True Blood; This Show Got Me

Finally, after having mixed feelings toward the show during its first season, I can fully say that True Blood has been blowing my mind. I have always loved the supernatural, and Vampires especially, the idea of an all-powerful, night stalking, sadistic and predatory creature preying in the innocent always makes for a truly entertaining experience. But Vampires in True Blood are of a truly different nature, with series creator Alan Ball using the show's supernatural themes to comment on true human issues; sex, hatred, intolerance, and violence. The characters, natrual and supernatural, are all of a highly complex and fascinating nature. Anna Paquin is brilliant on the show as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress. Her relationship with 173-year old vampire Bill Compton (played by real life fiancee Stephen Moyer) is a gripping affair. Plagued with the ability to read minds, Sookie finds natrual love with Bill because she can't read his mind, as Vampires on the show don't project thier thoughts. Their love is alluded to much as a standard interracial relationship in the south would be; they are constantly judged and harassed untill more or less the town's people of Bon Temps except that Bill's love for Sookie is pure. There was a fantastic scene in the first season in which Sookie's accepting grandmother recruits Bill to deliver a lesson on the Civil War, as before he was turned he fought for the Confederacy, and this decision earns the grandmother both scorn and praise. Bill himself is fascinating. Previously enjoying a century of sadistic murder and torture, Sookie comes into his life and makes him feel human pasion for the first time in over a hundred years. Bill refers to Sookie as his "miracle" and loves her completely. Excellent in this season was the entry of Lorena, Bill's maker and a representation of the darkness within him. A flashback is shown of Bill and Lorena in the 1920's sadistically torturing and murdering a couple, with Lorena holding down the husband as Bill rips the wife's larynyx out, the man says, "Why are you doing this?", to which Bill retorts in very exuberant manner, "Because We CANNNNN!" The scene was disturbing but alsop emphasized the show's focus on redeption, showing how hard and far Bill had to come to restore his own humanity. I sometime's can't help but draw parrallels to tv's last supernatrual human/vampire relationship between Angel and Buffy, but the show's graphic nature is able to represent in it in a far different fashion.

The show seems to display a belief that there is neither evil nor good in the world. Charachters who at times seem ireedemably evil are prone to showing signs of human weakness and compassion. Eric,1,000 year old Vampire sheriff of Louisiana, is at times portrayed a sadistic and mericless killer, totally devoid of human emotion. Best example obviously when he held Lafayette in a basement and tortured him for two weeks. But, he has often displayed signs of strong devotion and loyalty to the charachters. He treats other Vampires with respect, even Bill whom he clearly doesn't like. When his 2,000 year old Vampire sire/maker Godric lets himself be burned by the sun, Eric breaks down into tears. The two male vampires clearly had a strong love, platonic but it was also strongly hinted at as sexual as well. Eric also shows strong affection for Sookie, going out of his way to save her life on a few occasions throughout season two. The Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire Church are extremely ambiguous. Steve Newlin, leader of the church, is portrayed as the show's most hateful and wrathful charachter since last season's homicidal and misogynist Rene Lenier. He seems to be at times ireedemably evil, but Godric tells Eric that when he was held by the Fellowship, he was treated fairly, and that most of the members were, "extremely holy".

Mary Ann is perhaps the show's only ireedemably evil charachter. She is a maenad, an immortal being derived from Ancient Greece an high priestess to god of Wine and fertility, Dionysius. From the beginning of the show she displays a will to create nothing but chaos. Her powers are also wierd and awesome. She starts fluttering during sex and chants and channels the power of Dionysius to create wild and violent orgies. She grows massive claws that exude a powerdul neurotoxin that can kill basically any creature. Her perhaps most despicable acts are her powers of mass hypnosis, she has coaxed innocents into murdering and taking the hears from thier victims. She also force feeds humans these hearts to create powerful mass spread violent chaos. The writing for her charachter is just phenomenal. It is even hinted at that Mary Ann was nothing more than a bored housewife in Athens who's husband was sleeping with 14 year old boys, as many wealthy Athenians did. Therefore Mary Ann started engaging in wild sex and debaucery and discovered the ways of the Maenad. She became so psyhcologically bent on the fact that she was this immortal being that she actually became the powerful immortal that she is on the show. Because of her ireedemably evil nature, the last two episodes saw all the various charachters coming together to defeat her. In the final episode, all vampires and humans will be joining together to defeat this one gigantic evil and thus restore the natural order. True Blood isn't about good or evil, it's about the good and evil that emanates from all beings.