True Blood Season 4 (spoilers)

[Vympel]

Having an RPG with a reasonable stand-in for a thermobaric round was a big surprise

Anyway, I liked this episode. I'm really pissed that they might get rid of Pam, I really want her curse to be lifted, if it wasn't already through Marnie's death.

Still, the ending for this episode and the preview for next week's shit me.

[FaxModem1]

"YOU CAN'T TRADE MAGIC LIKE FUCKING POKEMON CARDS!"

[Flagg]

So... Many... Cliffhangers...

[TheHammer]

A lot of people died that's for sure. Granted, most were secondary characters but they'd spanned multiple seasons. Possibly One "main" character as well?

[loomer]

Two seasons now that have had a last episode with Debbie invading Sookie's home.

Also, isn't that the first human life Sookie's taken?

[Meest]

Good thing I watched Entourage first, made this finale so much better. Didn't like the first three quarters then it got better, though should've of stretched out all these cliffhangers and plot lines. Hope Lafayette still has enough to do since the witches seem done for, and hooray for Tara dying and Sookie getting serious for once.

[CaptainChewbacca]

The mutiny should be interesting if anything comes of it, but after the scene in the parking lot, all I can say is:
Spoiler

Hail to the King, Baby.

[Vympel]

This season finale was just plain bad. It was all over the place, disjointed, random, gratuitious - just trying to juggle way too many balls and failing. The previous episode should've been the damn finale.

Terrible. Awful. Boo!

(not to say there wasn't anything good, like Bill and Eric's conversation with Nan- and - finally Tara getting fucking killed)

EDIT: basically, only from 54 minutes in was this trainwreck any good.

[TheHammer]

This season finale was just plain bad. It was all over the place, disjointed, random, gratuitious - just trying to juggle way too many balls and failing. The previous episode should've been the damn finale.

Terrible. Awful. Boo!

(not to say there wasn't anything good, like Bill and Eric's conversation with Nan- and - finally Tara getting fucking killed)

EDIT: basically, only from 54 minutes in was this trainwreck any good.

Yeah it seems like the end part with Marnie should have been part of the previous episode. So as a "finale" yeah it didn't seem to fit quite right. It was more like a pre-view for next season's story lines... All in all, though it was still entertaining.

[Darksider]

Please tell me Tara is dead for good. Her storylines are always the most useless and grating around. Honestly at this point the only characters I like are the PTSD-fucked vet guy and his bumbling cousin sheriff, so I hope they get some material next season. I'm sorry to see Nan go actually, It seems like she was one of the few vampires that actually wanted to co-exist with humans as partners as opposed to demanding legal rights in our society and the proceeding to wipe their collective asses with out laws. Edginton is back, and so is reverend douchebag, so there might be some interesting human-vampire conflict next season, though once again it'll be fanatics vs. assholes. Is it too much to ask for that someone manages to stand up against the vampires without being a colossal douche?

[Thinktank]

Russel Edgington is back.
I could care less for the rest of it.

Well that and Pam's ranting was pretty awesome and on target.

[Alferd Packer]

I liked pretty much the entire episode, though the Jessica/Jason sex scenes are kind of retarded, given that the actress playing Jessica apparently doesn't want to show her boobs. I'm pretty sure that, at one point, her nipple had been airbrushed out.

At any rate, Vampire Steve Newlin and Russell Edgington both hold great promise for next season. Also, since they've departed so far from the source material, I kind of wonder what they're going to do for next year. I kinda hope they skip the fifth book entirely either do the sixth or seventh book's main plot as the backdrop for the next season.

[Faqa]

The TB season finale, otherwise known as the Cleansing Of The Cast, because - damn. Nan, Jesus AND Tara? Bravo, True Blood, I didn't know you had it in you. Not to mention that we seem to have whole season devoted to vampire politics and the world Ball has set up, and for that I say - yay! Can we go to Dallas again? Canwecanwecanwe?!!!

I await the next season with more eagerness than I've awaited any TB season. Especially now if it's actually going to shock me.

The Good:
- Jessica in her Red Riding Hood costume.
- Sookie walking away from Bill and Eric again. Maybe we can even spend a season where she isn't a prize in the middle of them? Maybe even have the heroine of the show do something other than shoot white light and show her boobs?
- The resolution of the Hoyt-Jessica-Jason plot. Jason made his choice, he lost his best friend, and everyone has to live with the result. Maturely done. Even moreso on Jessica's part for realizing that she's a teenage human and a baby vampire, and therefore knows jack-shit about what she wants. And Hoyt lost out, but that happens sometimes too. Do I see him joining forces with the good Reverend in the future?
- Jessica in her Red Riding Hood costume.
- The way everyone treated Bill and Eric as maidens to be rescued and otherwise ignored during the last showdown with Marnie - that was just hilarious.
- Mrs. Fortenberry showing up for Tommy's funeral. Christ, even the bit players on this show are ridiculously good. She and Sam gave Tommy a fitting epitaph - a boy who never learned you shouldn't hurt the people you love, and in fact learned the opposite.
- Arlene's daughter dressed up as "America's Next Teen Mom"! Both a continuity nod and hilarious in the white-trash-humor way this show has.
- Andy and Holly's scene - nothing special, but did anyone notice how Chris Bauer carried himself there? His entire body language was different - smoother, less jerky, more confident? Because he's off the V, of course, but I never noticed him putting on mannerisms during the season to begin with. Until he lost them. THAT is good acting, ladies and gentlemen.
- Newlin and Edginton as next season's villains. Although I cop to missing the significance of the scene where Alcide finds the broken chain, and needed to come here for that to click into place. Combined with Bill and Eric's new rebellion against the authority.... well, this could get interesting in a hurry.
- Crying Pam ( ) being cuddled by her much-abused assistant.
- Bill and Eric in matching bathrobes. Tee hee!
- Jessica in the ridiculously sexy Red Riding Hood costume. I SAID GOD DAMN! Deborah Ann Woll rocked that like nobody's business.

The Bad:
- Stretching out the Marnie plotline for another episode just to kill off Jesus just as he was getting interesting? BAH! It felt tacked on and pointless, like most of the character deaths. Why not just make the final battle against Marnie bigger and better and kill them there? That was just pointless.
- I do hope Adelle's ghost was not meant to look kindly and old, because she just looked scary and hideous. And a pointless cameo.
- Debbie coming back was just plain stupid, and did not feel natural.
- Oh, christ, Renee again? More of Arlene panicking around Terry? This is getting old fast.
- Alcide coming to pathetically throw himself at Sookie again. At least Bill and Eric had the excuse of her being vampire heroin. Dude, the show is getting over this gash in a sundress. Get with the program. DL it to your product-placed iPhone.
- NAN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I guess the actress wanted to jump ship, but still. Pam will have to handle a heavily increased snark quotient next season, and currently she's curled up into a ball crying on the floor, so I don't see her dealing well with that.
- I call utter bullshit on killing Jesus and Tara. Much as I am pleased with the show for shaking up the status quo, those characters had not served their purpose by a long shot, and I am annoyed at the loss.
- Again - I don't mind not seeing Deborah Ann Woll's tits, but I DO mind the ridiculous angles the show has to use to cover it up. Is there something wrong with a modesty sheet, show? It's what every non-HBO show uses.

The Weird:
Sooooo.... we now have one angsty, fomerly-evil vampire who was turned by an evil female who became his lover until he returned to goodness, where he currently resides brooding and being a huge dork and one blonde, vicious badass, bad-boy vampire. Both hate each other and are competing for the affections of one self-centered Show Heroine with blonde hair, super-speshul powers that allow her to beat things up and a Desire To Be Normal. Who loves both of her suitors, but doesn't currently want to be with either one. In the supporting cast, we HAD two gay witches in a couple, one of whom is now dead. AND a character named Tara killed by a bullet meant for the heroine.

Alan Ball, I am ON TO YOU.

Well, I doubt any real connection, but it's still funny.

[Dread Not]

Sooooo.... we now have one angsty, fomerly-evil vampire who was turned by an evil female who became his lover until he returned to goodness, where he currently resides brooding and being a huge dork and one blonde, vicious badass, bad-boy vampire. Both hate each other and are competing for the affections of one self-centered Show Heroine with blonde hair, super-speshul powers that allow her to beat things up and a Desire To Be Normal. Who loves both of her suitors, but doesn't currently want to be with either one. In the supporting cast, we HAD two gay witches in a couple, one of whom is now dead. AND a character named Tara killed by a bullet meant for the heroine.

Alan Ball, I am ON TO YOU.

Well, I doubt any real connection, but it's still funny.

I guess it's an indicator of how long Buffy has been off the air when I have to do several takes before I figure out what you're talking about.

Personally I really enjoyed the finale. It was definitely strangely paced but I really don't mind half an episode being devoted to resolution. That is however a little undermined by the half dozen or so cliffhangers this episode throws at you. Personally I would have liked Russell Edgington to have stayed gone. That story feels finished, and they have no shortage of other plot threads to pursue already. But I look forward to most of those other threads.

Definitely agree that Tara has to stay dead. You don't have a character get shot in the face at the end of the season only to cop out next season. But there was quite a body count this season.

I really wish the witch plot hadn't dominated the entire season. Despite what was at stake for the vampires, it felt fairly low key. It probably had something to do with all of the characters abandoning Marnie's cause, making her less and less of a threat. The season still had enough going for it for me to want to tune in next year though.

[Vympel]

I'm really fucking annoyed that there was no resolution of Pam's curse. Is she cursed, or isn't she? Pisses me off.

[Faqa]

I'm guessing it's like the sun-barrier around the coven - i.e, Sookie's blast knocked it out.

It is no mean feat to beat a vamp's regeneration. Given that Pam was otherwise a normal vampire, that spell had to be repeatedly causing her flesh to rot. It's a sustained effect, so it would disappear when Marnie got blasted.

Also, as long as I'm forcing connections to other fantasy works - did anyone else get a SERIOUS Stardust vibe from the scene between Andy and the fairy last episode?