True Blood season 5...

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True Blood season 5...

Post by Faqa »

is not terribly popular here, if this is the first thread on it here. Ah, well. Anyone care about the first two episodes?

Personally, I think the directions look very promising:

- Sookie is in a plotline that doesn't involve her boobs, and that might actually involve her focusing on something besides herself. Lafayette actually has material to work with! And they might even have room for a plotline with thought and ambiguity, since Tara is clearly going to elucidate in the next few episodes why she's so angry. Though I'm not sure what to think about even a vampire turning as a tool to make Tara a victim AGAIN. Plot also gives us the (Pam!) line of the season so far - "I am wearin' a Walmart sweatsuit for y'all! And if that isn't team spirit, I don't know what is!". I'm pretty sure I mention this at the beginning of every season - but, never change, Pam.

- We are getting some good vampire politics in the Authority's plans for Bill and Eric. If not quite the direction I was hoping they would take, it's still fun to see the high council and the motives of the vampire movement. I'm hoping to see some not-insane views to the contrary of what the authority thinks - there ARE downsides to exposing the vampires to public scrutiny. Like, say, someone finding out that UV lights is apparantly all you need to put vamps down, no matter how old they are. We already saw the start of this in gun shops like the one Sookie shopped in. If the show would just execute Nora like it keeps threatening to, this plotline would be perfect. I especially loved the interrogation scenes:

"Now.... was it you or Bill Compton who murdered Nan Flanigan?"
*blink* "Nan Flanigan is dead?"

"Why suffer through all..." *gestures* "of this if you don't have to?"
"Ah seemply eenjoy your compahny"

Although this sudden solidarity between Eric and Bill is somewhat jarring. What, is being ejected from Sookie's "super snatch" (Pam!) that personality-altering? Those two hated each other way before Blondie showed up.

Also, watching Christopher Meloni butcher Aramic through an American accent is at least as funny as Stephen Moyer's Southern accent, if less intentional. They can just keep doing that all day.

- Jessica is, sadly, a bit stalled in place. I mean, she's finding an identity as a vampire, after rejecting one as "quiet Southern girl" last season. I get that.... but I don't get where they plan to go specifically with that idea. Though if she's going to continue to kick around Steve Newlin like that every episode, I'm not sure I mind. I think ennui will play a role, however. Her little speech about not needing college wasn't in a vaccum - she really doesn't need anything, has everything and eternity to enjoy it. So..... what now?

Sidenote - I've read an excellent interpretation of the fact that Jessica's house parties are.... rather tame for a wannabe-wild teenager with unlimited time, resources and charisma (via her wealth and standing). If one thinks about it, all Jessica got from her human upbringing was "obey or the belt". Her next mentor/father was Beel Compton. OF COURSE she's turned out a giant dork who thinks Rock Band and beer quarters are a wild night.

- Jason is frustrating. Has the show, like, completely forgotten that they've grown him as a character through the past two seasons? This take on him as slowly realizing he's an immature layabout (who.... likes hanging out with college students despite steadily growing out of their age bracket) seems to rely on the Jason of season 1. I realize the temptation to pretend Crystal and Co. never actually happened, but it's lazy and idiotic. Just about the only thing I like about him thus far is his confusion on Jessica's intentions for him.

- Terry/Arleen, Sam/werewolves - boooooooooooring! And, in the case of the werewolf pack's culinary habits - ew.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Dread Not »

I'm anticipating better things than last season. I didn't much care for the Wicca arc last year so I'm glad it's behind us. I find it quite odd that the first two episodes and the preview for next week show no signs of the fairies. That plot thread really didn't go anywhere in S4, but Andy's little encounter seemed to indicate that they were going to pick it up again in S5, and now... nada. There's plenty of episodes left but the way the writers have been beating around the bush strikes me as quite peculiar.

I like the direction the main plot with the authority is going more than anything. The driving force of vampire politics made S3 my favorite, though as I recall I'm in the minority on this board. I'm not too thrilled to see Edgington recycled as an antagonist but I suppose it had to happen eventually.

I'm also interested in where the Steve Newlin thread goes, but I'm otherwise pretty "meh" towards the rest of the plot. Overall this season isn't blowing my mind so far, but with there being so little I feel inclined to watch, I'm glad it's here and I'm hoping it delivers good things.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

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Faqa wrote:Plot also gives us the (Pam!) line of the season so far - "I am wearin' a Walmart sweatsuit for y'all! And if that isn't team spirit, I don't know what is!". I'm pretty sure I mention this at the beginning of every season - but, never change, Pam.
That's not her best line, her best line was when Sookie was bargaining with her to turn Tara;

"If you can use your magic hands or your super snatch or whatever power it is that you have over Eric to fix what is broken between us and you'll still owe me one? You've got yourself a deal."

God I love Pam. Although, I suspect, that it might be her that dug Russell out.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Crown »

Faqa wrote:Although this sudden solidarity between Eric and Bill is somewhat jarring.
Well, to be slightly cynical, it's more likely they know that if one admits what happened, both are dead.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by TheHammer »

Faqa wrote: Although this sudden solidarity between Eric and Bill is somewhat jarring. What, is being ejected from Sookie's "super snatch" (Pam!) that personality-altering? Those two hated each other way before Blondie showed up.
I think its pretty clear that underneath it all, Eric does have a code of honor, and a strong sense of loyalty to those he deems worthy. Its getting deemed worthy that is the real trick. As does Bill likewise. Obviously neither one is perfect, but it seems once you become part of their inner circle they won't sell you out.

Remember, when Eric got his memories back he also retained all of his memories from the amneisa period last season. So he remembers that Bill could have easily offed him and would have suffered no repurcussions for doing so. I have to believe that earned a lot of Eric loyalty points. You also have the struggle against the common enemy of witches, being burned at the stake together as things that could bring them closer together.

Finally, since they both know Sookie's secret and have experienced, and ultimately been turned away sookie's super snatch then they don't really have that object that made them such great rivals to begin with. It's now a matter of survival and quite frankly, it seems clear to both of them that they are going to be extremely short on friends right now given their current situation with the authority.

And incidentally, it seems to me both would be far too old and experienced to fall for the old "Your friends are ratting you out right now. You better talk before they do!" even if they still hated each other. I think they both know that they are both true-dead if the truth comes out regardless, and their only hope is to stick to their original story.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by TheHammer »

Crown wrote:
Faqa wrote:Although this sudden solidarity between Eric and Bill is somewhat jarring.
Well, to be slightly cynical, it's more likely they know that if one admits what happened, both are dead.
There was more too it than that though. Remember when they blew up the car in the first episode that Bill? I think was injured and encouraged Eric to run for it and Eric stayed to try and help him out. Or it may have been the other way around, regardless it does seem as though this goes beyond self preservation.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Rahvin »

Crown wrote:
Faqa wrote:Plot also gives us the (Pam!) line of the season so far - "I am wearin' a Walmart sweatsuit for y'all! And if that isn't team spirit, I don't know what is!". I'm pretty sure I mention this at the beginning of every season - but, never change, Pam.
That's not her best line, her best line was when Sookie was bargaining with her to turn Tara;

"If you can use your magic hands or your super snatch or whatever power it is that you have over Eric to fix what is broken between us and you'll still owe me one? You've got yourself a deal."

God I love Pam. Although, I suspect, that it might be her that dug Russell out.
No way. She's way too attached to Eric, and she knows what Russell will do if he ever sees Eric again. And Pam is most typically heartless, not brainless.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Dread Not »

TheHammer wrote:Remember, when Eric got his memories back he also retained all of his memories from the amneisa period last season. So he remembers that Bill could have easily offed him and would have suffered no repurcussions for doing so. I have to believe that earned a lot of Eric loyalty points. You also have the struggle against the common enemy of witches, being burned at the stake together as things that could bring them closer together.

Finally, since they both know Sookie's secret and have experienced, and ultimately been turned away sookie's super snatch then they don't really have that object that made them such great rivals to begin with. It's now a matter of survival and quite frankly, it seems clear to both of them that they are going to be extremely short on friends right now given their current situation with the authority.
There's also the fact that Bill released Eric knowing that Eric would be off to have his way with Sookie as soon as he was free, and Bill also gave Eric and Sookie his blessing right before Sookie rejected them both.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by FaxModem1 »

I'm guessing the Authority Council is going to eat it by the end of the season, due to the fact that one of the Chancellors is played by a kid.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Vympel »

Ugh, they brought Tara back. And her getting her brains splattered all over Sookie's kitchen was easily the best thing to happen to that supremely annoying character.

And Jason still has nothing to do.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Pelranius »

Steve Newlin as the "new Nan Flanagan". LOL
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Re: True Blood season 5...

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- Seriously, Bill Compton? YOU, of all people, did not teach your daughter what fairies smell like? FAIL Maker. I'm beginning to understand Eric's distaste for him, especially given how seriously we see he takes his progeny. Although it's interesting that Jessica never smelled Sookie that way before. Possibly the whole thing is based on sexual attractiveness? Although, this is also a bit weird because not every vamp has come unhinged from smelling Sookie. And then it gets weird when we recall that Barry was around vampires as part of a previous JOB and he kept his abilities secret. How did he do that if he sets off that kind of reaction?

- Hoyt in black eyeliner! WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW DEEPLY PERFECT AND HILARIOUS THIS IS. This is exactly how I would imagine Hoyt would figure "cool badasses" dress up.

- Pam's backstory is..... surprisingly appropriate to her character? I guess I'm still confused whenever we get entire storylines that are trashily hilarious. The Pam of the flashbacks seemed to integrate seamlessly with the Pam of the modern-day - it's just her given absolute power over her surroundings. Especially the part where we see how she's ALWAYS been cripplingly anxious and learned to cover it up with brass balls and acid wit. Now, she's had no real reason to be anxious the last century or so, but it's still a part of her.

(Sidenote - Lorena's accent was not the "Ah am DRAYMATIC!" accent she usually used in previous episodes and passed on to her offspring. It was downright reasonable and subdued. :( )

- We've seen this several times in the past, but Bill looking TINY next to Eric will just never be not funny. Bill and Eric's first meeting was, again, very much in line with the status quo between them at the beginning of season 1.

- "Think about her tits, think about her tits, anything but the walk-in... DAMMIT!" - is this a show metaphor? Although, on a more serious note, Sookie and Sam's conversation felt very.... inorganic. Maybe because serious plots with them together were pretty much dropped around season 2, but the two feel like they've been in seperate worlds for long enough now that they just don't do that sort of casual trust and conversation. Also, the show pretending Sookie still works is always a reminder of how little it cares for some forms of continuity.

- Though the Tara plot was mostly stalled this episode, I found Tara's plea to Sam of "I'm.... hungry" to be heartbreaking. Excellent line delivery. For all the faults of how Tara has been written, her actress is of True Blood caliber without a doubt.

- Meanwhile, there was some moral ambiguity on the Sookie front - through her conversation with Alcide! Her sort of desperate insistance to see if Alcide was going to "tell" on her really drove home that Sookie feels that she did something terrible - something shameful. She even lost her customary moral indignation that she usually reserves for those who dare cross or criticize the Magical Good Super Snatch Fairy Of Bon Temp. And Alcide, too, knows perfectly well that whatever Sookie's motives, Debbie was a walking time bomb - he warned her of as much. Food for thought on that little scene.

- I.... am not buying this "raped and became promiscuous" backstory of Jason's. It's not that the idea is impossible - it's that we have just never seen him act in a way consistent with this. He's always just treated sex as this marvelous toy that he wants to play with as much as possible. That's not consistent with a guy sleeping around just for self-worth. Oh, I suppose it could be, but it just doesn't make the same sort of "of COURSE" sense that we get from Pam's backstory this season or Bill's backstory last season. TWOP's Jacob has suggested that this is an attempt to apologize to viewers for the "hurr, rape is deserved if it happens to a MALE SLUT" thing last year. I'm not so sure about that one. His scene with Jessica being more of a human being than most REAL humans on this show, however, is my favorite of the episode. Jessica may be a spoiled Daddy's girl babyvamp, but she's still capable of empathy when she chooses.

- Nora redeems herself by outing herself as a religious fanatic who was using Bill and Eric for her own ends. Now this is MUCH better than "incest Eric sister with an ATTITUDE!" thing she had going on in ep 1.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by FaxModem1 »

Was Nora really religious, or was that her saying what her interrogator wanted to hear so that Bill and Eric wouldn't be killed?
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Rahvin »

Faqa wrote:- Seriously, Bill Compton? YOU, of all people, did not teach your daughter what fairies smell like? FAIL Maker. I'm beginning to understand Eric's distaste for him, especially given how seriously we see he takes his progeny. Although it's interesting that Jessica never smelled Sookie that way before. Possibly the whole thing is based on sexual attractiveness? Although, this is also a bit weird because not every vamp has come unhinged from smelling Sookie. And then it gets weird when we recall that Barry was around vampires as part of a previous JOB and he kept his abilities secret. How did he do that if he sets off that kind of reaction?
Amnesia-Eric reacted exactly the same way when he caught the scent of Sookie's "fairy godmother." Except of course that he caught her and drained her dry.

Vampires can smell pure Fey, but not part Fairies like Sookie. She just tastes great.

So our new mystery Fairy-man is actually a pure-blood Fey, not just the descendent of some inter-species encounter.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Faqa »

Huh. I figured that was Barry the bellboy from season 2, for whatever reason. But yeah, his character is listed as "Faerie Claude" in the credits, so it isn't him.

Bill still sucks for not warning Jessica about the whole thing, though. He KNOWS all about faeries, and knows how seductive the smell can be, even in half-breeds, even when vampires are perfectly aware of it. Leaving Jessica to be blindsided by an encounter like that is just neglectful.
Was Nora really religious, or was that her saying what her interrogator wanted to hear so that Bill and Eric wouldn't be killed?
Nora is a former Chancellor. She knew the Council would do whatever the Council would do, regardless of what they promised prisoners. Whatever she said wasn't meant to sway them.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

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Faqa wrote:
- I.... am not buying this "raped and became promiscuous" backstory of Jason's. It's not that the idea is impossible - it's that we have just never seen him act in a way consistent with this. He's always just treated sex as this marvelous toy that he wants to play with as much as possible. That's not consistent with a guy sleeping around just for self-worth. Oh, I suppose it could be, but it just doesn't make the same sort of "of COURSE" sense that we get from Pam's backstory this season or Bill's backstory last season. TWOP's Jacob has suggested that this is an attempt to apologize to viewers for the "hurr, rape is deserved if it happens to a MALE SLUT" thing last year. I'm not so sure about that one. His scene with Jessica being more of a human being than most REAL humans on this show, however, is my favorite of the episode. Jessica may be a spoiled Daddy's girl babyvamp, but she's still capable of empathy when she chooses.
I don't think he was raped, nor was that implied. Rather he simply had his virginity taken at a young age by one of his teachers, and probably had lots of praised heaped on him because of it. Obviously he enjoys sex and no doubt does treat it as a toy when things were going well in his life, but also as a pick me up whenever he was feeling down.
Faqa wrote:Huh. I figured that was Barry the bellboy from season 2, for whatever reason. But yeah, his character is listed as "Faerie Claude" in the credits, so it isn't him.

Bill still sucks for not warning Jessica about the whole thing, though. He KNOWS all about faeries, and knows how seductive the smell can be, even in half-breeds, even when vampires are perfectly aware of it. Leaving Jessica to be blindsided by an encounter like that is just neglectful.
Well to be fair, we don't know what he has and hasn't told Jessica regarding fairies. Since I expect they'll have a more pronounced presence this season that detail should become evident.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Meest »

Jason is also or could be depending on show/book canon part fairy so he has some charm ability. Hope the teacher experience isn't the explanation, though in general that's how this season is going, seems really not thought out and going too far into camp. With the show-runner leaving I think he might be trying to leave a stamp on the series or not caring because it seems off.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Scrib »

Does anyone else hate the preacher turned vampire? Jesus, it comes across as low and mean-spirited every time he fulfills one of those bad religious cliches. Now I'm not a fan of religion in general, but after last season I don't need to be reminded of the utter caricature the writers make of every single anti-vampire supporter, especially when they're very, very right.I honestly can't remember how he was turned, but isn't this the sort of thing that draws questions and scandal? I mean, real fucking scandal?
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by The Yosemite Bear »

doesn't someone whose been undead for centuries know by now that torture doesn't work?
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by FaxModem1 »

FaxModem1 wrote:I'm guessing the Authority Council is going to eat it by the end of the season, due to the fact that one of the Chancellors is played by a kid.
Well, called the kid Chancellor's death.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

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The Yosemite Bear wrote:doesn't someone whose been undead for centuries know by now that torture doesn't work?
That's a complaint in general, a lot of the ancient characters in the show don't show it. Only Eric when he's not swooning over Sookie seems to show patience and tries to cover his bases and plan ahead.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by Crown »

Pam might be the one saving grace of the Tara character, we shall see. I've gotta give props to the writers how they've set up the Pam transition from an uncaring bitch to an uncaring bitch who wants to help Tara via the flashbacks to her and Eric, and how he drilled in her what being a Maker means.

The one thing I'm concerned about is how there are just a few too many story lines at the moment, and I'm losing intrest in most of them.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by FaxModem1 »

Well, that's another Merlotte's employee dead.
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by The Yosemite Bear »

I had to sleep who died this time?
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Re: True Blood season 5...

Post by The Grim Squeaker »

The Yosemite Bear wrote:I had to sleep who died this time?
Fuckton spoiler: Spoiler
Sam is shot. His ex-GF (the indian chick with the werewolf daughter) is shot and killed.
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