TRUE BLOOD (TV Series 2008-): Our Vampires Ourselves
July 12th 2009 06:46
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The series is based on the concept that the Japanese have developed synthetic blood called True Blood that replaces the vampires’ need to feed on human victims allowing them to come "out of the coffin" and integrate into society. "True Blood" is set in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana (and filmed in Baton Rouge), where our heroine, the telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (The Piano and X-Men franchise Anna Paquin in a Golden Globe winning performance) works at Merlotte's Bar and Grill, the town’s hub of social life. There she meets and falls for the dashing, yet mysteriously grumpy vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer, who also played a vampire in the British 6-part TV series, "Ultraviolet" in 1998), who’s in his 170’s and therefore appears to her exceptionally…mature. Bill is a “Louis” type of vampire: prone to existentialist brooding and a rather old-fashioned approach to courting. His most attractive quality for Sookie is that she cannot hear his thoughts.
The Southern Belle with her fangy gentleman suitor: Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer in "True Blood"
Their complex, obstacle-ridden romance is interspersed with equally intriguing side storylines involving a serial murder spree, in which Sookie’s hunky but dim-witted brother Jason (Aussie Ryan Kwanten) becomes the main suspect. Other key players include Sookie's best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) whose sour temper and race belie her Southern Belle name, and her cousin Lafayette, the flamboyant and saucy gay cook at Merlotte's, who also dabbles in internet porn and drug-dealing, including the coveted "V" (vampire blood). Sookie’s boss, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), is a nice guy who has a crush on her and a strange secret of his own…
Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) at Merlotte's Bar and Grill
The town’s vampire community is kept in check by Eric (Alexander Skarsgård, son of Stellan), who rules from Fangtasia, a vampire nightclub straight out of The Queen of the Damned (2002), which also attracts “fang bangers” – the vampires’ human groupies. Eric, who’s around a thousand years old, fills the shoes of the series’ “Lestat” and does what Sawyer (Josh Holloway) does for “Lost” – fully embraces the hunk factor. He has numerous sidekicks, of whom pump and whip loving, plump-lipped Pam (Kristin Bauer) is a standout.
Eric and Pam on a glamour rampage in "True Blood"
Limbs do fly, but the vampires are often much less scary than the toe-curling Evangelist religious camps or what lurks beneath the “happy family life” facades of the human population of Bon Temps. The series is as quirky and unsettling as its setting, offering insightful human drama in multi-layered format. As it takes its time to explore its characters and their circumstances, it might prove not horror/fantasy oriented enough for hard core genre fans, however therein also lies the show’s strength and originality. The series pushes the envelope stealthily in a variety of directions. It is quality television but no prime time fare, and includes adult-oriented themes and steady doses of grisly and often disturbing rather than glamorized violence. The sex scenes are also distinctly non-PG. In fact, if you are a delicate flower, their forthright depiction can make you blush... Sugar-coating is not Ball’s style, yet he likes his layers. "True Blood" explores shades of gray relentlessly and the punches keep on coming from unexpected sources. Another of its strengths lies in the inspired, diverse, non-plastic-fantastic casting choices: this is no “Beverly hills 90210” (1 or 2), and also avoids the shallows of typical genre crime/thriller drama, the formula being to do away with the formula.
The joys of Fangtasia afer hours: let the human clean it up
The priceless moments in the series so far include vampire Bill shopping at Target, Tara’s alcoholic mother getting a hoodoo exorcism, Eric expressing concern that blood got into his foils, Sam streaking stark-naked through the Spanish moss-ridden woods on the bayou, and Sookie’s open-minded grandmother inviting Bill to the local book reading club to talk about the Civil War in which he actually fought. There's nothing quite like the silver lining approach towards vampires.
See the show's opening credits here
Alan Ball was born in Atlanta, Georgia and his interest here seems to lie mainly in examining the quirkiness and intricacies of life in the American South. The critics’ main concern with the series is that it is hard to pinpoint its tone. Alternately serious and self-deprecatingly humorous, heartbreaking and cringe-inducing, “True Blood” mimics life Southern style, with a dash of irony bitters. The "True Blood" Vampireland – the American South with its decaying mansions, suffocating hothouse climate, swamps, hoodoo, and mixture of exotic accents, colours and breeds - allows vampires, shape shifters and other strange, possibly mythical creatures to fit right in, merely externalizing the Gothic eccentricities this part of the world is so famous for. The series incorporates the lyrical Southern milieu of sprawling estates, decay and lethal beauty known from William Faulkner’s descriptions of Yoknapatawpha County and Truman Capote’s Southern Gothic-inspired novels and stories ("Hand Carved Coffins" come to mind). It features confrontational and intelligent writing, borrowing the themes of Gothic intensity and the complexity of family relationships to tackle real issues of discrimination, the pleasures and pitfalls of drugs, alcohol addiction, politics, sexuality, abuse, faith and zealotry, which all make for haunting, compulsive viewing. If you choose to give in to the languorous and sultry story-telling style be prepared to be sucked in. You have been warned: “True Blood” is seriously addictive, leaving you thirsty for more.
See "True Blood" Season 2 Teaser here
Review by Patricia Bieszk
© Copyright P. Bieszk 2009
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