tempestuously (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tempestuously) wrote2010-09-14 02:18 am
tempestuously) wrote2010-09-14 02:18 am
WHY I DID NOT LIKE THE TRUE BLOOD FINALE
I found myself deeply unimpressed with the season finale for True Blood, which is a shame because I always enjoy the finales for this series. But this one, well I guess it's a YMMV situation, depending on which character you care for. Overall, they got hosed and I'm heated about it because I was really looking forward to the episode after a week delay. So I'm going to rant about this episode and maybe mention the few things I liked.
Let's start with the likes so we can begin on a positive note:
- Sookie kicking ass again. Save for one moment, which I'll explain later, I really liked Sookie in the finale. I like how she treated the vampires just as they deserve for their constant mind games and essentially putting her through hell, whether with decent intentions or not. I enjoyed her "vampire crack" comment and her bitching out Russell. I loved her giving Bill what was coming to him. She had an almost slip-out when Bill said something EXTREMELY CREEPY (more on that later) and she was about to forgive him, but she came to her senses. So yay Sookie.
- Sam and Tara in the beginning of this episode. They were cute. Of course, it couldn't last because GOD FORBID anyone be happy in True Blood.
- Jessica and Hoyt. Also cute and also given creepy foreshadowing about troubles to come. But I really love Hoyt calmly dealing with his mother during their hilarious intervention. That entire scene did a great job of bringing down the chaos that was going on for everyone else. I love allegories.
- Lafayette and Jesus. Though I'm not crazy about where they're going with Lafayette's visions (especially the one with Arlene and Rene because if they go the evil baby route I'm going to punch someone in the face), but I loved the revelation with Jesus being a witch and the adorableness of Lafayette's response. "You're a witch who's a nurse who's a dude." I hope things work out for them, but probably not. See line about nobody in True Blood being happy.
- Terry being dorky and crying about his happiness. I wish he didn't have to put up with Arlene's crazy because I love him.
- Sexy boy fairy! ... Moving along.
- Eric in general was awesome this episode. From his deciding what to do with Russell to his sending Alcide to protect Sookie to his giving Sookie the knowledge about Bill that Bill was too much of a selfish ass to ever reveal himself. Also love for Pam and her reaction to digging Eric out of the cement. Then again, I've never had a single complaint for Pam. She and Eric are some of the better written characters in this series. Minus the rampant Eric godmode issues that I've referenced in other posts.
- I still love Russell and loved him up to his last scene. Even after he was horribly burned, he still managed to be dangerous and entertaining. His bargaining with Sookie about killing her boys was priceless, as was his cursing at her in Swedish over Talbot and cursing playful like a madman when he wanted her to pull him out of the sun. He's just a plain enjoyable character and one of my favorites.
- I also liked the brief Alcide cameo because while Alcide is a bit dull, he's a better person than most of the characters here.
- Nice scene between Nan and the church guy about news spin regarding the congressman Russell killed. Genuinely amusing analogy for political parties.
- I actually liked the whole Bill revelation plot at the end, which they've been working up to most of the season. I like the way it happened, and I like Sookie's reaction. I love how twisted it was in showing how Bill manipulated Sookie from the beginning and even was prepared to kill Eric the first chance he got to keep him from telling Sookie the truth, even after the two worked together to defeat Russell. While this makes me hate Bill even more, it was a good, interesting piece of story-telling and a brilliant twist on the Bill/Sookie relationship. A++
Now the bad:
- Godric. I love Godric. He is hilariously jesusy and pretty and generally fun to watch. He was misused in the WORST way in this episode. Yeah, I'm sure if you like Godric or you love the Godric/Eric relationship (which I do), you might disagree. But from a story-telling perspective, Godric was a throwaway gag. His vision in Eric's mind intro detracted from the powerful scene of Eric willing to sacrifice himself to kill Russell for vengeance. It was a cheesefest. Maybe if it had been handled better and not so hilariously, it would have worked. I get that it was supposed to show Godric's hold over Eric and their love that Eric was willing to forgo his vengeance and ask Sookie to spare Russell for Godric's sake. But Godric's presence MAKES NO SENSE. Is he in Eric's head? Is he actually talking to him from beyond death? If it's the first, why would Eric even imagine what Godric would think about him killing Russell, he sure didn't care what Eric would think about him killing innocent Talbot. If it's the latter, it's cheap. No other True Blood character has managed this. Why Godric? But most importantly, the entire scene becomes pointless because Eric comes up with a more effective way to torture Russell forever and ignores Godric's words about forgiveness and peace ANYWAY. I don't know, maybe the True Blood writers plan to use this to influence Eric in later seasons. But it honestly just seemed an excuse to bring back Godric. It was poorly done, and it bothered me a lot because I thought Godric's arc was brought to a very simple and touching end between him and Eric. FAIL.
- Sam. God, what can I say about Sam other than FUCK YOU TRUE BLOOD. You have ruined a really decent and good character with a crazy plot ripped off Lost and unfair to his character in the least. Sam would not go after his own brother with a gun! I don't even care whether Sam actually shot him. That he chased him down with a gun was stupid enough! I didn't mind that he was bitching at him because Tommy has been a real ass for no reason, but he could have bitched at him while offering ways to get him back on his feet, such when he talked about Tommy getting a job. That's what the real Sam would have done, not continue to snarl at him. In the beginning of this ep, I hoped they were going to fix Sam (even if it was through lame healing sex) and have him be his usual self. His talk with Tara and then with Terry validated this. But the end. FUCK.
- Tara. Tara has been horrificly mistreated since Season 2 and it continues here. Her moment with Sam was short-lived and instead turns into more of her victim trauma over EVERYTHING. She can't take Sam being a supernatural because all supernatural have done is bring hell to her life. She can't take Sookie, despite a nice scene of them just enjoying each other's company like old times. And they randomly decide to have her mother sexing up a married preacher. WHY? To further fuck her up. So she hacks off her hair and leaves town. Uh ok.
- Bill. Ok, we talked about how I liked the Bill/Sookie plot, that's still the case. What I don't like is Bill suddenly going after the Queen as if the whole thing is her fault. I really hate how abusive Bill is toward women. He manipulated Sookie, treated his ex like shit before killing her, allowed Tara to be tortured for his own goals, tried to set up Pam's death and now wants to kill the Queen? WTF? Also, his claim that he was going to kill anyone that drank Sookie's blood to make sure nobody knows what she is because that's how much he loves her is FUCKING CREEPY. I know Bill is supposed to be a jerk in the books but this bordered on disturbing. I hated Bill this entire episode. Maybe I was supposed to, but there's special hate for his treatment of women, something True Blood has a terrible problem with in the first place.
- Jason. Jason has been hit-or-miss this season as far as storyline. This episode destroyed everything. And I have real issues with the message it presented. It's ok that Jason tipped off the cops, destroyed his potential career and jeopardized Andy's because he saved the trailer village? Umm... that would have been on shaky ground but somewhat more defensible ground had that been Jason's intention. But it wasn't. His intention was to do something for a girl he barely knew and randomly fell in love with. He didn't know about the massive trailer village. He was just driven by idk plot? It all felt very forced. Now he owns a clan of werekitties? Where are you going with this series? I actually liked the attempt to get Jason to straighten up and have real goals so I'm pretty pissed they just flushed that down the toilet for a plot that essentially came out of nowhere. And if the DEA came in on dead bodies and didn't haul Jason off for questioning, they must have been told by the trailer family that someone else shot the men and that person ran off with the V. If that's the case, WHY ARE THE DEA EVEN BLAMING JASON. The sheer plot holes and stupidity of this storyline are what make it so wall-banging. As does the it's ok to screw the cops over if you're protecting people message. That doesn't even make sense, AND IT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Ugh, I hated this storyline.
- I actually did not like Sookie laughing like a crazy person while dumping Talbot's remains down the garbage disposal just to fuck with Russell. While I enjoyed the rest of their scene, I thought this was excessive and just more of True Blood trying to be extra fucked-up, like when Bill twisted his ex's head around while they had sex. :\
Now, I know it seems I had more good points than bad, but the fact that most of the bad points were HUGE storyline elements that came to a crashing halt because of these fuck-ups really hurt my enjoyment of this episode. It was rushed, anti-climatic and badly handled for the most part. Only Sookie and Eric truly shined and even their storylines were pocked with randomness and missed opportunities. I like this season for Russell because I thought he made a great villain, and I enjoyed Eric's development and the revelation about Sookie's secret. But I really don't like True Blood's rather poor storyline in the majority.
Let's start with the likes so we can begin on a positive note:
- Sookie kicking ass again. Save for one moment, which I'll explain later, I really liked Sookie in the finale. I like how she treated the vampires just as they deserve for their constant mind games and essentially putting her through hell, whether with decent intentions or not. I enjoyed her "vampire crack" comment and her bitching out Russell. I loved her giving Bill what was coming to him. She had an almost slip-out when Bill said something EXTREMELY CREEPY (more on that later) and she was about to forgive him, but she came to her senses. So yay Sookie.
- Sam and Tara in the beginning of this episode. They were cute. Of course, it couldn't last because GOD FORBID anyone be happy in True Blood.
- Jessica and Hoyt. Also cute and also given creepy foreshadowing about troubles to come. But I really love Hoyt calmly dealing with his mother during their hilarious intervention. That entire scene did a great job of bringing down the chaos that was going on for everyone else. I love allegories.
- Lafayette and Jesus. Though I'm not crazy about where they're going with Lafayette's visions (especially the one with Arlene and Rene because if they go the evil baby route I'm going to punch someone in the face), but I loved the revelation with Jesus being a witch and the adorableness of Lafayette's response. "You're a witch who's a nurse who's a dude." I hope things work out for them, but probably not. See line about nobody in True Blood being happy.
- Terry being dorky and crying about his happiness. I wish he didn't have to put up with Arlene's crazy because I love him.
- Sexy boy fairy! ... Moving along.
- Eric in general was awesome this episode. From his deciding what to do with Russell to his sending Alcide to protect Sookie to his giving Sookie the knowledge about Bill that Bill was too much of a selfish ass to ever reveal himself. Also love for Pam and her reaction to digging Eric out of the cement. Then again, I've never had a single complaint for Pam. She and Eric are some of the better written characters in this series. Minus the rampant Eric godmode issues that I've referenced in other posts.
- I still love Russell and loved him up to his last scene. Even after he was horribly burned, he still managed to be dangerous and entertaining. His bargaining with Sookie about killing her boys was priceless, as was his cursing at her in Swedish over Talbot and cursing playful like a madman when he wanted her to pull him out of the sun. He's just a plain enjoyable character and one of my favorites.
- I also liked the brief Alcide cameo because while Alcide is a bit dull, he's a better person than most of the characters here.
- Nice scene between Nan and the church guy about news spin regarding the congressman Russell killed. Genuinely amusing analogy for political parties.
- I actually liked the whole Bill revelation plot at the end, which they've been working up to most of the season. I like the way it happened, and I like Sookie's reaction. I love how twisted it was in showing how Bill manipulated Sookie from the beginning and even was prepared to kill Eric the first chance he got to keep him from telling Sookie the truth, even after the two worked together to defeat Russell. While this makes me hate Bill even more, it was a good, interesting piece of story-telling and a brilliant twist on the Bill/Sookie relationship. A++
Now the bad:
- Godric. I love Godric. He is hilariously jesusy and pretty and generally fun to watch. He was misused in the WORST way in this episode. Yeah, I'm sure if you like Godric or you love the Godric/Eric relationship (which I do), you might disagree. But from a story-telling perspective, Godric was a throwaway gag. His vision in Eric's mind intro detracted from the powerful scene of Eric willing to sacrifice himself to kill Russell for vengeance. It was a cheesefest. Maybe if it had been handled better and not so hilariously, it would have worked. I get that it was supposed to show Godric's hold over Eric and their love that Eric was willing to forgo his vengeance and ask Sookie to spare Russell for Godric's sake. But Godric's presence MAKES NO SENSE. Is he in Eric's head? Is he actually talking to him from beyond death? If it's the first, why would Eric even imagine what Godric would think about him killing Russell, he sure didn't care what Eric would think about him killing innocent Talbot. If it's the latter, it's cheap. No other True Blood character has managed this. Why Godric? But most importantly, the entire scene becomes pointless because Eric comes up with a more effective way to torture Russell forever and ignores Godric's words about forgiveness and peace ANYWAY. I don't know, maybe the True Blood writers plan to use this to influence Eric in later seasons. But it honestly just seemed an excuse to bring back Godric. It was poorly done, and it bothered me a lot because I thought Godric's arc was brought to a very simple and touching end between him and Eric. FAIL.
- Sam. God, what can I say about Sam other than FUCK YOU TRUE BLOOD. You have ruined a really decent and good character with a crazy plot ripped off Lost and unfair to his character in the least. Sam would not go after his own brother with a gun! I don't even care whether Sam actually shot him. That he chased him down with a gun was stupid enough! I didn't mind that he was bitching at him because Tommy has been a real ass for no reason, but he could have bitched at him while offering ways to get him back on his feet, such when he talked about Tommy getting a job. That's what the real Sam would have done, not continue to snarl at him. In the beginning of this ep, I hoped they were going to fix Sam (even if it was through lame healing sex) and have him be his usual self. His talk with Tara and then with Terry validated this. But the end. FUCK.
- Tara. Tara has been horrificly mistreated since Season 2 and it continues here. Her moment with Sam was short-lived and instead turns into more of her victim trauma over EVERYTHING. She can't take Sam being a supernatural because all supernatural have done is bring hell to her life. She can't take Sookie, despite a nice scene of them just enjoying each other's company like old times. And they randomly decide to have her mother sexing up a married preacher. WHY? To further fuck her up. So she hacks off her hair and leaves town. Uh ok.
- Bill. Ok, we talked about how I liked the Bill/Sookie plot, that's still the case. What I don't like is Bill suddenly going after the Queen as if the whole thing is her fault. I really hate how abusive Bill is toward women. He manipulated Sookie, treated his ex like shit before killing her, allowed Tara to be tortured for his own goals, tried to set up Pam's death and now wants to kill the Queen? WTF? Also, his claim that he was going to kill anyone that drank Sookie's blood to make sure nobody knows what she is because that's how much he loves her is FUCKING CREEPY. I know Bill is supposed to be a jerk in the books but this bordered on disturbing. I hated Bill this entire episode. Maybe I was supposed to, but there's special hate for his treatment of women, something True Blood has a terrible problem with in the first place.
- Jason. Jason has been hit-or-miss this season as far as storyline. This episode destroyed everything. And I have real issues with the message it presented. It's ok that Jason tipped off the cops, destroyed his potential career and jeopardized Andy's because he saved the trailer village? Umm... that would have been on shaky ground but somewhat more defensible ground had that been Jason's intention. But it wasn't. His intention was to do something for a girl he barely knew and randomly fell in love with. He didn't know about the massive trailer village. He was just driven by idk plot? It all felt very forced. Now he owns a clan of werekitties? Where are you going with this series? I actually liked the attempt to get Jason to straighten up and have real goals so I'm pretty pissed they just flushed that down the toilet for a plot that essentially came out of nowhere. And if the DEA came in on dead bodies and didn't haul Jason off for questioning, they must have been told by the trailer family that someone else shot the men and that person ran off with the V. If that's the case, WHY ARE THE DEA EVEN BLAMING JASON. The sheer plot holes and stupidity of this storyline are what make it so wall-banging. As does the it's ok to screw the cops over if you're protecting people message. That doesn't even make sense, AND IT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Ugh, I hated this storyline.
- I actually did not like Sookie laughing like a crazy person while dumping Talbot's remains down the garbage disposal just to fuck with Russell. While I enjoyed the rest of their scene, I thought this was excessive and just more of True Blood trying to be extra fucked-up, like when Bill twisted his ex's head around while they had sex. :\
Now, I know it seems I had more good points than bad, but the fact that most of the bad points were HUGE storyline elements that came to a crashing halt because of these fuck-ups really hurt my enjoyment of this episode. It was rushed, anti-climatic and badly handled for the most part. Only Sookie and Eric truly shined and even their storylines were pocked with randomness and missed opportunities. I like this season for Russell because I thought he made a great villain, and I enjoyed Eric's development and the revelation about Sookie's secret. But I really don't like True Blood's rather poor storyline in the majority.