Monday, September 13, 2010

How would you fix True Blood in Season 4 ?

How would you fix True Blood ? Post in comments !

True Blood‘s producers had been raising the stakes all season, packing each episode with shocking revelations, brutal gore-fests, and sex scenes that treaded the line between steamy and creepy. We came into last night’s finale wondering whether we’d see both Eric Northman and Russell Edgington, the vicious vampire king of Mississippi, go up in smoke. And while we did get the answer to that question, we were far more confused and ambivalent after the credits rolled than before it. That’s why we felt compelled to share our five-point plan for making sure one of our favorite shows keeps our attention next season.

Bring supporting characters back into the main plot line. Ryan Kwanten is one of our favorite actors on True Blood. We loved Jason in season two, falling for a fundamentalist Christian anti-vampire sect and then seeing the light and turning against them. While he spent a lot of time off on his own adventures, his path and the Sookie/Bill/Eric story line eventually converged in a satisfying way. In this season, he was entirely wrapped up in the quest to become a cop (along with the totally one-note Andy Bellefleur) and find happiness with Crystal, the unfortunately named (and also kind of one-note) were-panther scion of an inbred, backwoods methamphetamine empire. He barely shared any screen time with any of the other main characters, and it was hard to care about any of the new characters that were introduced. The Sam and Arlene side plots were equally shrug-worthy.

read on

9 comments:

TeamEricSookie said...

Hmmm, where shall I begin?

1) The fairie storyline in Season 3 is laughable. The Fae are supposed to be a mighty, fearless, and supremely powerful race. Sorry, but I didn't get that impression with Claudine and the remaining Fae, especially in that weak cliffhanger shown at the end of Season 3's finale. What will the Fairy realm look like? TB has been a huge money maker for HBO, so please shell out a few more dollars so that the Bon Temps Cemetary set doesn't need to be used for future fairy intereactions. Speaking of interactions, will we see Claudine and other full blooded fairies interact with the Bon Temp residents or other supernaturals? If so, give the Fae the appearance that they are not to be crossed or the consequences will be swift and deadly. They need to ooze of omnipotence.

2) I don't believe the majority of the "best fans ever" are ready for yet even more new supernatural creatures to be introduced in Season 4. We're getting witches aka brujos/brujas in Season 4. That's enough. Vampires, Shapeshifters, Werewolves, Werepanthers, Fairies. Seriously, it's enough for now. I heard something about "necromancers" on another site. WTH? With the mix mentioned above, you have enough supes to go around to take up multiple plot lines.

3) Plot Lines--Did we really need to meet Kitch Maynard? Do we really feel bad for Arlene if she's carrying the Antichrist fetus who battled Wiccan herbs and won? Sorry, but I don't care about Sam being tired of being Mr. Nice Guy/Pup. I just didn't feel much synergy during Season 3. That needs to change and pronto. Oh yes and CONTINUITY. There are still issues with continuity with all these TB writers (for example, check out how short Arlene's doctor's hair is when we first see him and then look at how long it is after she has a case of the bleeds. It's only been a few days and I guess the doctor has been using Super Rogaine.

4) Lafayette--I feel that his character was wasted this season. He needs more intereaction with Sookie while she's conscious and not in a coma after nearly being drained of her no blood type plasma. Also, he needs to intereact more with both Pam and Eric. That trio together makes time fly by very quickly.

5) Godric as "Obi G" or "Obi Wan Godnobi"? Not buying it. Weak usage of a popular Season 2 character....very weak.

Well, enough ranting for now. Ahh, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me vent, Dallas!

=^..^=

TeamEricSookie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
" Dallas " said...

Excellent and very doable fixes!! Lets hope the writers and Ball listen ...

Jambled said...

Definitely agree with the aforementioned suggestions. First and foremost I would love more Pam time. She's been sorely lacking this season. And give Tara a damn break! I understand it's a drama but really? Can she not have just one episode to breathe? She and Sookie haven't really seemed BFF material lately, either.
Less with the Wiccan/Lafayette ancestor crap. I love Lafayette and want to see more of him (read into that what you will) but not in a storyline I simply don't care about. It feels like the show is deviating from the books of
sookie as main, front-and-centre protagonist and it feels like wasted tv minutes!
More fashion too, please, in the form of Lafayette and pam screen time.

Nurses Educate said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nurses Educate said...

I agree with what has been said thus far. I will add the following.

For the most part the dialogue is poor, some of the acting is good but there's a lot of bad acting too, the terrible special or rather not so special effects all of which I tolerated to see The SVM come to life.

I know AB is not following the books but at this point AB has gone to such extreme measures to deviate from them that he has made the entire genre a joke. The show is not even a drama to me but a joke for the most part.

I would estimate out of the entire season I find maybe 1-2 hours of quality viewing the rest is just crap.

I am tired of always seeing southern people portrayed dirty, stupid and poor. I hate hearing Arlene whine and am sick of having 9-10 stories that jump all over, full of inconsitentcies and never seeing any of the characters toward growth, positive outcomes or story closure.

The loss of the Msgister was awful yet he keeps Nan? Just unbelievable. AB is making vampires into whimps and it pisses me off. If we want a whimpy vampire story we will watch Twilight.

Even without following the books we would expect the show to be about the supernatural world. Stop showing 2 minutes of Eric, Pam, Bill, Alcide, etc. and 45 min. of BS.

Another point I take issue with is how Eric looks and presents himself now. Just awful, he is no longer the badass, handsome vampire I loved but a generic looking businessman who now moves like a robot. Jut look at the changes over the past two seasons, you cannot miss it.

The different stories and how I find them:
1. Eric/Bill/Queen,Alcide, etc. should be the main thrust of the show
2. Lafayette and Jesus-a waste of time and damn it no more LSD trips
3. Hoyt & Jessica-excellent but enough stress for them, give the show one bright light and let them have a positive relationship
4. Hoyt, his mom & Summer-stupid
5. Sam/Tommy,etc. Dull, irrelevant and a waste of time. Let Sam return as the central positive force who anyone can go to
6. Jason/Crystal-Hate the way this story has been done and how those in Hotshot were portrayed
7 Bill/Sookie-it was ok, tired of Sookie's lectures and tears and AP has never been Sookie to me, she is a terrible actress for this part in my opinion but I tolerated her to see the supernatural world come to life.
8. Tara-FFS let the girl learn from prior mistakes and allow the character to grow already
9. Arlene/Terry-waste of time and just awful
10. Claudine-Again I agree as to what TeamEricSookie said and how sad to see it presented so poorly not to mention Claudine be casted so badly
11.Other little crap tossed in like Tara's mom, the football kid, etc. how friggin stupid.
12. The vision of Godric was a good idea but I hated that Eric so easily ignored Godric which is so inconsistent with the Maker/Child bond they presented last season.

I canceled HBO right after the show.

Heather Warren said...

As an avid fan of the books and series, I just recently did a post about this. I admire and respect Alan Ball and his team, but seriously why are you doing this... some of the changes they are making are ruining the series for their tried and true fans. I know a lot of people just stopped watching during the Season 2 cluster f that was Mary Ann.

Sesa said...

I guess nothing about the orginal book series needs fixing in my opinion. I understand that adapted television changes things a bit to make it work on screen, but season 3 of True Blood really took a completely different path and is changing characters, personalities, relationships that worked really well in the books. I wish Charlaine Harris had kept more control over the usage of her material. Season 3- I honestly fast forwarded through so much filler stuff and off the wall conversations that I am left thinking "why am I watching this?" I can tell you why I am hanging on, waiting for this show to redeem itself and give me more Sookie/Bill, Sookie/Eric Sookie/other leading men like in the books! They need to fix this in season 4!

linda said...

I can answer it in one sentence.

More Bill, Sookie and Eric and their respective homes centered around Merlott's and Fangtasia.

~callonmebill