True Blood: In the evening, an excellent song to end the episode!

I'm glad that season six of True Blood is turning to be what the series used to be before season five: a truly entertaining goofy show. Also, tonight the show ended with a Led Zeppelin tune! So, here is the music for those interested in listening to the whole song! Enjoy!

True Blood s04e12. "And When I Die". The finale definitely saved the season.

I complained throughout the season about the lack of consistency in the show in terms of characters acting and personalities in comparison to other seasons, and blamed the different directors most of the time.  Last night, for the first time in season four, I saw the kind of acting, directing, action, reaction, crescendo, and final cliffhanger(s)  that got me hook to True Blood years ago.Therefore, I must open with my most outstanding recognition to Scott Winant, the helmer that has shown why he is the second person that has directed more episodes (9) since the series began in 2008. Nevertheless, this has been so far the weakest and lamest season in my modest opinion, and it deserved, at least, a decent ending, as the one we had.
This season has left the door ajar for most of the fronts that were open. Only the case of Tommy, Sam's brother was completely closed with his lonely and minuscule funeral (check out Tommy's tombstone) topped with the presence of Hoyt's mom looking for a manly proximity to substitute his son and probably fulfill her imagination with something extra.

When I say the door was left ajar, I mean it in a positive sense,as the opposite to wide open, which sometimes annoys me, since it gets you lost instead of letting your imagination at work with only so much to speculate from.

Let's start with the witches since it has been the central focus of this season. Jesus lets go his evil spirit to save Lafayette, but I guess there is no good without evil, so poor Jesus had to die and become a mean dead man. Did you notice that the kindness of dead people in this episode was inversely proportional to theirs in life? Sooki's grandma is a cold old lady that barely pays attention to her granddaughter, and just-diseased Jesus doesn't give a damn about desperate guilty Lafayette. He only tells him cold and dry that they are going to be together since he is a medium. It sounded to me as if that's all Jesus wanted from Lafayette. Antonia Gavilan de Logroño is the nicest one, since she was kind of mean during the season. In any case, Marnie is gone to a better place(?), although I thought that if you were a spirit or ghost, you weren't really in any better place but lost in limbo, but I'm not going to be that picky. So, Eric and Bill are free of their biggest menace so far for Sooki to enjoy... oh, sorry, I was too fast in my logic. She dumps them both after giving them some of her precious blood. Now, they are not going to be just dumped miserable vampires, but horny-dumped miserable vampires. I bet these two are going to end up together by lack of anything better. Really, that blood must be something very special, because they don't even pay attention to Pam or Jessica, who are way more interesting characters in my opinion. Ok, in the case of Jessica it may be just the looks, I admit it, but I'm just giving my honest opinion.

In another front, Terry's veteran friend is the most disquieting new thread that the show is presenting for the new season. Russell Edgington's escape was just a matter of time, as well as Alcide's infatuation with Sooki entering the reign of stupidity. However, bringing back Rene to warn Arlene against a new Terry is a promise of good stuff coming up.
It seems obvious that the creators have realized that this season has not worked. The proof is that they are recurring to characters from more successful seasons to keep us all on tenterhooks until next season: Rene, Russell, and reverend Steve Newlin (as a vampire??). By the way, who dug up Russell? Was it rev. Newlin? Was it Nan before she encountered true death by the hands of king Bill together with his gay stormtroopers (as Eric called them)? We will find out soon next season I'm sure.

I have delayed too much this review, so I'm not going to make it any longer by touching every single part of the episode as much as I would like it. In order to put an end to the True Blood season in What? I thought that I should highlight the three best lines of the episode.
In third place I have selected one that it may not deserve the podium, but it caps off the scene where Nan and her "stormtroopers" die in a bath of blood provoked by the decapitation of the latter, and the heart stabbing of the former, which I thought it was a pretty good anticipation to Debbie's head blowing off as the end of it all for the season. Therefore, the bronze medal goes to... What a bitch! by Eric.

In second place, Jason's answer to Hoyt after telling that he had sex with Jessica. Hoyt asked him how? That's a weird question to ask man replies Jason but if you really wanna know...missionary, and then doggy, and her on top, I mean it's nothing too kinky!

I cannot skip a picture from the obvious consequence:

And the winner is... Pam's allusion to Sooki. Pam is too good of a character to be under Eric's command. I hope she gets back to him for how he treated her. In any case, the gold medal goes to... I'm so over Sooki and her precious fairy vagina, and her unbelievable stupid name... fuck Sooki!  (fuck Eric could have been as good or better, but Sooki is pretty good there too!)

Well, that's all for the fourth season. Have a good winter fang bang...lovers!

True Blood s04e11. "Soul of Fire". Heart smoothy, an old Viking recipe.

No doubt in my mind, the highlight of the episode is Eric drinking out of Roy's still-throbbing heart (a few more dollars in special effects would have make it like that) as Marnie looks half in shock, half jealous how her once enslaved Eric shows the whole of his vampire's coolness by sucking the poor sucker's heart. I call Roy a sucker because I want to believe that all of us wanted him to die anyways. I have to admit that the sight was really disgusting too, which impeded such an  scene to become one of the all-time best of the series.

If this was the highlight of the show, I have to continue with the funniest parts, which have to be a hard competition among the ridiculous poses of the vampires trying to avoid get zapped in Marnie's protection spell, Andy and the fairy E.T.-like finger protection contract, or the potential outcomes of Sam after Marcus' death. I warn you, this last one may be fun just for me and my particular sense of humor. Also, you have to put words on Sam's mouth, otherwise it won't make any sense!
Ok, first one! Sam and Alcide have caught Debbie in her panties with Marcus, in Alcide's bedroom. Rarely enough, nothing has happened between the two of them despite the sexual tension. Sam avenges his brother beating the crap out of Marcus while Debbie tries to explain the situation and stop the fight. Not only she does not stop the fight, but Alcide kills Marcus avoiding that the latter shoot Sam. Then, Alcide, in werewolf terms (no more hunting together, no more sharing flesh, blah, blah...), breaks up with her. Definitely, it was not poor Debbie's night! Alcide leaves the house while Debbie cries in disbelieve. Sam slowly pick up the gun he brought from the floor, and gives this look to Debbie before leaving trying to say, "Well it's your fault! Now clean the mess!". When the show comes back to the werewolf's story, Luna's daughter asks Sam where is her father. Sam remains silent, but I imagine him thinking, should I become a bunny rabbit again!
The second one is Andy's lucky day (obviously it is only for the day, because who knows what is waiting for Andy after this). After the fastest detox program ever seen, Andy is left stranded in the middle of the woods by his cousin. On his way back a fairy (oh God, how do I hate fairy staff in this show!) appears, knocks Andy down, and then schtump him!  Good for Andy, but fairies must prove me right about the absurdity of their existence in the show, and before boinging him, she makes him promise her to protect her by joining light bulb-like fingers. What is this a tribute to E.T.?

Finally, and likely to be the winner, the most pathetic piece of acting I have seen in a long time (even though, I attribute it again to what I want to believe is producer's stinginess, and not bad artistic direction). Marnie's spell makes Jessica, Pam, Eric, and Bill rush towards the vampire racquet zapper that surrounds the building where Sooki and the others are trapped. The contortions, scowls, grins that these actors have to put up with and perform to convey such a pathetic result makes the whole thing as laughable as sad.

Now it is up to you to decide which one is the funniest/sad moment of the episode.
In a more objective view, the funniest lines of the episode are Lafayette's "Marnie just puked the bitch out" and Pam's "I'll take good care of this" referring to the piece of jewelery that she takes from the vampire who minutes later will explode in Marnie's vampire zapper.


The episode has prepared us for the grand finale! Bill killed Marnie, just for her to return and possess Lafayette. What kind of Brujo shit is Jesus going to be able to put this time? What do the fantastic four Vampires have in their sleeves? Are Jessica and Jason going to continue their torrid romance, and is Hoyt going to accept it? What is Sooki doing in this season? Next Sunday, all these questions and more will have an answer! Or... so we hope!

True Blood s04e10. "Burning Down the House". Fighting fire with fire.

Did you know that every episode of True Blood is entitled after a song? I do remember the closing tune for being a good version of a song that being a classic, never said too much to me. The Used's version of Talking Heads' Burning Down the House was, I have to admit, interesting. The Used gave the song that intensity that the original lacks in my opinion. On the other hand, The Used are not Talking Heads, not even close, but enough with the music. The episode opens with the Tolerance Fair's battle whose only remarkable outcome is Eric's coming back to normalcy thanks to Sooki's display of fairy powers (I insist, once again, in boycotting this part of the story, anything to do with fairies makes me return to reality and think about the absurdity of willingly letting yourself get upset by this kind of stuff, which is nonetheless the point of any fiction).
Soon enough, we face what's for me the highlight of this episode. Jessica and Jason's after-humping conversation. Jason feels extremely guilty for going to bed (meaning the back of his pick up truck) with his best friend's ex, so he "innocently" asks her to glamour him so he will be able to face Hoyt in a normal way. Jessica rants and raves! Her feelings are hurt! Poor baby... but, wait a second, didn't she glamour her boyfriend after cheating on him only a few days ago? Interesting... I forgive her, though, she is too hot to blame, don't you think?
In the meanwhile, Hoyt is living the hell of breaking up with his sweet heart, and he has become an over-flatulent drunk according to Jason, who obviously is being corroded by guilt.
We can say that everything worth mentioning is above this line, now I have to complete the review with a few other things that fall below this category.

Tommy, Sam's brother, dies because Alcide decides that neither Sam nor he have the right to save Tommy's life giving him V, go figure! On top of that, they keep articulating ridiculous statements trying to console Tommy. Oh, well, au revoir to the last of Sam's relatives!
Terry and Andy made, out of a shooting competition, a therapy session to get Andy off his V addiction. I guess Bon Temps does not have an equivalent to AA for V addicts yet.
Antonia Gavilan de Logroño is not the witch, pun intended, that we thought. Marnie is an even bigger witch, pun intended again, but at the end of the scene both become equal witches.
Obviously, the cliffhanger is the disappearance of Sooki, Lafayette, Tara, and Holly under Marnie's spell, but who was expecting the Matrix-leather vampire showdown at the end? I don't want to believe my own eyes when I see the shiny quartet armed to the teeth ready to go war!

In any case, we had to know that an episode like this was coming. I hate when it is the one before the last, so I hope I don't have to complain about the next one, and everything until the end is a roller coaster of excitement.

True Blood s04e09. "Run". Definitely, we are not going to see a threesome.

With Eric jumping over Bill to kill him, a few hours after the latter pardoned the Viking vampire's life, I seriously doubt that Sooki is going to see her dreams come true. Since we are talking about dreams, I have to let out again something that is bothering me this season: the diversity on the director's visions on characters and other recurrent themes in the series. This time the characters kept their personalities, however the dream scene this time was too much of a dream. Normally, these scenes were not shot with the typical blurry diffusing corners as in tonight's episode. I know I am being meticulous, but I can't avoid it. They have to be consistent! The other thing about the dream that I couldn’t avoid thinking is the difficulty of shooting that scene for the three of them. Remember that Bill and Sooki are married in real life, so imagine the awkwardness of the situation. The constant change of directors put me off with the importance of Mavis, the spirit that possesses Lafayette. Last episode, as I wrote last week, made me think she was going to be a pivotal character in the witch vs. vampires plot, but now Mavis’ subplot seems to be closed. I guess with only three more episodes to go, things must start tying all loose ends, and in this season there are many. In any case, a good episode with a huge cliffhanger for the fans.

Finally, I couldn't leave without making a reference to Jason, he is my favorite character as you have probably already noticed, and he finally succumbed to Jessica's irresistible charm on the back of his pick-up truck in this episode! Oh, man, I don't blame him, but what a mess is waiting for poor Jason here!

True Blood s04e08. "Spellbound". I got stuck!

I got deep into this episode, in every one of its stories. Then I realized I was trapped, I barely could move my legs, and my arms were struggling to disentangle. My mouth was pasty, I could hardly say something to my wife sitting right by me, also trying to free herself from the tons of cheese that Daniel Minahan (last night TB’s director) had poured on us. Then I checked Minahan’s previous work and, except for Grey’s Anatomy, (which in my opinion sucks as much as any other doctor’s drama) he has a lot of experience on good shows as Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, Life on Mars, Deadwood, or Six Feet Under. Who is to blame here for the cheesiness! (By the way, the writer is no other that Alan Ball, the series creator) The episode had two draining story lines, the one with Alcide joining the new werewolf pack with his girlfriend Debbie (who says that she finds herself at home because she met a couple of very nice bitches!), and especially the insufferable  Eric and Sooki gag-inducing one, where they show everybody how lamely in love they are. I really hate this fairy stuff in the series. In short, we could describe these two as cliché-bounding in the backwoods biker bar the former, and teenager flick-exploitation the latter. (I have never seen the (in)famous Twilight saga, but I imagine that there is a lot of that in them. Could anyone back this up?)

The episode has two lifesavers performances at least, Jason’s and the shocking Lafayette’s dream telling the background story of a character that promises to have much more to say in this season, a ghost/spirit that ends up possessing him.

I cannot forget to mention Hoyt’s (Jim Parrack) performance in his dream and real break-ups with Jessica, both of them show this actor’s talent.

These three parts saved the episode that was a serious candidate to be the absolute worst of the four seasons.

The season’s main story keeps developing; witches vs. vampires. They have their first clash that ends up with Sooki in a delicate situation. I don’t feel sorry for her after last night performance!

The next episode’s title is “Run”. I hope we do not have to do that after another unsupportable fairy-related story.

 We need the fairy absurdity to stop! Please!

True Blood s04e07 "Cold Grey Light of Dawn". A reflexion on memory and women's power

Tonight, I would like to make a couple of reflections about memory and the power of women in the show.
Let's start by the shorter one, the recovery of a lost memory. Eric Northman, lying in his new love nest by Sooki, tells her that he does not want to remember his past. This baby face vampire was, just a few days before, a ravaging, murderous, one thousand years old bastard. He knows he is guilty of his crimes, therefore he does not want a memory of the past. He does not want to live with a guilty conscience. He does not want to remember. However, we have two characters emotionally attached to Eric who want him to remember, Pam and Sooki. The reasons why they want Eric to remember are opposite. On the one hand, Pam is that little demon that materializes in your shoulder. She represents Eric’s evil conscience, she is fully aware of their misdeeds, since she was an active part in them. Pam, free of guilty feelings, claims the return of Eric’s memory as a badge of courage to celebrate their power. It is a reassurance of their position in society, which paradoxically is both the elite class and the discriminated-against one.  On the other hand, Sooki is not aware of the evil crimes Eric has committed throughout his life, she only sees the tip of the iceberg, and this is seen through rose color glasses since the Viking vampire has been trying to get in Sooki’s pants for as long as he knows her. Sooki wants Eric to recover his memory because she does not know about his past. The audience feels sorry for her, we are aware of what’s waiting for her in case his memory is back. Memory is definitely a hard case to handle.

Sooki’s situation connects with her portrayal as a powerful woman in the show. For the first time, if I remember well, she shows a weakness. Sooki, even though many people may think she is a lame character, has consistently been an extremely independent and powerful character. True Blood has been a show with very powerful women (Tara, Pam, and now Jessica, the young vampire who is starting to feel her power and to live like an independent woman). On the other hand, the male characters are all extremely vulnerable and weak. Bill, Eric, Jason, Sam, Hoyt, Lafayette, all of them have shown their weaknesses, and revealed not to be a strong characters at some point or another. If we think about how is that these characters have shown their weaknesses, we come to the same conclusion: love makes you weaker. Isn’t that a wrong message to send to the audience? I know that love also makes characters in the show stronger, but don’t you think that’s a given?

True Blood s04e06 "I Wish I Was the Moon"

Coming up! The last episode of the first half of the fourth season of our favorite vampire's show (well, in fact every other one sucks, because even though Buffy had something, part of that something was to suck big time!) has, for the first time this season, got me very excited and anxious to see the next episode and, of course, the denouement of this spellbinding season.

The first great thing that a lot of fans would appreciate is that the characters have returned to their real Bon Temps familiarity. No more over exaggerated southern accents, no more drastic changes of personality, and no more lame jokes! True Blood is back with the old same awesomeness of previous seasons. Even Eric Northman stopped acting like a semi-retarded nerd (emphasized by the continuos shots showing his lazyright arm -anybody noticed this?) to play an overdramatic repented Viking adolescent who gets, as a prize for his sacrifice at rendering such degradating roles, what it looks by his side a hot dwarf-size Sookie!
Sorry for the spoiler, but anyone following the series could not consider as a spoiler such an episode, especially in a post that, believe me, could be full of them. Everything happens in this chapter and there is no way back. The rollercoaster has reached the peak! Enjoy the ride!