"We will eat you! After we eat your children! ... And now back to Tiffany with the weather."

[tempestuously]

My plan to play Okami ended up resulting in fail because my Bro sold his PS2 to get an X-Box. He actually did it months ago. I guess I never noticed before now. But I hear he's doing really well in his new school and spent several hours Saturday telling me everything he's learned about the body. I was impressed. He also loved his birthday trifle.

His story was the flipside to my sister's tale of woe where her hosts dropped her off at the airport 25 minutes before her flight left and were SURPRISED when nobody was around to check her in. She won't be able to catch another flight until tomorrow morning. I am not happy.

But my weekend wasn't completely unproductive, as I snatched up my father's On Demand and caught up on True Blood Season 3. And I have opinions. Overall, this season is infinitely better than 2, which is easy because aside from the Church of the Sun plot and Eric, I HATED Season 2. I hate Ball's obsession with sex scenes. And I really hated how overboard he went with the quick in the start of Season 3. But I am enjoying all the character arcs from crazy Russel to Eric's viking vengeance to Sam's family to Sookie's true nature to Jessica's growing pains. I'm not entirely sold on Lafayette and Jason's arcs yet, but I do like Jason more this season, even if I do believe his sudden infatuation to Crystal is a little lame. Tara, well she was doing good again until the story suddenly felt like it had to bring back Franklin to make Tara a victim AGAIN. gg True Blood. But let's get into my major issue with this show.

It's really hard to actually like some of the characters. So many are selfish or overly victimized or just plain assholes. I used to like Bill and I do like when he's with Jessica but otherwise he's such a fucking bitch and he does it while pretending that he's not evil like the other vampires. Pure poser. Sookie gets too preachy half the time and her on-again off-again thing with Bill is becoming genuinely annoying. She still has her moments, especially with Eric. Tara may have kick-ass moments, but she basically exists to be victimized and I'm sick of it. Bringing back Franklin just to have Jason save her and totally invalidate all of the power she was given by originally being the one to destroy Franklin pissed me off beyond words. She wasn't even allowed to have her cool resistance against Franklin because he just had to taunt her some more. Disgusting. Arlene, I want to like but she's just so damn mean for no reason sometimes and now this bullshit about thinking her baby is evil because it's Renee's. WTF? Jessica fares better because she has her teenage moments, but she does try to make them right and she suffers from no reliable guardian figure because of the fore-mentioned Bill suckage. Sam is good, but I don't know how we're expected to like Tommy when he can't stop being an ass for no reason. I don't think Sam has to be taught to not be a wimp; Sam is a good guy and stands up for what is right. That scene of him pounding into Crystal's dad was gratuitous. I hated how Lorena had to bawl like an idiot while torturing Bill. I would have preferred her to actually "own her dark side" like the rest of the vampires instead of making herself into yet another victim. And of course we had to torture the Queen too because this show really doesn't know what else to do with women. I give Eric a pass because he has actual reason and motivation for being a bitch so of course the series had to insert a scene of him being subjugated too. For a show about vampires and werewolves, these characters are entirely too whipped. Russel is also awesome because he's just so campy evil and terrifying at the same time. I will miss Talbot. :(

I do like the violence though. That is one thing I love about True Blood, the raw carnage of every episode. I wish we had more violence and less sex scenes. I hate the idea of weres rolling onto their bellies for a vampire, but the vampire blood subplot is interesting. And I do like the comparison between the decadent high-cultured vampires and the crazy and primal weres who just barely manage to hold themselves in check. I know some people wish the weres were treated more fairly, and as much as I love the noble shapeshifter archtype, I prefer the monstrous were. I'm still undecided on Alcide because he is given so little material this season. I hope he takes over his pack though because his alpha is pathetic.

I really want to see an ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny between Eric and Russel.

Wow, the more I learn about my childhood literary heroes. If it weren't for Jack London, I'd never would have wanted to be a writer.
And now to crash.

Comments

[realms-of-life.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your brother is doing well. :)

And oh nooooes, they tortured the queen? Bastards! I don't know what to say, maybe I will watch the show as long as the faerie bellboy is okay. He is okay, right? Right? ;;

[nayami.livejournal.com]

We haven't seen him lately, but there's some faerie child now.

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

Tara may have kick-ass moments, but she basically exists to be victimized and I'm sick of it. Bringing back Franklin just to have Jason save her and totally invalidate all of the power she was given by originally being the one to destroy Franklin pissed me off beyond words.

This. God. Her plot this season following on the heels of what happened to her last season just has so many problems and everything in this episode just served to illustrate what a victim she is. And I really, really do not see the point in bringing Franklin back the way they did just so he could be killed by Jason.

And also, yes, I fucking hate Bill more with every episode. I liked him more in the books because it was kind of owned that he was a douche. But the show seems intent on portraying him as tragic and emo and we should sympathize with his pain. And, no. He's a dick, and really kind of creepy with his attitudes about protecting Sookie and I don't care about his pain. I'd really like to see him face some consequences for his actions. One episode where he stays away from Sookie for her own good is not an acceptable consequence for the shit he pulls.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Why the hell would they even do that? Can they just not have Tara be strong and competent and together? Her takedown of Sookie for staying with Bill after what he did to her was beautiful. So of course they have to not only put her in rape therapy but give us this. Not on, True Blood.

I don't mind douche characters if they own the fact, and yes Bill strikes me as one who would work much better if he was seen as a dark character and not so much the conflicted hero.

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

Well, from what I can tell the show seems pretty intent on undermining any power the female characters have. The stuff that's happened with Lorena and Sophie Ann is problematic, too. Even Sookie isn't learning about her power of her own accord. Male characters are doing it for her. So Tara not being able to kill her own demon just seems to fit into that pattern.

And yes, I agree that douche characters are fine as long as the narrative acknowledges what they are. Bill does work a lot better as an aloof, dark character than a tragic, conflicted hero, in my opinion. I'd be a lot more comfortable with his character if they'd just embrace that he's dangerous and run with it.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Good point about Sookie. She should have gotten information from either Claudine or her cousin, not Bill. They just need that to give the two something else to attempt to keep them together. And yes, it's getting to the point where I fear seeing a powerful woman in True Blood since I know the show will find someway to victimize them. EVEN PAM FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

If she were showing any agency at all in learning about what she is and what she can do, it'd be a nice step forward. But even though she sometimes says something about wanting to know what she is, she doesn't really take an active role in finding out that we've seen. Which is disappointing.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't get why Sookie never really tries. She had time once she spoke with her cousin.

[ichinichinemasu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything here, especially about Tara. What makes me even more mad? People on the internets thinking Franklin and Tara should have gotten back together. I mean...really? REALLY? I think like you said she should have been the one to freaking shoot him. Then I'd feel better about it.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

... People on the Internet what? I mean, I love fucked-up romances like burning, but theirs was not one of the good. God, I hate people.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

I read that piece about Jack London the other day, and as much as I wanted to care at pay attention to it, the fixation on castration/eunuchs/etc was too distracting and infuriating. Seriously, that is becoming a huge freaking pet peeve of mine. If you mean that someone is brave, or courageous, or radical, or free, or... whatever perfectly gender neutral concept, can we not tie it back to balls, thanks?

I know this is a tangent, but for some reason this is something I run into pretty regularly on Slate, until I end up just not caring. Seriously, figurative emasculation just makes me like, "Fuck you and fuck your external gonads." /tangential rant, sorry.

As for True Blood, which is what I was going to talk about in the first place! I agree with a lot of what you said. I was frankly pissed that they brought Franklin back just so Jason could kill him and be the hero, which undermined Tara's victory a lot. And the fact it came on the heels of the whole rape victim support group thing only drove home the reminder--remember, Tara's a victim! She needs saving! I don't mind having her deal with issues from what she's been through. It would make sense that she'd have them. But the execution of it, and coupled with that victim moment later on, just rubbed me wrong.

A lot of the characters are just hard to care about. Sookie and Bill foremost. I like Eric. I like Pam. I love Jessica. I've liked Sam this season, but I feel like the writers are so interested in giving him conflict and punishing him for being a nice guy that they're completely dropping the ball with Tommy. (Hint: You could have him fuckup and cause conflict for Sam, and not be all goody happy perfect, and still write him growing and developing as a character.)

I have a complaint about too many characters--and particularly too many female characters--never seeming credible. Tara and Sookie rarely seem like credible heroes, and no other female character even gets the chance. Very few characters in general seem like credible threats as villains, but I feel like the women suffer there are well. The werewolves, OVER ALL, I feel like aren't nearly as credible of threats as they ought to be. I don't mind that they're not noble in the least, but I'd like to feel like there's an actual reason to be afraid of them. As yet, I haven't seen one.

There is some stuff about the show I enjoy, or else I wouldn't keep watching it, but there are so many places where I feel like it could be infinitely better for relatively minor changes, and that's always disappointing.

That said, Russel is epic as an evil, campy villain. Even when his motivations get kind of cliche and predictable, I don't care because he's just so much fun to watch. I cracked up so hard with his call back for the weather after that huge rant. That was perfect.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

Oh, I won't lie. I hate the way that article is written. The line about "literary semen erupting" or whatever has to be one of the worst things a journalist has ever produced. It's a terrible way to phrase. I'm more fascinated at the type of person London was and how much I really didn't know about a man whose Yukon background completely fascinated me as a child. He really was my inspiration. So the whole thing was rather wow.

Yeah, the females really suffer when it comes to characterization in this series. There is just so much over-the-top fanservice with them, like how they had to show the AVL lady with a naked lady in her limo. Or how we always see them in Fangtasia strip scenes. And the ones who actually have a role suffer the worst, regardless of who they are. There's not one female character in this show who hasn't been victimized, and that's pretty depressing. I really liked the Queen, as nutty as she is, and having that scene with her threatening Eric just to later have him do the same to her and torture her lover just really left a bad taste in my mouth. Like women can only have power to tease the viewer because somehow the guy is always going to come out on top, figuratively and literally. I think this is an Alan Ball problem, rather than a True Blood problem, as it was also the case in Six Feet Under.

But yeah, even Maryanne had to be outwitted by men: Bill and Sam, while Sookie was left in the dark. The Fellowship of the Sun lady seemed to have agency but then turned into a slut because of Jason's super charisma, which I do understand is an actual plot point in the books. Jessica is the only character that fares decently and I worry about pointing that out because I know the series will find a way to prove me wrong. Then again, she was raped into becoming a vampire.

As for the weres, I think we're not supposed to see them as a threat so much as the fact that they are corrupted and being controlled by a vampire. Eric is after Russel, after all, more than the weres. It would be nice to see one really on even keel with the vamps though since the corrupted pack is so damn screwy and impulsive.

And yes, the same. I enjoy the show so its shortcomings bother me more than they probably would if I didn't really care. It has real potential and it often squanders it for no reason at all. It loves to destroy its best moments, the Tara story being the prime example.

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get your point with London, and it is interesting, but... literary semen is just not a mental image I need.

I never watched Six Feet Under, but it wouldn't really surprise me to find that's the case. Generally speaking, I actually have a fairly high tolerance for fan service as long as 1) it's pretty equal opportunity, and 2) it doesn't damage the character or overwhelm their other qualities. But unfortunately, in True Blood's case, it often does start to undermine the female characters, especially when it's coupled with the way women in power are constantly having their legs cut out from under them, it becomes really troubling.

I liked the Queen--she was interesting, and eccentric, and could have done a lot. But then not only was she weaker than Russel, she was suddenly weaker than Eric. Which isn't even logically consistent considering that with Maryann's plot they seemed to imply she was significantly older than Eric.

I end up feeling like there are some issues with women in general going on with the creative team, noticing the patterns, so the fact Ball has had problems with it before seems pretty in line with my feeling.

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's one anyone ever needed, and I see he got a few comments about it too.

Yeah, they are dating her back to the Greeks/Romans, which is a lot older than Eric. So his line about him being older than her really made no sense at all. That whole scene was just weird, although I do get that she left him out to dry and yeah that was low. I also really hate the forced marriage after all the other captive scenarios we've had.

I think you can see some of Ball's issues with "American Beauty."

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. It's been a long time since I watched that movie, but there's some insight there.

I don't mind Eric turning on Sophie Ann. She did let him take the fall for her. But at the same time, she's supposed to be freaking Queen of Louisiana. How about writing her as such? Instead she's apparently weaker and "younger" (wtf) than one of her sheriffs, and a completely incompetent ruler. So why?

Issues.