Cleaning Out The DVR: Seven Days In Utopia (dir by Matt Russell)

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, as a part of our attempt to make some space on the DVR so that I can record every upcoming episode of The Bachelorette and she can record the World Series, Erin and I watched the 2011 film, Seven Days In Utopia.

Seven Days In Utopia is a Texas-set (and Texas-filmed) movie about a young pro golfer named Luke Chisholm (played by Lucas Black) who has a very public meltdown while in the middle of a tournament. Feeling that his career is pretty much over, Luke jumps in his car and goes speeding around Southwest Texas. Because he’s not pay attention to the road (which, I’ll be honest, occasionally happens when you’re driving through rural Texas.), he almost doesn’t notice the cow standing in front of his car. Fortunately, Luke swerves and avoids the cow. Unfortunately, he crashes through a fence.

The fence belongs to Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall), a friendly rancher who — coincidence of coincidences — also happens to be a former pro golfer! With Luke’s car temporarily out-of-commission, he’s stuck in Utopia for at least seven days. Johnny offers to spend those days teaching Luke everything that he needs to know about golf and about life. Luke agrees, because what else are you going to do when you’re stranded in Uvalde County?

Seven Days In Utopia is one of the few films in my lifetime to have been released with G rating and it pretty much earns that G-rating by being the most inoffensive film ever made. Seven Days in Utopia is almost aggressive in its pleasantness. Johnny is very nice. Luke is very nice. Just about everyone that Luke plays against is pretty nice. Everyone in town is pretty nice, even if they do give Luke a hard time about being a “city boy.” Deborah Ann Woll plays the nice waitress at the local diner, with whom Luke has a very pleasant romance. Woll and Black make for a cute couple and they have a nice chemistry. They’re all very pleasant.

Seven Days In Utopia is one of those films that you end up watching when you need something to watch with an older relative who doesn’t understand why “all the movies nowadays have to use all that language!” It’s an old-fashioned movie. That, in itself, is hardly a problem for me. I like old movies and, despite my love of horror as a genre, I can also appreciate movies that are not meant to traumatize the audience. For that matter, I like Lucas Black and I like Deborah Ann Woll. As for Robert Duvall — I mean, My God, he’s one of the last of the great character actors. He’s Boo Radley and Tom Hagen, for God’s sake! Of course, I love Robert Duvall and Duvall really is probably the only actor who could make an idealized character like Johnny Crawford into a real human being. That said, Seven Days In Utopia is also a rather slow film. The pacing will make you feel all seven of those days and the lessons that Johnny teaches to Lucas aren’t particularly profound once you look beyond the fact that they’re being taught by legitimate great actor Robert Duvall. It’s an nice film and the scenery is pretty but, while watching it, it’s hard not to miss the anarchistic spirit of golfers like Shooter McGavin and Happy Gilmore.

Horror Film Review: Escape Room (dir by Adam Robitel)

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Does everyone here remember Escape Room?

Though it may be hard to believe now, Escape Room was actually the first surprise hit of 2019. When the film was first released on January 4th, nobody expected much from it. January, of course, is when the year’s worst movies are usually released. The studios figure that they can get rid of their disasters while everyone’s busy trying to predict the Oscar nominees and usually, the studios are correct. The ad campaign for Escape Room made it look like just another slasher movie, the mainstream reviewers were, as they tend to be with January horror movies, unimpressed and I don’t think anyone expected the film to make a dent in the box office.

And yet, in the end, Escape Room did pretty well for itself at the box office. Not only did it open stronger than expected but it remained fairly strong (at least by the standards set by previous January horror films) during its second week of release. The film managed to hold its own opposite Aquaman, which had pretty much drowned every other competitor. A sequel was quickly greenlit.

What drew people to Escape Room? I think it was the title. For a while, people were genuinely obsessed with the idea of escape rooms. For those who have a life outside of the internet, an escape room is a game in which a group of people are locked in a room and have to figure out how to get the door unlocked. This usually involves searching the room, gathering clues, and figuring out a password or something similar. Personally, I’ve never done the whole escape room thing and, being that I’m rather claustrophobic, I doubt that I ever will. Add to that, I absolutely suck at solving puzzles so I imagine that I would be trapped in that room for a long time! However, there are other people who absolutely love escape rooms and I imagine that every single one of them went to see this movie.

Escape Room is about a group of people who all receive a mysterious imitation, inviting them to an escape room and promising $10,000 to whomever wins. Among those involved, there’s Zoey (Taylor Russell), who is a college student. She’s studying physics so we automatically know that she’s going to be our hero. Ben (Logan Miller) is a stockboy and is just bland enough to be a potential romantic interest for Zoey. Mike (Tyler Labine) drives a truck. Jason (Jay Ellis) is rich and, therefore, evil. Danny (Nik Dodani) is the geeky escape room expert. And Amanda (special guest Deborah Ann Woll) is the Iraq war veteran. They’re a group of smart people but it apparently didn’t occur to anyone to just stay home for the weekend. I mean, $10,000 is not that much.

Anyway, it turns out that the escape room isn’t just one room. Instead, it’s several rooms and each room requires the group to solve a different puzzle. Each room is also designed to potentially kill. One heats up like an oven. Another features a frozen pond, specifically designed to allow a player to fall through the ice. Another room looks like an operating room from Hell. My favorite room was the upside down pool hall with the floor/ceiling that started to break up as soon as the group entered. That was fun.

Of course, it turns out that everyone playing the game has a secret in their past and each room has been designed to force them to confront those secrets. Eventually, it’s revealed who is behind all of this and it’s not a shock at all. In fact, Escape Room‘s final scenes are probably the film’s worst because the movie doesn’t really have a conclusion. Instead, the filmmakers might as have just slapped a big “To Be Continued” across the screen.

Oh well! Flaws and predictability aside, Escape Room is actually kind of fun. The characters are all pretty much disposable but the actors all do their best with the material that they’ve been given. Of course, the film’s main attraction is the chance to see all the various rooms and discovering how they’ve been booby trapped. Fortunately, each room is fascinating in its own individual way and the puzzles are genuinely challenging. (I would have totally died if I was in this movie.)

Escape Room is a decent enough way to spend 100 minutes.

Trailer: The Punisher – Season 2

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Arleigh

the punisher

The first season of The Punisher on Netflix ended up being better than what had been advertised. The series and it’s ultraviolent tone became a divisive factor in how the show was scene.

Some saw it as the true adaptation of the titular character and his anti-hero status within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Others saw it as poor taste considering the rash of mass shootings and gun violence that’s plagued the country the last couple of years.

There was no disagreement in that Jon Bernthal owned and seemed born to play the role of vengeance-fueled and grief-stricken Marine veteran Frank Castle. His portrayal not just of Frank Castle but his vigilante alter-ego, The Punisher, was like watching a force of nature on screen.

It was a no-brainer that a second season of the series would be set into production and Netflix didn’t hesitate. It’s a bit bittersweet knowing that no matter how good season 2 turns out there’s a high probability that this will be the final season of The Punisher on Netflix as every Netflix-produced Marvel show has been cancelled the past year with only the upcoming seasons of The Punisher and Jessica Jones left.

Season 2 is set of a January 18, 2019 release date on Netflix worldwide.

Daredevil Has No Need For Iron Suits or Magic Hammers

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Arleigh

“I accept your conviction. The lone man who thinks he can make a difference.” — Wilson Fisk

Today we saw the release of the official trailer for Netflix and Marvel Television’s first of five series based on characters from the Marvel Universe. Daredevil will be the first out of the gate and it looks to darken things a bit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by bringing to the small screen one of it’s street-level heroes.

Daredevil (aka Matt Murdock) will soon be joined by Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist in their own web series on Netflix before teaming up for the Defenders series.

Under the guiding hands of showrunner (and Whedon alum) Stephen S. DeKnight, Daredevil will soon be available for bingewatchers everywhere on April 10, 2015.

Trailer: Daredevil

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Arleigh

“Bless me father for I have sinned.” — Matt Murdock

Marvel has pretty much been dominating the big-screen with it’s yearly event offerings. 2015 will not be an exception with Avengers: Age of Ultron set for a summer release expected to rake in the box-office by the money bins. Now, Marvel has set it’s site on the small-screen with it’s first Netflix Original Series that will be the first link in a five series set that will culminate in a team-up series called the Defenders.

This first link will be a new, and hopefully better take, on the street-level superhero Daredevil aka the Man With No Fear. The blind lawyer by day and vigilante by night whose blindness since childhood has helped him developed the rest of his senses beyond human levels. We shall not speak of the film adaptation starring Ben Affleck over ten years ago.

Marvel’s Daredevil will release all 10-episodes on Netflix this April 10, 2015.

Review: True Blood 7.1 “Jesus Gonna Be Here”

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Okay, time for what my aunt calls "The show with all the naked people." #TrueBlood

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) June 23, 2014

I have to start out this review of the 7th season premiere of True Blood with an explanation and an apology.

I always like to think that I can write a good review regardless of what else might be going on in my life. If I took a break from writing every time that I felt less than great, I certainly would not have ever reviewed Black Swan or The Perfect Teacher. Sometimes, you just have to take your medicine and get things done. That said, I should let you know that summer has just begun down here in Texas. Pollen is everywhere and I have spent today battling my allergies. I am definitely under the weather as I write this review and I apologize if that has effected my ability to properly consider tonight’s episode.

However, for the season premiere of a show that’s known for its complex storylines and huge cast, it doesn’t really seem like there’s much to analyze about what happened tonight.

Don’t get me wrong. True Blood has always been an uneven show. For every great episode of True Blood, there’s also a mediocre one. For every brilliantly drawn and acted character (like Kristin Bauer van Straten’s Pam), there’s been characters who have never quite reached their potential but yet remain in the cast. For every storyline that worked, there will be memories of Bill getting possessed by Lillith.

In the past, mediocre episodes or creative misfires did not worry me. I accepted them as being just a part of what happens with all long-running television shows. I accepted the occasional bad because I knew that the good would be great and I always knew that there was a chance that any creative miscalculations would be corrected in a future season.

However, we’ve now reached a point where there are no more future seasons. This is it! Season seven has ten episodes and then True Blood — as a television series — is over. Rumor has it that there will be a Broadway musical and I’m certainly looking forward to it eventually showing up on the community theater circuit because I really do think that I’d be a natural for it. But, until then, these final 10 episodes are all that we have left and True Blood — being True Blood — has a lot of storylines that it needs to somehow resolve so that viewers like me don’t feel like we’ve spent the last 7 seasons being set up for an anticlimax.

After all, we don’t want True Blood to end up like Dexter.

That’s why I can’t simply laugh off a mediocre or uneventful episode now. As I sat through tonight’s premiere, a part of me was thinking that things were moving slowly because the show is setting up the foundation for a proper and satisfying finale. However, another part of me wanted to scream, “HELLO — WE’VE ONLY GOT 10 EPISODES LEFT! THESE HAVE TO COUNT!”

And I will admit — though this may have been the headache talking — I did end up hissing at the screen, “Where. The. Hell. Is. Erik!?” As we all remember from last season’s finale, Erik was last seen naked on a mountain, bursting into flame as the sun shined down on him. The important thing, however, is that we never saw Erik explode into red goo. I chose to believe that Erik is still alive and, apparently, Pam agrees with me because tonight’s episode found Pam in Morocco searching for Erik. There really weren’t enough scenes featuring Pam but I was happy for what we got of her. Pam’s snarkiness always brings True Blood to life. Hopefully, Erik will show up next week.

As for everyone else:

Tonight’s premiere began where season 6 ended. A group of infected vampires attacked a human-vampire mixer at Bellfluer’s. During the attack (which was well-filmed but still a bit too chaotic for its own good), vampire Tara is apparently killed and Holly and Arlene are kidnapped by the infected vampires. Sam, who is now the mayor, orders that all the humans go home with an uninfected vampire, the idea being that the human will feed his vampire in return for protection. Nobody is really happy with the arrangement and, as quickly becomes apparent, everyone blames Sookie. What people don’t consider is that Sookie can hear their accusatory thoughts. At the end of the episode, she goes to church and tells everyone off. So, it looks like Sookie is once again frustrated with living in Bon Temps and thinking about saying goodbye to all of the drama and going off on her own. Then again, that’s pretty much what always happens to Sookie.

(Sookie, incidentally, is now in a relationship with Alcide and good for her! I still have a feeling that she’ll end the show with Sam but when you’ve been through everything that Sookie has, you’ve earned the right to spend a few nights with Alcide.)

Meanwhile, Sheriff Andy and Bill spent the episode looking for the kidnapped humans and I have to say that Andy has actually turned into a badass, even getting to save Bill from a group of human vigilantes. However, Andy assures Bill that, even if there are temporarily allies, Andy still hates Bill and every other vampire.

Jessica, meanwhile, is stuck outside of Andy’s house, protecting Adelyn. Despite the fact that Andy ordered his daughter not to invite Jessica inside, Adelyn does allow Jessica to enter to escape both the rising sun and to thank her for protecting her from a random vampire who wanted to drink Adelyn’s blood. Once inside the house, Jessica nearly attacks Adelyn but manages to stop herself.

And finally, Jason has sex with his vampire girlfriend. It’s not an episode of True Blood unless Jason is having sex with his vampire girlfriend.

I always enjoy watching True Blood and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with tonight’s premiere, which seemed to move slowly and, oddly for True Blood, didn’t really seem to be too concerned with moving any of the show’s dozen or so storylines forward. Hopefully, future episodes will pick up the pace because, after all, we’ve only got nine more left and they have to count!

And, hopefully, Erik will return.

Soon.

And this is why vampires and humans can't have nice things. #TrueBlood

— Lisa Marie Bowman (@LisaMarieBowman) June 23, 2014

Review: True Blood 6.10 “Radioactive”

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Eric better not be dead!

A lot happened on tonight’s sixth season finale of True Blood. Along with wrapping up Warlow and Billith’s storylines, it also set up what’s presumably going to be season 7’s major storyline. A lot of strange things have happened over the past two seasons of True Blood and tonight’s finale promised both a return to normalcy and a new beginning.

And with all that in mind, my number one reaction to tonight’s finale was this:

ERIC BETTER NOT BE FREAKING DEAD!

Admittedly, when we last saw Eric, things did not look good.

Warlow, having revealed himself to be just as evil as we all knew he was and refusing to allow Sookie to back out of their arranged marriage, was finally killed by Sookie’s grandfather (Rutger Hauer), who, in this best tradition of dues ex machina, managed to pop out of his little prison dimension and drive a stake through Warlow’s heart. Warlow dissolved into red goo and, with the death of Warlow, all of the vampires who had drank his blood lost their ability to walk in the daylight.

The majority of the show’s vampires were safely inside when this happened. However, Eric was sunbathing naked in the Swiss Alps and, as he lost his special Warlow powers, he burst into flames.

A collective cry went up on twitter as thousands of Eric fans (present company included) tweeted out a massive: “NOOOOOOOO! NOT ERIC!”

However, there is hope. The scene cut away from Eric before we actually saw him explode. So, maybe Eric managed to bury himself in the show. Maybe he ran into a nearby cave. Maybe Lillith reached out and saved Eric’s life.

As far as I’m concerned, until I see definite proof of his true death, Eric lives!

Warlow’s demise occurred about halfway through tonight’s finale. At that point, season 6 officially ended. Warlow’s gone. The vampires can no longer walk in the day. Bill, having refused to go off with Lillith’s sirens, is finally starting to act like Bill again. And hopefully, Eric’s not dead.

The second half of the episode felt like a preview for season 7. We jumped ahead 6 months into the future and we discover the following:

Sookie is living with Alicide. (You go, girl!)

Sam is now married to annoying Nicole and is mayor of Bon Temps.

Andy is still very protective of his last remaining daughter.

Bill Compton is now a published author. He’s written a book about his experiences as a God. In the book, he writes about ripping the Governor’s head off of his body. He also reveals that Hep V was a creation of the government.

Hep V, meanwhile, has become an epidemic. Although only vampires are killed by it, the virus can live in humans as well. Mayor Sam arranges for a human/vampire mixer so that the citizens of Bon Temps can pair up — one human to a vampire.

And while everyone in town gets acquainted, an army of infected vampires shambles towards the gathering like zombies from a George Romero film…

And that’s how season 6 ends.

So, what did everyone think of season 6? I thought it was one of the better seasons of True Blood and a definite improvement on season 5. That said, I was definitely happy to see Bill acting like Bill again at the end of tonight’s episode.

Hopefully, Season 7 will start with Eric showing up on Bill’s front porch and saying, “The weirdest thing happened in Switzerland…”

Random Thoughts and Observations:

Unofficial scene count: 45
As fun as it was to see all the daywalking vampires happy at the start of tonight’s episode, I’m kinda glad that they lost that power. I’m not sure how many more scenes of vampires playing volleyball I could take.
My first tweet after the end of this episode: “Fuck you, #Newsroom! I’m too concerned about Eric on #TrueBlood to care about some maniacal news anchor!”
Alcide was wearing the word’s worst wig at the start of tonight’s episode.
I had forgotten all about that whiny scientist until he showed back up tonight.
Again, we never saw Eric explode into red goo. That’s the important thing.
“You don’t want a vampire bride! You want a faerie vampire bride!”
I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing True Blood this season. I look forward to doing it again next season. Thanks for reading!

Review: True Blood 6.9 “Life Matters”

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When the history of True Blood is eventually written, Life Matters will be remembered as the best episode of season 6 and perhaps as one of the best episodes of the entire series.

For a show that has occasionally been a tad too complicated and a bit too dependent on easy snark as opposed to genuine sentiment, tonight’s episode was both focused and sincerely emotional. If an episode of True Blood could ever make you cry while still making you laugh and occasionally jump, Life Matters is that episode.

Tonight, True Blood was all about death. While the citizens of Bon Temps gathered to say a final goodbye to Terry, the vampires got their revenge on the humans at Vamp Camp. The Rev. Newlin finally met his well-deserved demise at the hands of Eric and the sun while Jason came close to murdering Sarah Newlin before finally relenting.

At the end of last week’s episode, Bill and Sookie were standing over Warlow’s drained body. Well, it turns out that Warlow is not dead. He’s just weakened. After Sookie allows him to feed on her, she leaves for Terry’s funeral while Bill heads to Vamp Camp.

The rest of the episode very skillfully cuts back and forth from the powerful emotion of Terry’s funeral and Bill and Eric’s bloody rampage at Vamp Camp. While those at the funeral speak of the value of celebrating life, Bill, Eric, and the vampires are literally killing every human that they can find. While Andy and Sam talk about (and we see flashbacks of) the first time they ever met Terry, Bill is killing a human scientist by stomping his face in. While Sookie gives her eulogy and also outs herself as being a telepath, Eric is releasing all of the female vampires and announcing, “Go forth and kill all the humans!”

Sarah Newlin, realizing that she’s literally one of only two humans left alive at Vamp Camp, climbs up to the top of the roof of the sun room and turns a wheel that opens up the ceiling. The sun shines down on the vampires below but all of the vampires have now fed on Bill’s blood and are now immune to the sun.

Every vampire except for the Rev. Newlin, of course.

Newlin begs to be allowed to feed on Bill’s blood but none of the other vampires are willing to allow Newlin to get near him. Finally, Eric grabs Newlin by the throat and holds him in place as the sun shines down on him. As Sarah watches from above, her ex-husband starts to burn and then explodes into a mess of red goo. Newlin’s last words are to declare his love for Jason Stackhouse.

As for Jason, he catches Sarah as she tried to flee Vamp Camp and, in a rather uncomfortable scene, holds a gun to Sarah’s face while she begs for her life. Jason finally allows her to escape, saying that he doesn’t want her blood on his hands. As hateful a character as Sarah is, I’m glad that Jason didn’t kill her. Jason may be many things but he’s not a cold-blooded murderer. That’s one reason why we all love him.

Bill, weakened after having been drained, lies on the floor of the sun room and has a vision of Lillith’s sirens approaching him. They tell him that it’s time for him to come with Lillith. Bill says that he’s not ready to go. Fortunately, Jessica and James find him and James feeds him.

Meanwhile, Terry’s funeral ends with Arlene accepting an American flag from the Marine honor guard and Big John singing “Life Matters.” A random old lady wonders why there’s so many black people at Terry’s funeral. That’s just life in Bon Temps.

As the episode ends, Bill and the other vampires are celebrating in the daylight. However, Pam sees Eric standing some distance away. Pam tells Eric that he better not leave her. Eric responds by doing just that, shooting off into the sky and leaving Pam by herself.

Tonight’s episode of True Blood felt almost like a series finale. As I watched it, I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t watching the end of the show or even the end of the season. Instead, I was watching the 9th episode of a 10-episode season. There’s one more episode and at least one more season to go before True Blood concludes.

I just hope that Eric comes back.

Random Observations:

Considering just how marginal his character often seemed to be in the grand scheme of things, I was a bit surprised at how touching Terry’s funeral truly turned out to be.
Still, as a friend of mine pointed out on twitter, dead Terry got more screen time during tonight’s episode than he ever did while he was alive.
If an episode of True Blood ever deserved an Emmy for editing, this is the one.
How is Season 6 going to end? Is there more to the Lillith story or will next week’s episode just be about setting things up for season 7? Your guess is as good as mine.
I’m sure that those of you who got this review in your e-mail might be wondering if I really did accidentally type Big Brother instead of True Blood in my initial draft of this post. Yes, I did. Whoops. I also write a daily blog over at the Big Brother Blog. My mistake was the result of me trying to write reviews of two very different shows at the same time.
“I love you, Jason Stackhouse!”

Review: True Blood 6.8 “Dead Meat”

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

If nothing else, this episode will always be remembered for confirming what all of us ladies already knew. High heels are murder!

Seriously, if you had any doubts about whether or not Sarah Newlin (played, with manic glee, by Anna Camp) truly was batshit crazy, all you had to do was watch tonight’s episode.

First off, she’s refusing to tell anyone that Gov. Burrell is dead and it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s got his severed head in the trunk of her car.

Secondly, when Mrs. Suzuki came by Vamp Camp to check out what was going on with the Tru Blood production, Sarah ended up chasing her through the prison. Now, I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that it is next to impossible to successfully run away from a crazed maniac while wearing high heels. That still doesn’t stop Mrs. Suzuki from trying but, once she ends up tripping on a steel grating, Sarah proceeds to beat her to death with one of her own high heels. Underneath the grating, a grateful group of male vampires feast on Suzuki’s blood. “Thank you, Jesus!” an orgasmic Sarah proclaims.

This macabre chase scene — coming towards the end of tonight’s episode — perfectly sums up season 6 of True Blood. It was over the top, silly, melodramatic, vaguely sordid, and yet definitely effective.

Mrs. Suzuki was murdered to prevent her from telling the FDA about Sarah’s plan to give all the vampires Tru Blood that’s been spiked with Hep V. The first batch of infected Tru Blood was given to the prisoners during tonight’s episode. James, the hot new vampire who Jessica is now in love with, warned the Rev. Newlin not to drink the infected blood. This led to Sarah demanding to know why Newlin was refusing to drink the blood. Since Newlin is a weasel, he quickly revealed the names of every vampire who knows the truth about the new Tru Blood.

As a result, Newlin, James, Pam, Tara, Willa, and Jessica all found themselves in that white death chamber that Bill keeps seeing in his visions of the future. As Jessica quickly figures out, this is where they’re going to stay until the sun rises, the ceiling opens up, and they’re all burned to death.

Bill, however, has a plan. As he tells Sookie, he wants to allow all the vampires at Vamp Camp to drink Warlow’s blood so that they can be immune to the sunlight. Warlow tells Sookie that he’ll only do it if Sookie agrees to be “his.” So, once again, the future of the vampires pretty much depends upon Sookie surrendering any shred of independence from the whims and needs of the men in her life.

So, as must happen at least once during every season of True Blood, Sookie prepared to sacrifice herself. She took Bill to the faerie dimension so that she could give herself over to Warlow and then Warlow could give himself over to Bill. However, as soon as she and Bill arrived, they discovered that Eric had gotten there first and had already drained Warlow.

And that, quite simply, is why I love Eric. While everyone else talks and broods, Eric gets stuff done.

Finally, in case you were wondering how long it would take Sam to get over Luna, the answer is eight episodes. Sam returned to Bon Temps for Terry’s funeral and, upon arrival, he discovered that Alcide had rescued Nicole from the werewolves (and, in the process, had surrendered the title of pack leader to Rikki). Sam discovered that Nicole’s pregnant and, within a few scenes, the two of them were declaring their love for each other. Nicole is a boring character and werewolf politics tend to put me to sleep unless they involve Alcide getting naked. Since Alcide kept his clothes on tonight, I have to admit that I pretty much zoned during the majority of the Sam/Nicole/Alcide scenes.

But no matter! Between Sookie preparing (yet again) to sacrifice herself and Sarah getting crazier by the minute, tonight’s episode was a lot of fun. I assume that Eric is now heading towards the Vamp Camp and I can’t wait to see what happens once he arrives.

Random Thoughts and Observations:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 48
I always enjoy it when Bill and Eric get to argue. Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer really throw themselves into those scenes.
Nora may be dead by Lucy Griffiths — much like Arliss Howard and Todd Lowe — is still listed in the opening credits.
Rev. Newlin seemed to have a thing for people who have had sex with Jessica.
I was a little surprised that Alcide didn’t know who Terry was.
I’m proud to say that, in last week’s review, I totally guessed Bill’s plan for Warlow’s blood.
“Mother, I can fly!”
“The only way he’ll agree to help you is if I agree to become his faerie vampire bride! So there!”
“How about that, you motherfucking monster!?”
“I’m trying to decide if I’ll be more uncomfortable in here or out there!”
“Sarah Newlin!?” “Don’t tell me you’re a fan!”

Review: True Blood 6.7 “In The Evening”

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Poor Eric!

Going into tonight’s episode of True Blood, I knew that another major character was expected to die but I was really hoping that it wouldn’t be Nora. Not only did I feel that the character (and Lucy Griffiths) has never quite been used to her potential (not an uncommon occurrence on a show that has a huge ensemble, like True Blood) but it also seems like Eric is always losing the vampires who are most important to him.

However, I also knew that, story-wise, Nora had to die if just so we could understand how dangerous Hep-V truly is.

And so, after bringing Nora to Bill’s mansion and even going so far as to pray for her recovery, Eric ended up holding Nora while she literally melted in his arms. Adding to the pathos of the situation, we were treated to a flashback to 1666 where we saw how Eric originally turned Nora into a vampire in order to save her from falling victim to the Great Plague.

It was a highly effective moment in an otherwise average episode of True Blood. If the show often struggled to figure out what exactly to do with Nora, it at least allowed her to make a powerful exit.

Tonight’s episode was all about death. While Eric watched Nora die, the rest of Bon Temps struggled to deal with the demise of Terry. Sookie abandoned the post-coital bliss of Warlow so that she could comfort the grief-stricken (and quite drunk) Arlene.

Sookie’s return allowed Bill to track her down and, in a wonderfully tense scene that was very well-acted by real-life husband and wife Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, Bill told Sookie that if she doesn’t lead Bill to Warlow than all the other vampires will die. I imagine that Bill’s plan is for all the other vampires to drink Warlow’s blood. Once they, like Bill, are immune to the sunlight, the LAVDF will no longer be able to burn all the vampires to death.

Back at Vamp Camp, Jessica, Pam, and WIlla are aware that the new tru blood is tainted with Hep-V but, as Pam explained, they can’t say anything because, if all the vampires refuse to drink the tru blood, then the authorities will know that the secret is out. That said, Jessica still asked Jason to arrange a meeting between her and the surprisingly sensitive vampire James (Jake Grimes). Jessica informed James about the tainted tru blood and then proceeded to lose her vampire virginity to him. And good for her because James is seriously superhot!

Meanwhile, Sarah Newlin discovered the massacre at the Governor’s mansion and, after kissing the Governor’s severed head, she took command of his plan to destroy all of the vampires. She returned to the Vamp Camp where she tracked down Jason, cut his wrist, and then tossed him into a cell full of female vampires. Tara jumped up to defend him but then, a vampire named Violet announced that Jason was hers.

FInally, Sam found out about Terry’s death and is now planning on returning to Bon Temps, despite the fact that he promised Alcide that he wouldn’t. Alcide, it turns out, lied to the rest of the pack and told them that he had killed both Sam and Nicole. As tonight’s episode ended, Alcide discovered that Nicole and her mother had been captured by the pack and his lie had been exposed…

(Seriously, I can understand why Alcide didn’t want to be packmaster. The werewolves are way too much drama!)

As I said, this was an average episode of True Blood. It featured a few memorable moments (Nora’s death, Arlene getting drunk, and the James/Jessica sex scene) but, for the most part, it felt like the main purpose of this episode was to set things up for the season finale. There’s only 3 more episodes left before the end of season 6 and there are rumors that at least one more major character might be leaving before the end of the season.

Here’s hoping it’s not Eric!

Random Thoughts and Observations:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 49
I noticed that Todd Lowe is still listed in the opening credits. Was Arliss Howard listed as well?
Willa really does look a lot like Nora. It’s a bit distracting.
In my notes, I wrote: “Ewwwwwww!” when Sarah Newlin kissed the Governor’s head.
The attempts to provide therapy for the vampires are a pretty obvious comment on the whole “ex-gay” movement.
Alexander Skarsgard made me cry tonight.
During tonight’s show, I tweeted the following: “When Sheriff Andy is the voice of reason, you know bad things are going to happen in Bon Temps. #TrueBlood” As of this writing, it’s been retweeted 77 times and favorited by 52 people. That’s a personal best for me so yay!
“How deep do you want to go?”