Of True Blood Season 3

Another massively late review, however since my True Blood Season 2 review is apparently the most popular review on my site, how can I not review this third season? Spoilers ahead!

Looking back on my review of True Blood Season 2 review, I probably rated a bit too high. The main issue being that the show lost a lot of steam after the characters came back to Bon Temps. The Big Bad of the season just wasn't as interesting as the other stories that were happening away from the town in the form of the hunt for Godric and The Fellowship of the Sun. The finale was a clear indication of how Season 3 was going to go. Season 2 technically ended about 30 minutes into the last episode, the rest of the episode was devoted to set up for Season 3, where we visited almost every single character and gave them a new story to follow.

This is where we land in Season 3, with about 7 different stories happening and it being more than likely you'll only care about 1 or 2 of them. Going in I found myself only really caring about Eric, Sookie and Bill's story and the one devoted to Hoyt and Jessica. Even my goodwill for Andy and Jason was taken to extreme levels of not caring by having the great comic chemistry of those two ruined by the fact that they spent most of the season in stories unrelated to each other and rarely got to be as hilarious towards the end of Season 2 when they were together.

Sam trying to find his real family started off as interesting and eventually became tedious. Tara is still the most grating character on the show and the most fun I had was watching her be abused by Franklin Mott, and then that story just kind of ended. Terry and Arlene's baby woes sucked up far too much valuable and the only enjoyable part of that was the brief appearance by Michael Raymond-James returning as Season 1's Rene. Then there was Jason and the werepanthers which never really went anywhere at all, beyond the promise of more story next season. Hell even Lafayette lost all his Season 1 edge by being embroiled in an almost superfluous plot about V and the wonders that it does for prophetic dreams

That was the main problem with Season 3 was that it felt like the start of something much bigger. Because none of the stories really ended in any satisfying way what we were left with in the finale didn't really feel that final. It felt more like a pause before the Season continues...just not for another year. Season 3 was just an unfocused mess, and whilst the messiness is part of the fun of True Blood, Season 3 suffered for it. A good season of television is able to take a variety of different strands and create a compelling narrative out of them. Whilst these different strands might not connect at the beginning of the season, by the end it's kind of expected that they intersect in different and interesting ways. True Blood Season 3 didn't really do that at all. Occasionally certain characters would cameo in someone else's story, such as Tara helping Sookie and Alcide get Bill out of Edgar's house or Jason killing Franklin for Tara, but on the most part there was no narrative cohesion. Season 3 suffered because every character seemed to exist within their own bubble and didn't care for anyone else. Whilst everyone existed in the same universe, it just felt odd that no one really knew what was going on in anyone else's lives. Watching True Blood was like watching 7 different television shows crammed into one show.

That's to say that everything sucked, I stand by the fact that Deborah Ann Woll and Jim Parrack have insane amounts of chemistry and the main story of the Season with Eric trying to take down Russell was great all the way through. Of course there were a couple of weak portions, such as whether or not Bill was truly evil got tiring a few episodes into the season. Luckily everything with Eric continued to be create because of the presence that Alexander Skarsgård brings to the show. Then there was the new character of Russell Edgington this season played Denis O'Hare who was absolutely brilliant. He brought the right amount of crazy and sinister, especially in the way he dealt with many characters throughout the season. However even this plotline hit some pot holes. Sookie being a fairy (yes Sookie is indeed a fairy) went almost nowhere this season and is probably being held onto for next season and there was the handling of Russell towards the end of the season. When episode 10 ended, it felt like shit was going to hit the fan, but then it didn't. It felt like such a disappointment that the Big Bad of the season didn't actually make anything bad happen. He just kind of got burnt to a crisp and then buried in cement. Only issue was that Eric was also buried in cement but quickly escaped, leaving us to question whether or not it was actually the end of the villain.

However enough complaining, True Blood is still True Blood. It still offers a campy show about vampires. There's still an over abundance of sex and violence. Hell there were more than enough awesome moments in Season 3 to make up for the messiness. There was Bill and Lorena's oh so violent sex scene, Sookie verus Debbie and of course Russell's excellent appearance on the news (spine rip FTW). Hell there were even werewolves and I actually quite liked Alcide. True Blood Season 3 was messy as hell and the finale wasn't nearly satisfying enough as a finale. However there were enough enjoyable moments and story potential that I'm not ready to give up on the show, but if it continues with being this mess and unsatisfying I might have to consider dropping from my rotation.

7/10

Favourite TV Shows 2009 - Top 10

I know I've put the title top 10 up in the title, but it's actually a top 11, so already I'm lying, also apologies for not getting this up sooner but a mixture of snow (and not actually being too ill this year to take advantage of it) and jumping back into school right in the middle of mocks means that I'm really quite busy. I'll have more time come summer once exams and the television season are over, but really this being done quite disjointedly whenever I have a free moment and I'm not trying to maintain a social life and my education. Not easy to say the least.

But here we go, my favourite shows of 2009.

11. Scrubs
Scrubs hit its eighth season (and technically ninth) this year, and whilst the past few seasons had been disappointing, it’s hard to say that Season 8 wasn’t an overall success. Whilst some people began to experience ‘show fatigue’, overall this eighth season was a huge return to form. Gone was the cartoony buffoon that JD had become over the preceding few seasons. Also gone were the over long fantasy sequences that had plagued the past few season. Overall, Season 8 was just back to basics Scrubs which is what we wanted all along. With one of the best episodes that Scrubs has ever made in the form of ‘My Last Words’ and a perfect finale, Scrubs Season 8 was an absolute winner, even if it did come a couple of years too late.

10. Glee
People who know might have expected to see this one a bit higher, and whilst I do deeply love Glee, it's only had 13 episodes and there were better shows from 2009. Glee is kind of the spawn of High School Musical and Freaks & Geeks. It definitely errs more towards Freaks & Geeks which is definitely a positive, considering how well regarded those 18 episodes of F&G are. Glee takes popular and show tunes and then has them be covered by the outcasts of the Glee club. It sounds like a crap idea for a show, but a mixture of the talent and it being really quite cynical about high school life make it great. Jane Lynch is superb as Sue Sylvester, one of the best comedy characters produced this year (along with Ron 'freaking' Swanson) and the rest of the cast are just as enjoyable. The show might sound like a real hard sell but overall it just works, the songs are well done, the cast is great and it just exudes happiness. It might be camp as fuck, but I love Glee and cannot wait to see what's coming in the back 9 (with an episode directed by Joss Whedon!!!)

9. True Blood
The best vampire fiction to be debuted in the post Twilight fervor. It's more adult, funnier, sexier and more enjoyable. More events are crammed into one hour of True Blood than almost any other show on television. Whilst it's easy to say that True Blood is shit, that's mostly from people who can't see the camp and humourous side to the show. You're supposed to realise that none of this is supposed to be taken seriously. There are so many great moments within True Blood that can make you laugh or even occasionally cry. There are some great characters and the plot just moves at such an unbelievable pace. Whilst the show does occasionally slip up (look at the long and protracted Maenad arc in Season 2) pound for pound, it offers the most content and enjoyability a week for each episode.

8. Parks and Recreation
Easily the best show to debut in 2009, Parks and Recreation started out slow. However like the US Office, it quickly found it's feet and when it came back for its second season it was firing on all cylinders. The characters were meshing and the writing was tighter. Everything was just working now and what went from one more tepid shows from earlier on in the year has become one of my absolute favourites. It's easily the best out of NBC's Thursday Night comedy lineup (far better than Community which flits between good and bad episodes) and one I want to see survive for a while. Hopefully it won't become like The Office where it just seems to run out of ideas, but when you have a scene stealing character as Ron 'Freaking' Swanson, I don't really mind how long it stays on the air, just so long as it maintains it's current quality.

7. How I Met Your Mother
Still my favourite overall comedy on television. Mostly because of some incredibly inventive writing and Neil Patrick Harris' portrayal of Barney Stinson. It's not the most critically acclaimed comedy on television but for me, in terms of laughs, I will get a couple of good laughs an episode and that's honestly all I really want from a comedy. We're barreling into How I Met Your Mother episode 100 tomorrow and I can't wait to see what the show does to celebrate it's longevity. HIMYM is probably the best example of a classic sitcom still on television, especially compared to the other awful examples that still exist (apart from BBT). I don't really care if we never find out who the mother is, the show is always funnier when not focusing on that story and again, it's really only the humour that matters.

6. Dexter
Dexter came back for Season 4 far stronger than it left us at the end of Season 3. Whilst Season 3 wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't as good as Season 1 or 2. It moved at a far slower pace and whilst Michael C. Hall was fantastic, as well as the stellar performance from Jimmy Smitts, they were still the two main pulls. Luckily Season 4 not only had the stellar performance of Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow, the story was a lot more exciting and delivered some terrific twists (seriously that last scene was such a curveball and just changes how the show will be next season). I can't wait for Season 5 now with such a changed landscape. My only wish is that an end date gets announced because the concept of the show is one that begs for an endpoint, we can't keep following everyone's favourite serial killer for 6 years and not have any kind conclusion. So whilst I'm sure Season 5 will be just as good, the show needs to end within the next year or two if it wants to go out on top.

5. Supernatural
I started the year watching Supernatural Season thinking it was decent yet seriously flawed show. After a couple of months break and I kept seeing good things about the show. So I decided to get over my trepidation and watch Season 2, which blew my mind. It was such a solid season of television that perfected pretty much everything that was wrong with Season 1. It was the strength of this season that led me to watch all of Season 3 and 4 before Season 5 premiered. It was such a fun ride and whilst Season 3 has sooo many flaws it doesn't harm the overall feel of the show at all. Supernatural is just a great show from start to finish. It mixes standalone and mythology based episodes with such precision that it always feel like the show is continuing and now we're actually moving into the final 12 episodes of a story 5 years in the making. I couldn't be more excited to see Eric Kripke is taking us on the final stretch of episodes. The show is a superb mixture of humour and drama and the supernatural that just make it winner overall and also a sucess story when it comes to networks messing with their writers story in the fact that they promised a five year story and that's what we're getting (even if the show is renewed this year).

4. Chuck
Chuck is just fun, a hell of a lot of fun. I can't believe that last year I only ranked the show at 11. Chuck didn't really improve in 2009, it stayed true to what it was but somehow it just clicked and became one of the shows that I'd just want to watch over and over again. Season 2 was an amazing season of television and I'm so glad that we're getting a third season (which starts tonight). Chuck just wins on so many levels. It's abashedly geeky with so many film and game references, it has quite possibly the best guest cast on television with it being almost guaranteed that anybody in a one time guest role or even a recurring arc will be incredible and the fact that it has one of the best soundtracks on television. The show is never anything less than it what it aims for and it does so perfectly. The entire is cast is great and there are so many great moments throughout the season (JEFFSTER!!!). Chuck is action packed and hilarious and a show that wouldn't give up for anything, whilst my other favourite new show from 2007 might have died, I'm glad that Chuck is sticking around to give me one of the most pure fun hours of television that I can find each week.

3. Lost
Last year Lost was number 3 because there were 2 better shows. This year, Lost is number 3 because not only were there 2 better shows, but also Lost didn't actually have an amazing year in Season 5. Not that the show wasn't brilliant, Season 5 was still fantastic, it just wasn't as good as it has been in Season 3 or 4. Whilst we're still barreling along at an impressive pace. The show was setting up all the pieces for Season 6. We got the normal fantastic acting, great twists and great writing but overall it just seemed the show was hitting the normal stratospheric heights that it hit in Season 4 with episodes like 'The Constant'. Luckily when it comes to Lost, even an episode that can only be labeled 'good', it's just better than 95% of everything else on television. The show is going to have an incredible sixth season, I'm sure, and since it is one of my favourite shows ever, I'm sure it'll top my list next year. But before we move onto Season 6, let's focus on some great moments from Season 5. Episodes such as 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham', 'Dead is Dead' and 'The Variable' were all superb. And there was the finale, which I'll talk about in my next blog post based on top episodes.

2. Breaking Bad
If it hadn't been for the number 1 show, this would have been there with a bullet. But I think we all know what number 1 is. Breaking Bad is another show I regret putting so low last year (number 10? what on earth was thinking), it's just a phenomenal show. Everything about it just drips quality. The writing is darkly funny and the acting is incredible. Bryan Cranston is a revelation but in Season 2, Aaron Paul really stepped up the game and was going head to head with Cranston in so many scenes and just elevated the season above pretty much everything on television. The frequent foreshadowing used during the beginning of episodes, incredible set up as well as some genuinely disturbing scenes scattered throughout the season, really made it stick out in my head. When a show has only aired 20 episodes and already people can be asking whether or not it's deserving to be on not just end of the year lists but end of decade lists, you know you have a winner. Season 3 starts in March, which still feels so very long away.

1. Mad Men
Mad Men is the best show on television at the moment. No other show is anywhere near as good. At all. Lost on the whole might be and Breaking Bad is close, but Mad Men is just transcendent. Like The Wire it just feels like a perfect whole. Everything comes together in such a satisfying way. The performances, the writing, the set decoration and costumes. It might be a slow burn but when it gets to the end it just feels like so much has happened. The way show mixes in real life events over the top of the characters lives just seems amazing and...and...you know what I go into a massive long stream of hyperbole of what makes this show work. Essays can be written about it's tone and style, analysing the characters motives. But all you really need to know is that, yes it's as superb as you've heard and if you're not watching it you should be. It's one of the greatest televisions shows ever produced and should be seen a lot more outside of those people who actually take critics opinions seriously (they like stuff you've never heard of for a reason, it's just better than the shit you watch).

Of True Blood Season 2

One of the most addicting and down right fun on shows continued in stellar fashion for it's second season. Because I've done one review already in the past few months for True Blood, this sis really going to be rehashing a lot of the same points that made the show work for it's first season. I mean honestly if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Season 2 definitely went bigger when compared to Season. We now know the characters and we're thrown head first into the action. Especially considering the first season ends on a cliffhanger. True Blood does cliffhangers like no other show. Every single episode ends with one and they aren't little lines of dialogue or reveals. These are full blown cliffhangers, characters will quite frequently end up on the wrong side of a life or death situation and add up to make the show feel very fast paced.

True Blood runs at a blistering pace, so much is crammed into one episode that it almost feels like overkill. Whilst not all of it is necessarily as good as other parts (for reasons I'll explain later), the show will quickly move through a hundred plot points in one episode. Season 2 runs at an even faster pace due to the fact that it just delves into far more stories with far more characters and still makes it work. Whilst Season 2 isn't necessarily better than Season 1 it does improve on some points whilst being weaker on some others.

Such as lasts seasons MVP Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) sadly having a serious decrease in screen time (if you've seen the last episode of Season 1 you'll know why), however other characters have more than come into the fold. Many people would rave about Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) in Season 1 but I left him out of my review last time due to the fact that he wasn't there as much. However Season 2 improved greatly on this by having so much screen time for Eric. He came forward as such a brilliant character. Exactly what you want from a vampire on television. This guy is dark and twisted and will stop at nothing to get what he wants but he still has a heart and you just want to root for him. Eric definitely stands at odds to Bill (Stephen Moyer) who quite often comes off as a bit dull but luckily does play off of Eric very nicely (especially considering Eric's feelings for Sookie). Speaking of whom, whilst Sookie is very definitely the lead character, like so many other shows she isn't really anyone's favourite. I love Anna Paquin and her story is definitely enjoyable for the season but give me Jason and Andy any day just for the sheer comic genius that those two are together (look out for that later in the season).

Now the plotting of the season. Season 1 was exceedingly tightly plotted, with reveals and events happening at just the right point for each story. Whilst the same can be said for 95% of Season 2 one part just needed to be picked up a little, namely Tara's story. Due to the fact most of the characters aren't in Bon Temps for Season 2, it suffers from having very little to play off and stalls a little towards the middle of the season whilst the other major plotline of the season is wrapping up. Tara's story focuses upon the Big Bad of Season 2 and whilst leads to very interesting points and a great performance from Michelle Forbes it just needed something else (probably from only having one of the shows best characters involved in the story whilst Jason, Eric, Jessica and Hoyt spend time in Dallas). However luckily it still leads to a compelling ending (even if the finale really ends half way into the episode with the last half literally being the start of Season 3).

True Blood is an amazingly fun show. It's gory and sexy in a way no other show on television is. The characters are for the most part all interesting (Tara being the biggest weak link in the show) and we get some really pairings for this second season (Jessica and Hoyt FTW). My main issue is that for all the improvements it made it added a few flaws to seemingly balance the mix. The show is still great but it didn't make the great leap forward to distance itself from a stellar first season, the biggest being stretching a small plot point in the book to being a full season arc just didn't have the the punch to pull it off 100%.

I'm still massively on tenderhooks for Season 3, it's still massive amounts of fun and Season 2 is just as good as Season 1 but I was hoping it would be better. Luckily Season 3 looks set to do that with the introduction of werewolves (inevitable Twilight comparisons will also follow). The show at the moment is gloriously campy and plain fun and occasionally whilst shows like Mad Men and The Wire are truly sublime, all we want is a bit of fun.

9/10

Of True Blood Season 1

Better. Than. Twilight.

Honestly at this point in time where Twilight dominates the news and media this is all that has to be said. Twilight is vampires for people who don't want blood and sex (it's written by a Mormon for Christ's sake), however that isn't what vampires are. As I've previously said Vampires are literally sex. There's something about them just exudes that sexual magnetism. They're general mysteriousness. The whole biting young women as they sleep. How is that not sexy? And to be fair Twilight does it as well but in a way too censored way. Edward Cullen is the sexual fantasy to most teen girls at the moments. Me and a friend get into arguments over the Twilight and honestly it just seems that Edward Cullen is hot. So even Twilight is taking advantage. But in completely the wrong way.

This is where True Blood steps in. This show is on HBO. Which means blood, swearing and sex. They don't have censors telling them what they can and can't do and thank fuck for that. This is a show that has at least one sex scene an episode, a guy drinking too much vampire blood causing him to need the blood drained from his penis, a vampire being staked and spewing blood all over a woman and a man turning into a dog. There's blood sucking, death, fucking and plenty of swearing. It's also a hell of a lot of fun and packs in more into one episode than almost any other show on television, apart from The Wire. But The Wire could never do cliffhangers like this show.

This is where the show excels. The general plotting of the show is absolutely superb. There is no telling where the show is going to go. Whilst if you've read the books you'll have some idea (in fact the show does a little under a chapter of each book in an episode a few pages early for a cliff hanger) the show does well to incorporate characters and events not seen in the book. For starters Tara is a character not seen in the first book plus events like Jason having sex with someone are only mentioned, in the show we actually see them. This is mostly because the show made the very wise decision to not only focus on Sookie but instead let us meet the other residents of Bon Temps and get to know them on their own.

Needless to say this being a cable show means we get a great many characters and some really good actors. Everyone is amazingly adept at their role with particular stand outs of the first season being the ever so funny Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), Bon Temps gay black drug dealer/prostitute. An insanely adult character but has more than enough charisma to be almost anyone's favourite character on the show. Another favourite of mine was Amy (Lizzy Caplan) who has made into a pantheon of actors I thoroughly enjoy seeing after her stint on True Blood as well as her regular role on Party Down (although it does help she spends most of her time on True Blood completely naked). However everyone on this show is just fun to watch. There's the obvious main couple of Sookie and Bill. The mysterious Sam (another favourite of mine), the ever cool and mysterious Vampire, Eric, Eddy the vampire played by Stephen Root (aka Milton from Office Space) and a Jessica the girl raised christian now a rebellious vampire. As well as nice boy Hoyt, play boy Jason (again a favourite). It would take far too long to give their characters their due but honestly there's a lot to love.

The show it self plays out like a mystery. In the first season we're trying to find out who is killing the women around town. Ending in a shocking reveal and whilst perhaps not as shocking as another favourite mystery show of mine (*cough*Veronica Mars Season 2*cough*) it's still a great moment when we find out who it is. Even if it does mean the death of one of my favourite characters. But still all around this we get all the trappings of a great vampire story with lots of sex and side stories to literal pack the full season to the seems and Season 2 is currently doing it even more so meaning the amount of entertainment in one episode of True Blood is comparable to no other show.

The writing cannot be ignored. Whilst it isn't as award baity as Alan Ball's other work (the Oscar winning film American Beauty and Six Feet Under) it is just plain fun. It seems there's something about fun and gay men that just goes together so well. Russel T. Davies (even if he can't write sci-fi), Bryan Fuller and Alan Ball have created three of the most fun shows on television to just sit down and watch and be taken away. Whilst True Blood is definitely far more adult than Doctor Who and Pushing Daisies it has a definite tongue in cheek feel to it. Stuff like genuinely horrendous accents may turn off some people (it's a definite love it or hate its show) but you can tell it's very knowing of itself with stuff like in the third episode when a vampire is feasting of someone and looks up mouth covered in blood "You want a piece of Jerry?" It's a genuinely funny moment that just tells us the show knows it's stupid but it's fun and a heck of a lot of it and that's what matters.

True Blood exudes sex and violence from every pore. It's campy and self knowing but it's fun and packed to the seams with cool characters and plot twists. The show has the best cliffhangers of any show ever (sorry Alias) and keeps you constantly guessing. In fact the first season ends on a note that makes you feel one way but within two minutes of the second season has you asking a million more question when it makes a complete left turn from what you thought would happen.

If you can get through bad accents and what some would call bad acting (honestly I don't think it is) then you will have found an amazing show. A true vampire classic that should be receiving all the buzz Twilight gets and, in some corners, is. The first season is only 12 episodes long and makes for addictive viewing. If you're looking for an adult show that is just fun with almost no quiet moments and one of the fastest moving plots of any show on television. Even if you have just a passing interest in vampires this is a show for you. It may even begin to rival Buffy in terms of definitive television vampires (although I know a lot of people who would disagree). The first season is heartily recommended and the second season is currently just as good. Just watch it.

9/10