Last night’s Season 5 finale of True Blood was full of action and shocking twists. Several times during the episode I was actually yelling at my television, which was no doubt what Alan Ball was going for during his last episode as the head of the show. Ball spoke with TV Line about the various twists in the finale, his handing of the reins over to Mark Hudis, and what we can expect during Season 6.
First up is the question that is no doubt on everyone’s mind after watching that episode – what the heck is up with Bill (Stephen Moyer)?? TV Line asked Ball if Bill is a God and as we have come to expect the answer was fairly cryptic:
I don’t want to say if he is or he isn’t. Who’s to say what Lilith really is? He is still Bill but he is something different.
Ball goes on to say that Bill is still in there, will still have all his memories, etc. but the question is if he will choose to be evil and what is he going to do. I guess we have to wait until Season 6 to find out! TV Line asked Ball if Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) will now be the “hero” of the show since Bill appears to be heading into the bad guy territory:
Remains to be seen. They’ve both been heroes in their own way. Eric was kind of like a mischievous cad, but I don’t think he was ever, like, a true villain the way that Russell was or the way that Maryann was. And he’s done a lot of really heroic things himself. So I never really looked at Eric as the bad guy and Bill as the good guy – at least not since the very early seasons. But it remains to be seen what will go down with both of them.
Now the body count was definitely high like Ball had previously stated, but for some characters their death wasn’t as definitive as when a vampire splatters all over the room. When asked if Luna (Janina Gavankar) was dead, he would only say that we will have to watch next season to find out and that we “didn’t see her die”. That means there is still hope for Sam/Luna fans! Sadly for Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) fans, Ball had this to say when he was asked if Russell was dead:
He’s gone. We may see him in flashbacks, but he bit it.
What does that mean for Russell’s new love Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian)? It seems the powers that be aren’t quite sure either. Apparently Ball has spoken to Hudis and some very broad ideas have been pitched for Steve but nothing has been firmed up.
Now one of the moments that definitely had me cheering was the Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) and Tara (Rutina Wesley) kiss. In my opinion pairing these two up in any way was a stroke of genius on the writers parts and according to Ball they knew at the beginning of the season that this was where it would end up, but they wanted to tease it out. When asked what it was about the two that made the writers think they would make a good couple, Ball replied:
They both were, if not full-on lesbians, than bisexual. They both were characters with real attitude. And they both hate each other — at least they did at the beginning of the season. And that, to me, felt like it could create a lot of tension that could turn romantic towards the end.
I think they need to add in that Rutina and Kristin have a great chemistry and play off each other so well. But Tara/Pam fans shouldn’t expect a fuzzy, happy ending for the pair. As Ball points out happy couples don’t make for good television so we should expect a monkey wrench to be thrown into their relationship. He does confirm that this is a storyline that will continue into next season and that it is his understanding that Hudis is committed to the pairing.
A question that was left really hanging – more so if you watched the bonus scene that we posted here, is who is Warlow? Ball says that the questions were deliberately left unanswered as they didn’t want to define this Warlow character until Season 6. He says that Warlow will be a big part of the next season and he won’t comment on whether or not it is someone that we already know. Sounds interesting!
One non-finale question that TV Line asked Ball was why they wrote out Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and he replies that he felt that Hoyt’s story had been told. They loved the character and Parrack so they left it open so that Hoyt could return in the future if storyline allowed for it.
When asked how he was feeling now that the finale, which was his swan song as head of the show, had aired Ball replied:
It’s bittersweet. It’s been such a big part of my life for so long; of course it’s hard to step away. But running that show is such a huge job and I’ve been doing it for five years straight. I just don’t think I have another season left in me. I need to re-charge. And then I’m interested in doing something new — something with different characters and a different tone. As a writer, it’s fun to create. And once you get into a long-running show with very established characters and a very established tone and format, after a while it’s a really great job but that’s what it is — a job. You’re just continuing to create the same show. I’m at the point in my life where I don’t want to work as hard. Actually, I’ve had to take a good hard look at workaholism and it’s effect on one’s mental health. [Laughs] And, also, there are things I want to do that are different. I want to try something completely different.
Ball tells fans that the show is in very good hands with Mark Hudis and that three other writers have been with the show since the beginning.
So Truebies what are your thoughts on what Ball had to say about the finale, Season 6 and his leaving the show? Let us know in the comment section below.
Source: TVLine.com – True Blood Season Finale Post Mortem: Alan Ball Answers Burning Questions, Previews Season 6
Image Credit: HBO, Inc.
