourn Alcide’s death. As Sookie’s friends prepare a party to celebrate Alcide’s life, Eric and Pam find Amber Mills, Sarah’s sister and the current whereabouts of Sarah Newlin. Amber is receptive to helping them kill Sarah.

Sneaking away from her boyfriend, Lettie Mae joins the celebration of Alcide’s life. After Andy forgives Jessica for the carnage she caused in his family, he gets Grandma Stackhouse’s ring from Jason and Sookie and proposes to Holly. Holly’s acceptance makes James want to leave the party, but Jessica wants to be social. James and LaFayette have a quiet conversation on the porch and make out while Pam and Eric prepare to invade the Republican event in Dallas. Pam realizes Eric has stage 2 Hep-V, but the two commit to finding Sarah. As Jessica reels from James cheating on her at the party (which pushes her into the arms of Jason),

Peppered throughout “Lost Cause,” as if to remind viewers he still matters and to make the last shot of the episode have any emotional resonance at all, are flashbacks to the personal history of Bill Compton. In those flashbacks, Compton heroically stands up against the Confederates in Louisiana as they argue to secede from the Union. Compton, who had a decent set-up in the prior season’s finale, has been a virtual non-entity in the seventh season. Seeing more of his history, where he stands up for new freemen in Confederate territory gives him more backstory character than he has in the show’s “present.”

After a Sookie-heavy episode, “Lost Cause” moves Sookie largely to the back burner, despite the funeral party happening at her house. Even though the bulk of the cast is stuck in Sookie’s house, there is remarkably little character development for Sookie. She both mourns Alcide’s death and pines for Bill over the course of the same hour-long episode and the compressed mourning period seems somewhat ridiculous. Anna Paquin is not given much to do in “Lost Cause,” but what she does, she does adequately. At the very least, Paquin’s character is written with more consistency than in the prior episode.

Chris Bauer plays Sheriff Andy Bellefleur well in “Lost Cause.” For sure, it is unclear why Andy and Holly are actually together, but in “Lost Cause,” Bauer sells the viability of their characters’ relationship. Bauer get the chance to play Bellefleur with a wonderful sense of seriousness in a scene opposite Deborah Ann Woll’s Jessica and then with pure joy as his character proposes. “Lost Cause” is one of the few episodes where Bauer is allowed to smile unabashedly and he is wonderful in his range. When Bauer smiles (in character) it is a genuine and beautiful thing and following on the heels of a serious moment with Jessica, Andy’s joy is palpable and well-delivered.

At the other end of the spectrum, Alexander Skarsgard and Kristin Bauer van Straten play their parts of Eric and Pam as classic action movie heroes. Skarsgard is serious and plays Eric as violent and powerful, Bauer van Straten uses comic relief and banter to remind viewers why they love Pam. Director Howard Deutch might not have the most compelling script to work from, but he gets decent performances and makes the episode look good.

“Lost Cause” turns the final season of True Blood around in the nick of time and is the first episode that leaves fans of the show with the desire to see the next episode.

For other works directed by Howard Deutch, please check out my reviews of:
”I Found You” - True Blood
”Don’t You Feel Me” - True Blood
”You’re No Good” - True Blood
The Whole Ten Yards

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

5.5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sookie Plays Crappy Marriage Counselor In “Death Is Not The End.”

The Good: Good continuity, Character realism, Competent acting
The Bad: Nothing extraordinary in terms of plot development, Somewhat ridiculous writing for Sookie
The Basics: “Death Is Not The End” brings closure to several characters while bringing other loose ends from True Blood to a close in sensible, though not extraordinary, ways.


True Blood used to be a smart television series that did a lot of credit to HBO by taking a pulp book series and making it into a decent and very adult television show with enough social allegory to be smarter than the soap opera it appeared to be on the surface. During its heyday, True Blood’s worst episodes were the ones where nothing exceptional happened; episodes that bridged significant episodes in order to simply rearrange the characters. In the rocky seventh season, the first true glimpse of the prior greatness came in the fourth episode: “Death Is Not The End.” While the episode has a ridiculous trend toward dialogue from Sookie that seems more at home in the daytime television self-help programming than on HBO show, there is a decent return to allegory when Jessica’s grief-based starvation is treated as an eating disorder!

“Death Is Not The End” devotes a great deal of time reacting to the events of “Fire In The Hole” (reviewed here!) and because of the episode’s preoccupation with the climax of that episode, “Death Is Not The End” cannot be reasonably discussed without referencing events from the prior episode. That said, “Death Is The End” is a plot-necessary episode that fills the day after one horrifying attack on the True Blood heroes with characters grappling with the repercussions of their actions and that plays well.

Opening with Sookie calling Jackson to let Alcide’s father know of Alcide’s death, Jason makes a similar call to Hoyt Fortenberry. Jason is shaken because Hoyt still has no memory of him and Sookie is unsettled when Jackson tells her that Alcide was happiest when she was in love with him. As Eric and Pam fly back from Europe to Shreveport, so Eric may see Willa before he dies, they recall how Eric was named Sheriff of the Shreveport vampires and given a small, depressing, video store to run. Back in Bon Temps, Sookie makes a foolish promise to Arlene’s children that she will help find Arlene and to that end, Sookie, Sam, and Jason visit Holly, who has no memory of where she was captured and held. Using her fairy mind-reading abilities, Sookie helps Holly remember that she was being held in the basement of Fangtasia. With Andy refusing to leave Holly, Sam heads off to Fangtasia and Jason pulls a gun on him to get him to turn around.

Jessica refuses to eat, but is coaxed by James and Lafayette to feed. After exploring the origins of Fangtasia, which was ironically created by Ginger after the vampires come out of the coffin in 2006, Eric and Pam arrive at Bill’s house. There, Eric summons the angry Willa. Together, they storm Fangtasia to rescue the three surviving women.

The richness of “Death Is Not The End” comes in the time the episode spends on developing the backstory for Pam and Eric. The continuation of the flashbacks from “Fire In The Hole” allows for the return of actor Zeljko Ivanek as The Magister. The scene with him turning the video store over to Pam and Eric is hilarious and off-putting. The introduction of Ginger to Pam and Eric’s life is similarly treated with a tongue-in-cheek humor that balances well against the darkness and melodrama of most of the rest of “Death Is Not The End.”

The darkness in the episode comes from the current state of Eric, who is dying of from Hep-V, the various characters’ reactions to the deaths that have permeated the prior episodes and James and Bill confronting Jessica about her not feeding. While Jessica not feeding is deeply related to her killing three fairy children in the prior season, she has also avoided feeding to try to keep safe from Hepatitis-V. The conversation that LaFayette has with Jessica is very much akin to the common therapies used to get individuals with body distortion issues to start (or stop) eating again. The allegory of the eating disorder for the vampire is well-presented and actress Deborah Ann Woll and actor Nelsan Ellis play off one another perfectly to sell the scene.

Unfortunately, “Death Is Not The End” has a somewhat ridiculous presentation of its protagonist. Sookie Stackhouse pops up with some of the least-memorable or interesting supplemental characters talking like a daytime talk show host. While she manages to get through the phone call with Jackson without spouting banal clichés, the conversation with Arlene’s children is deeply unsatisfying. Every line she spouts in that scene is a form of melodramatic psychobabble that sounds unlike anything that her character has ever said and it is pretty cringeworthy. Following that ridiculous scene up with a scene where she basically forces Holly to relive her rape (again, allegory, as the vampires tortured and fed off her) before spouting generic platitudes about what women want makes for a roller coaster between the ridiculous and offensive. No matter how wonderful it is for the show to bring its focus back to Sookie Stackhouse, the use of her in this episode is pretty lousy.

On the acting front, Carrie Preston gives a strong performance as Arlene as her character is drained near death. Sure, she mostly has to stay still and react to voices, but Preston makes the moments riveting to watch. The other decent performances come from Alexander Skarsgard and Kristin Bauer van Straten. Finally given the snark fans love about Pam, Kristin Bauer van Straten is able to loosen Pam back up and steal what could seem like dry, expositional flashbacks away from Skarsgard whose purpose in at least one of the flashbacks is simply to stand there looking good.

“Death Is Not The End” might be the only proof so far that True Blood is not dead yet and that the show has a fighting chance to recover from its rocky start to its final season. With the storyline refocusing and giving Eric and Pam a solid mission while the rest of Bon Temps falls back, there is potential going forward that had been mortgaged since late in the prior season.

For other works with Lauren Bowles, please check out my reviews of:
The Starving Games
Hall Pass
Dance Flick
Ghost World

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into True Blood - The Complete Sevent Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of the supernatural show here!
Thanks!]

6.5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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