A continued improvement over season four. I’m especially fascinated by the integration of The Authority into the show’s mythology. The prison (complete with ultraviolet rays and silver IVs), the Vampire Bible, the council; all very intriguing additions to the show. Moreover, the religious aspect could be a fascinating angle to explore and adds a much-needed degree of levity and epicness to the proceedings.
Surprisingly, I’m sort of enjoying Tara’s new vampirism. It affords Pam some utterly hilarious moments (which I can never get enough of) and gives Tara something to do after last year’s useless season. Although she didn’t do much except destroy Sookie’s house in this one, I’m undoubtedly intrigued to see where they’ll take the character. I’ll just be thankful she won’t be a helpless nagging victim anymore
Speaking of Pam, she got some wonderful flashbacks in this one although they did feel like they came out of nowhere. I particularly loved her meeting Eric for the first time as he saved her life. I’m definitely looking forward to more Pam this year as she’s truly one of the show’s standout characters.
In other news, I can’t express how utterly stupid and insipid Terry’s subplot is. Does anybody really care about his Afghanistan trauma? It just feels so misplaced and disjointed from the rest of the show. At least Arlene is funny as a character but here she’s just straddled with the worst subplot of all time. Ugh. Kill me now.
On the other hand, one subplot that was handled effectively was Jessica and Steve Newlin’s. I absolutely loved the hilarious bidding scene over Jason as both characters proved to be quite enjoyable and amusing. This is exactly the kind of dark comedy True Blood excels at. And the hair-pulling? Genius. I could watch a sitcom starring these two.
True Quips
Lafayette: Do something.
Pam: I am, I’m laughing.
Jessica: (To Steve) Look at you, fang boner… and real boner.
Conclusion
While some subplots continue to grate, this was still a solid hour of True Blood that deftly managed humor with an increasingly compelling mythology.
Nad Rating
B