100-95 - Classic Show; (In best Bill O'Reilly voice) "WE'LL DO IT LIVE!!"
94-85 - Upper Echelon Show; You Should DVR This And Watch It The Same Night
84-75 - Very, Very Good; You Should Make An Effort To Watch This Within A Few Days Of Airing
74-65 - Not Bad At All; Let These Shows Pile Up On Your DVR But Watch 'Em Eventually
64-55 - Fold The Laundry While You Watch These
54-0 - Don't Waste Your Time; You're Smarter Than This (Probably)
Now... onto the review:
True Blood | Season 3
“Conscience off. Dick on.” Andy Bellefleur to Jason Stackhouse
Oh, True Blood, you almost had me at Nazi werewolves. Actually, no, not really. HBO’s breakout hit vampire drama, True Blood, has returned for its third season and after the first half of its 2010 run of episodes I’m left wondering why I’m still bothering to watch it. Following last season’s incredibly weak season-long arc about Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes), the Maenad (explanation here) that took over and possessed the town by forcing them into orgies by shaking her body or some such shit, I’d hoped that the series would return to something more closely resembling the somewhat tight plotting of season one’s whodunit serial killer angle but those hopes have been dashed in very short order, while greatly exposing some of the major flaws that have existed since the show’s debut season.
More than anything else, it’s becoming clear that series creator Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) doesn’t care much for character development. There’s literally no investment in any of the characters’ well-being which makes it impossible to care about anything that’s happening on screen. Do I care that central couple Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) have been separated, pawns in a power grab by newcomer Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare, Milk), the Vampire King of Mississippi? Nope. Am I interested by heartthrob Eric Northman’s (Alexander Skarsgard) mysterious quest for revenge that leads him to play both sides of the struggle between Edgington and Evan Rachel Wood’s Sophie-Anne Leclerq? Not particularly. How about Tara Thornton’s (Rutina Wesley) decent into a disturbing relationship with creepy vampire Franklin Mott (James Frain, The Tudors)? Nuh-uh. All of this is because, frankly, we haven’t been given any reason to care about these characters in the slightest. All of the storylines ring incredibly hollow. Even new characters like werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello, How I Met Your Mother) and mysterious Crystal Norris (Lindsay Pulsipher, The Beast) were introduced in intriguing fashion only to fall flat in subsequent appearances. And I haven’t even mentioned what could realistically be described as the series’ nadir, bar owner Sam Merlotte’s (Sam Trammell) discovery of his shape-shifting, white trash birth family who use their shifting abilities to compete on the dogfighting circuit. You can’t make this shit up. Really, I wish I had made it up. It would make it easier to swallow.
It’s also frustrating that the series has largely abandoned the intriguing allegorical look at vampires as a stand-in for gay culture in mainstream America that initially gave the series more than a little promise. Unfortunately, that promise went unrealized as True Blood has morphed (much like its resident shapeshifters and werewolves) into a complete trash series that piles on its most prurient elements of blood and sex to exponentially high levels. Now, before I’m labeled a prude, understand that I don’t have any problems with the boobs and blood approach per se. Boobies make almost everything better. It’s only when that’s all the depth that there seems to be on True Blood (after seeming to set the bar higher) that I have to take a step back and wonder whether this is a show that’s still worth my time. There’s a place for trash TV but when a series like True Blood bows with as much potential as it showed in its first year and then largely abandons that approach for a lowest common denominator appeal, you have to wonder whether with all of the choices available to viewers these days if it’s still worthwhile viewing.
True Blood can’t even get out of its own way when it comes to the things that it does right. In one of the more promising storylines, town idiot Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwantan), after shooting someone in the head (somewhat in self defense) has had a revelatory moment and has decided to become a lawman. Really. It’s just as dumb as it sounds, but it’s played for laughs and is at least somewhat successful in that regard as the dumb cop/dumber cop pairing of Jason and Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) does have potential even as it’s entirely unbelievable. The series also grossly underutilizes two of its best talents, Debra Ann Woll as Jessica Hambly, a newbie vampire struggling to deal with her new lifestyle, and Nelsan Ellis’s Lafayette Reynolds, the flamboyant drug dealer who in many ways is the series’ conscience. Funny that the writing staff has abandoned the previously mentioned allegory yet gives Ellis such strong material to play as an actual gay character. Ellis completely nails what he’s given, even if both he (and Woll, for that matter) are not given nearly enough to do.
Frankly, the fact that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the Emmys nominating body) has deemed True Blood as one of the five best dramas on television (over much more deserving shows like Friday Night Lights, Justified, Sons Of Anarchy, and Treme, just to name a few) by giving it a Best Drama nod this year would be infuriating if the Emmys themselves weren’t already a joke. Lack of character development and pandering to the basest of instincts does not a Best Drama make. I suppose if True Blood draws eyeballs to HBO and thereby introduces audiences to better fare like Treme, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Ricky Gervais Show, Boardwalk Empire, or Luck then I guess it’s served its purpose but really, there isn’t any more redeeming value in the show than that anymore. And that’s a shame because it coulda been a contenda. So, I’m pretty sure I’m out. Yeah… I think I’m out.
Dirty Rating: 48/100
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