This week's True Blood recap is gonna be a bit different
Instead of me just rambling on I'd like to hear from the others about their thoughts for season #5 and expectations for season #6. Clearly True Blood is showing signs of an aging TV show. Fans are still devoted to it but the storylines are starting to sag just little bit and even crazy stunts are injected in hopes of boosting the show.
Don't get me wrong, I'm dedicated to watching True Blood until the very end but I'm hoping that the writers read some of the TB fansites and listen to the fans when the all seem to make the same complaints over and over and over again.
I have to confess I've only read 4 of the books. They don't really interest me, I found the show first and then read the books. But I think why the books work is they are about one central character and everything revolves around her - Sookie Stackhouse. There are very few additional storylines although many of the characters are the same. I read where Alan Ball opted to rename the series 'True Blood' because he wanted to make the series more of an ensemble of actors and not just everything surrounding one core actor. You see that with Alan Ball productions - 'Six Feet Under' although centered around the Fisher family was definitely an ensemble piece. Even the movie 'America Beauty', the one in which Ball won his Oscar for best script - there was a core family but many storylines surrounding that family.
One thing that I do see the series following the books - Eric was always the one for Sookie; whereas; Bill kinda faded out to just a friend. And clearly after the rise of Billith in this last episode it's highly unlikely we'll see Bill & Sookie ever united again. Let's just hope that the series can build a good romance triangle for Sookie & Eric. Those 2 are better when there is something in their way of happiness and btw the last thing the female fans of True Blood want to see is a lameass Eric. Our crushes started on the 1000 year old viking because he was a bit of a rebel badass. Take that away and you have another boring vampire that will alienate the fans of the show.
Another thing that needs serious improving is the werewolf storyline. Sure, the powers-to-be at TB lucked out when the found someone like Joe Manganeillo to play the part of Alcide. Alcide had good storylines in season #3 and #4 but this year the writers didn't know what to do with Alcide and he ended up becoming the show's 'nice guy' and that can be the kiss of death for any actor. Girls don't want to date the nice guy even if he has the body of Adonis. Alcide this season went from pining after Sookie, growling at his pack, playing karate kid to another werewolf whose name escapes me and then finally doing the one thing that his character would never do and that's take V. Sure they had to do something about the lameass Shreveport Were Pack which were a much lamer attempt to recreate the wolves that followed Russell Edgington in season #3 but I don't think anyone was buying it. And if JD was drinking V from a baby vamp, I think Alcide could have still taken him out. To me the end didn't work -it was like Nancy Reagan smoking dope just to prove to the kids to 'Just Say No'.
Writers also need to do something better with their secondary support characters. Let's face it after 2 years of trying to give major storylines to Terry & Arlene, the writers need to recognize that the TB fans are never going to buy into this couple. Sure they are cute when they support a major storyline like season #2 Maenad storyline, but on their own they bore us and Arlene just whines way too much. And the season finale showcased what Arlene is good for - that snarky waitress that is added into a scene to add some sassy oomph. It's sad that after 2 seasons of having her own storyline the best I've seen Arlene was when she was watching Andy's Fae girlfriend give birth. And I suspect no one noticed that Terry wasn't anywhere in the season finale and I doubt they missed him. Instead, if a supporting actor has given all they can wring from him the best you can do is send them packing.
Hoyt was one of those secondary actors who started the series as the slightly odd mamma's boy that worked on the road crew with Jason. But in season #2 they found him to be the perfect match for Jessica, the former child of religions crazies now turned vampire who was looking for love herself. That was an amazing storyline they took all of season #2 to build up and like a typical TV show found an excuse to break them up just so they could have another great season (#3) rebuilding them back up together. But honestly, once they were established as a couple they became boring so the writers (abandoning another failed storyline of Jason & the werepanthers) found a way to inject life by getting Jason, Hoyt's best friend, involved with Jessica. That worked for another season with Hoyt but by season #5 they just ran out of storyline for Hoyt. So the writers did the smartest thing with Hoyt and wrote him off in one of the best farewells I've ever seen for a character on any show. It was smart because it really injected life into the Jason/Jessica storyline and it left the door open to bring this fan favorite back to the show. I'm thinking Hoyt gets turned into a vampire - now wouldn't that be perfect for a return to True Blood.
I think one of my biggest disappointments with the season finale was the killing of Russell Edgington. I'll have to admit that part of me wanted to keep Russell on for one more year just because he was sooooo good with Rev Steve Newlin. But in the end he had to die but honestly, the way it was written was kinda a letdown to all the fans of Russell Edgington and the actor who played him - Denis O'Hare. O'Hare has give TB two seasons of some of the best campy material out there and yes, it was only fitting that it was Eric that gave Russell his true death. But the way it was setup with the season finale it was almost like 'Well we want to focus on Bill's transformation so let's just get Russell staked before the opening credits so we can move on to other things for the rest of the show'. Wouldn't it have been better if Russell was staked last week at the end of the episode or better yet Eric showed up right before the closing credits of last week so at least we'd have a week of 'Will he or won't he die'.
Best revived character of season #5 has to be Tara. Honestly if anyone had the life that Tara lived in RL they would have suicided years ago. It seemed like for 4 seasons the writers tried to find something even more hideous and heartbreaking to do with Tara. Even when they finally gave her some happiness (when she left Bon Temp at the end of season #3 and spent a year in New Orleans as a cage fighter and in her first healthy relationship in ages), the writers managed to drag Tara's ass bad to Bon Temp and find new ways to make her miserable yet again. I think alot of fans were kinda hoping that when Tara took the bullet meant for Sookie at the end of season #4 that it was the death of Tara forever. Instead the writers decided to make Tara into a vampire. And although the first few days were a bit 'Same shit for Tara different species', instead they found a way to make Pam opt to mentor the progeny she created instead of abandoning her. Beautiful use of flashbacks to show how Pam wasn't much different from Tara and turning vampire was her only salvation; an act it turns out she forced Eric to do. When Pam decided to keep Tara, this pair gave us weeks of sassy backtalk and great one-liners and had us all wondering 'Could Pam & Tara take their relationship to the next level'. The writers gave us a great reward in the season finale by having Tara rescue Pam and even risk burning her hand on silver to rush to Pam and give her a big romantic kiss. I swear they could spin-off a new show just for Pam & Tara and TB fans would love it. Great writing!
BTW I have to admit that Luna turned out to be a better character than I thought. We met Luna last season when Sam decided to buddy up with local shifters in the area. Sam hasn't been too lucky with relationships himself and it was nice to see Sam find a gal of his own and someone who understands the ways of a shifter (Luna is a shifter too but she can also skinshift (turn into humans). After the opening show of season #5 with Sam getting tortured by the Shreveport weres, we kinda lost use for Luna. She became a bit whiny and flaky and I think some of us were kinda hoping that perhaps Luna would go packing. But sometime during the Haters storyline the writers found Luna's niche with her skinwalking abilities. I thought it was a hoot to see actor Sam Trammell (Sam) play skinwalking Sam as Luna but the writers managed to top it with Luna then skinwalking as Steve Newlin. Again, the credit has to go to the actor playing Steve Newlin (Michael McMillan came across perfectly as the boy who didn't want to get caught and you could see his feminine wiggle when he walked). But even the actress who played Luna finally found her purpose too and they had some great writing for this pair by the end of season #5. Of course the sad thing is this - for a skinwalker to shift into another human is extremely painful on the body. We saw Luna suffer greatly after shifting as Sam and we saw Tommy almost die last year when she shifted as Sam. So it remains to be seen if Luna will survive season #6. Some of me wants her to survive because the skinwalking is a great plot device and plus I want Sam to have some happiness (this would be his 2nd girlfriend to die on him). Plus I think she has some good interaction her mother-in-law Martha Bozeman. I for one would like to see more Martha in season #6.
I have to say this - if I wanted to watch a TV show about a family raising multibirth kids I'd be watching TLC not HBO. Yes, it was fun,campy times watching Andy's fae girlfriend give birth to the 4 fae babies but I know I'm not interested in seeing Andy try to raise 4 kids. It was a bad plotline excuse used by aging TV shows - the baby trick. And it is something that could alienate viewers if they spend too much time watching Andy juggle for Fae babies and less time on watching Vampires. Personally I do hope that 2 of the babies die just so that we can keep the show normal and not a bad TLC show.
Finally, I almost forgot to write about Billith! Like I said before, Bill was never Sookie's destiny in the books so the writers are keeping true with that. The problem with it is that the actors that play Sookie and Bill do have alot of great chemistry together both on screen and off. So many fans assumed that the TV series was going to go with Bill and Sookie as the big couple. There were alot of highs and lows with the Authority storyline and in the end they showed Bill to be the manipulative bastard that he is and what I suspect always was. It should be intesting to see what happenes in season #6 not just with Bill but with this mysterious Warlow.
Ok enough from me - your thoughts?
= new reply since forum marked as read
there - got it in first
You have to obey by the rules of the DU True Blood Society!
enjoy them so much! 
(I looked at IMDB at the actors chosen for the parts. Can't say any of them really mesh with what I had pictured. Same thing happened with the Stephanie Plum movie. Sooo far off what I had imagined all these years.)
Awesome. 