At the end of last season, I was so over True Blood that I wrote an Open Letter to Alan Ball blog post and gave him the what for and why. Well, that did not do a whole hell of a lot of good considering all the things we have heard for the upcoming 5th season. I have posted a couple more of my opinions but since then have not written a thing pertaining to True Blood. The show can no longer Glamour me into believing that it is worthy of the same amount of attention I gave it in the past.
True Blood has lost its glamour for several reasons and the major one is that it has not stayed true to the ‘spirit of the books’ and because the writing has gone so far off the rails that there is no way to get it back on track. The writing is not the only problem, it’s the never-ending cast of characters that just keeps growing with every season and barely having anything to do with the main story-line. Oh, but that is another post altogether so I digress.
Where do I begin? Well, the beginning is always good. Season 1 was really well written and for the most part, stuck to the story that can be found in the much beloved Sookie Stackhouse Novels. The same can be said for season 2, except for the Maryanne diatribe that lasted too damn long and could have had more to do with the main character but was still pretty good. Season 3 started with the plot holes and devices that made you want to scream and throw things at your flat-screen! Season 4 continued with more of the same but it was so much worse than before. There were too many characters that were merely used as plot fillers or devices, plots that did not intersect with the main. Bottom line, the writing needs to make sense and believable to the general audience as a whole. We, as an audience remember EVERYTHING and would rather not be insulted.
You want examples because boy do I have them?! The following characters were not only boring but completely unnecessary for these were things we already knew. Kitch Maynard taking V? We already knew the effects of V when used consistently by someone! Next! Mavis and her baby or rather Arlene’s, was nothing but a plot filler and it was not needed to prove that Lafayette could communicate with the dead! We already knew that from the jump. BORING! Hot Shit, I mean Shot was ridiculous because we already knew they were a bunch of inbreeding nasty beasts and we did not need to see it again, just to watch Jason get raped repeatedly by the girls of Hot Shot so they could carry on their panther breed. Guess what? Jason never turned because you have to be born as a twoey!
The rape of Jason was one of the most unforgivable travesties that happened in season 4 of True Blood and there were many. I do believe that this one takes the cake. A man being raped is not something that you hear about every day and True Blood could have really went somewhere great with this, instead they turned it into a “well he deserved it for being such a sex fiend” thing. They seemed to think it was his “comeuppance” and that comment by the director was sending the wrong message to me. It is beyond me why anyone would think this was a smart move to make, because making ‘light’ of anyone being raped (man or woman) is not smart. After all this, he is not even going to become a were-panther(as per Alcide and Debbie), which leads me to the healing of Jason by Jessica, so we would have another triangle that never should have been. I have nothing else to say about this except it was just yet another plot device that I mentioned above.
Now Sookie forgiving Bill made no sense at all to me. I won’t speak much on this, simply because I already have, so much so that I can’t really be bothered to do so again. It made no sense for the progression of her character, because she did not deal with the betrayal by having it out with Bill and getting it off her chest. All this succeeded in doing was to make her character go backward instead of moving forward, as far as development is concerned. What is the point of introducing things as part of a major storyline and then do nothing with it? The Rat Reveal was stated as a fact and then it was let go, as if it never even happened. Bill faced no consequences for it at all; in fact he was rewarded for it. This was an EPIC FAIL at best. I am not even going to respond to the threesome dream or the triangle that should never have been, it is not worth it. I won’t even comment about him being King, except to say that it was nothing but a plot device to get back in the Sookster’s good graces.
Regarding Sookie’s microwave fingers of fail and the whole “It only happens when I am upset” concept will just not cut it anymore. She used it in the Moon Goddess to stop Bill, Eric, Pam and Jessica from walking into the “wall of sun” but could not use it moments before when the two men she claimed to love were about to off themselves in the name of love. Nor could she use her power while she was trapped inside the ring of fire, she was upset so she should have used her fear and set her hands aglow but no such luck. Sookie should be made of stronger stuff by now but yet she is not, thus we witnessed her character regress in most aspects, AGAIN!
The Character Assassinations of Eric/Pam was really hard to watch and I not I am not speaking for myself only. Eric was played beautifully by Alexander Skarsgard, and likewise with Pam, by Kristin Bauer Van Straten. With that being said, there were serious issues with the characters being a little too OOC for many of the viewer’s sake. Before anyone jumps on the “this is not the books” bandwagon, I will tell you that this has nothing to do with the books, strictly the show. Now, from what we have seen of him in seasons past, Eric is a vampire that is high-handed, full of practicality and pride and would not show that Sookie hurt him in the worst way possible. He would not have been groveling at her feet and begging after she told him she loved Bill too. He may love Sookie but he has his pride.
Pam is a smart, sassy/snarky outspoken vampire, who does not take any crap. This is another character that seemed to regress as the season went on. She started out as the same old Pam but then went downhill by mid-season. In season 3, we saw her withstand days of torture by silver at the hands of the Magister, and never once did she give up Eric’s whereabouts. However, in season 4, when her face was falling off, she gave him up faster that you could say “Gesundheit”. These are just many of the reasons that the writing has gone to hell in a hand-basket and I am not sure it can be fixed or if the powers that be even realize they have a problem? Could it be that they just don’t care? I am leaning towards the latter rather than the former. I think that is a down-right shame. I will still watch True Blood, more out of curiosity than out of a love for the show because * In my best Jeff Probst voice* the first television show taken off my HBO playlist is: True Blood: gather your things (*read truly bad plot-lines, plot devices and huge gaping plot-holes) and bring me your torch! Sorry True Blood, but you have been taken off my favorite TV show list, and there will be no redemption or second chances for you to get back in my good graces. Fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice,shame on me!
Does True Blood still Glamour you? Sound off below!
