Read on Twitter
I have just finished rewatching all 7 seasons of True Blood. I am about to tweet somewhere between 20 and 200 times about the series. If you don’t want that in your life mute me now.
These tweets have no thesis, are not in any particular order and you will not have learned anything or be improved in any way by reading them
Most of what I will say was already covered at the time and idgaf
Most of what I will say was already covered at the time and idgaf
Season rankings from best to worst:
2
1
First half of 4
3
6
Second half of 4
7
5
2
1
First half of 4
3
6
Second half of 4
7
5
Characters who perform oral sex based on words or implied deeds or documentation:
Jason Stackhouse
Alcide Herveux
Pam
Hoyt
Jessica
End of list
Jason Stackhouse
Alcide Herveux
Pam
Hoyt
Jessica
End of list
This show was supposed to be so sexy at the time and now the sex is unbelievably unsexy
Ridiculous instantaneous hard fucks 90% of the time
Vampires must have a constant menses lube going on
Sookie gets fucked as bill crawls out of a grave with a dirt covered boner
Ridiculous instantaneous hard fucks 90% of the time
Vampires must have a constant menses lube going on
Sookie gets fucked as bill crawls out of a grave with a dirt covered boner
The real sex appeal comes from the unbelievable casting, this series is littered with gems and performances that turn an angsty supernatural drama into something incredibly touching and real even when it’s tonally all over the place
But Jesus Christ their bodies wtf the show is just constantly showcasing the incredible beauty of its cast at every opportunity
Marry fuck kill
Anna Paquin’s breasts
But as to performances, so many of them are good even when the show is bad: William Sanderson, Todd Lowe, Carrie Preston (they have more and more to Arlene every season for a reason)
And a deeply felt moment of silence to the late great Nelson Ellis. Lafayette remains the most memorable character on True Blood. I don’t usually feel much about artists I don’t know passing, but I felt that. Gorgeous soul showing through his craft.
Ryan Kwanten was obviously a babe but I appreciated his performance much more this time. He brings a sweetness and pathos to Jason who could easily be played as just a handsome meat head jock.
And while the series doesnt dwell on it, it does portray him as someone who has suffered sexual abuse and connects it to his hyper sexuality in a nuanced way you def don’t see much on TV, especially about men’s experiences with rape
Sam Trammel is really good as pretending to be people pretending to be him
Tara Buck played the recurring screamer Ginger and she is honestly so hilarious in the combined 15 minutes she was on the show. Her sex scene with Eric is maybe the funniest moment of all.
But I want to talk about Rutina Wesley, who I remember getting called ‘annoying’ constantly in TV recaps on various blogs, but she’s not! She great and she has an absolutely thankless role to play as one of the only WOC on there who is also horrifyingly abused throughout
Tara’s very first scene sort of establishes her as someone who is fighting against the world, and I think they were trying to show how growing up in abuse makes it hard to connect with anyone any other way, but she cannot. Catch. A. Break.
And the way her death went down was just unbelievable. I know they were wrapping things up, but they kind of retconned her entire relationship with her mom, who up until then was a textbook narcissist. Kind of dishonored her entire character arc.
Other shameful moments of brushing over grief when TB dwells in every Bill/Sookie break up: Jesus dying, with barely a beat for Lafayette to grieve.
Then Sam moving in about 24 hrs from Luna to Nicole. I really think the whole Emma plot was a way to keep Sam away from the rest of the cast for some reason?! gotta look up the behind the scenes gossip on that
Every fairy death on the show was so weird, even Andy didn’t seem that broken up about his 3 girls dying, every other fairy might as well have been a bubble that popped for all people cared
This is sort of the opposite problem, but sometimes the series would force caring on viewers, like Eric’s sister Nora who was suddenly so important. You already did that with Godrick, characters only get one secretly meaningful person!
TB is emotionally inconsistent, but the rules of the universe or pretty clear for a vampire show. A lot of shows with magic go off the rails and lose the reality they establish. One thing though:
Eric and Pam can both fly. Bill never does. He is older than Pam. Does age give vamps the ability to fly or is it Eric’s blood? Then Willa and maybe Tara could fly... but they never do
That might be established in the books, I’ve actually read them all but no longer remember. I’m sure Charlaine Harris’s novels help with the rules this way. One thing they change for the show is that Jason DOES get turned into a werepanther in the novel.
A more important thing that keeps switching up is what being a vampire even means. It’s often a heavy handed metaphor, usually for being gay. Sometimes it’s for racism: there’s a scene where they burn a cross on Bill’s lawn that made me choke
And in the 7th season, everyone gets Hep V and it’s a metaphor for the AIDS crisis, including fake vamp related Act Up stickers which is a lot
In the middle of a pandemic it’s funny realizing how many shows and movies actually do talk about apocalyptic disease altering everyone’s life completely
There’s a scene where Andy Bellefleur starts crying looking at a lake in the middle of a disaster just bc it looks so peaceful and that was extremely relatable
Anyway, I think when TB tries to force these connections to political or historical issues it tends to use symbols as props in a way that was probably bad then and is even worse to see now!
And it really doesn’t make sense because... the vampires are bad. They do kill people, even the ones we grow to like. They’re not actually misunderstood at all lol
Yes, they can be good, but it seems like circumstances have to be absolutely perfect for that to last
Yes, they can be good, but it seems like circumstances have to be absolutely perfect for that to last
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has the exact same problem now, the witches are evil and in league with the devil and murderers???
I like nuanced villains and complicated heroes, but c’mon
I like nuanced villains and complicated heroes, but c’mon
Also for as gay as this show was, it really ends on this note of extreme heteronormativity with marriage and ultimately babies being the most important thing that multiple characters are suddenly wanting and prioritizing out of nowhere
Arlene votes for Trump. Who else?
Bill making Sookie kill him was abusive and controlling and firmly makes him a pos so I do wonder if the entire series is really about escaping abusive relationships
In the books, Bill kind of leaves and is healed and runs off with his maker and Sookie is cool with it. She ends up with Sam, which is also seen as an affirmation of life over death.
I really really love TV and wish I could have written for a television show like this.
Always hated it when series ended even when they def had to. It’s like a whole world disappeared. Nice to imagine Eric and Pam still giving people insane orgasms somewhere though.
