Those of you who know me will also know that I have had mixed feelings about the last two seasons of True Blood.
More so this season than last, even. It's just hard for me to see a show that has created such a great mythos for itself, that has so many great characters and potential, go down the road of lazy writing and cliches.
I have read that the writers continue working on the season after it begins filming, which is not an uncommon practice in TV land. But nowhere have the problems with this been more glaringly obvious than in this last season.
Storylines that don't go anywhere--werepanthers, Hotshot and Faeland anybody? Characters that no longer serve a purpose--you all remember my brother,Tommy? Unrelated and unnecessary character arcs that seem to exist just to fill time--medium baby thieving, for the win?
And melodrama. Melodrama. Melodrama. Bill and Sookie. Eric and Sookie. Bill and Eric and Sookie. Eric and Bill.
I will not mince words, I didn't think very much of this season.
Until this last episode.
Granted, there were a few great moments in the first eleven episodes. I really enjoyed the exchanges between Marnie and Antonia towards the end of their relationship. I think Brit Morgan is a fantastic actress and made Debbie Pelt into a complete scene stealer every time she was featured. And Ginger is always great.
But other than that, I can't really point at anything in particular I liked. This season was convoluted, had a bunch of starts and stops. Was downright silly at some points. I really thought that this might be the end for True Blood and me.
But then they go and air an episode like "And when I die."
"Die" being the operative word. Just about six characters die in this episode, or died towards the end of episode eleven.
Granted, I didn't agree with some of the writers' choices, but I think anytime a show goes through a killing off like this, the audience is going to be affected. And I certainly was. Was downright overwhelmed by that last scene.
Maybe they took cues from shows like The Vampire Diaries, which kill people off left, right and centre. Maybe the cast had gotten too bloated, maybe the writers recognized they didn't know what to do with all of them anymore and thought they were better served dead than floating around in limbo for another season.
Either way, I think they realized what they were going for.
What the writers managed to do on Sunday night was recapture some of what made me like True Blood to begin with. The finale focused on those character we know and love. It brought back spectres of the past that really formed some of the show's best story arcs and most heart wrenching moments.
It allowed Anna Paquin to show off her acting skills, once more. She does heart rending anguish quite well.
It had emotional depth and resonance and at some points was thrilling, moving and just completely fucked up. It had characters making decisions that actually made sense and managed to make all that heart wrenching interpersonal action exceed mere melodrama.
All that the show used to be.
Keep in mind that there is definitely a reasonable apprehension of bias on my part in discussing "And when I die."
I probably couldn't ever knock a Halloween episode of anything. Maybe that explains a bit.
And though the episode wasn't perfect, it was enough to put my faith back in the show, make me look forward to next season.
Until then,
A bientôt, Bon Temps...
xoxo
D-bag
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