[published September 2, 2013]

 

About: True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in northwestern Louisiana. The series centers on the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress with an otherworldly quality.

​

[Spoilers]

​

I adore this TV show and wrote about it last year. The presumption is that you know the show and characters

As I’ve said, the metaphors for the vampire are clear: Ideas such as eternal youth, beauty, strength and never ‘dying’ – in the sense of being gone forever are prominent. The vampire embodies the cultural desire for youth [creams, Botox, plastic surgery etc.] and strength [gyms] in addition to other things.

​

The show explores several contemporary issues, such as the struggle for equal rights, discrimination and violence against minorities and homosexuals, the problems of drug addiction, the power of faith and religion, the control/influence of the media and the quest for identity, and the importance of family.

​

Sookie says that Billith isn’t Bill and eventually stakes him in the first episode – to no avail. We’re not in Kansas anymore, eh? Stephen Moyer who plays Bill directed this episode. That must have been challenging because his character is not the same as it was so he had to think about many things. Great job!

 

• Sidebar or Gossip: Stephen Moyer [Bill] is married to Anna Paquin [Sookie]. They recently had twins.

​

Rutger Hauer plays Sookie and Jason’s fairy grandfather. Rutger Hauer. I cannot even begin to describe how brilliant this is.

​

The entire Fairy/Vampire hybrid thing is odd but to me, strange is good. Fairy/Vampires can walk in the daylight but at least they don’t sparkle. Evil-then good-then bad Warlo is one of those. Too bad he turned out all evil – he was cute. Meanwhile, on the fairy plane, Warlow again shows his true colors, smacking, choking and generally menacing Sookie when she asks if he’d mind terribly dating her for a while before they marry.

Is it just me or was the season very soft-core porn? No judgment here – just sayin.’ For example, Sookie having her way with a tied-up Warlo, Jessica doing it with the vamp with a conscience…

​

Eric meets the sun or does he? Pam is on her way, I bet she rescues him.Eventually, all of the fae blood that the vampires drank wears off. A bummer, sure, but not a life-and-death kinda big deal if they’re indoors when they resume being creatures of (only) the night. Unfortunately, Eric just happens to be nude sunbathing in his native Sweden at the time, and trapped outside, he appears to go up in flames.

 

The ending felt very 1950s aesthetic-wise. Did you see the dress Sookie was wearing? I’m glad she’s all lovey-dovey with Alcide. I hoped they’d get together but now that Bill is back in the picture… Sookie and Alcide are just beginning to recover from the amnesia that seemed to make them both forget how into each other they once were.

So Bill renounced Lilith and his old self again. Kind of. Now he’s a famous vampire best-selling author. Bill is the author of a bestseller about the Governor’s invention of hep V.

​

We are left with a new threat. In scarier news, packs of hep V-infected vampires are on the prowl and using small towns like Bon Temps as buffet lines.

​

On Facebook my friend Liorah said “I’m pretty sure the entire writing staff of True Blood was tripping this whole season.” That might be the best way to wrap-up the season.