Monday, June 28, 2010

LA Times: 'True Blood': 500 storylines and nothing on

 I realize I'm far from the first person to say this, but I'm starting to worry "True Blood" has spawned too many plots in its third season. Look at tonight: You've got Sookie heading off with her new pal, Alcide, to find Bill. But that's only after she and Eric do a little werewolf detecting. You've got the adventures of Bill in his Mississippi prison with Lorena and Russell, but you also get to look into his past again. You've got Sam doing ... something with his birth family. Tara continues to go through the stress of losing Eggs and attracting a new suitor. Arlene is pregnant again, but the baby is farther along than it should be if it's Terry's. Jason is trying to become a cop while still dealing with the leftover feelings from last season. Jessica continues to attempt to hide that dead body. And the vampire PI is just generally making everybody's life miserable. And that's to say nothing of plots that basically don't turn up at all, like, say, Eric and Godric in World War II.
All of these storylines more or less shared the same hour, but they didn't really have a lot in common, beyond just featuring characters who exist in the show's universe. On most other shows with this large of an ensemble, the storylines are either pared down each week, or they all share some sort of thematic link. On "True Blood," the writers just come up with a bunch of crazy stuff for the characters to do, then toss their scripts in the deep end. This is not a bad thing, mind you. Part of the fun of the show is seeing what crazy stuff the writers can cram into every episode. But there comes a point where there's just too much going on, and "True Blood" is toeing that line. Realistically, how much more can the show put in there? I expect we're about to find out.

read on

3 comments:

Michi Kaioh said...

I agree, actually. I had a moment in the show where I was considering pausing the DVR and making a sandwich. I then looked at the clock and it was 9:56. I immediately thought "It's almost over? But, nothing's really happened yet."

Sharon said...

The author mentions some good quips:

"I got your rug all wet."

"He had a Mississippi accent. Can't you people tell the difference?"

"The legal blood alcohol limit in the state of Louisiana is ...?" "Uh ... when you're drunk?"

"If I had a nickel for every time ... it'd be 15 cents!"

But, all in all, I agree with the author; too many stories and quite a few of them not interesting at all. On the otherhand, Sookie still seems pretty weepy to me.

I wish AB would stick with the vampires and werewolves. And Sookie, of course.

Keyse said...

I agree as well...I wish there could be more focus on less characters