True Blood

[Hemiola]

What a sad episode--I was practically ready to cry at the end when Godric decided to kill himself. He meant all for the best, but he just didn't count on how evil and stupid the Newlins were. Of course it made sense that Sookie would feel Godric's pain, since she is now connected to Eric and Eric feels that pain.

My G-d, what a sneaky bastard Eric is! What he did to Sookie was a real dirty (and disgusting) trick, not to mention a nasty thing to do to Bill. Interestingly, though, the whole thing proved that Eric is not just a soul-less vamp, but someone who does have genuine feelings. In fact, I was very moved at the end when he was pleading with Godric not to kill himself. Let's hope that he uses his next thousand years to become as wise as his maker.

Jessica and Hoyt are just so sweet. Perhaps Dr. Ludwig, the magical physician who saved Sookie,can come up with some sort of magical solution for them. I really hope things work out for those kids. In fact, Hoyt had the funniest line in the ep--

Hoyt (sung to Jessica): My sweeeeet vaaaampiiiiire...

How clever of Sam to shift into the shape of a fly! Perhaps he and Andy can get together to fight the horrendously evil Marianne. Indeed, the previews suggested that they might join forces with Jason (who can now put his LODI training to good use ) and maybe some of the local vampires. It should be interesting.....

I hope that the "rescue" of Tara by Lafayette and Mrs. Thornton works; poor Tara seems pretty far gone as far as becoming a "minion" of Marianne is concerned....

Anyway, a fantastic episode, and I'm appalled that there are only 3 eps left.

[Paint the Sky]

I'm appalled that there are only 3 eps left.

NOOOOO!!!! Say it isn't true!

It's not often that anything on tv makes me cry, but the end with Godric, Eric and Sookie had me in tears.

I was so hoping that Sookie being there was going to change Godric's mind and that it would give him hope that vampire and human could live in peace.

My G-d, what a sneaky bastard Eric is! What he did to Sookie was a real dirty (and disgusting) trick, not to mention a nasty thing to do to Bill.

I quite like Eric - he is what he is and makes no excuses for his nature, but then I always preferred Angelus to Angel, so that might explain it.

The whole Sam and Marianne thing intrigues me. Surely there must be more to it than just Sam getting away when he was younger, and his escape from the sacrifice?

[seurat]

It took nearly a week for me to catch up to this ep, since I've been away from the humid, hazy city all week. The ep is beautiful, haunting, if a little lacking in the usual levity. No really memorable lines for me except perhaps Godric's at the end about Sookie being with him at the end, and crying for him. I'm glad she was there, the end of his journey deserved a witness. I'm glad Lafayette has some of his fire back, I like him better this way. Eric may turn out to be more complicated soul (if you can say he has one) than we yet imagine. And Marianne is getting reckless, let's hope it costs her. Jessica and Hoyt are super sweet and I like the scene with Hoyt and his mother where he slowly points out how much hate is in her even if it makes no difference to her in the end. At least I only have to wait a day to see the next one, that's a bonus.

[Hemiola]

So, the war is on! It seems it's going to be up to our doughty band of "supes" (or people who are otherwise immune to Marianne's spell) to stop the maenad/bacchante from destroying Bon Temps. Clearly, Sookie is more than just a telepath. We know from last season that she is also telekinetic (cf. her fight with the Rattrays), but it would appear that she has other powers as well, and that she seems to be the only one who can physically do damage to Marianne (Note how Marianne keeps asking her "What are you?"). Let's hope that she can summon those powers again!

Jason seems to have finally "stepped up" . It was really quite smart of him to disguise himself as "the god who comes" and thus give Sam an opportunity to escape. BTW, one has to impressed with Sam's willingness to sacrifice himself for his fellow townspeople, even though they haven't been all that nice to him. Even Andy seems to finally be regaining his old instincts as a cop. I hope he really does finally stop drinking.

The "exorcism" scene with Tara was terrific! I wonder why Lafayette and Mrs. Thornton are immune to Marianne's spell (could it be, in Lafayette's case, because of Eric's blood, and in Mrs.Thornton's case because of her religious faith)? Perhaps Tara, now that she's free, can help with the fight.
I should mention that Lafayette had the funniest line in the episode--

"Me and Jesus agreed to see other people. But that don't mean that we don't still talk now and then."

It looks like the "possessed" Mrs. Fortenberry might just cause a rift between Hoyt and Jessica. Although Jessica was clearly provoked, I hope that Hoyt can still pull her off his mother .

So we will finally get to meet the Queen. I'm worried, though: Bill looked surprised when he saw her-- what does this mean??

Can't wait for the next episode.

[seurat]

Another top notch ep, and my only complaint is that though the plot couldn't be any better, I still think that Alan Ball writes better dialog for these characters than any of the others. But it looks like I will get one of his scripts next week so no worries. And yes there were a few good lines, the one from Lafayette being the best.I'm glad to finally see more of Sookie's power coming out, I've been waiting a long time to see that development. And I hope Marianne gets taken down a notch or two the next time she runs into her. I doubt Jessica will drain the mother, but I've been wrong before. Certainly I can forgive her for it at this point. i'm a little disappointed at just how mean and shallow the townspeople have become since it's clear that they are retaining much of their own personalities and are only completely controlled by Marianne when she directly needs them to be. So they are in effect managed but not micro-managed and much of this pettiness and vitriol comes from within. I'll never be able to look at some of them the same way again. Jason and Andy are coming off better now however, and Sam is doing great. The Queen? I have assumed all along that it would be Evan Rachel Wood. We'll see.

[seurat]

Well, what to say about this ep? First of all I should say that I thought this was the season finale as I was watching it, and only afterwards did I confirm there was one more two weeks from now. Imagine my relief, because that would have been one of the most unfair endings to a season ever. So I was right about the casting of Evan Rachel Wood. I thought she was fine, but they didn't do much with her. I suspect we'll see a lot more of her later. I'm still impatiently waiting for Sookie to unleash her power. Granted she doesn't really know what powers she has been given but really you'd think the wlecome comittee in her house would have drawn them out.

Tara is back to being Marianne's pawn again. Ho hum. But now Lafayette too? Hoyt without Jessica = not so interesting. Only one scene with Jessica = not enough for me. Eric and Bill continue to dance around each other and Sookie and that has entertainment value. The scene with Sam and the kids in Fangtasia was awesome. And Sam better not have to die for the town to be rid of Marianne.

[Hemiola]

Hi Seurat!
While this episode was not, IMHO, on as high a level as the previous two, it certainly made for some good TV.

I really hope that Hoyt and Jessica don't break up over the issue of his loony mother. As you correctly pointed out in an earlier post, while most of the outrageous behavior exhibited by the townspeople is due to Marianne's spell, a lot of it just has to do with the previously hidden nastiness and vitriol that was already within them. Marianne just set it loose.

So that's the Queen. I agree that we will probably see more of her in the future. Even more interesting is that Sookie's cousin Hadley is a member of the Court, and apparently one Her Majesty's inner circle. It should be interesting to see what happens if/when she meets Sookie again and Sookie discovers that her cousin is now a vampire!

I also agree that the best scenes in the episode were the scenes involving Arlene's children. It was sweet of Sam to make lunch for them, and to do his best to try and take care of them. The best lines in the ep. came from the kids' encounter with Eric--

Eric: They're like miniature humans. Teacup humans.

Pam (in Swedish. about the children): I hate them. They're stupid.
Eric: But delicious.

Also, that was a truly awesome special effect when Eric just launches himself into the air like a rocket.

Talk about a mixture of comedy and creepiness: Jane Bodehouse singing Marianne's chant to the tune of "Row, row, row your boat" while nonchalantly slicing off her finger. And we really got to see more of John Billingsley (Mike the Coroner, ex Dr. Phlox) than we ever needed to see.

So we have to wait TWO WEEKS for the Season Finale. Daaaammmmmnn!

[TheOriginalLostSoul]

Evan's Queen Sophie is wonderfully decadent.

Kinda like a 20's flapper from hell.

Soooo looking forward to seeing more of her next season.

[Hemiola]

This was quite a Season Finale: very well done resolutions for most of the storylines and good setting-up for next season.

Good use of the Queen's info for getting rid of Marianne. There didn't really seem to be enough time for Bill to heal Sam and then have him morph into the bull, but OK, it still worked.

If it could be said that the finale had a "theme", it was "Who am I ?"--so many people have asked Sookie "What are you?" that I think she is starting to wonder herself. She was able to muster her power once again to knock over a tree, so it must be quite significant. It's interesting that Jason, who is her brother, doesn't seem to share the power.

It was amusing how Jason and Andy simply concluded that they were heroes, since they have no memories of being taken over by Marianne. I guess this means that Andy is not a "supe" after all.

It's sad that Hoyt and Jessica seem to be a pair of "star-cross'd lovers"--I still hope that they can get back together. Jessica, though, has to learn to stop feeding off humans!

Poor Eggs. :sad He was so distressed by the blood on his hands that he finally went over the edge. It's a pity, since he might have been good for Tara. And who knows if Tara herself will recover from her knowledge about what she did.

Finally, it was a nice surprise to have Bill "pop the Question". Of course, it's not a big secret who kidnapped him, since Eric promised the Queen that he would "take care of Bill Compton. Personally.". The question remains as to what will ultimately happen to Bill. And why is the Queen selling "V" anyway? Does she need the extra income?

My favorite line of night came from one of the patrons at Merlotte's after the death of Marianne:

"Marianne Forrester. Did you notice how it rhymes with 'Martian Foreigner'?"

[TheOriginalLostSoul]

Yeah, the finale was pretty brilliant.

Actually, not sorry to see Eggs go...Boring character. Next.

Will miss Marianne though, she was fun.

As for Erik being the kidnapper; that might not be true...

Actually, I was thinking it was the Fellowship of the Sun again...They're hardly out of the picture.

As for why the Queen was selling her own blood; I'm thinking she's planning some kind of attack on another kingdom; or on the humans.

[seurat]

I was mostly happy with the finale, only a couple of reservations. The fact that Andy got taken over by Marianne when he had seemed immune earlier bothers me, and I think they were able to kill Marianne pretty easily. Yes, I know she was vulnerable at that moment because she felt that she was being sacrificed by her god, but still. I'm not too worried by Jessica's actions, how many people has Bill killed after all, and he turned out all right. Besides I'm so glad they didn't kill her off, which seems to be the fate of every favorite secondary character on all the shows I've liked. And she even looked great when killing a sleazy trucker, that counts for something. Also really liked that Bill seems to have a developed a genuine paternal affection for her.

Jason is back to being an idiot again, and I will miss Eggs. Poor Tara, it never quite works out for her. I'm solidly in the Eric kidnapped Bill camp, but it would be interesting if it was the cult since they kind of dropped that storyline into oblivion for some reason. I hope Sam isn't too disappointed in his birth parents. The Queen looks to be a big part of next season which is good news. For fave line in the ep I'll go with another line in the same conversation, the one blaming the liberal media. And I loved the kids again in this one, they stole their scene. Finally , I read some time back that a company was actually going to market a real beverage called True Blood complete with the same packaging as the drink on the show. I shudder to think what it will taste like, but I can't imagine not buying a couple to casually have in the fridge when guests come over. Tell me you won't do the same.

[Paint the Sky]

True Blood premières in the UK on Channel 4 next Wednesday at 10pm. Well worth tuning in for one of the best pieces of television since Lost hit our shores.

I'm looking forward to watching season one all over again

[Katharyn]

Any word on when the UK will get S2 though? Whether on FX or terrestrial?

Personally I wasn't a fan of the first book at all - something about the style just didn't work for me - but the show is a devilishly good piece of TV and now everyone in this house wants more (suffice it to say when my GF likes sci-fi/fantasy shows something must be working right!)

Katharyn

[Hemiola]

Hi Katharyn!
I almost envy you folks getting the chance to see this wonderful series for the first time. While I did enjoy the first book, it should be noted that the series is somewhat different in many details from the original text.

Of great interest to viewers in the UK should be the fact that two of the main actors are, in fact, Brits. Most notably, Stepen Moyer, who plays Vampire Bill, and Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie's dumbass brother. To us Americans, it is astonishing how well these players were able to put on the typical soft/slow accents of the American Deep South (on a U.S. interview show, Moyer actually demonstrated the process, moving from his native British, through a certain kind of English rural accent, and finally arriving at the cadences of Louisiana--it was astonishing to watch).

And then, of course, there is Anna Paquin, whose background is Canadian/New Zealand, with a great deal of added time spent in America. As she now says, that just means that when she speaks in her normal (i.e. "non-Sookie") accent, "It just sounds like I'm being really pretentious"

[Katharyn]

Envy will wear off as soon as you realise that this is one of the many shows we get from the US where it's not airing only a few days after the US. So here we are, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for word on S2. LOL

I was certainly aware of Stephen Moyer as a Brit, but Ryan Kwanten too? Perhaps one day I will get to curse him in person for having the luck to play alongside the delicious Lizzy Caplan.

Honestly - at the conclusion of S1 - I could easily do without Bill and Sookie and just watch everyone else go about their business. Perhaps that was what ticked me off about the book LOL but Michelle Forbes (yum), Chris Bauer (loved him back in S2 of the Wire) and the hilarious LaFayette along with Jason... wonderful cast. Then just let me put a shout out to another Bauer, Kristin... Pam doesn't show up for long, but hotness...

Hmm. Re-reading what I typed, I suspect that a theme is emerging. But I love the stories and acting too!

Katharyn

[TheOriginalLostSoul]

True Blood swept the Spike "Scream" Awards this Tuesday...Winning best TV actress, TV actor, Best Villian(yep, Erik), and best TV series.

It'll repeat this Thursday late night at 1am CST on Spike!




SPOILER NOTE:

[spoiler]rumour has it that Jason will hook up with some Zombie sorority girls this year...And, that a vamp will have a thing for the recently heartbroken Tara...And, who kidnapped Bill? According to E! online, it looks like another Vampire is in the mix...Could a vampire civil war be looming in the background? Tune in next year for more![/spoiler]

[Hemiola]

HBO will be re-running the entire Second Season starting tonight (3/21), in anticipation of the new season, scheduled to start on June 3rd.

[seurat]

Can't wait for the next season to start. They've been running it on regular cable here lately which has attracted even more fans.

[WebWarlock]

This might be of interest to all.

Anna Paquin is bisexual, http://www.popcrunch.com/anna-paquin-bisexual/

Tim

[Hemiola]

NEW SEASON STARTS TONIGHT!!!!!
***Does Vigorous Happy Dance***

[edited to add...SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO SEE THE FIRST EPISODE]
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"And we're off" as they say at the races. As with Season II, everything is picked up exactly where the previous season left off, which answers at lot of questions--
First, who took Bill. Obviously, Eric wanted to abduct Bill, but was "beaten to the punch" by a gang of werewolves! Now, the question is who hired them?
It is now obvious that there are going to be a least 7 or 8 different stories going on all at the same time this season, and it will take a real effort to keep track of them all.
Most of the writing was pretty riveting, but if I had to single out a favorite line, it would be--

Andy (to Jason): Remember! Conscience off; dick on!!

Missy and Jen were certainly scrumptious, and the use of real wolves at the end was very impressive.

On the whole, I would say they're off to a great start.

[seurat]

Ah, show, welcome back. How I've missed you.
Anyway, yes, I agree with you about this Hem, it does seems like it will take some concentration to follow , although they may merge some of these storylines as we go on. Also loved Missy and Jen, still find Tara's Mom an enormous pain, and still can't figure out Sam. Now he's gay? That seemed to come out of left field, or maybe I'm just clueless. Anyway, the dream was pretty funny, I suspect the actors had fun with that one. The pickup scene in he bar was great, as was the Queen's appearance. Favorite lines would be a tie between Eric's offhand "Don't go anywhere" to the chained girl and Jessica's 'I am a freak of fucking nature" She is still, hands down, my favorite character on the show, all of her scenes are awesome. There were a few mini-episodes out prior to this as a teaser for the new season and the one she did was priceless. I look forward to the next episode, and I kind of understand why so many people wait to watch these shows on dvd so you don't have to wait so long to see what happens next.

[Tank]

Can anyone recommend some decent True Blood femslash fic websites?
So good to be watching it again!
I've been away from the kittenboard for way too long. Must get some writing together again soon.

[WebWarlock]

We watched Seasons 1 and 2 on On Demand over a couple of weeks, this waiting on one episode per week is going to kill me!

But this looks like it is going to be a fun season.

Tim

[Hemiola]

Episode Two: another example of the outstanding writing on this series.

So Bill was kidnapped by the delightfully decadant King of Mississippi. I wonder how Bill is supposed to help him marry (!!) the Queen of Louisiana? Got a real kick out of some the "delicacies" served at the meal ( e.g."cruelty free blood gelato" ). And a double yikes for Lorena showing up at the end--I wonder if Bill succeeds in killing her this time.

Very sad scene with Lafayette and Tara at the asylum--an outstanding guest appearance by Alfre Woodard. And who is the new vampire in Tara's life (played by James Frain, late of "The Tudors")? I don't think this bodes well for the character....

Seems like everyone is after Sookie--why?

There were lots of good lines in the episode, so it's hard to pick just one. Some good examples--

Bill: Cooter? Seriously??

and

Tommy (to Sam, holding a shotgun to his head): Don't move! Get out of the car.
Sam: Which is it? Don't move or get out of the car?

And I still hope that Jessice and Hoyt get back together.**sigh**

[seurat]

Awesome episode. I thought that was Lorena at the end getting flamed, but it happened so quickly I wasn't sure until now. Both that and his execution of the werewolves are useful reminders that Bill is incredibly dangerous. Also loved the King, was amused by Terry and Jason, and thought Ancy was tolerable this time. Favorite lines? Perhaps a tie between "Santa?" and 'I'm no dumb blond." And it almost goes without saying that I loved Jessica's scenes. The whole thing with the chainsaw was hilarious. I'm guessing Erik's companion is responsible for the decaying body up and leaving. So much to look forward to next week.

[WebWarlock]

Liked Anna Paquin doing a dead on Bill imitation of his "Sookie."

Did anyone else catch the really weird Snoop Dogg video at the end?

Tim

[Hemiola]

Yes, I saw the video...very strange indeed. I wonder why they did it?

Absolutely agree about Paquin's imitation of Bill.

Gosh, there were so many good lines in this episode. Like--

Talbot: I have to drain the second course.

and

Tara: Honestly, I'm trying not to kill myself.
Vampire: How's that working out for you?
Tara: I'm still alive.
Vampire: That makes one of us.

I've got to say it was really creepy seeing Eric and Godric in Nazi uniforms, although it was good to see Godric again. The lady werewolf said that her commander was "einer von euch" ("one of you", i.e., a vampire). Could it be our friend the King, who is apparently used to working with werewolves?

And, of course, who stole Jessica's smelly corpse????

[Owl]

I'm really quite interested in what the new vampire guy found in what I'm fairly certain was Bill's house - the stack of papers about "Sookeh" hidden in the false bottomed draw. That's kinda odd right?

[Hemiola]

Another sad episode with terrific writing.

Poor Bill. It's easy to understand why he's so tormented--the memories of his encounter with his wife combined with his present-day concerns for Sookie would certainly make him crazy with grief and anxiety. BTW, it was indeed very common to "display" the dead at home right into the 20th century, even if they died under gruesome circumstances (Check out an excellent photographic essay book, "Wisconsin Death Trip".). And Lorena--my goodness! I was truly surprised to see that she survived the "flaming", but she must be pretty darn durable if she can continue having sex after being given the full-on "Exorcist" treatment!!

Poor Sam. It turns out that his biological family is a real team of trailer-trash low-lifes. I would say that it would have been better for him if he had never found them (especially the nasty, sociopathic kid).

Poor Jason (I know, this is starting to sound like a broken record ). It seems that anything he tries, even with the best of intentions, he messes up. Anyway, I really can't see him becoming a cop....

Speaking of cops, does anyone think that Bud is really quitting permanently? I'd hate to lose the character (and the actor who plays him).

If Terry isn't the father of Arlene's baby, who is???

So the new vamp is called Franklin. I think that he's baaaaaad news. I hated the way he strong-armed Jessica (It was nonetheless delightful to hear her called a "baby vampire" [Pam also says "Babies. They're all the same" ] ) into giving him information about Bill, Sookie and Tara. And glamoring Tara to force himself into the house was truly eeeeeeevil.

There were so many good lines, I won't try to single out just one. I will say that I immensely enjoyed the fact that the were bar is called "Lou Pine's". This goes along with so many other wonderful little background "touches" that you find in this series, such as the bathrooms at Merlotte's being labeled "Bucks" and "Does" (maybe in honor of poor, murdered Daphne **sniff**), and the pictures on the wall at Eric's "Fangtasia", one of which shows a vampire attempting to bite the neck of the Statue of Liberty!

[seurat]

Sad indeed. A well written episode certainly, but my least favorite of the season so far. Obviously Franklin will spell nothing but trouble. Lafayette gets new wheels and an offer from Erik, Sookie walks into the wolves den and Jason, no, is not destined to be a cop. Hopefully Bud will stay in town at least, he provides valuable comic relief. Sam's new family are bad news, though give his mother credit for being aware of it. And Jessica, my beloved baby vampire, now knows who took that body from her crypt. Favorite line? Again a tie between Lafayette's accurate assessment of Jason's mental abilities -"That must feel new." and Terry's perfectly delivered "I'd have fifteen cents." The final scene with Bill and Lorena was startling, and I honestly have no idea where the story is going next. But I trust Alan Ball to keep the quality as high as it has been.