The most common question in the last year prior to the premiere of True Blood has been “What happened to Eric?” When Kristin Bauer van Straten’s Pam finally located Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) in France in this past Sunday’s episode, the look on her face said it all. Kristin discussed Pam and Eric’s relationship with Vulture and Zap2it recently. It is her feeling that Pam can’t survive without Eric. He is her everything and losing him, whether it be to Hep-V or the grief over his sister Nora (Lucy Griffiths) is something she can’t accept:
“A lot of us have lost people, and some people you can’t imagine going forward without them. You do, and you find a way — most of us — but there’s no way Pam can. He’s a father figure plus more, and he has always been there, and he’s her rock and he’s the center of her world. Really, everything else — money, what have you — is not even up there with that relationship…he has to know that she did everything in her power to find him. And then of course when she sees him, we’ll see how far she’ll go to try and keep him with her as long as possible.”
Now of course we know that Hep-V has mutated since Nora was injected with it so the fact that Eric has it doesn’t mean he’ll be gone as quickly. And the affect that the disease has on him will be something that is seen this season. We know that Eric means a lot to Pam not only because he is her maker but also because he gave her the chance for a better life than the short, brutal, and lonely one she was destined to live out as a madam.
We’ll also learn more about how Pam has reacted to Tara’s (Rutina Wesley) death. According to Kristin answers will come in the next episode. It was an editing decision not to do so earlier. As for playing Russian roulette, Kristin has never done it but she thought that it was an interesting choice for betting purposes and for contemplating death as a vampire:
“It’s very interesting, the things humans will come up with to bet on, and I thought it was very clever that they had vampire Russian roulette with wooden bullets, with the vats that we stand in, to make it easier to get the next two in there. And we had to hold the guns right over our hearts…[Death is] a game changer in our lives. Your life is actually changed forever, and you contemplate what part of us continues, where do we continue. So I have at times been very philosophical about playing a vampire, because I thought, really, everybody is immortal — it’s just as a vampire, your body is what is becomes immortal. Almost.”
Speaking of vampires, Kristin also began watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer recently. Having been on True Blood for seven seasons, she does see parallels between Buffy and Sookie (Anna Paquin) and company particularly with the love story between Sookie and Bill (Stephen Moyer). But True Blood also showcases larger societial issues as well and, like Buffy continues to show that individuals are complex and not necessarily black or white:
“That’s the most amazing thing about True Blood — it looks fantastical, especially this season. You think, “How could a small town like this not be protected by the government?” And then we go, “Oh. Right. That actually just happened.” “How can disease be spreading … ” “Oh. Right. That actually happened.” “How can people in a town be turning on each other?” “Oh. That’s actually what happens.”
Sources: Zap2it.com- “‘True Blood’ Season 7: Pam can’t live without Eric, says Kristin Bauer van Straten”
Vulture.com- “True Blood’s Kristin Bauer van Straten on Pam’s Eric Issues and Her Newfound Appreciation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
Image Credit: HBO, Inc.