Well that was a painful bore.
There’s no excuse for True Blood to be this dull in its final season. Instead of bringing out the big guns, it’s trudging along at a painful pace with nary a positive in sight.
First off, what was the point of Jason and Eric’s dream sequence? Are we just gratuitously pandering to the audience for no apparent reason? You could practically see Alexander Skarsgard and Ryan Kwanten cringing on the inside due to the scene’s unnecessary (and forced) nature. On the bright side, Pam finally found Eric in the episode’s closing moments, so I’m hoping the badass vamp can restore some sort of fun to the proceedings. Sadly, his condition at the end didn’t leave me optimistic.
Also unacceptable is the fact that we still don’t have a tangible big bad. I’m sorry but the gang of nameless Hep-V vamps are beyond pointless. There’s absolutely no sense of urgency when they’re around, and coupled with the fact that True Blood rarely has the guts to kill off anyone important, makes the stakes frustratingly low.
If I Found You has any saving graces, it’s Arlene. One of the show’s biggest missteps is the fact that Carrie Preston was always given subpar material. It’s a shame because Preston has consistently proven how well she can rise above any frustrating subplots thrown at her. This week’s hour at least allowed her to step up to the plate and assume a proactive role. I was admittedly amused by her trying to appeal to Miss Faris’ guilt, culminating in that hilarious sequence where the latter turned to mush while feeding on Arlene’s thigh.
Bloody Bits
– I kind of enjoyed the flashback with Sookie getting ready to go to Fangtasia way back in the pilot.
– I guess it was wishful thinking to hope that we’d never see Tara again. The image of her on the cross with the boa constrictor was freaky (and not in a good way).
True Quips
Arlene: I did not survive four lousy husbands, a serial killer boyfriend, and the sorta-suicide of my love Terry to die in the dingy basement of a fucking vampire bar.
Lettie Mae: You are wrong. It most definitely was Tara.
Lafayette: Well it most definitely was Gandhi I was playing Chinese Checkers with that time in the bathtub.
Vince: This town is full of vampers, has a dog for a mayor, and is being preached at by a telepath.
Jason: Sometimes not being clever makes you a good detective.
Andy: This is a Starbucks card.
Maxine: Our mayor is a dog-bear.
Conclusion
A downright awful hour of True Blood.
Nad Rating
C-
I agree with you, Nad. This hasn't the show's best and I doubt the overall final season will be either based on past experience. Though I find the Jason-Eric scene to be a sexy delight, I felt it was just there for fan service. I don't think it'll play any meaningful role in the show.
This is Roman, and I posted here on your True Blood reviews last year, but I can only comment as Anon.
I'm honestly not surprised, not because it's True Blood, but because final seasons usually tend to suck. I wrote this on another site, but what is particularly frustrating is that they got everything under one thread basically, which is the Hep D storyline. Having a million different storylines has been a big problem for True Blood in the past, and they sort of cleaned that up, so why does it seem to suck even more? They still don't seem to understand though that too many characters is a problem too. As far as the big bad, it's not going to happen. The showrunner said there won't be a big bad this season because they felt they have done everything they can with that and don't feel they can top themselves.
You got to admit, the only other good thing was Jason. His pizza forensics and handing Andy the starbucks card was pretty funny.
Hey Roman 🙂 Good to hear from you again.
Yes I read the Big Bad thing as well. How disappointing! I'm really pessimistic about this season now. Here's hoping we at least get a few good episodes, but it's a real pity like you said that the show is doing so badly with one main arc. How unfortunate!
Loved the Starbucks card! Haha
Thanks for commenting 🙂 Fingers crossed for a somewhat satisfying series finale!