Horror, humor and romance fill HBO's 'True Blood'

Misha Davenport, The Chicago Sun-Times September 9, 2008
Set in a backwater Louisiana town called Bon Temps, the show features characters, events and dialogue that seem right out of a Tennessee Williams play -- provided the playwright had turned his pen to the paranormal. Call it "Vamp on a Hot Tin Roof."

Fans of Ball's previous series are in for a bit of a shock. While "Six Feet Under" had an occasional scene or two that challenged our ability to suspend belief, for the most part the series was grounded in reality. "True Blood" features the complex characters and dramatic situations that made Ball's last series such a hit, but adds tons more of the supernatural.

The series is based on Charlaine Harris' best-selling Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries series. Sookie (a smart, naive and headstrong, blonde-haired Anna Paquin) is an ordinary waitress at the town's down-home bar, Merlotte's. She also happens to have an extraordinary gift/curse: Sookie can hear people's thoughts.

Southern culture has never been known to embrace either the unknown or the unique, and the people in Sookie's northern Louisiana town are no different. Those who accept her condition deal with her cautiously or try to avoid her altogether. Most see her distinction as something to be ridiculed or despised. ("She's retarded," one patron says, and another declares her "crazy as a bed bug.") So, Sookie tries her best to stay out of people's heads.

Meanwhile, the Japanese

have developed a synthetic blood, enabling vampires to forgo feeding on humans. A few vamps have made the decision to "come out of the coffin" and are now seeking to reside among the living. They include 173-year-old Civil War veteran Bill Compton (a melancholy Stephen Moyer), who one night walks into Merlotte's.

"Bill?" Sookie razzes him. "I thought it would be Antoine or Basil or, like, Langford maybe, but Bill? The vampire Bill? Oh, my."

A lonely charmer

There's a certain loneliness to him that Sookie finds attractive, though.

"He ordered a glass of wine but didn't drink it," she tells her grandmother (Steppenwolf ensemble member Lois Smith -- the epitome of Southern style, grace and manners, but with a devilish twinkle in her eyes). "I think he just wanted some company."

Of course, it doesn't hurt that she can't hear his thoughts. As a result, while she is with him, she can feel normal.

"What are you?" Bill repeatedly asks her in tonight's episode.

"Well, I'm Sookie Stackhouse and I'm a waitress," she replies, almost jumping at the chance to cling to the ordinary.

In a small town where everyone knows your business, Sookie and Bill turn a few heads.

Her boss Sam (Sam Trammel) has been carrying a torch for his employee and makes no bones about what he thinks of Bill.

"You know who I wish would come to town?" Sam asks in a later episode. "Buffy, or Blade, or one of those badass vampire killers to come get Bill Compton."

Scary, but comical

Also disapproving are Sookie's best friend Tara (sarcastic and funny Rutina Wesley) and Sookie's none-too-bright horndog of a brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten). The latter seems to have a knowledge of and perverse fascination with all things involving vampire sex.

Things really get rolling when one of Jason's bedmates later turns up dead. Jason is fingered for the murder, which may or may not be the work of a vampire.

Bloody, sexy and violent, the show is also both occasionally funny and frightening. The show features characters and situations you can sink your teeth into. The mystery, set to unfold over the 12 episodes of the first season, promises enough twists to hold your interest.

Except for the addition of Sookie's best friend Tara (who doesn't appear until the second book), Ball has remained incredibly truthful to the source material. The first two episodes follow the events of the first 60 or so pages of Harris' first book in the series, Dead Until Dark.

Ball has changed things just enough to keep fans guessing.

"True Blood" is truly unique, a guilty pleasure that sucks you in.