Review: True Blood S5E11 “Sunset”

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

For better or worse, the fifth season of True Blood is rapidly drawing to a close. Tonight’s episode (the last before next week’s season finale) featured a lot blood and it answered at least one big question that True Blood fans have been debating since about halfway through this season.

That question: does Bill actually believe all of this Lilith stuff or is he just pretending in order to manipulate the situation to his own advantage? A lot of people — myself included — assumed the Bill had to have some sort of secret plan. Bill, we all assumed, has always been too much of a politician to become a true believer in anything.

Well, it turns out that we were all wrong. As tonight’s episode proved, Bill is indeed a true believer. He has drunk from the proverbial kool-aid (or Lilith’s blood, as the case may be). As Pam explains in one of tonight’s better moments, Bill and the rest of the Authority are nesting. Essentially, it’s what happens when vampires spend too much time hanging out with each other.

Bill, in fact, has become such a true believer that he’s now having visions of a blood-drenched Lilith telling him that he is the one (and the only one) that she has chosen to lead vampires to their rightful future. When another chancellor (the bald, black guy whose name I can never remember) confesses to having had the same vision, Bill responds with, “NO, I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!” and then chops off his head. Of course, even before Bill has finished cleaning his hands, Lilith is appearing to Salome and telling her that she’s the chosen one.

In a nice bit of irony, even as former skeptic Bill becomes even more devoted to Lilith, former true believer Nora has lost her faith in Lilith. After Nora makes up with her “brother” Eric (and thank you, True Blood, for indulging us Alexander Skarsgard fans with that little scene), the two of them start to search for an oppurtunity to escape the bunker. That opportunity presents itself when a human general shows up, demands to speak to Roman, and then reveals that he has video evidence of Russell and the Rev. Newlin slaughtering a frat house. Eric responds by killing the general and then volunteering to go (with Nora, of course) to Washington D.C. and take care of the video. The rightfully suspicious Bill orders a security detail to accompany Eric and Nora but, as soon as they’re out of the bunker, Eric kills both of the guards and he and Nora fly off into the night. Needless to say, it was nice to see Eric acting like Eric again.

Bill also decided to send a security detail with Jessica after he ordered her to return to Bon Temps and turn Jason into a vampire. However, Jessica only pretends to turn Jason which gives Jason a chance to kill Jessica’s two guards. Seriously, the Authority might want to take a look at the training program for the members of their Security Detail because it doesn’t appear to be that effective.

Anyway, Jessica tells Jason what’s going on and then, after Jason runs back to the Faerie nightclub so he can warn Sookie, Jessica ends up hiding out with Pam and Tara. At first, Pam isn’t all that happy to see Jessica show up because, after all, Pam’s already got her hands full trying to clean up after Tara’s murder of Sheriff Elijah. Unfortunately, it turns out that Elijah was made by Chancellor Rosalyn and when Rosalyn shows up searching for him, she immediately accuses Tara of killing him. Pam, who has been incorrectly informed by Jessica that Eric is still at the Authority HQ, confesses and, along with Jessica, is promptly arrested and taken to the bunker.

And you know who else is in the bunker? Sam and Luna, who are still running around as field mice until they finally manage to track down Emma, who is still in her adorable wolf puppy form. Unfortunately, Sam and Luna shift back into human form when they find Emma and are then promptly found by Authority security guards who assume that they’re simply humans who have been imprisoned in order to serve as a food source. When Sam hears one of the guards mention that it’s time for “Chancellor Compton’s breakfast,” he volunteers to be that meal and, as the episode comes to an end, he is being led out of the jail while Pam’s being led into it.

But that’s not all!

Tara might be falling in love with Pam, or at least that’s the way it seems to Jessica.

Alcide is staying with his dad and apparently spends most of his time chopping wood without a shirt on and that’s perfectly alright with me. However, when a group of baby vamps show up and start attacking the trailer park, Alcide (and, eventually, his dad) fight them off.

Finally, Sookie is hiding out at the Faerie nightclub and, as part of her efforts to learn why she has been promised to the mysterious Warlow, she talks to the Elder, the oldest faerie in existence. Unfortunately, the Elder turns out to be a bit of a flake whose mind has been permanently scrambled by the amount of times that she’s jumped through all the various realities. The Elder assures Sookie that “A dark time is coming,” and it turns out that she’s right as, at the end of tonight’s episode, Russell and the Rev. Newlin manage to track down the fearie night club. As the terrified faeries watch, Russell drains the Elder dry and then, fangs bared, lunges forward to attack…

This was a bloody episode and, to judge from the previews, next week’s finale is going to be even more bloody. Will Bill come to his senses? Will Warlow make an appearance? And will someone please just go ahead and stake the Rev. Newlin?

Hopefully, we’ll find out next week.

Random Observations:

This episode’s unofficial scene count: 44.
This was an uneven episode but overall, I liked it. There was a lot about this episode that felt like filler but, at the same time, the idea of the vampires having religious visions as a result of “nesting” is an intriguing one and I hope that it’s one that next week’s finale explores.
Of all the episodes so far this season, this one was probably the most explicit in making the connection between organized religion and the Authority. It wasn’t subtle but then again, True Blood rarely is.
“Don’t play game with me, you little ginger bitch!” If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard those exact same words…
Pam is like the Lauren Bacall of vampires.

Trailer: Dexter Season 7

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I have to admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of the previous season of Dexter. Colin Hanks made for a boring villain, the secret behind the character played by Edward James Olmos was obvious from his second appearance, and, for the first time, Michael C. Hall seemed to bored with the title role. Yes, the sixth season of Dexter was a huge disappointment but it did end on a good note, with Deb discovering that her brother is a murderer.

(Of course, in the Dexter novels, Deb discovered the truth about her brother a long time ago. Plus, Rita’s still alive…)

The question is how will the show handle this change in Dexter and Deb’s relationship. (And will the show continue to explore the idea of Deb being in love with Dexter or will that be one of those plot points that will be quickly forgotten before it can do permanent damage?) Season 6 did not leave me with much hope for the future of Dexter but I’m still going to gife the new season of Dexter a chance and hope for the best.

This just-released trailer for the seventh season of Dexter gives us a hint of how the show’s new season might play out.

Review: True Blood S5E10 “Gone Gone Gone”

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before I talk about tonight’s episode of True Blood, I have to offer up an apology to you, my wonderful readers. I’m running a bit behind on writing this review because, as a result of bad weather in my area of the world, I did not get to see tonight’s episode when it was first broadcast. Instead, I had to wait for the second showing and now, I find myself rushing a bit as I attempt to write up my thoughts on “Gone Gone Gone”

My initial response to “Gone Gone Gone” was one of very genuine surprise. As a character, Hoyt’s been pretty annoying as of late. Over the course of this season, he’s managed to establish himself as such an irredeemable dumbass that even Andy has started to look better by comparison. I mean, seriously — how much sympathy can you have for someone who nearly gets everyone killed just because he somehow managed to accidentally join up with a bunch of murderous rednecks?

And yet, the best moments of tonight’s episode all centered around Hoyt. Having finally figured out that there’s nothing left for him in Bon Temps (which, incidentally, mirrors the fact that showrunner Alan Ball has probably figured out that there wasn’t really anything left to do with Hoyt as a character), Hoyt announced his intention to move to Alaska and get a job working with a drilling crew. However, before he left, he had a final meeting with Jessica and Ryan and, in a scene that was surprisingly moving, Jessica erased Hoyt’s memory and finally granted him the peace that he’s spent this season so desperately searching for.

As powerful as that scene was, it was nothing compared to Hoyt’s final appearance in the episode (and, I assume, the series as a whole). When Jason pulled the oblivious Hoyt over for speeding, Hoyt greeted him by asking if he was related to Sookie. Despite the fact that Hoyt no longer remembered him or their friendship, Jason still got a chance to say goodbye to his former best friend before going back to his cruiser and sobbing as Hoyt drove off. This scene was especially well-played by Ryan Kwanten, who has really come into his own as an actor this season. More and more, it’s hard not to feel that Jason has become the show’s moral center and who would have guessed that when season 5 first started?

In other Jason news, he and Sookie discovered a parchment that was hidden under the floorboards in Sookie’s bedroom. After several attempts to get the odd writing on the parchment translated, they took it to the faeries who informed them that the parchment was a contract that essentially promised the first-born Stackhouse of fairy origin to someone named Warlow (who, I’m assuming, is the same vampire who killed Sookie’s parents).

The rest of tonight’s episode was pretty much centered around the vampires. Because of the “terrorist” bombings of the True Blood factories, vampires are starting to feed on human beings. (Among the unfortunate human victims is the county coroner who, after he turns into a vampire, ends up attacking Sookie and, in a funny if implausible twist, gets staked by a pair of chopsticks.) Elijah, the greasy-haired sheriff who showed up at the end of last week’s episode, made the mistake of attempting to bully both Tara and Pam. Tara reacted by killing him and for that, I say, “Yay, Tara!” because Elijah was seriously not a character that I was looking forward to spending too much more time with.

Meanwhile, Rev. Newlin and Russell are continuing their creepy little courtship and Newlin is still keeping wolf puppy Emma as his personal pet. Fortunately, Sam and Luna shifted into two of the most adorable white mice that I’ve ever seen and, as tonight’s episode concluded, they had managed to infiltrate the Authority’s underground bunker.

Bill, meanwhile, appears to have truly gone over to the other side as, during tonight’s episode, he continued to drink Lillith’s blood and even “arranged” for Eric to have a vision of Lillith killing Godric, a vision that apparently convinced Eric to come over to the Authority’s side. As I’ve stated before, I’m not a huge fan of born again Bill and I’m still holding on to my ever dwindling hope that all of this is just some elaborate scheme of his. On the plus side, Eric didn’t seem all that sincere about his conversion.

If there is something that might keep Bill from totally going over to the “dark side,” it’s that Russell is obsessed with drinking faerie blood and being able to walk around in daylight. Russell is so obsessed with this idea that he gets into a violent brawl with Salome when Salome says that it’s not Lillith’s plan for them to walk in the daylight. Denis O’Hare has always been so wonderfully decadent and evil as Russell but tonight featured some of his best moments since the third season.

After a few episodes the bordered on almost being frantic with activity and intrigue, “Gone Gone Gone” was nice change of pace with scenes (and characters) being allowed to naturally develop and the show’s signature melodrama a bit muted to make room for reflection. The result was a surprisingly moving episode that will be remembered as one of the best of season 5.

Random Thoughts and Observation:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 32
They killed off my favorite minor supporting character tonight. Molly, the wonderfully sarcastic techie vampire, was staked and wow, didn’t Rev. Newlin just go so excited by it all? I really hope somebody stakes Rev. Newlin before the end of this season. He’s a putzhead.
How neat was it when Lafayette and Sam were both taking care of those rednecks in the bar? I like it when Sam gets to be all manly and stuff. Not as much as I like it when Alcide does it but, unfortunately, Alcide is apparently still hanging out in that trailer with his drunk dad.
There’s an art to acting confused and Ryan Kwanten has mastered it. Seriously, his performance of Jason has been one of the season’s highlights.
Only two (count ’em) more episode left this season!

Review: True Blood S5E9 “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS)

Tonight’s episode of True Blood saw the apparent conclusion of two storylines.

First off, do you remember how, two weeks ago, I predicted that the Dragon would turn out to be Bud Dearborn (William Sanderson)?

Well, I was kinda right. The Dragon wasn’t Bud Dearborn. Instead, the Dragon was Sweetie, the plump woman who Bud had taken up with since leaving his wife. We really didn’t find out too much about the Dragon, beyond the fact that she’s a bit on the heavy-side and she enjoys square dancing and, quite frankly, I felt a little bit let down by the revelation that, after all the build up and mystery, the Dragon was just a broadly drawn stereotype. It is true that, in the past, True Blood has effectively used stereotypical characters to make a bigger point but tonight, the revelation that Sweetie was the Dragon just fell flat.

I have mixed feelings about how the whole “Obamas” plotline was wrapped up during tonight’s episode. At its best, the storyline managed to show how prejudice is often the product of people feeling as if they have no power over their lives, no hope for the future, and that they need a scapegoat to hold responsible for their own failures. As well, I also appreciated that the show actually had them wearing Obama masks because, quite frankly, it’s the closest any show has come to poking fun at the President since the South Park election episode way back in 2008. It has nothing to do with the Obama’s politics or my own beliefs. I just happen to believe that all leaders, regardless of who they are or what they represent, should be frequently ridiculed.

(Aaron Sorkin’s Newsroom may get more critical acclaim but trust me — Aaron Sorkin will never have the guts to write an episode featuring a murderer in a Barack Obama mask.)

After a nice build up, however, it was hard not to be disappointed with how conventional and predictable the conclusion to the whole Obamas subplot eventually turned out to be. Sookie, with the aid of helpful spirits that happened to be hanging out in her bedroom, figured out that Bud Dearborn might know who killed her parents. She went to see him about it and ended up getting knocked out by a frying pan-weilding Sweetie.

When she came to, Sookie discovered that she was tied up and trapped in a pig pin with Hoyt (and I have to say that I cringed a little at this because I grew up near enough farms that I have first hand experience with just how disgusting pigs really are). Luckily, it turned out that Dearborn and Sweetie were the type of villains who can’t ever just kill anyone without delivering a lengthy monologue beforehand. This, fortunately, gave Sam, Luna, Andy, and Jason time to show up at the barn and save the day. It also gave Andy a chance to prove his worth as a lawman by gunning down Bud Dearborn.

Meanwhile, in this episode’s other major plotline, True Blood factories across the world are being bombed and both vampires and humans are in a panic. Tara, at first, suggests to Pam that they should stock up on their supply of True Blood but Pam informs Tara that they will keep selling True Blood and, once they run out, they will discreetly feed on humans. Meanwhile, the Rev. Newlin is condemning the bombings, despite the fact that the Authority is secretly responsible.

That’s right. The new Salome-led Authority has figured out that the easiest way to provoke a war between humans and vampires is to cause a True Blood shortage. When Eric asks Bill if he truly thinks this is a good idea, Bill replies that he’s not sure but that he does know that he saw Lillith earlier. When Eric and Molly, the cool techie vampire who is my favorite new character this season because she just seems so annoyed with everything in general, attempt to escape from Authority Headquarters, they are apparently betrayed by Bill. So, is Bill now a true believer or does he have a plan of his own? I’m betting on the latter.

Speaking of manipulative vampires, Russell and the Rev. Newlin paid a visit on the wolf pack where, after putting J.D. in his place, Russell proceeded to take Emma (in wolf puppy form) out of Martha’s hands and gave her to the Rev. Newlin. While I’m always happy to see wolf puppy, this development made me go, “Agck!” Seriously, Rev. Newlin’s perpetual smile is so creepy!

Along with the Obamas, another subplot concluded with tonight’s episode but it was a subplot that nobody ever really cared that much about so I’ll just say that Terry finally killed Patrick and the fire demon appeared to be satisfied. So, good for Terry and Arlene.

Random Thoughts and Observations:

I have to admit that tonight’s episode was not one of my favorites. Part of the show’s appeal has always been its willingness to go to extremes but tonight’s episode felt over the top even for True Blood.
I also felt a bit cheated that the scene that popped up in all the previews for this episode — Bill apparently biting Sookie — turned out to just be an elaborate hallucination on Bill’s part. It’s hard not to feel that the show didn’t play fair as far as that was concerned.
Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 45.
Performance-wise, this episode really belonged to Chris Bauer. Andy may not be the smartest character on the show but Bauer brought some much needed depth to the role on tonight’s show.
Though she only had about a minute of screen time, Dale Dickey continues to make a strong impression in the role of Martha.
I would have to go back and rewatch the previous seasons to know for sure but some people online are complaining that Bud Dearborn’s villainy seemed to come out of nowhere. Simply going by my own faulty memory (and please remember, I do not claim to be a True Blood expert, merely a fan of the show), I can see their point. The episode seemed to suggest that Sweetie was the one who brought out his evil side but still…
William Sanderson, incidentally, is one of my favorite character actors. He has a special talent for creating Southern eccentrics (which may be because he apparently is a Southern eccentric himself) and I have to admit that I was a little sad to see his character so casually killed off tonight.
“I ain’t gmail for dead bitches!”
“I may be like a week old but I ain’t an idiot.”
Only 3 more episode left in the season!

Review: True Blood S5E8 “Somebody That I Used To Know”

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of True Blood was memorable for many reasons but especially for being the directorial debut of Stephen Moyer. Moyer, who plays Bill and is married to Anna Paquin in real life, directs the Hell out of this episode and I mean that in absolutely the best way. Whether it’s the way that Moyer allows the camera to prowl restlessly through each scene or the hallucinatory feel that he brought to the staging of some tonight’s best moments, Moyer brought both a sense of mystery and an atmosphere of genuine menace to tonight’s episode. Those are two qualities that True Blood has occasionally struggled with this season and it was nice to see them so present tonight. As a result, tonight’s episode was one of the most memorable of the 5th season and I hope that future seasons of True Blood will find Moyer returning to the director’s chair.

Tonight’s episode also gave us what we’ve been waiting for all season: Naked Alcide.

Yes, apparently Alcide had moved on from his night with Sookie because tonight, we got an extended sequence of him having sex with his new werewolf girlfriend, Rikki. Rikki and Alcide talked quite a bit while they were doing it and I’m sure that they may have said something important but, to be honest, that scene was all about Naked Alcide.

Some people (though certainly not me — no never!) would argue that all this episode needed to be memorable was for Alicde to show up naked. However, some other pretty interesting things happened as well…

For instance, Luna turned into Sam! That’s right. While Sam and Andy were off interrogating the fat redneck that Sam captured during the previous episode, Luna stumbled over to the mirror in her hospital room and discovered that she had shifted into Sam. This was one of those great “WTF” moments and Sam Trammell did an excellent job playing both Sam and Luna tonight.

(And, to be honest, it never feels like a true season of True Blood unless something batshit crazy happens with Sam.)

That said, I do wish that tonight’s episode had done a bit more with Luna transforming into Sam. For all the possible ways that tonight’s scenario could have played out, the show was content to have Luna sneak out of the hospital and join up with Sam and Andy as they continued to track down the murderous rednecks. Eventually, Luna nearly collapsed (because, after all, she was in the hospital for a pretty good reason) and transformed back into herself while Sam held her. It was a sweet moment for the two characters but, at the same time, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of Luna as Sam.

Speaking of the rednecks, they managed to kidnap Jessica and presented her to Hoyt as a “gift” of sorts. They handed Hoyt a gun and then, rather conveniently, all but one of them left the house so that Hoyt could murder his ex-girlfriend. Now, last week, I declared that Hoyt had managed to claim Andy’s former title of being the biggest dumbass in Bon Temps. However, tonight, Hoyt somewhat redeemed himself by not only refusing to kill Jessica but by helping Jessica kill the one redneck left behind to guard them.

Since the sun was out, Hoyt left Jessica behind in the house while he went to get help. However, even though Hoyt may no longer be the biggest dumbass in Bon Temps, he’s still a contender and he promptly managed to get himself lost. Finally, Hoyt managed to flag down a passing truck just to have the unseen driver pull a gun on him. I’m going to guess that the driver is also the dragon who was mentioned in last week’s episode.

The rednecks’ attempts to offer up Jessica as a sacrifice were paralleled by not one but two separate vampires on tonight’s episode. Pam invited Tara to feast on an old high school rival down in her club’s dungeon. Even more importantly, Bill drank the blood of a human girl who was offered to him by Salome.

This was an especially important scene because, up until this point, Bill has been a very outspoken supporter of mainstreaming. By his actions on tonight’s show, it would appear that Bill has now come over to the side of Salome, Nora, and Russell. Indeed, all of the members of the Authority were so impressed by the appearance of Lillith during last week’s episode that they’ve all pretty much abandoned Roman’s precious mainstreaming.

All of them, that is, except for Eric. Alexander Skarsgard had some of his best scenes of the season tonight as he brooded over the actions of his fellow vampires and argued with his “sister” Nora. Judging by tonight’s episode and the preview for next week, we appear to be heading for a major confrontation between the “born again” Bill and the always skeptical Eric and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Speaking of vampires, Sookie and Jason went to the faeries to try to discover which vampire killed their parents. With the help of the faeries, Sookie was able to enter her mother’s mind and see the attack that led to the death of her parents. However, she couldn’t get a clear view of the vampire’s face and, strangely, she also found herself entering into the mind of the vampire. This sequence, with its frequent jump cuts and distorted camera angles, was perhaps the best evidence offered up tonight that Stephen Moyer should direct more episode of True Blood once season 6 starts production.

Meanwhile, Lafayette has finally gotten smart enough to start demanding some sort of money for continually allowing himself to be possessed by dead people. He charges Arlene $300 to perform a séance where they attempt to convince the fire demon to stop chasing after Terry and Patrick. The ghost of dead Iraqi woman replies that the curse will only be lifted if Terry kills Patrick or Patrick kills Terry. Patrick responds by running out of the séance. Seeing as how Scott Foley is only a guest star, I’m going to guess that, one way or another, Patrick is going to be toast.

And did I mention that tonight’s episode featured Alcide naked?

Because it totally did.

Random observations:

Largely because of the sequence where Sookie flashes back to her parents being attacked and killed, this episode ended up with an unoffical scene count of 57.
I really hope that Bill comes to his senses soon.
How neat was it when Sam turned into that snake?
Was it just me or was Jason really cute tonight? This has really been a pretty good season for those of us who love Ryan Kwanten and his performance as the well-meaning but occasionally just a bit dense Jason.
I totally related to what Sookie was saying about waiting in line at the bank. Jason’s reaction was adorable and priceless.
Only 4 more episodes left!

Review: True Blood S5E7 “In The Beginning…”

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wow.

That, in a word, sums up my reaction to tonight’s episode of True Blood. While I’ve enjoyed this season, I cannot deny that it’s been an uneven one with great episodes alternating with episodes that felt like they were mostly serving as filler. Tonight’s episode was one of the great ones and, if the final half of this season can continue to build on this episode’s momentum, season 5 of True Blood will be a memorable one indeed.

A lot of things happened on tonight’s episode of True Blood and I’m still taking them all in, even as I write this. This is going to be a review of first impressions and I make no apologies for that.

For a show that has often been in danger of coming across like a collection of random scenes and flamboyant quirks, tonight’s episode had a very definite and very strong theme and that was the theme of hate. Why do people (and vampires and werewolves) hate and how does it feel to be hated? Can hatred be ended or are we just fated to live our lives in a world that’s dominated by people trying to kill each other for reasons that don’t even seem to be all that apparent to them? At it’s best, True Blood has always served an allegory for the prejudices that have poisoned the past and which refuse to die in the present. That was certainly the case tonight. It was rarely subtle but then again, True Blood rarely is.

That’s kind of why some of us love it.

Where to begin with recapping this episode? Well, let’s start with Sookie. After having her little freakout at the Faerie nightclub, Sookie was subdued by two faeries who, once Sookie regained consciousness, informed her that she has to be careful with her magic powers because, since Sookie is only half-Faerie, she’s running the risk of depleting herself. As the faeries grimly explain to her, if she uses up her magical powers then she’ll no longer be half-faerie. Instead, she’ll just be normal. Sookie can barely disguise just how excited she is by this news.

Later, Sookie goes to the hospital to see Luna, who is still recovering from being shot by rednecks two episodes ago. While there, she talks to Sam and she asks him if he would want to be normal if he had the chance. Sam replies that he doesn’t know and that he really doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Sookie, however, does and she ends the episode lighting up the sky in an effort to deplete her magic.

As for Sam, he’s using his powers to continue to pursue the men who shot him and Luna He manages to catch one of them — who, somewhat predictably, is named Jim Bob — in the hospital.

Jim Bob’s friends, meanwhile, are busy hanging out with their new best friend, Hoyt. Usually, I find an excuse when writing these reviews to refer to Andy as being a dumbass. However, I may have to stop doing that because, as of late, Hoyt is a 100 times more of a dumbass than Andy. Having been “rescued” last week, Hoyt is apparently now a born again redneck and he seems to have little trouble joining up with this hate group and letting them know all about how angry he is at Jessica.

Yeah, Hoyt’s definitely a bigger dumbass than Andy.

But, as tonight’s episode proved, rednecks aren’t the only ones who are capable of hatred. Do you remember how, last week, I theorized that Russell wouldn’t actually kill Roman? Well, I was certainly wrong as tonight’s episode opened with Roman dead and Salome assuming control of the Authority. And, much as I (and a lot of other people) predicted, it was revealed tonight that it was Salome and not Nora who originally dug Russell up in the first place.

As the new head of the Authority, Salome not only releases Nora but also pardons Russell for killing Roman. Once the lone dissenting member of the Authority is killed by Russell, Salome leads the remaining members in drinking the blood of Lilith. Though originally hesitant, Bill and Eric both also drink the blood because, as Eric puts it, it’s just vampire’s blood.

In the very next scene, we find Nora, Salome, Russell, the Rev. Newlin, Eric, and Bill all drunkenly wandering the streets of New Orleans. While Russell and Newlin flirt, the other members of this happy group go out of their way to intimidate humans and announce that the city belongs to them. As if to prove their point, they then crash a party where they proceed to make a bloody (and almost disturbingly graphic) feast out of everyone there. Eventually, so much blood is spilled and so much hatred is released that a very naked Lilith suddenly appears and proceeds to walk over to where Nora is feeding on one unfortunate guest. As Eric, apparently lost in his own daze of a blood lust, watches Lilith and Nora, he suddenly has a vision of his own as Godric appears to remind him that he knows what he’s doing is wrong but, ominously, Nora does not.

(At this point, the show truly earned my review of “Wow.”)

As of tonight’s episode, it certainly appears as if that long-threatened war between humans and vampires is right around the corner…

Random Thoughts And Observations:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 35.
Who do you think the Dragon is? I’m going to make an early guess and say that it’s Buddy Dearborn, if just because I can’t think of any other reason for including that scene where Andy goes to visit him.
I have to admit that I found the scenes where Lafayette attempted to get that spirit exorcised out of him to be almost unbearably disturbing and difficult to watch.
How hot was Alcide while he was training for his fight with J.D?
Though it didn’t do much to move the story forward, my favorite scene tonight was when Arlene was watching her wedding video. It was a sweet moment of calm in a stormy episode and Carrie Preston’s performance as Arlene really sold it.
This entire episode, in fact, was very well-acted. Denis O’Hare was all decadent evil as Russell and Anna Paquin’s scenes where she considers whether or not she wants to be normal were very well done.
As often happens whenever True Blood tackles the most serious of themes, this episode was full of some great one-liners. Here are some of my favorites:
“I don’t know how to make lunch so I made you breakfast instead.”
“Your son doesn’t have a grave because y’all ate him.”
“Hate group is about more than hate.”
While I think the show made the right decision when it came to killing off Roman, I’m still going to miss Chris Meloni’s performance in the role.

Bleh! 10 Random Thoughts About The 2012 Emmy Nominations

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2012 Emmy Nominations were announced this morning and, at the risk of repeating myself, “Bleh!”

I know that I’ve kind of set myself up as the awards-crazy member of the TSL team and that’s a title that I wear proudly. Usually, I love writing up posts about the Oscars and the Emmys and whatever other silly awards might be handed out during any particular week.

But seriously, this year’s Emmy Awards are just making me go, “Bleh,” with boredom.

For the boring list of official nominees, click here.

For the far more interesting list of my personal nominees, click here!

Here’s ten random thoughts that went through my head as I looked over the list of nominees:

1) The best comedy on TV, Community, was totally and completely snubbed with the exception of one writing nomination.

2) The Walking Dead was also snubbed. To be honest, I feel that the Walking Dead’s 2nd season was a bit too uneven to justify it winning but, at the very least, it deserved a nomination.

3) 3o Rock, which hasn’t been interesting for a while, received all sorts of nominations.

4) My three favorite guilty pleasures — Pan Am, The Client List, and Ringer — were completely ignored. I’m not surprised by that but seriously, I was still hoping that the Emmy nominations would be at least a little bit fun.

5) The tyranny of Betty White continues as she was nominated for Outstanding Reality Series Host.

6) I was excited by a few of the nominations: Girls and Veep for Best Comedy Series, Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire for best drama series, Claire Danes for best actress in a drama series, Uma Thurman for best guest actress in a drama, and Idris Elba for best actor in a miniseries. Degrassi picked up a nomination as well. Yay!

7) The two most overrated shows on TV, the Colbert Report and The Daily Show, were both nominated for like the 100th time.

8) Both the Office and Dexter were thoroughly snubbed, as they should have been. In the past, I’ve loved both of those shows but this season, they both seemed to take viewer loyalty for granted.

9) Apparently, networks can now pass off their failed shows as being miniseries. That’s the only possible way to explain Ashley Judd picking up a nomination for best actress in a miniseries.

10) With the exception of a nomination for Project Runway, the Lifetime Network was pretty much ignored. When you ignore Lifetime, you pretty much leave me no choice but to ignore you.

Lifetime! My life, my time…

Review: True Blood S5E6 — “Hopeless”

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS BELOW)

I have to admit that Hopeless is not only the title of the latest episode of True Blood but it’s also the way I felt after watching the first 30 minutes. After last week’s exciting Michael Lehman-directed episode, Hopeless seemed to be moving a bit too slowly for its own good. However, once the show’s second half kicked in, I’m happy to say that the episode picked up the pace and it all ended with one of those wonderful (if, in this case, somewhat predictable) cliffhangers that we’ve all come to expect from True Blood.

At the end of last week’s episode, both Sam and Luna had been gunned down by a bunch of masked rednecks in a pickup truck and Emma had turned into an adorable wolf puppy and gone running into the woods. At the time, I predicted that Sam would live but Luna appeared to be dead. Well, tonight, I discovered that looks can be deceiving because Luna apparently isn’t dead. Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t want Luna to be dead but, at the same time, considering just how dead Luna looked at the end of last week, it was still somewhat shocking to see her being not only wheeled into the hospital but being totally conscious as well.

Anyway, with Luna recovering in the hospital and Emma having safely made it to her grandmother’s place, Sam volunteers to help Andy track down the masked men who shot them. Andy, at first, is reluctant to accept the help but Sam eventually convinces him and that’s probably a good thing because, as we all know, Andy is kind of a dumbass.

Sam and Andy’s investigation leads them to the same gun shop where, a few episodes earlier, Sookie had gone to purchase some tools to use to try to control the newly vampiric Tara. The same clerk that waited on Sookie is there to talk to Andy and, much like his last appearance, the actor playing the clerk goes totally over-the-top with his performance. Fortunately, he tries to pull a gun on Andy which gives Sam an excuse to shoot him with a crossbow and kill him off before we have to spend any more time listening to him.

As for the masked rednecks themselves, they don’t show up until the very end of the show, at which point they kill a vampire who happens to be draining Hoyt dry. Not realizing that Hoyt was a very willing victim, the rednecks proceed to “rescue” him by tossing him into their van. It was, at this point, that I noticed that one of the rednecks was wearing a Barack Obama mask.

Tonight’s other big plot dealt with — of course — the vampires.

At the end of last week’s episode, Bill, Eric, Alcide, and Sookie had finally found Russell and were preparing to take him in when Alcide was attacked by a werewolf. At the start of tonight’s episode, Alcide managed to rather easily defeat the two wolves and for that, I say “Yay!” because it gave the show an excuse to show us Alcide all shirtless and tough-looking. The Authority showed up at this point and took Russell into custody. Before Eric and Bill were returned to Authority HQ, they were ordered to erase the memories of Sookie and Alcide. While Eric erased Alcide’s memory (and took the time to tell him that he would, from now on, find Sookie physically repulsive), I got the feeling that Bill kinda faked it with Sookie.

(Regardless of whether Bill faked it or not, it took Sookie all of a few hours to not only fully remember everything about Russell and the Asylum but also to restore Alcide’s memory as well.)

Back at Authority HQ, Bill and Eric are hailed as heroes by Roman and the other members of the Commission. While Eric, being Eric, makes little effort to hide his contempt for the whole situation, Bill swears his loyalty to “mainstreaming” and, to be honest, goes a bit overboard while doing so.

Roman announces that he’s going to execute Russell that night and then grants Eric permission to speak with Nora. When Eric goes down to see Nora in her prison cell, Nora reacts to the news of Russell’s impending execution with a joyous smile. It soon becomes apparent why because, right as Roman attempts to administer the true death, Russell suddenly breaks free of his bonds and grabs him. Salome’s little smile as Russell moves in to kill Roman should erase any doubt as to who originally set Russell free.

At first, I assumed that show ended with Russell killing Roman but, as my BFF Evelyn pointed out to me a few minutes ago, we never actually saw Roman die. We saw some blood splattering on Russell and we saw Roman’s face twisting in apparent agony but we didn’t actually see him die. Hopefully, Roman will survive this attack because, seriously, Chris Meloni’s performance has simply been too good and too strong for him to be so easily dispatched.

As for the rest of what happened on tonight episode, Pam broke up Jessica’s fight with Tara and Hoyt was all excited because he thought that meant that Jessica actually did love him. When Jessica let him know that wasn’t the case, Hoyt replied by going out and finding that previously mentioned vampire to suck his blood.

(Seriously, girls, haven’t we all had a Hoyt in our life at some point?)

Meanwhile, Terry returned to Bon Temps and told Arlene that he couldn’t be near her because he’s got that fire spirit chasing after him.

Alcide decided that he wanted to be packmaster, after all.

And, finally, Jason told Sookie about the faerie nightclub and that their parents were killed by a vampire. Afterward, they went to the club themselves and it was there that Hadley not only confirmed Jason’s story but also explained that the vampire killed their parents specifically because it was attracted to the smell of Sookie’s blood.

Needless to say, Sookie didn’t take that news well.

A Few Random Thoughts and Observations:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 38.
Tonight’s episode moved a little bit too slowly for me. As usual, the action picked up during the final 15 minutes and the show ended with a pretty exciting cliffhanger.
Dale Dickey has been one of my favorite character actresses ever since I first saw Winter’s Bone and I’m always happy to see her bring her own distinct brand of Southern gothic to True Blood.
I was going to comment on the fact that Sam seemed to recover from being shot pretty quickly but maybe that has something to do with him being a shifter. That’s my usual excuse whenever something happens on True Blood that doesn’t ring true to me: “Well, they’re all supernatural.”
I’m usually not a huge fan of werewolf politics but I did enjoy it when Alcide and the packmaster had their little redneck confrontation. As always happens whenever I see rough but confident men trying to intimidate each other, my inner country girl squealed a little.
I also have to admit that I laughed out loud at the sight of Roman in his blue polo shirt. There’s just something oddly appropriate about a self-important bully like Roman wearing a polo shirt that is just a tad too small.
I hope that someday some guy says to me, “You’re way too pretty to not be stupid,” just so I can reply, “What’s your excuse?”

Review: True Blood S5E5 — Let’s Boot And Rally

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh my God. Where to begin?

After last week’s vaguely disappointing episode, tonight’s episode of True Blood was a triumphant return to form. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the second episode this season to be directed by Michael Lehman. As he did previously with “Authority Always Wins,” Lehman kept tonight’s episode moving quickly and managed to juggle the many subplots and characters with an ease that hasn’t always been present on True Blood in general or this season in particular. Along with bringing out the best in his actors (all of whom found the perfect pitch between comedy and drama in this episode), Lehman knows just how far he can push True Blood’s signature Southern gothic atmosphere before losing focus.

And speaking of tonight’s plot, after a season that has occasionally seemed to be a bit scatter-brained, True Blood’s many subplots finally started to come together tonight.

Let’s start with my Sookie, Eric, and Bill because they’re my favorites. When we last saw Sookie, she was about to get it on with Alcide and I was happily saying, “You go, girl!” because I had just seen Magic Mike a few days earlier. Well, unfortunately, thing didn’t quite work out as Sookie ended up throwing up all over Alcide’s shoes and then, if that weren’t mortifying enough, who should pop up in the bedroom doorway but Eric and Bill? It turns out that Eric and Bill have decided to go back on their “Fuck Sookie” policy and they now ask her to help them track down Russell. Though, by this point, Sookie probably wishes she could just get a night off, she agrees to help. As delivered by Anna Paquin, Sookie’s sarcastic little speech was definitely one of tonight’s highlights.

Accompanied by Alcide, Bill, Eric, and Sookie track down poor old Doug, the fellow who originally discovered that Russell had escaped. Sookie reads Doug’s mind and discovers that Russell was freed by a female member of the Authority. Though Sookie doesn’t see her face, Bill is quick to put the blame on Nora. Using a reluctant Doug as their guide, they track Russell down to a scary, old abandoned asylum. These wonderfully creepy scenes, where they searched for Russell and came across random, blood-drained corpses, represented True Blood at its best.

Eventually, they found Russell laying in bed and, instead of just killing him, Eric started to have a conversation with him. That conversation, however, was interrupted by what sounded like a wolf and Alcide apparently collapsing to the floor…

But that’s not all!

It wouldn’t be a season of True Blood without Sam getting into some sort of weird trouble and tonight was no exception. When last we saw Sam, he arrived late to a get together of his shifter friends and discovered that they had been murdered. On tonight’s episode, after he dealt with the police, Sam went to see Luna. While he talked to Luna, a group of redneck drove up in a pickup truck and gunned both of them down while Emma turned into a dog and ran into the woods. Sam appeared to have survived but, as the episode ended, Luna looked pretty much done for.

Meanwhile, Terry and Sgt. Devins are still up in South Dakota and the start of tonight’s episode found them tied up in the basement of their fellow vet, Bill Eller. Eller explained that, as a result of what they did in Iraq, they’re now being pursued by a fire monster known as an Ifrit. Terry believes Eller and Devins (who, the hotness of Scott Foley aside, is kinda turning out to be a real toadsucker) does not. It doesn’t matter, of course, because — as soon as they convince Eller to set them free, the Ifrit shows up.

As I’ve said before, I haven’t been a big fan of the whole Iraq subplot in the past because it just felt very predictable and obvious. And I have to admit that my fellow TSL contributor Senor Geekus figured out — long before I did — that it was going to be an Ifrit that was setting all those fires. But, I actually liked the direction that they took with it tonight. It’s still a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes but, at the very least, the Ifrit makes for an intimidating threat.

But that’s not all. Tara has a new job as a bartender and, on her first night at work, she unexpectedly bonds with Jessica but that bond soon falls apart when Jessica comes across Tara drinking Hoyt’s blood. Lafayette is still possessed and having to deal with Jesus’s disembodied head suddenly showing up. Jason can’t remember much about what happened at the Faerie “safe house” but he’s now having disturbing dreams about his parents. And Andy? Well, Andy’s still a dumbass…

A Few Random Observations:

Tonight’s unofficial scene count: 40
Molly, the cheerful girl who works at the Authority headquarters and who called up to tell Eric and Bill that they had been iStaked, is one of my favorite minor characters this season.
How cute was Jason at the start of his little dream tonight?
A definite highlight of tonight’s episode was Jessica and Tara’s conversation at the bar. I loved watching them bond and their discussion about how it feels to suddenly know that you’re different was a good example of how True Blood — at its best — uses vampirism as a metaphor for so many other things.
I have a feeling that Salome is actually the one who rescued Russell. If it was Nora, the show wouldn’t have any reason not to have shown us her face tonight.
No, the picture at the top of this post doesn’t have much to do with tonight’s episode but I just happen to like it.
There were a few good lines tonight but my personal favorite was Sookie’s “I’ve seen enough horror movies to know you don’t split up when you’re in a big scary asylum and there’s a crazed killer on the loose.”

Review: True Blood S5E4 — “We’ll Meet Again”

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s episode of True Blood could very well have been called “Everybody hates Sookie.” Seriously, Sookie did not have an easy time of it for most of tonight though, in the end, she got to have drunken sex with Alcide so I guess things didn’t work out too badly for her.

But before we get to that…

When we last saw Tara (Rutina Wesley), she was torturing herself in a tanning salon. At the start of tonight’s episode, Pam (Kristen Bauer Von Straten) finally abandoned her facade of indifference long enough to save Tara and, as her maker, command to Tara to stop with the attempts at self-destruction. Though still reluctant, Pam has started to take Tara under her wing and accept her responsibilities as a “maker.” By the end of the episode, Pam was even bringing Tara a willing young woman to feed upon.

However, Pam had more to deal with than just Tara. Having finally been released from the Authority HQ, Bill and Eric go straight to Pam and demand to know if she told anyone about Russell. While Eric interrogated Pam, Bill talked to Tara about her new life as a vampire. For me, Bill and Tara’s scene was one of the highlights of the season so far. It was beautifully acted by both Rutina Wesley and Stephen Moyer and it was a nice change from the show’s often frantic pace.

Speaking of noteworthy acting, Alexander Skarsgard got his own Emmy moment in tonight’s episode when he released Pam from his control. He did this to protect her from both Russell and the Authority and tonight’s episode skillfully got every note of drama and pathos out of the moment that it could.

Meanwhile, Jason and Andy were invited to accompany corrupt old Judge Clements for a night out on the town. Of course, in this case, that meant going out to a deserted field and stepping through a portal that led to some sort of fairy-run Moulin Rouge-type nightclub. I enjoyed the sequences in the nightclub, if just because they were so decadent and over-the-top. Jason didn’t enjoy it quite as much because he ran into his cousin Hadley, who apparently works at the club. Hadley let it slip that the nightclub’s actually a “safehouse” and that Jason and Sookie’s parents were killed by vampires. When Jason had a bad reaction to that bit of information, both he and Andy are promptly kicked out of the club and back through the portal. Who would have guessed that faery bouncers could be that effective?

Speaking of vampires, Nora (Lucy Griffiths) finally breaks down and tells Roman (Chris Meloni) who the secret Sanguinista Chancellor is. It turns out, to no one’s great surprise, that it’s the little kid vampire, Alexander Drew. Roman promptly responds by giving Drew the true death and who can blame him? That kid was a smug, spoiled little brat and, for a little kid,he certainly made a big mess when he exploded.

Even with all that going on, tonight’s episode truly belonged to Sookie and Anna Paquin’s frequently underrated lead performance. The beginning of the show finds Sookie with not a friend in the world. Alcide is mad at her for killing his fiancee. Lafayette is mad at her for telling Alcide about Debbie. Eric and Bill are missing. Tara’s blames Sookie for her transformation into a vampire. To top it off, she can hear the thoughts of everyone in town and it quickly becomes apparent that all of them blame her for everything bad that’s happened over the course of the entire series.

Poor Sookie! Seriously, who couldn’t relate to that feeling in one way or another?

Lafayette, meanwhile, has one of his possessed moments and this leads to him attacking Sookie’s car. Later, when Sookie is driving home, her brakes go out and she ends up crashing her car. Shaken but unhurt, Sookie stumbles back to her house and does what anyone would do under these circumstance.

She starts drinking.

By the time Alcide shows up to tell her that he’s covered up her involvement in Debbie’s death, Sookie is totally drunk and soon, she and Alcide are engaging in perhaps the tamest sex scene in True Blood history. And to that, I say, “You go, girl.” It probably would have been better if a jealous Bill hadn’t been standing outside her window watching (and seriously, windows have blinds for a reason) but still, it’s about time something good happened to Sookie.

A Few Random Observations:

I apologize if tonight’s review isn’t one of my better efforts. I’ve been dealing with an onslaught of allergies and asthma for the past week and I have to admit that I’ve spent much of tonight in a sort of daze.
Tonight’s unofficial scene count was 35.
You’ll notice that I haven’t spent much time on Terry’s flashbacks to Iraq. That, quite frankly, is because that little subplot doesn’t hold that much interest to me. So far it just feels as if it’s an excuse for Alan Ball to indulge in some nostalgic criticism of George W. Bush and the Iraq War without having to acknowledge that Barack Obama has pretty much been pursuing the same foreign policy in the rest of the Middle East. I’m still hoping that the show does something unexpected with this whole subplot but, so far, it’s all been pretty predictable.
“How you like Bush now!?” was the epitome of a line so heavy-handed that it probably backfired. What made this line annoying to me is that it was hard to shake the feeling that the show would never have had the guts to feature soldiers committing a war crime in Afghanistan while shouting, “Yes, we can!” (Much less, “How you like Obama now!?”)
No appearances by the Rev. Newlin tonight but I’m sure he’ll play a big role in the later half of the season. I get the feeling that there was a lot of foreshadowing going on with Bill and Jessica’s discussion concerning whether or not Bill was still king of Louisiana.
Compared to last week, there was a definite shortage of memorable lines in tonight’s episode. However, Kristen Bauer Von Straten’s delivery of the line, “3 days old and she already has an eating disorder…” was perfectly delivered with just the right combination of concern and self-pity.
Anna Paquin’s version of the Pina Colada Song was adorable.

If I was the type to give out grades, I’d give tonight’s episode a good solid B. If nothing else, I was glad that Bill and Eric finally got out of the Authority HQ. I have to admit that I’m starting to wonder if Russell is actually going to show up this season or is he just going to be an unseen metaphor.

Time will tell.