TRUE BLOOD, 4.8 - "Spellbound"

My star-ratings for True Blood tend to reflect how much of each episode focused on storylines I care about or enjoy having wash over me. Unfortunately, after last week's high-point, I thought "Spellbound" allowed too many of this season's tedious subplots to spoil the brewing war between vampires and witches...

After teasing us with the almost-certain death of Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) last week, who was bewitched into walking out into daylight, that didn't come to pass—thanks to Jason (Ryan Kwanten) rugby tackling her indoors just as Marnie's spell ended. Jason's act of heroism only strengthened Jessica's infatuation with him, eventually leading to her breaking up with poor Hoyt (Jim Parrack). Actually, there were two breakup scenes, with one involving Jessica aberrantly killing Hoyt by smashing his face in—revealed to be a dream sequence. (True Blood does this a lot, but I stupidly fell for it yet again.)

Elsewhere, Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) continued to bring erotic fan-fiction to life, having sex in fantasy dreamscapes as their love deepened; Sam (Sam Trammell) tried to repair his relationship with Luna (Janina Gavankar) after their misunderstanding, only to meet her werewolf ex Marcus (Dan Buran), Alcide's (Joseph Manganiello) new packmaster; Tommy (Marshall Allman) used his "skin-walking" ability to pose as Maxine Fortenberry in an effort to get his hands on the money her land's worth; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) had a dream that explained the mystery of the ghost haunting Arlene's baby (the apparition lost her own child many years ago), before the dead girl possessed him; and Bill (Stephen Moyer) reached out to Antonia/Marnie, promising a truce between vampires and witches, only for their midnight rendezvous at a cemetery to end in a fracas with Sookie injured and Eric under Marnie's control.

I'm still struggling to find Sam, Lafayette and Alcide's storylines in any way interesting this year. I have a vague hope they exist because they'll factor into the finale, but they're most likely just ways to give those characters something to do. Alcide's been especially wasted this season, but to be honest I don't even understand the character's existence on the show, so he feels like a stupid way to add some beefcake to the show. Lafayette has also been poorly treated. He rushed off with boyfriend Jesus to find a way to protect themselves against vampires now that Marnie has provoked them, but has since returned to Bon Temps and just resumed work at Merlotte's? What's going on? And now Lafayette's been roped into the daft ghost/baby storyline, making it feel like everything this season has just been a long-winded way to explain that Lafayette is a spiritual medium. It feels incredibly disordered and, frankly, the idea of a ghost with maternal feelings for a baby because she lost her own before she died (or was likely murdered) isn't very interesting.

Sam's storyline also feels like a desperate way to connect his storyline to Alcide's, possibly because they're individually poor subplots so may feel stronger if there's an overlap. I don't know, it's just another case of True Blood filling much of its screentime with wasteful scenes and weak ideas.

As has been the case for many weeks now, season 4's greatest strength has been giving vampires an interesting menace to contend with in Antonia's spirit. The show is often about the loss and gain of power, and this has been a really entertaining way to see a few all-powerful vampires characters suddenly lower on the pecking order. It's also given Bill some of the best material he's ever had, ironically be ditching the Sookie/Bill relationship that was the show's primary focus until this season. He's really stepped forward as a leader and, thanks to showing the depth of his attachment to Jessica and maturity over Sookie's relationship with Eric, has really matured in my eyes.

Overall, maybe True Blood's impervious to criticism. There are bad storylines, flawed storylines, and good storylines. Each episode offers its audience a different combination of those, and if the brilliant storylines are emphasized more one week you'll have a fun time. And if they're not, you'll be left gnashing your teeth at the idiocy of the writers and how stupidly they're handling the ever-expanding cast. "Spellbound" was great fun when the witches were the subject of conversation, because there's a feeling of tension to this burgeoning war. It was also entertaining whenever the always sympathetic and beguiling Jessica's around, despite the fact her boyfriend Hoyt's become a whiny pain this year, but otherwise this episode was forgettable piece-moving.

Asides

• Has it been explained why Arlene thinks it's okay to give her one-year-old son that spooky, filthy doll to play with in his cot? Yeuch. Think of the germs. Give it a wash, at least. Terrible parenting.


• Shall we call Marnie "Marntonia" when she's possessed? It may be easier when explaining things, going forward.


• I admit it took me a few seconds to twig that Maxine was actually a shape-shifted Tommy, and it's certainly amusing that Tommy makes no attempt to act like the people he's impersonating.


• Does the young black ghost mother have a name?


• Anyone else think the show's gearing up for Hoyt to die, so Jessica can get with Jason in season 5? If so, he'll probably go down in a blaze of glory rescuing Jessica and proving his love, making her feel very guilty for having an affair.


• No movement on Jason being a were-panther or "Ghost Daddy" to the Hot Shot degenerates. Has that storyline died? If so, good riddance, but it's perhaps even more unforgivable if there was never any reason for it to exist! Did the writers just need to keep Jason out of the way, chained to a bed, for four episodes?


• In a similar vein, there's been nothing about the Fae since the premiere! Are they being kept on the sidelines until season 5? It felt like they'd have a big role to play this year, but they've been forgotten about. In some ways that's very wise because the show is already very crowded, but a premiere should set the stage for what the season's going to cover, so dropping the Fae like a sack of potatoes isn't very clever.


• Random query: can't shape-shifters just turn into the biggest and baddest wolf imaginable? I'm unsure why werewolf Marcus gets in Sam's face, but was so keen to ensure his kind keep away from vampires. If you ask me, werewolves should fear shape-shifters equally as much. They can turn into anything!

written by Alan Ball / directed by Daniel Minahan / 14 August 2011 / HBO

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TRUE BLOOD bites back for season 5

HBO have renewed their vampire drama True Blood for a fifth season, which will surprise nobody considering its continuing ratings success. It's been getting just above 5m viewers all season, which is up on every previous year.

Michael Lombardo, HBO's President of Programming:

"I am thrilled that True Blood continues to enjoy a phenomenal reception from both subscribers and critics. Alan Ball and his gifted team have devised the greatest thrill ride on TV."

Alan Ball, True Blood's showrunner:

"I remain amazed and delighted by the enthusiasm of our viewers. I can't imagine having more fun than this."

I'm glad the show's coming back. Season 4's been getting increasingly better after an infuriating start, and it's hard to see the show ever becoming outright boring. The show has the potential to really frustrate and anger me at times, but it's also an oddly irresistible package of shocks, gore, sex, violence and pulpy cliffhangers.

TRUE BLOOD season 5 will premiere on HBO next summer.

Incidentally, season 3 is most likely to begin on Channel 4 in the autumn, and season 4 will likely launch on FX UK in the new year. (This is one of those shows where the UK are ridiculously behind the US. Weirdly, you've been able to buy season 3 on DVD here for months, which must surely erode the audience before its terrestrial debut on Channel 4!)

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.7 – "Cold Grey Light Of Dawn"

The best episode yet or a season that's started to perk up after an underwhelming start, perhaps because the stories being given the most attention focused on the entertaining vampire/witch rivalry and kept the weaker subplots to a minimum. True Blood just works better when it's dealing with its vampires, because their mythology is deeper and more interesting than the laughable issues of were-panthers and evil babies that clutter up proceedings.

"TMZ's offering 10k for real-life vamp attack!"

After some hesitant steps in the previous half-season, Marnie (Fiona Shaw) is now Vampire Enemy #1 because she's allowed herself to be possessed by the spirit of a centuries-old victimized witch called Antonia. Knowing that Antonia's powers infamously extend to necromancy, Bill (Stephen Moyer) was forced to order all local vampires to go to ground bound by silver, knowing that Marnie might compel them out into the sunlight during daylight hours. Marnie also recruited Tara (Rutina Wesley) into her coven, as both women have a similar personal history with vampires and a deep yearning for vengeance, which was plausible reasoning and an nice way to give Tara something to do.

"Everyone who's ever been with me has ended up dead. It ain't a long list, but it's a bad one to be on."

Elsewhere, Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) has consummated his relationship with Sookie (Anna Paquin), with Bill forced to accept they're an item; Sam (Sam Trammell) realized that his brother Tommy (Marshall Allman) has gained the ability to "skin walk" and used the power to pose as himself and sleep with his girlfriend; Hoyt (Jim Parrack) made best-friend Jason (Ryan Kwanten) feel guilty about his feelings towards Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll); Pam (Kristen Bauer) took desperate measures to restore her beauty, by going through a painful cosmetic process to remove her rotting flesh; Alcide (Joe Manganiello) joined a new wolf pack to appease girlfriend Debbie (Britt Morgan), which did little to stimulate their sex life because his mind's still on Sookie; and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) learned he's a medium capable of channeling spirits like Marnie.

"I felt like a giant-ass puppet for your ghost uncle."

As you can tell from the breakdown of events, there weren't many storylines that aren't connected to the bigger ongoing concerns. Even Jason's affection for Jessica fed into the climactic moment with him racing to protect her from Marnie's spell, as she broke free of her silver chains and ventured out into the daylight. This was perhaps the first cliffhanger that's worked this season, because Jessica's a character nobody wants to see burnt to a crisp, despite how unlikely that is given her popularity. I'm still apathetic toward Arlene's (Carrie Preston) baby story, but appreciate how it's now moved on to involve the ghost of a black girl—who I'm guessing lost a child when she was alive and has attached herself to Arlene's son? It still feels terribly extraneous to things, though. At least Lafayette's story, which is also uninteresting right now, feels like it's building towards something connected to the vampire/witch storyline. I'm guessing he'll be the only person who can defeat Marnie in a battle-of-the-mediums. I'm just not sure why Lafayette would want to actually stop Marnie, given his own history with vampires isn't very harmonious. If anything, he should be right behind Tara.

I've also been reminded of how good Sam Trammell is in recent weeks. It's a pity his character keeps getting repetitive storylines involving his troubled love-life and family, because Trammell has an engaging demeanour. His reaction when the penny dropped about what Tommy's been up to with his girlfriend was priceless, too. Marshall Allman's even improved this season, now that we can see Tommy's a decent kid deep down who just can't seem to catch a break, or stop himself from making bad decisions. It makes it easier to sympathize with him, unlike last season when he was just a troublesome brat from a bad upbringing.

"And when we survive the day, I am going to eat that fucking witch, starting with her face."

Overall, "Cold Grey Light Of Dawn" marked a highpoint of this season and felt more like the show I used to enjoy back in season 2. Against the odds, the inclusion of witches this year has worked very well, and I'm glad the weaker subplots that dominated the first half of this season appear to be diminishing. Maybe the writers themselves realized they weren't very good, or simply ran out of narrative with them. Whatever the reason, I'm glad the show's regaining some focus. There are even more character-based moments to savour, which is what really sold True Blood back in the early days. In particular, Marnie convincing Tara to join her was a believable turn, and I enjoyed seeing more of the touching father/daughter relationship between Bill and Jessica. He should have added more chains to her, though, right?

What do you think? Is True Blood starting to turn things around? Do you think the rest of the season will sustain this quality, or are things destined to slump again? In the past, the show has tended to have interesting middles and disappointing finales, remember...

Aside

• Why were those chains required for Jessica and Bill? They're inside a jail cell with silver bars, so escape wasn't possible. There didn't seem to be any real need to torture themselves by laying chains over their limbs.

written by Alexander Woo / directed by Michael Ruscio / 7 August 2011 / HBO

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.6 – "I Wish I Was The Moon"

If there's a theme running through season 4, it's the fragility and flexibility of personal identity. Tara (Rutina Wesley) had run away to become a New Orleans cage-fighter; Marnie (Fiona Shaw) has invited the spirit of an executed witch to possess her; similar is now happening to Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) with his boyfriend's creepy uncle, and Arlene's (Carrie Preston) baby with a mysterious ghost; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) spent this hour terrified he'll become a were-panther during the Full Moon; Tommy (Marshall Allman) accidentally triggered his newfound "skin-walking" ability, to shape-shift into his brother Sam (Sam Trammell) for a day; and Eric's (Alexander Skarsgård) been transformed from imperious vampire to an amnesiac sweetheart.

"Let me tell you a little something about King Bill: he is a self-loathing, power-hungry, pompous little dork, and you hate his guts."

Maybe I've just started to accept that True Blood's more of a hodgepodge soap than streamlined drama, but "I Wish I Was The Moon" was another hour that passed by pleasantly for me. There's no great secret behind why this is so: most of the stories are entertaining right now, the weaker ones slip by quickly, and there's been a noticeable move to emphasize characters over gore, violence and sex. A scene where Jason had a panic attack in the wilderness, finding unexpected support from Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), probably ranks as the show's best moment of simple humanity in a long time. It was just two people talking in the moonlight, finding a mutual connection when discussing their past, and being afraid of taking things further because of their friendship. Woll's been a highlight of the series for years, and I must admit I never expected her to really bounce off Kwanten so joyfully. Maybe the character of Jessica works best when she's trying to find love, as opposed to struggling through a relationship that's lost its spark. Whatever the reason, I hope the show explores this potential romance some more. Sorry Hoyt fans.

"It's like a werewolf, except a big-ass cat."

There was also a great performance from Trammell this week, who had to mimic his screen brother's mannerisms in scenes where Tommy had transformed into Sam and spent the day as his elder brother—firing Sookie (Anna Paquin) from her job, flirting with customers, and having sex with Luna (Janina Gavankar)—making it easy to see "Tam" as a hybrid of both brothers. This storyline may have been typical mistaken identity fare, done countless times in SF/fantasy circles, but it was performed well and opens the door for Tommy getting up to more mischief.

Eric continues to be a source of delight, and this episode marked a big turning point for his relationship with Sookie and Bill (Stephen Moyer). The latter having accidentally stumbled on Eric having sex with his ex-girlfriend, enraging him enough to incarcerate Eric at his mansion, using the excuse he's under the influence of witchcraft. Authority was even granted for King Bill to sentence Eric to a "one true death" staking, but Eric's change of personality and sweetness managed to work its charm on Bill and the execution was avoided. This meant Eric could return to Sookie for some rather stilted outdoor sex.

This is undoubtedly one of season 4's better storylines, if only because it's been given room to breathe and develop naturally over multiple episodes. I suspect Eric's going to be restored to normality before the season's done, though—ending a beautiful relationship when his memories return and denigrate the innocence that lies within him. Maybe it's inevitable, but the wrench should still work because of how well Skarsgård and Paquin are selling their moments together. I hope Eric's mental restoration is handled well, when it comes.

"Believe it or not, my entire existence does not revolve around what or who is between your legs."

I'm also enjoying Fiona Shaw's performance as Marnie, especially now we have insight into why she's being possessed. The spirit of dead witch Antonia (Paola Turbay), burnt at the stake by vampires, some of which she compelled out into the daylight as a final act of vengeance, has returned to finish what she started by killing survivors—including the vampire who raped her in prison. Shaw's great at flipping from bumbling fool to confident sorceress, and there's definitely a thrill to be had when she's turning the tables on vampires so effortlessly, mainly because True Blood's vampires are so supercilious it's satisfying to see them taken down a peg or two.

The situation with Jesus (Kevin Alejendro) seeking help from his mystical uncle isn't something I'm connecting with, as it feels a little extraneous and unnecessary right now. Lafayette being the conduit for a dead uncle, who assumedly has powers similar to Antonia, is perhaps setting up a finale where two possessed people fight each other for domination of vampirekind—but given how Jesus's family are being written as dodgy weirdos, it's hard to know if we're supposed to be glad Jesus and Lafayette are making progress.

"The ghost of my serial-killin' ex-fiance just tried to murder us in our sleep. We're just peachy."

Overall, "I Wish I Was The Moon" was another sign this season's settled into a groove, with enough good outweighing the bad. I can even stomach Arlene's fretting over her baby son, who burned down their home this week, as there are signs it's nothing to do with her ex-fiance, but rather the creepy doll Jessica gifted them and the ghost of a young black woman. It's still filler for the sake of providing minor characters with something to do, but at least the show isn't dwelling on it. Plus there were more down-to-earth moments I enjoyed this week—like Jason and Sookie spending some time together as brother and sister, amusingly referring to the fact there are so few "normal people" in town these days. True Blood's made its name with ostentatious sequences and a compulsive verve, but it's with quiet moments of simple interactions that the show feels like something worth watching again.

Asides

• I didn't see Andy (Chris Bauer) and Holly (Lauren Bowles) as a potential love-match, but that seems to be where we're headed. A good move, I feel. If you have two limp characters you don't know what to do with, make them a couple. It's a TV rule.
• Am I right in thinking Tommy can only change into family members as a "skin-walker", not anyone he pleases?
• If Jason isn't in any danger of becoming a were-panther, just what was the point of all those scenes at Hot Shot? He must surely transform at some point, or it's been a waste of time. But if he does, I hate how the show's so determined to turn all of its human characters into supernatural creatures.

written by Raelle Tucker / directed by Jeremy Podeswa / 31 July 2011 / HBO

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.5 - "Me And The Devil"

After a run of episodes I wasn't very impressed with, things smoothed out with "Me And The Devil". Almost every subplot was enjoyable, and even the weaker ones were easier to watch because writer Daniel Minahan found a way to make them less awkward and tedious. In fact, I was rather astonished by how much better Sam (Sam Trammell) and Tommy (Marshall Allman) were this week, simply by putting them together without much antagonism. The actors work quite well as brothers, so I hope this marks the end of their feud, because they make a fun double-act.

"I had a bad dream."

As usual, True Blood is awash with stories, so to recap this week's events: Jason (Ryan Kwanten) recovered from his ordeal at Hot Shot back at Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Hoyt's (Jim Parrack) home; Tommy accidentally killed his parents in self-defense and solicited Sam's help in disposing of their bodies; Pam (Kristin Bauer) went to Bill (Stephen Moyer) demanding they retaliate on the witches coven, seeing as Marnie (Fiona Shaw) cast a spell that's rotted half her face; Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) began to have dreams of his dead maker Godric, tempting him to feed on Sookie (Anna Paquin); Sookie herself went to Marnie's shop to investigate the coven that erased Eric's memory and received a warning from her gran to avoid Marnie during a fortune telling; Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) took Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) to see his enchanted uncle, so they can get protection from Eric and Pam for what they've done; Tara (Rutina Wesley) came clean about her sexuality to Sookie and discovered her girlfriend in New Orleans knows she's been lying about her identity; Portia (Courteney Ford) tried to rekindle her romance with Bill, despite knowing he's an ancestor of hers, only for Bill to glamour her otherwise; and Arlene (Carrie Preston) and Terry (Todd Lowe) invited the Reverend Daniels and his wife Lettie Mae (Adina Porter) into their home to get rid of a spirit they believe is haunting their baby.

"Oh good, the world needs more beekeepers."

There was lots going on, but it didn't feel quite so busy and random. Maybe that's partly because we're now almost halfway through the season and have a better handle on season 4's direction, but things also just seemed to flow. The sense of fun and humour came back, too: Jason theorizing that sex is to blame for all his problems, before dreaming of having sex with Jessica with his best-friend Hoyt present; the moment when Andy (Chris Bauer) nearly had his head bitten off by an alligator in the back of Sam's truck (which was actually Tommy preventing him from seeing two dead bodies back there); the simmering anger of Pam now she's been forced to wear a black veil to hide her disfigurement; and even the sight of Lettie Mae and her husband trying to banish spirits through song-and-incense raised a smile. It's been awhile since my abiding thought about True Blood was one of having had fun, instead of feeling exasperated and annoyed by how unruly everything has become. This episode felt more ordered and structured, although it still had its moments that feel like the script's being improvised—such as Jesus's goat-killing uncle.

"You fuck with my face, it's time to die."

Plus it was just nice to see the episode avoiding a few storytelling dead-ends, with Tommy actually escaping from Joe Lee and killing his parents (meaning he's now become a "skin walker" if Luna's campfire story's to be believed, right?), and I'm enjoying the general direction the story's taking with Marnie. Bill can't sanction the death of a witch because they're human and therefore under the protection of the Authority in the post-Russell Edgington world, and Marnie is merely a conduit for the Spanish witch who's responsible for Eric and Pam's situations. I was worried the witches would be incredibly silly additions to the world of True Blood, but they're actually an interesting enemy for vampires to have, and I'm enjoying Fiona Shaw's performance this year. The scene where Sookie read her mind during a reading, effectively able to hear through Marnie to her grandmother in the afterlife was also a really effective moment.

"There's a light in you. It's beautiful. I couldn't bear it if I snuffed it out."

In some ways this episode was spinning its wheels (nothing much actually developed in the majority of storylines, and it's now very unclear what Portia's role's going to be if she's glamoured to find Bill terrifying), but I actually appreciated the calmer mood and a chance to take stock of where we are. True Blood's been guilty of moving so quickly and rampantly that you can find the show exhausting and difficult to care about, but "Me And The Devil" reminded me of episodes from season 1—when it felt like more care and attention was being employed on the show. The show still has its problems, but "Me And The Devil" was a step in the right direction and, provided it doesn't go off the rails, I'm actually quite excited to see where the story's going regarding Marnie and the vampire's fear that necromancy will compel them all out into the daylight again.

What did you make of this fifth episode? The possible turning point of the season? Or weren't you very impressed?

Asides

• Is Jason about to become kind of super-creature, considering the fact he's from a family that bred with fairies, recently had sex with dozens of were-panther girls, and now has Jessica's vampire blood pumping through his veins?
• Deborah Ann Woll in her underwear. Let's just take a minute to remember that...
• Great fun to hear gran's voice from beyond the grave, although I was expecting Earl Stackhouse to make his presence known. I still think it's a terrible shame if True Blood cast Gary Cole for such a small role in the premiere, and the show would be helped if Sookie and Jason had a parental figure around.

written by Daniel Minahan / directed by Mark Hudis / 24 July 2011 / HBO

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Comic-Con 2011 panels: DEXTER, FRINGE, SPARTACUS, TORCHWOOD, TRUE BLOOD & THE WALKING DEAD

San Diego Comic-Con is winding down for another year. I'm sure most of you have been watching and reading the coverage online in some capacity, but I thought I'd embed a few videos of various panels that are relevant to DMD's own coverage. Below are the panels for Dexter, Fringe, Spartacus, True Blood, Torchwood and The Walking Dead. Most were filmed using the "wobbly-cam" that's all the rage, so the quality's not great, but I commend Starz for ensuring their Spartacus panel was professionally recorded in its entirety. (You can click through the subsequent "parts" of each video via YouTube.)

A few more panels may be added soon, when they become available. But in the meantime: enjoy!

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Trailer: TRUE BLOOD, season 4 (Comic-Con)

Whoever puts together trailers for True Blood has to be commended, because they never fail to make the show look astonishingly exciting. This newest trailer is a sizzle reel for the remainder of season 4, and it's absolute dynamite. I haven't been that impressed with True Blood so far this year, although it's preferable to the atrocious third season, but maybe things are about to kick into gear? Or is it just impossible to make a bad True Blood trailer, because it has so many fantastic sequences that, if taken out of context and strung together for two-minutes, will never fail to look fantastic? Either way, this has helped rekindle some hope in me.

TRUE BLOOD continues Sundays on HBO.

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.4 – "I'm Alive And On Fire"

The problem with "I'm Alive And On Fire" is that spread about fifteen minutes of worthwhile development across almost an hour, and we already know that this year's storylines are again of varying quality. It makes for an off kilter viewing experience, as any scene/idea that entertains is usually followed by a dumb clunker that drags things down. I haven't made my peace with this fact, as memories of the comparatively slick and well-plotted first two seasons are still in the back of my mind. Are those days long gone, never to return? Is True Blood repeating the mistakes of Charlaine Harris's books, or are these problems of its own making because it refuses to remove deadweight characters?

This week, gang-raped Jason (Ryan Kwanten) escaped from captivity after persuading an underage girl to free him, doing his best Schwarzenegger impersonation to evade the were-panthers; Bill (Stephen Moyer) met Portia's (Courtney Ford) grandmother and discovered that Portia's his great-great-great-granddaughter after seeing the family tree; Marnie (Fiona Shaw) tried to help Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) find a spell to restore Eric's (Alexander Skarsgård) memory, before Pam (Kristin Bauer) punishes them; Sam (Sam Trammell) discovered that girlfriend Luna (Janina Gavankar) has a daughter and a jealous werewolf ex; Tommy (Marshall Allman) returned home to see his mom, only to be recaptured by his evil dad Joe Lee (Cooper Huckabee); Arlene's (Carrie Preston) baby wrote "BABY NOT YOURS" on a wall in red crayon (so the kid's possessed by the spirit of its homicidal Cajun daddy?); and Alcide (Joseph Manganiello) helped Sookie (Anna Paquin) look after Eric, who enjoyed some time in the daylight having fed on the blood of Sookie's fairy godmother.

It's hard to summon much enthusiasm to review this week's episode, which was a fairly weak hour of piece-moving and time-wasting. I'm bitterly disappointed we're returning to the story of Tommy's bumpkin family (written so broadly it's a wonder they don't each have one tooth), who were one of season 3's biggest misfires. I guess that's what happens when writers aren't paying attention to what the fans respond to, as I can't understand why they're raking over old ground.

The idea of Sam's relationship being complicated by his girlfriend's daughter and ex-boyfriend feels extremely tedious, too. Why are we supposed to care about Sam's romance, which appeared out of nowhere three episodes ago? There's been no meet-cute, no courtship, no sense that these people are made for each other. Like so many storylines on True Blood, it's just stuff for the show to do because it has characters who would otherwise be hanging around like spare parts.

Sookie and Eric's situation didn't really develop from last week, but at least Alcide's involvement in the story was more logical (required to help wrangle a drunken Eric), and Sookie was atypically grownup about how she's dealing with events.

The only bright spots were the fact Jason's escaped from the clutches of Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher) and her crazy family (it's a baby-step in the right direction), the reveal that Bill committed incest and is related to the Bellefleur family was icky and another interesting way to explore the problems facing vampires that live beyond a normal lifespan; Skarsgård's charming performance as amnesiac Eric; and some movement on the mystery of who's possessing Marnie, via a flashback/dream where we saw a young woman being burned at the stake for witchcraft. I assume this woman was killed and now has a score to settle with various people (descendants of those who killed her, or maybe vampires in general). I'm quite enjoying the ease with which blundering Marnie can sometimes turn the tables on characters like Eric and Pam, who are so used to being top dogs.

Overall, "I'm Alive And On Fire" was the worst episode of this season—which shows promise in a few areas, but mostly hasn't learned anything about why season 3 was considered a disappointing, ungainly flop. It's a real pity, because if someone could whip these stories into shape, and remove the excess baggage of redundant characters and pointless subplots, some of this may actually be fun. Instead, it's just irritatingly inconsistent, and that's being kind.

Asides

• I had to laugh at the stupidity of Sookie taking Alcide outside onto her porch, so as not be overheard by Eric indoors, considering the porch clearly made it even easier for Eric to eavesdrop from his cubby hole below!
• Was there any point to Tara being revealed as a cage-fighter with a lesbian girlfriend in the premiere? Is she going to come out to her friends soon? Is her girlfriend going to turn up?
• How long until Jason turns into a were-panther? Will he embrace this transformation, perhaps becoming the so-called Ghost Daddy of Crystal's family and leading them to a better life? But isn't it a shame we could be losing another human character? If Jason really does turn, it's like the writers don't believe a character can be interesting unless they're in some way supernatural.
• Will Luna's werewolf ex-boyfriend be anyone we've met? Or is there yet another new character on the way? Considering the fact her name's clearly an allusion to "lunar", does she have a deeper connection to werewolves than she's been letting on?
• Have you ever stopped to consider just how many storylines involve characters being captured and escaping? Seriously, think about it. Nearly every single character has been kidnapped and held captive: Lafayette in Eric's dungeon, Bill kidnapped by werewolves, Tara tied to a bed by Franklin, likewise Jason with Crystal's family, etc.) And now we can add Tommy to the list. Is this the show's storytelling default? The loss and restoration of power is likewise a theme that gets recycled all the time.

written by Nancy Oliver / directed by Michael Lehmann / 17 July 2011 / HBO

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.3 – "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?"

While the usual problems linger, "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" was a slightly more engaging episode for two reasons: (1) it focused on the best characters/stories, and (2) there was some actual characterization here. Indeed, some scenes were notable not for nudity and gore, but for allowing the characters to have conversations with a modicum of reality to them. This is Alan Ball's first script of the fourth season, so I hope this means he's aware too many of True Blood's characters have slipped into self-parody, and is now trying to restore them...

Benefiting most was Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Hoyt's (Jim Parrack) domestic discord, which was threatening to become a really irritating storyline but gained some subtlety and interest in this episode. I liked the scene with Jessica going to her "maker" Bill (Stephen Moyer) to seek his advice, rather like a teenager asking her dad for help, as it showed Jessica's maturity since her wild child days, and was a nice reminder those characters are practically family. Shame it kind of fizzled out.

Jessica's return home, coming clean to a devastated Hoyt that she fed from another man, was also really nicely handled by the actors. I didn't think about the fact Hoyt would be revolted because another man's blood is now flowing through his girlfriend's body. And I particularly enjoyed seeing Jessica resort to "glamouring" Hoyt when their discussion turned into a full-blown argument, as a vampire's ability to erase someone's memories is easily abused in situations like this. Will Jessica start to rely on her power more often, keeping poor Hoyt oblivious to the fact their relationship is on the rocks?

"I know I'm a vampire, Snookie."

The best storyline belonged to Sookie (Anna Paquin), who discovered Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) walking topless along the roadside and soon realized he has amnesia. In many ways this story is one for the Eric fans, as it's turned his character into a much more sweet and innocent version of the domineering Eric we know and love. In some ways he's become Sookie's own Jessica; a child that needs protecting, who suddenly can't control the urges he has as a vampire. There's plenty of humour in seeing Sookie and Eric rediscover each other, with Sookie using his state of mind to her advantage (like pretending she owns her house and he still needs permission to enter), and Skarsgård's never anything less than compelling on-screen. I'm sure Skarsgård's fanbase are squeeing in delight at this turn of events, as it effectively turns the all-powerful Eric into a naughty puppy with ticklish feet.

It also made some sense that Sookie would go to see brooding werewolf Alcide (Joseph Manganiello), asking him to protect Eric while she's at work all day, as she can't turn to ex-boyfriend Bill for help anymore. And I'm relieved Alcide's girlfriend Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan) has managed to clean herself up in the year that's passed since season 3. As an admirer of Morgan's happy-go-lucky comic performance in The Middleman awhile ago, I was disappointed by her seedy role as troublemaking junkie Debbie in season 3 (although it proved she has range), so this seems like a more appealing use of her. If, of course, Debbie's going to figure into season 4 any further, and won’t remain a total Stepford Wife. How long until she's waiting tables at Merlotte's?

I've heard a few disgruntled complaints, but I think making Bill the Vampire King of Louisiana has been a masterstroke this season. It's revived his character almost completely by severing his tie with Sookie (for awhile at least), and it's a fun way to see more of the vampire subculture we'd usually have to rely on Eric for. Here we see Bill sentencing a lowly vampire to the True Death for getting himself caught on camera feeding off a human, which was a nice reminder of the problems vampires have in a digital age where their activities can be recorded and uploaded to the internet in an instant.

I'm not sure where the story with ambitious lawyer Portia Bellefleur (Courtney Ford) is going, as she made a play for Bill's affections in this episode over dinner. Bill seems to be even more attractive to human women now he's vampire royalty, but what's Portia's angle? Is she really just interesting in a professional and sexual alliance, as she claims, or is she going to twist Bill around her little finger in some way? There's something not right about her.

"I will personally eat, fuck and kill all three of you."

It unexpected how quickly Sookie and Pam (Kristin Bauer) worked out Eric's been put under a witch's spell, as I was assuming it would take awhile for that to be revealed to the characters on the show. It seems that Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) and Tara (Rutina Wesley) have been cast as the bumbling idiots in over their heads with the coven, now forced by the fuming Pam to find head witch Marnie (Fiona Shaw) and get the hex reversed in 24-hours. Marnie meanwhile was performing a blood ritual and we assumedly had our first glimpse at the entity that's been possessing her in a mirror—a rather innocent-looking young woman.

While I still have no time for Tommy (Marshall Allman), I must admit that having him cohabit with Maxine Fortenberry (Dale Raoul), like an adopted son, isn't such a bad idea. This episode saw the beginning of a new storyline for shifty 'shifter Tommy, who became aware Maxine's property is potentially sitting on a goldmine in natural gas reserves, and immediately hatched a plan to cheat her out of a fortune. I'm not sure why Tommy thought brother Sam (Sam Trammell) would be willing to help him buy Maxine's house to inherit the land's potential value, but having Sam know that Tommy's willing to cheat Maxine out of a fortune is an unusual direction to go in. I can only assume this means Sam's dark side is going to come out and he'll agree to help his lowlife brother, as otherwise where can the story go?

"I'm gonna be mama to all your baby cubs. Of which there will be many."

Elsewhere, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) is being transformed into a were-panther by crazy Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher), which is still a weird storyline—although at least there was a brilliantly creepy scene where Jason woke up, after being drugged with Viagra, to find Crystal writhing on his crotch, their bedroom antics watched by a gathering of kids at the door. Effort was also made to give the were-panthers a mythology, during a campfire story about the "Ghost Daddy", but it all came across as tedious nonsense. The were-panthers are simply lazy and boring alternatives to werewolves and shape-shifter that should never have been introduced into this overstuffed show.

Finally, Sheriff Andy's (Chris Bauer) still addicted to vampire blood and has started flying off the handle because of his addiction, and Jessica gave Arlene's (Carrie Preston) baby a sinister doll that keeps appearing in her house. That sounds like a great way to assuage Arlene's fear her son's inherited evil genes, right? For his birthday, I think Jessica has her eye on a DVD of The Exorcist, or maybe one of those tribal shrunken heads to dangle in his crib. What is going on with this story exactly? Laughable.

"You just killed my fairy godmother!"

Overall, "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" is evidence that True Blood has long run out of themes (like how we're all slaves to our nature), but when the best characters get the most screentime it can still be a fun adult fantasy soap. It helped that this episode contained the most humanity I've seen on the show for a long time, which papered over the simplistic allegories (Nazi Germany was invoked when discussing Eric's condemnation of the Wiccan religion). Plus, it's hard to dislike an hour of television that ends with a vampire savagely killing someone's fairy godmother, draining her into a batlike husk that then explodes. Am I right?

Asides

• In one scene, Sookie could be seen reading a Charlaine Harris novel in her kitchen. Harris being the author of the novels this TV series is based on. I assume it was one of the author's Harper Connelly Mysteries books, seeing as The Southern Vampire Mysteries can't possibly exist in this universe. I wonder if HBO are adapting Harper Connelly in True Blood's universe...
• Now that Eric's drained Sookie's fairy godmother dry, will he be walking around in the sunlight for awhile now? It seems that Eric's becoming ideal boyfriend material for someone like Sookie, who enjoys fixing broken vampires. Will they become a couple? If so, will this last when Eric gets his memories back?
• Lara Pulver was really wasted on this show, wasn't she. A pity, as she was great fun in Robin Hood a few years ago. Still, at least they finally confirmed her character was responsible for helping Sookie escape the rednecks in True Blood's pilot. That's a T that's needed crossing for years now.
• How much do you think a certain video streaming website paid to have its logo prominently displayed over one scene? A lot, I reckon.
• In seeing Joseph Manganiello again, I was reminded that he came close to being cast as Superman in Zack Snyder's upcoming movie. Give the guy a shave and he's physically perfect for that role, if you ask me. But continuing to work on True Blood may have been awkward, seeing as co-star Courtney Ford is married to ousted Superman Returns star Brandon Routh...
• The scatterbrained Eric accidentally calling Sookie "Snookie" was a reference to the popular US reality show Jersey Shore, which stars a young woman called Snookie.

written by Alan Ball / directed by David Petrarca / 10 July 2011 / HBO

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TRUE BLOOD, 4.2 - "You Smell Like Dinner"

True Blood's been tough to review since season 3, when it gave up trying to tell two big storylines over a dozen episodes (with subplots as breathing space), and just resorted to dipping into various disconnected stories of very uneven quality. I'm annoyed season 4's following this example, with "You Smell Like Dinner" feeling less like an episode of a TV drama and more like a random pages of a live-action comic-book. It may be easier to tackle things on a character-by-character basis from hereon in, as there's usually no storytelling arc because every hour's a mishmash of happenings.

"Looking for a few good vampire spies, are you?"

There was a fun flashback for Bill (Stephen Moyer), during a trip to London in 1982, where he visited a punk bar and preyed on the bartender without killing him; an act of kindness that drew the attention of vampire bigwig Nan Flanagan (Jessica Tuck), who it appears has had plans for vampire Bill these past three decades. He agreed to become her spy in the vampire monarchy, if she could find a way to make him King.

It's just about acceptable Flanagan's been tardy about facilitating Bill's rise to power, as 30 years is a trivial timespan for a vampire—and because True Blood's at its best when focusing on vampires, Bill's storyline feels promising to me. Making him the Vampire King of Louisiana is this season's best idea so far, as it separates Bill from his usual role as Sookie's (Anna Paquin) besotted protector.

It was also interesting to see the edgy interplay between Bill and the much older and more experienced Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) in their scenes together, as their positions of power have switched. I also appreciated seeing that Bill already has a spy in the witches coven, as that brought a rare sense of cross-story cohesion to the episode. It was also fun to see Moyer have a reason to speak in his natural English twang—as incongruous as it sounded. As a codicil, did it really take nearly 30 years for synthetic blood to be created?

The witches are the hokiest addition to this season—but they're not outright stupid yet, just a little dull. I quite like the idea the coven Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) and Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) are trying to join specialize in "necromancy", which could be used to control vampires, and the moment when head witch Marnie (Fiona Shaw) was possessed by a higher power and protected her people from Eric by giving him amnesia was fun. This means Eric's lost his memories and supercilious personality, and will likely be taken into Sookie's care after she spotted him walking along the roadside (topless, naturally). I'm sure Skarsgård will have fun playing Eric as a sweet, naïve, likable, damaged person. He's one of the few actors who can truly elevate the poorest of material with a natural screen charisma. The magic reset button is already flashing amber, however. Also, a few questions: if the witches become proficient at reanimating the dead, could they perhaps bring a vampire back to normal life? Would such a power be of great interest to someone as a "cure" to the problem the world now believes vampirism to be?

"This ain't got nothing to do with you. I can eat who I want."

They may be stuck in a dull storyline about how the spark's gone out of their relationship, but saucy vampire Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and redneck Hoyt (Jim Parrack) can just about manage to keep you engaged with a seemingly trivial subplot. It helps that The show missed its chance to capitalize on the unexpected popularity of wild child Jessica last year, but it's trying to make amends by having Jessica visit Fangtasia to feed on attractive men in toilet cubicles as a way of injecting some excitement into her nights. There's also a loose feeling that haughty vampire Pam (Kristen Bauer) and Sookie are positioned as maternal figures for Jessica, a character who tends to need guidance and direction as she struggles through life (and death).

"It's not that I don't appreciate all the licking, cuz I do, but I'm more of a Band-Aid kind of guy."

I have no idea what Jason's (Ryan Kwanten) story is about, as I don't remember his girlfriend Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher) being a villain last season, but this wouldn't be the first time my memory of True Blood's let me down. Or did something happen between them in the year we haven't seen between seasons? Now she has Jason tied to a bed, intending for him to become the unwilling sperm donor for a were-panther she wants to raise with her infertile new boyfriend Felton (James Harvey Ward). It's a storyline so terrible and nonsensical it actually makes me angry. Jason was once a highlight of True Blood (a welcome dose of likeability and comic-relief), but he's now one of the characters whose storyline you're tempted to fast-forward through. It's a terrible shame.

Terry (Todd Lowe) and Arlene (Carrie Preston) reprised the scene they performed last week, for all intents and purposes, with Arlene still convinced her baby's the unnerving spawn of a psychopath, as Terry does his best to calm his wife down. Only now the baby demonstrated the ability to give Arlene a bloodshot eye? Or was that just a sign of Arlene's stress? Whatever, I don't care about any of this. It would make no sense if the baby is dangerous, and it'll be a waste of time if the baby is normal, so either way this story's headed nowhere good.

"If I’d had a teacher like you, I might've made it past the ninth grade."

Last season's finale included a scene where Sam (Sam Trammell) shot his ne'er-do-well brother Tommy (Marshall Allman), but season 4 wants us to forget all that because the rational fallout is too downbeat. Sam was headed into very dark territory—even given a criminal background—and the writers have maybe thought better of it. There are already signs the shape-shifting siblings are going to patch things up, Sam has yet another ridiculously attractive girlfriend who likes to get naked called Luna (Janina Gavankar), and there's a "support group" of shifters who like to gallop around as horses and tell stories around a campfire. Of particular note, we learned that shifters can assume the shape of humans once they've killed one, as Luna can now transform into her dead mother (who tragically died giving birth to her). Expect that to figure into the story at some point, obviously. Is Sam destined to kill his brother and have to assume his identity to keep up a pretense, or something? Or will Tommy learn this esoteric shifting secret and decide his life would be improved by killing Sam and becoming his brother?

"Now go clean yourself up. You're covered in queen."

The prize for most pointless storyline surely belongs to Sheriff Andy (Chris Bauer), who arrived at the Sure Shot residence pretending he's there to arrest dealers of vampire blood, while actually angling to be given a fix by his dealer Felton. Andy's a character the writers struggle to find worthwhile material to (despite having made him Sheriff last season), as he's too dumb to solve the town's crimes, so they've basically given him a V-blood addiction story we've seen Jason and Lafayette go through already. It's a sad waste of Bauer's talents.

"You Smell Like Dinner" was another mixed bag effort. Sometimes it feels like a successful episode of True Blood is only one that contains enough good stuff to eclipse your short-term memory of the bad, and this episode was close to tipping the scale in that favour, but didn't quite manage it. I wouldn't say I was ever bored, because the show's at least understands it has to keep things nimble when dealing with so many plots over an hour. If a particularly tiresome or annoying subplots rears its head, you only have to grin and bear if for a maximum of three minutes, which helps enormously. It's just a shame True Blood keeps trying to make the most of a large ensemble cast there isn't enough good material for, who are usually nudged to the sidelines anyway because every season introduces even more townsfolk, in case anyone's getting bored. Whether or not it's purely a creative decision, or something that's unavoidable because the "core cast" are all contracted for multiple years, I don't know... but I do know it's damaging the show.

written by Brian Buckner / directed by Scott Winant / 3 July 2011 / HBO

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Review: TRUE BLOOD, 4.1 - "She's Not There"

The third season of this vampire drama was a sprawling, undisciplined clutter of malformed ideas. It survived on the captivating performance of Denis O'Hare (as vampire king Russell Edgington) and a regular dose of signature what-the-fuck cliffhangers, but it wasn't enough to prevent the season being a misfire. The majority of its distended cast were trapped in tedious storylines, the addition of werewolves didn't add anything worthwhile, its big reveals were disappointing (Sookie's half-fairy?), and a feeling of desperation smothered the whole venture. I know season 3 has its supporters (mainly people who prefer gore, sex and nudity over plot, character and common sense), but for me it was a disastrous year of a show whose erotic trashiness I really enjoyed in its infancy. Consequently, I approached the premiere of True Blood's fourth season with great caution and lowered expectations...

Interestingly, True Blood picks up both immediately after Sookie (Anna Paquin) was spirited away to Fairy Land by her "Fairy Godmother" Claudine (Lara Pulver) and, upon her swift return, thirteen months later for the residents of Bon Temps. The opening scenes are both absolutely awful and awfully wonderful, as Sookie mingles with the clichéd faeries (who dress in white and eat glowing orange fruit), before meeting her long-lost Grandpa Earl Stackhouse (Gary Cole), who doesn't even realize twenty years have passed on Earth as he's only spent an hour in this idyllic realm. Of course, trouble's afoot, as Sookie deduces the serenity of Fairy Land is an illusion, as the sweet faeries are actually demonic creatures who inhabit a barren, rocky wasteland. And their Queen Mab (Rebecca Wisocky) has ambitions to enslave humanity, forcing Sookie and Earl to go on the run, chased by fireball-flinging Fae—narrowly managing to return to Earth through a canyon portal, resulting in Earl's death in a Bon Temp graveyard because he made the mistake of eating some luminous fruit.

It's utterly bonkers. In these opening scenes, True Blood becomes Charmed with a budget, and it's a far cry from the days when the show apparently wanted to explore what humanity would do if it had to co-exist with vampires. The emergence of so many supernatural species (vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, were-panthers, fairies, witches) has given the show a different feel in recent seasons, and it's not one I'm especially keen on. It can be fun, sure, but too often it feels like True Blood's less interested in characters and story than it is delivering cool moments and monsters for us to gawp at. Still, this premiere got one thing right over the majority of last year's episodes: the pace wasn't so hectic that it felt like you were beaten into submission, but instead took time to setup various changes to the characters.

Jason (Ryan Kwanten) has become a cop, modeling his look on Scream's Deputy Dewey, and is taking care of his absent girlfriend Crystal's urchin family; Tara (Rutina Wesley) has found work as a New Orleans cage fighter and, naturally, this means she's turned lesbian; Sam's (Sam Trammell) hanging around with a shape-shifting support group, helping him deal with the fact he shot and injured his own brother; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) has grown a "gay Mr T" mohawk and is being introduced to the world of witchcraft by boyfriend Jesus (Kevin Alejandro), who takes him to a séance; Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Hoyt (Jim Parack) are struggling to adjust to domestic life together, with Pam (Kristin Bauer) suggesting Jessica abandon monogamy during her "date night" to Fangtasia; Arlene (Carrie Preston) is convinced her baby's inherited his biological father's "evil", when she notices he's decapitated some dolls (why are they buying him dolls?); Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) is helping restore vampire-human relations in a "post-Russell Edgington world" by filming a commercial for PR hotshot Nan Flanagan (Jessica Tuck); and Bill (Stephen Moyer) has become a respected politician and Vampire King of Louisiana.

As usual, this was less an episode and more an hour's worth of random subplots—some of which are appealing, most of which aren't. It remains a key problem that True Blood has far too many characters, and the silly proclivity to give everyone something to do from the start. It would make more sense to prune the ensemble down to a more manageable size, or temporarily write a few characters out of the show for awhile, but this never seems to happen. It seems to me that Alan Ball and his team are aware that most of their characters aren't strong enough to carry a show themselves, so they need to always be reacting to horrors, dealing with tragedy, or trying to negotiate their way through a supernatural world. It's all very busy and breathlessly told.

So the idea of jumping forward in time by a year was a good one (even if it means last season's situation with Jason and a young pretender using V to improve his athleticism has been brushed aside) because the chronology of True Blood is abnormally compacted. I don’t think more than a month has passed since the day Sookie met Bill in Merlotte's bar three seasons ago. So at least the show's now found a way to give us some distance, so various off-screen changes could take place that might otherwise have taken years to get to at the show's usual pace. It just strikes me as strange the show didn't use that opportunity to cut loose the show's dead weight (characters who served their purpose and are now just hanging around for plot scraps).

Overall, "She's Not There" was largely business as usual for True Blood, if slightly more restrained than normal (even the cliffhanger felt very reserved, given this show's standards). I also enjoyed seeing Sookie's tearful reaction to finding and losing her grandpa, which delivered a few moments of emotion from Paquin that felt convincing and from the heart. (Although there was a very unfortunate cut from Paquin sobbing over the death of Earl, to her leaving the graveyard with a spring in her step!) I just can't believe they cast the outstanding Gary Cole (who has form with Southern horror with American Gothic) but gave him a role that amounted to an extended cameo, so I have my fingers crossed for an Earl Stackhouse return at some point. The show worked better when Sookie and Jason had their Gran to go to for advice in season 1, and she anchored that family unit, so it would have been nice to get another Stackhouse adult like Earl into the show full time.

We'll have to see how most of this premiere's events pan out across season 4 (the witches could be a great addition or clichéd nonsense), but True Blood has something to prove because its last few seasons spluttered to disappointing endings. What they really need to do is put the emphasis back on the characters, have a less slapdash attitude to plotting, cut back on the stupid or tedious subplots, lose a handful of characters, and remember its real strength lies in showing the ways human and vampire societies clash...

Asides

• Earl's pocket watch must have some greater significance. Is his soul trapped in there? Does it have the ability to reverse time, so Jason can save his grandpa's life? Too silly? I wouldn't put anything past True Blood these days! They have fanged fairies who throw fireballs now, did you not see?
• How did Bill become the Vampire King? And how does Eric feel about that, as a vampire who's considerably older and more experienced? Do people even know Bill's the King? It was presented as a surprise to the viewers, but is everyone else aware of Bill's new position?
• So now we know for sure: vampires have no need for toilets.
• Look, how long are we going to suffer Arlene's behaviour around her baby son? Where's this headed exactly? There seems to be only two options, both bad: she'll realize the error of her ways and get over it, or the baby really will become some kind of pint-sized sociopath.
• You can avoid police interrogation by claiming you've been gone over a year on "vampire business"?

written by Alexander Woo / directed by Michael Lehmann / 26 June 2011

Coming Soon...

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Trailer: 'True Blood' - witches vs vampires

"If they can control the dead then they can control us" -- Bill

I recently posted the trailer for season 4 of True Blood, but I thought I'd indulge you with a second. This one is a little tastier, with a look at exactly what the new season's going to involve. It's the "witches versus vampires", and that may not as awful as it sounds. In fact, this trailer has me slightly more optimistic about the return of True Blood--how about you?

"Oh great, now I have to deal with witches?" -- Sookie

True Blood returns to HBO on 26 June.

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Trailer: 'True Blood', season 4 (HBO)

HBO have released the first trailer for True Blood's fourth season that includes new footage. What do we have in store for us? Um, more of the same. There's no clear sense of what season 4's story is, and this year's apparent emphasis on witchcraft isn't noticeable from anything here. Instead, we have a semi-naked Anna Paquin and Joe Manganiello showing his granite-like six-pack. It's all just a little tease at this stage, so hopefully a more substantial trailer is just around the corner...

Are you excited for True Blood's return? Were you happy with the third season? I thought it was pretty terrible, mainly because 80% of the storylines didn't even resolve. It felt like a show that's headed out of control, with showrunner Alan Ball indulging himself and failing to keep a tight reign on the plot and the show's ludicrously expanding ensemble. I can only hope Ball realizes just how disjointed and nonsensical season 3 felt to viewers, and can see past the misplaced adulation from diehard fans (not to mention the healthy ratings), to realize he needs to get a grip of things before it falls apart. I still really like the show's tone, style, sensibilities, and pace... but I want to feel like I'm being told a proper story, not spoonfed inciting moments and shocking cliffhangers.

True Blood returns to HBO on 26 June.

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TV Ratings: 'True Blood', Ch4

Channel 4 aired the terrestrial premiere of True Blood's second season on Thursday night, but the vampire drama's long-awaited return only attracted 980,000 viewers at 10pm, with a lowly 51,000 watching on the time-shifted Channel 4+1. This is especially disappointing because True Blood's series premiere last year lured 1.6 million eyeballs, so it's lost a sizeable chunk of its audience since then. Why is this..?

While you can never be sure, but given how passionate True Blood's fanbase is, I'd say the majority of British fans have already seen season 2 -- via online torrents way back last summer, or perhaps on digital channel FX earlier this year. If so, it's evidence that the arrangement Channel 4 has with FX to alternate broadcast months after seasons debut in the States, just isn't good enough. Fans simply won't wait 12-months for new episodes, knowing they'll be an entire season behind the US -- particularly as many fans are teenagers/young adults who spend time on Facebook/Twitter and thus have the hassle of trying to avoid online spoilers.

At the very least, FX should be premiering season 3 now (immediately following HBO's finale last weekend), with Channel 4 showing the same season just after Christmas -- a gap of approximately 4 months from the HBO premiere. That would perhaps satisfy less voracious fans who aren't so exposed to online chatter, but it would obviously be preferable if FX aired episodes days/weeks behind HBO's schedule, meaning Channel 4 staredt their run in September. Something tells me nothing's going to change, but perhaps if ratings continue to slide Channel 4 may try to renegotiate their scheduling for season 3... maybe.

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'True Blood' - In Memoriam

HBO have released a superb two-minute video chronicling (nearly) every single death scene in True Blood, up until the late-season 3 point. It's done in the style of an Academy Awards obituary film, and the incongruity of violently gruesome deaths to soothing music is rather amusing. Obviously, DO NOT watch this unless you've seen till the end of season 3 (i.e. US-pace, at time of writing). [via TV Squad]

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'TRUE BLOOD' 3.12 - "Evil Is Going On"

That star rating on the left is a generous reward for every part of the finale that touched on Russell Edgington's (Denis O'Hare) fate, because everything else about this finale was horribly disjointed, plain boring, tedious setup, or an assortment of piffling scenes to fill time. "Evil Is Going On" was essentially a microcosm of this ungainly third season.

Season 3: RIP

To recap what happened: Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) started to have more frightening visions, before being comforted by Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) and told that he's tapped into some latent magical powers; Hoyt (Jim Parrack) affirmed his relationship with Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) by buying a house, to the consternation of his mother; Sam (Sam Trammell) revealed he's a shape-shifter to Tara (Rutina Wesley), then chased down his brother Tommy (Marshall Allman) who had stolen cash from his safe; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) helped Crystal's (Lindsay Pulsipher) meth-dealing family avoid a DEA raid; a compassionate Sookie (Anna Paquin) rescued Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) and Edgington from dying in the sunlight; before Eric, having seen a vision of his dead maker Godric, found a way to keep the half-incinerated Edgington alive but contained for at least a century...

My issues with "Evil Is Going On" are the same as they've been all season: the majority of storylines hold little interest to me, and it was particularly frustrating to see them all reach no worthwhile conclusion. You invest nearly three months of your TV viewing, only to find you're going to have to wait nearly a year to see some pay-off? Unforgivable.

The burden of Jason, Sam and Lafayette's weak subplots looks set to continue into season 4, denying this episode a strong sense of finality. I wouldn't be surprised if many viewers assume there'll be another episode next week. Edgington's storyline was the only beating heart here, despite the fact season 3 never really capitalized on the character's potential or Denis O'Hare's gleefully deranged performance. I have to question the wisdom of keeping Edgington incapacitated for the entire episode, too -- dragged around by a silver chain and finally buried alive in cement.

It meant there was no real sense of threat to this episode, just an hour where three of the show's leads revealed unpleasant aspects of their personalities: Eric opting to ignore Godric's pleas for forgiveness in order to get callous revenge; Bill turning traitor and burying Eric alive, to protect the truth that he was originally asked to befriend Sookie by queen Sophie-Ann (who always knew she was a faerie); and Sookie pouring the goopy remains of Talbot down a waste disposal unit, yelping with glee in a rather disturbing manner. It all means I spent this episode feeling sympathy for the season's villain, which isn't how it should be.

The one definite success of this finale was in providing a fundamental shift in the Bill/Sookie relationship, with Eric escaping his burial (how exactly?) and exposing Bill's guilty secret to Sookie, who promptly spurned her lover. Not before time, it looks like season 4 won't have to swim in circles with the Bill/Sookie romance, and any reunion will have to be hard won. At any rate, Sookie is likely to start dating werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) for awhile, now he's been made a regular.

As is tradition, the finale ended on a few cliffhangers: Sookie being teleported to faerie-land by Claudine (Laura Pulver) while in the cemetery at her gran's grave, following her breakup with Bill (confirming these "extinct" faeries have a physical presence in reality); and Bill engaging in a duel-to-the-true-death with vampire queen Sophie-Ann (Evan Rachel Wood), the outcome of which doesn't seem to be in question. There's no way they're killing off Bill, so either Wood's being written out of the show, their fight will be interrupted, or a draw declared. The door's also been left open for Edgington to return, which I'm pleased about, but perhaps isn't likely.

Oh, vampires have reflections...

Overall, it's a terrible shame that True Blood's become a show I now roll my eyes at. It's always been silly with a half-improvised attitude to storytelling, but until season 3 there was always a clear focus at the centre and fewer pointless distractions. In thinking back across this third season, it's laughable how many of the storylines went nowhere interesting, weren't resolved, or have yet to really get started by the finale. Is this what happens when Alan Ball knows he can afford to plan into a fourth season, because the future of True Blood is assured? If so, I'm not a fan of the supernatural soap opera the show has become as a result, because every episode has been incredibly messy and reliant on frequent gore, sex and violence to perk interest.

Think back on all the memorable moments of the past dozen episodes -- how many are character-based moments or a well-delivered twist in the tale? Very few, if any. How many unforgettable moments involve decapitated limbs, ripped out spines, head-twisting sex, and naked flesh? Most, if not all. Is that what a season of TV should be remembered for? Kudos to the special effects department this year, but shame on the writers.

Asides

• Tara being told Sam's a shape-shifter was a momentous moment, so why did it fall so awfully flat?
• Considering Godric's appearance, I guess there are ghosts in True Blood's universe now. Seriously, my facetious comment that Bigfoot will be waiting tables at Merlotte's by season 5 isn't so far-fetched
• Wasn't this season supposed to be all about werewolves? Yeah, that went well. Good luck with the significantly less exciting witches next season.

WRITER: Alan Ball
DIRECTOR: Anthony Hemingway
GUEST CAST: Joe Manganiello, Kevin Alejandro, Marshall Allman, Todd Lowe, Denis O'Hare, Jim Parrack, Carrie Preston, Lindsay Pulsipher, Lauren Bowles, Jessica Tuck, James Harvey Ward, Grey Damon, Melissa Rauch, Lil Mikk, Carlson Young & Natasha Alam
TRANSMISSION: 12 September 2010 - HBO, 9PM

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