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From Chicago Tribune
We're used to top TV dramas evoking elegant meals, six-course affairs full of rich textures and witty constructions. We know we'll usually need time to intellectually digest these savory feasts.
No such time is needed for "True Blood" (which, after a Labor Day weekend break, airs its Season 2 finale 8 p.m. Sept. 13 on HBO). "True Blood" isn't a carefully assembled feast. It's a jam-packed, all-you-can-eat buffet served with a side of crazy.
That recipe -- which creator Alan Ball has effectively tweaked since the show debuted last year -- has turned the populist vampire drama into a huge hit: The Aug. 23 episode of "True Blood" attracted 5.3 million viewers, a figure that doubles when repeats are added in. Those are smoking-hot numbers for a premium cable channel.
Halfway through the show's increasingly addictive second season, I realized the mistake I was making with "True Blood." I'm not trying to insult the show by saying it's no "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Angel," but it isn't. There's no deeper meaning here. Metaphor, schmetaphor.
Sure, most of the vamps on the show, most notably the devilishly charismatic Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), are sexy, hot rebels doing whatever they want with whomever they want. There's no denying the appeal of those hedonistic appetites in these stressful times.
But "True Blood's" attempts at more obvious metaphors -- the depictions of the vamps as an oppressed minority and the portrait of their opponents as repressed hypocrites -- have generally been clunky and unsuccessful.
The show excels as a "Perils of Pauline serial, but one with lots of sex and crazy shenanigans in the woods. "True Blood" works best as a suspenseful beach read come to vivid, Southern Gothic life.
The show mostly defies analysis, intellectual probing and the search for subtext. As Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) put it, "The time for thinking is over." Exactly.
Every Sunday night, it's a chance to turn off your brain and enjoy a show that jams four or five episodes' worth of incident, plot and jaw-dropping moments into 50 minutes.
Part of the reason "True Blood" is such a mass hit is that its characters are easily recognizable types: Newbie vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) is the awkward yet fetching ingenue, Eric is the sexy stranger with a dangerous streak, Maryann (Michelle Forbes) is the crazy aunt, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) is the tart-tongued cousin and Bill is the slightly befuddled father figure. The recently introduced vampire queen Sophie-Anne ( Evan Rachel Wood) is the kind of mischievous diva you can find in any number of Bette Davis films.
How will the season end? Will the finale be a train wreck full of dangling story threads and plot holes? Sure, why not?
I don't expect elegant resolution from "True Blood." I expect an exhilarating, messy spectacle.
And you can count on one thing: There will be blood.
moryan@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-tc-tvcolumn-trueblood-0903-0sep04,0,6483640.column
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Disengage your brain for 'True Blood's' finale
True Blood in Dallas: Disengage your brain for 'True Blood's' finaleTweet this! Posted by " Dallas " at 10:49 PM
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8 comments:
What a great review! Loved it!
I would say this review nails the show and “gets it” better than many reviewers.
People do not love to watch disasters and race car wrecks because they make sense and they are neat and tidy. They watch because they are wild, dangerous and exhilarating. This show is more like a series of car wrecks with a few drive by shootings mixed in, an occasional explosion added and ending in a Cat. F5 tornado.
Those reviewers who are looking to find depth and a well crafted thoughtful story line are going to be frustrated while the fans will have their jaws dropped and eyes bugged out and they will be holding on to anything to keep from being blown away.
It can’t get weird enough for me.
I definitely agree with this review.
But... to say that Alan Ball isn't TRYING to imbue the show with any deeper subtext would be wrong, I think.
Is he laying it on thick? I wouldn't necessarily say THAT. But it IS there, which can make the recent jump from "credible in a different world" to "outlandish in ANY world" frustrating for many... myself included.
That said, bring on the crazy. After the last episode, I've adjusted my expectations enough to fully enjoy it... I think. LOL.
I disagree about the show not having deeper meaning in fact, I'm surprised by that statement.
True Blood it has a deeper meaning
which came from the books that MS.
CH wrote are the different types of
people that live in this big world
really a lot of the south. If you
don't see a deeper meaning then some
thing is wrong with you.Sure it is
a dark comedy but how we deal with
other people on a daily bases.
I totally agree with the review especially with the Jason quote " the time for thinking is over".
Just enjoy the show! Be happy we have it, what would life be like without Bill or Eric, or the others. The complaining is endless!
My bottle of True Blood is always half full! (that is once it arrives)
I almost completely disagree with this review.
Sure, superficially, it is sensationlistic pulp but that is what glues the masses to the tv. If this reviewer can't see the ddper subtexts to this show then I feel sorry for him. He's missing out on a LOT.
I should clarify by saying that my main agreement with this review was with respect to its conclusion-- that is, DON'T expect a masterfully-executed resolution where all of the sundry loose plot ends are tied up (without contradiction or head-scratching) to make way for a shiny new cliffhanger.
I'm totally not expecting that for the finale, given the outrageousness we've seen in the past two episodes. And if we actually get it, I will be BEYOND impressed.
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