[/caption]"True Blood" began its second season Sunday on HBO. I finished the first season successfully and in time for the premiere. Don't expect this to be like my LOST recaps/reviews. LOST is special. I like "True Blood" as I wrote last week. I'm not particularly invested in any one character though. I have favorites, of course. On the whole, though, it's no Joss Whedon show or LOST. I won't bother explaining my favorite characters. Hopefully, you pick up on it as I deliver my thoughts on a weekly basis. If you don't, it's no big deal.
EPISODE 201: 'Nothing But The Blood'
--The episode dealt with the corpse in Andy's car, began to reveal a little about lover-of-pigs Maryann and the history with Sam, the justice side of Eric's sheriff duties, Bill's role as father to the woman he turned as punishment for killing Longshadow, Jason's interest in the Fellowship of the Sun, as well as the grief Sookie still experiences for her grandmother.
--Readers of the books "True Blood" is based on did not shut up about Lafayette being the corpse in the car. It wasn't. Fans are happy regardless because Lafayette's an awesome character. Miss Jeanette was the unfortunate victim in the car. Tara was mightily spooked and paranoid that she'd be a suspect because she yelled at Miss Jeanette (the actual name is Nicole something but I'll just refer to her as Miss Jeanette) for conning her and her mother out of a lot of money (she gave exorcisms to both) though she did teach Tara about the importance of faith which Tara promptly ignored resulting in her current stay with Maryann (which seems like a good deal right now but probably will not be such a good thing as the story progresses). Two questions here: why did the murderer plant the body in good ol' Andy Bellefleur's car? And, why was Miss Jeanette killed? Let's hope season two isn't about another serial killer. The end is always disappointing when done in a television series. I might exclude Veronica Mars from that list though. I have to think about both seasons. Season Two of Veronica only dealt with the person who caused the bus accident so it was a killer but not a serial killer. I'm afraid this is going to lead me into rant about what would've been a better way to tell season two of Veronica Mars structurally speaking with regards to order of episodes. Perhaps another time...
--I'm on board with the Jason Stackhouse storyline so far. There's no annoying Amy Burley this time around or 'V'. It seems as if Jason is interested in redeeming himself as a person and is not a vampire-hater (which is a good thing because he was a fan of Eddie and I dislike inconsistency in a story). On the televisionwithoutpity.com forum for "True Blood," they are wondering how long it'll take Jason to have sex with Rev. Newlin's wife. I doubt that'll happen. Another interesting aspect of Jason's conversion involves his interpretation of receiving the money Uncle Bartlett left Sookie. He, of course, perceived it as an act of God; as a sign that he's meant to take part in the Leadership program. Jason contradicts this newfound faith of his by lying to Sookie about the church that is holding the Leadership conference. He'd probably feel quite differently if he knew that he received the money as a result of something a vampire did, a part of Satan's darkness as written about in the Rev. Newlin the Senior's book. I'm sure that was intentional on the part of the writers. I think it's going to be a complex, deep and engaging storyline.
--Well, we've found out the deal with Maryann. Not only does she love being outside naked with pigs but she also enjoys sex with minors. There's that mystery. I'm sure the whole epileptic-like seizure she had is of no importance at all and I can move right along without writing anything about it? Oh, wait? It is important for the story? Oh, well. I still don't care about Maryann's deal. I am interested in knowing why she came to Bon Tams to find Sam since she seems to be devoid of human emotion and sentiment known as love. We'll see.
--Bill is extremely cooler as nerdish and stumbling over how to "raise" Jessica as a vampire than he is as an Angel rip-off. One of my favorite Bill scenes from season one was his Wii golf scene. More of that and less of the brooding. I mean, come on...he's not Angel. Never will be. Also: here's hoping the Bill/Jessica story remains an aspect of comedy.
--The death of Uncle Bartlett came back to bite Bill for about two seconds and then he called Sookie his miracle which led to Anna Paquin topless nudity for the male audience and some quality sucking of the blood for good ol' Billy. We were all winners.
--I have a sense that Andy Bellefleur will soon emerge as the hero at some point. He's been humiliated and embarassed for a bit of time now. It makes narrative sense for him to emerge from this, for he to become the man he always claimed himself to be.
--Eric likes to exact justice on those who have engaged in wrong-doing against vampires which putting highlights in his hair (or whatever it's called). I found that funny. He's also in control of the fate of Lafayette who it turns out is not dead which is great because Lafayette is hilarious. Previews have him asking Eric to make him a vampire. It'd be cool, I guess. Becoming a vamp isn't like becoming a vamp in ANGEL or Buffy. They don't become instantly evil and souless. It reminds me of the final scene in episode six of the third season of ANGEL. Fred tries to console Wesley after Wesley tried to kill her after being infected by Mr. Misogyny Billy's touch. She says that what happened wasn't in him but, rather, it was something that was done to him. It's like that in "True Blood." Don't be surprised if I continue to mention ANGEL (and possibly Buffy) in these reviews/recaps/thoughts/whatever you want to call it. I thought of ANGEL a bit during the first season (and I've been re-watching ANGEL late at night). Go ahead and make Lafayette a vampire.
--I'm not looking forward to the possible return to drunkard Tara's mom. Maryanne gave her a whole chunk of her mind outside of the police station and Lettie May look rather frazzled by the tongue-lashing. I'm really not into the drug/alcohol addictions on any show. I was elated that Charlie-is-addicted-to-Heroin plot went away in mid-season two. I dug it in season one but not in season two. It's connected to one of the problems I have with season two which I believed I addressed in that fantastic entry with LOST and the Mars Volta. Don't you worry, reader, I will be diving into LOST soon. I do not plan on breaking my promise of writing about every week until the season premiere in January. Back to "True Blood."
--For a show that has a main character, they pretty much ignored her in the premiere. Sookie wasn't involved in much. She attempted to clean out her Gram's room but could not because it's her Gram. I liked that. Other than that, she got mad at Bill for the Jessica thing, Sam didn't put up with her nonsense this time (which was great), and then she forgave Bill after getting mad at him for the Bartlett stuff. That's about it.
--Other stuff: Terry's slowly charming Arlene, some girl named Daphne joined the staff at Merlotte's, and we saw that the Sheriff is a square-dancing fan. All in all, not too bad an episode.
LOST!
I recorded season two's "Maternity Leave" on DVR when it aired on ABC late Saturday night/technically early Sunday morning. I only wanted to watch the last scene with Claire talking to Aaron (when she gives him the slipper she knitted him while in The Arrow).
[caption id="attachment_665" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="Emilie De Ravin!"]
[/caption]Something struck me though and I began thinking about the season-five-mirrored-season-two. There's a scene in "Maternity Leave" when Claire has Sun take care of Aaron because Claire is about to embark on a journey to The Arrow to (she hopes) retrieve medicine for Aaron. Now Claire's extremely pissy throughout the episode. Yelling at people and whatnot. Sun doesn't seem comfortable taking Aaron. Yunjin Kim did a great job playing the scene. She tells Claire that a mother should not leav her child. Claire does not appreciate Sun's opinion and wonders, rhetorically speaking, whether Sun is a mother. Sun of course says no.
AND THEN CUT TO SEASON FIVE! Sun is the mother of Ji Yeon. She leaves South Korea to take revenge on Ben but plans on going back to S. Korea. Things change when Ben tells her that Jin is alive and uses the wedding ring as proof. As we all know, she boards 316 and comes back to the Island. Sun is the one who leaves her child now. It's not an exact mirror because of the motivations behind Sun's decision. There's a quote from either Damon or Carlton about LOST and the concept of the looking glass. Alas, I cannot remember the quote. Season Five showed the motivations of some characters turned 360 degrees like Jack. Jack was a staunch man of science during season two. Didn't believe in the button. Always thought Locke was crazy. In season Five, he is entirely a man of faith so much so that he believes he was meant to change time and the future. There are other elements which I've detailed in recaps past which I won't reiterate in this space. I wanted to write about the Sun thing though because it's cool.
OTHER STUFF!
--I'm going to begin writing about music very soon. I'll have a review of the new Mars Volta record next week maybe as well as thoughts about the solo efforts of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. I'll also write about the greatness of Incubus and Oasis.
--I might have a review of Summer Hours up in the near future.
--I'll probably write a little about David Foster Wallace's non-fiction as well.
-Chris Monigle
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