Season 4 – True Blood – She’s Not There
We’ve been waiting for the fourth season of True Blood for a year now. Was it worth the wait? We’ve had several clues throughout the time between seasons that filled us in on some of the er… innovations that Alan Ball had in mind for the series. And now the show’s back. Oh boy.
My faith in Alan Ball has been shaken. Deeply. The foundation of my fandom has been severely damaged by:
- This ridiculous fairy bullshit. Turning Sookie’s own history and background into some cheesy sci-fi channel story is such a low blow. What Ball, you read the book and said to yourself “Dude, I can do better”? You’re not Joss Whedon man, you cannot pull off this campy shit.
- Sookie’s been gone for a year? Uh…. wtf? So this means we’ve been gone for a year as well, huh? And what, you thought you’d just fill us in on what’s been up since Sookie popped into some gayer version of Road Warrior? Jason is responsible, Andy is a V-addict all hardcore, Sam shot his brother Tommy after all, Bill is KING which is absolutely crap, and Eric’s dialogue is ludicrous. We get none of the climactic resolution we were hoping for; we never see Bill fight the Queen.
- I predict that this season will be filled with flashbacks, because we never saw what happened to a lot of our favorite characters. I -hate- flashbacks. Especially since in this case, they’re totally unnecessary. Mr. Ball should have just made a better show. That actually had a cognitive stream of events.
- Lafayette’s ridiculous hair. That’s right. I said it. Your hair looks stupid as hell. And so did your clothes, all through the first episode. If the new boyfriend is causing all this, I suggest you dump him, asap.
The few things that make the show tolerable, and might show future promise:
- Eric is all… “You’re mine!” to Sookie at the end. That’s… just more crap, really. Stuff that someone on Ball’s creative team made up (these people should -clearly- not be trusted with anything more than stick clue and safety scissors when it comes to creativity). Still, we all would love to see the Sookie+Eric moments that we’ve been craving. And it looks like Eric plans to full on go for the Sookie booty any day now.
- Petunia Dursley, I mean, Fiona Shaw, or uh… Marnie! from the ‘coven’ of witches that Jesus has been dragging Lafayette to. That thing with the bird, Minerva? Omgrofl, hilarity! I know Marnie’s supposed to be the new villain and all, but she’s just -funny-. Plus, she fits into the white trash crazy-person role so easily. I’m impressed. This character has real potential for awesomeness.
- It looks like Jason is about to become a werepanther. Finally, something from the book is coming to fruition. Although it definitely isn’t going to be the same as in the book, at least there’s -that-.
- Tara’s lesbian sex scenes. Hopefully they will be more abundant in the future.
What’s Baby Vamp Jessica saying? Only that her cooking is absolutely horrible, and she’s struggling to be a homemaker… just like any girl who recently made the leap to ‘live-in belly warmer’. I think a lot of the chicks in their early 20s will feel some sympathy here. This generation of females is basically clueless when it comes to keeping house, and while the idea of it seems fascinating and fun, –once you actually start doing it, there’s a big difference in thinking and doing. Martha Stewart never prepared us for not being able to afford her dumb home furnishings, or having the time to make curtains out of old fishing nets.
A House Is Not A Home
Inside the Episode
The preview for the next episode is out; it looks exciting and action-packed, though it doesn’t really look like it follows the book much more than the episode before it. Well, whatever, we take what we can get.
I have to figure you’re in one of two camps on this episode at the moment. Tell us below:
- You Liked the Episode? – What did you love about it?
- You Disliked the Episode? – What did you dislike about it?
I have mixed feelings on this episode.
I hated…
– the whole “gone for a year” thing, that’s just a giant headache waiting to happen. Actually, it already is a headache. Ugh.
– Bill as king, but I hate Bill period.
– seeing Hotshot again, I seriously despise that place and those people.
– Eric’s possessiveness, that was irritating. I figured he was the one that bought the house, but I thought he did it to be nice.
I liked…
– Pam. I heart her.
– Tara being happy. I don’t like her character much, but I do like that she finally has some happiness.
– Jason acting like an adult.
Those are what I can think of. Overall, I was a bit disappointed. All I hope is that it isn’t a repeat of last season. I want a fluid and solid plot this season, not some big ol’ random mess.
I loved the entire episode but I haven’t read all of the books, including the one that this season is loosely based off of.
I am with Ashley; I hate flashbacks, too. I suspect we’ll be hit over the head with too many.
I don’t like Bill either. I call him “limp-fang Bill.” How did he become King of Louisiana. Let’s hope Eric rips his throat out, Lol.
It was nice to see Jason more responsible; I liked that.
Too me, there were many funny-corny moments. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor but when Sam and friends turned into horses, I giggled.
Gee I hate Lafayette’s mohawk. Gah. Yuk. Gross. Eww.
Lafayette and Eric are my favorite characters. Sookie is my least favorite. I wish her character could be fleshed out a little bit.
I loved ending personally. But, then, I like alpha male vampires. v–v
I think I ruined it for myself, having read the books and this specific book being one of my favorites in the series. I had high hopes it’d open strong, like Dead to the World did. I was ready for it every 5 or 10 minutes, but it just didn’t happen. Instead there must’ve been a dozen different sub-plots going on at once and setting things up for events to come.
I’m mid-way through watching it a second time, without the same hopes or expectations and I’m enjoying it more. If you didn’t like it the first round, I encourage you to give it another try. A second watch might be all you need.