Monday, August 29, 2011

True Blood: Burning Down the House

Last night was a bit of relief after last week.  I was actually beginning to wonder why I continued to watch this show. It was a relief that this episode had less obvious fail. 

Sookie was irritating as usual this week.  She stops Eric from killing Bill my a magical burst of fairy power but later tells him that she still loves Bill and never promised to his.  Okay, here we go again with the ongoing triangle.  I know I should be caught up in this, but the truth is I am just plain tired of it.  Perhaps, it's because Sookie gets on my last nerve.  
Bill gets into it with Nan because she is only concerned about she is going to spin what happened at the hotel rather than actively proactively to fight Antonia.  Finally, he decides to blow up the emporium.  I have mentioned previously that it makes absolutely no sense that the vampires have been so passive.  Antonia has the potential to be deadly but she is no king Russel and the vamps acted far more proactively when he was a threat. I have to say that I am with Bill on this one.

Speaking of Antonia, it turns out that Marnie is the one in control and is using Antonia's power to exact her revenge.  I find this to be very convoluted.  From almost the beginning of the season, we have repeatedly watched the replay of Antonia being savagely raped and then murdered by vampires to establish causation for actions and yet when it is revealed that Marnie is the one truly in control we are given no reason beyond the fact that she has hurt fee fees. Ummm really?  Don't we deserve a little bit better than that? 

Another inexplicable moment came in Tommy's death scene.  Tommy is a rapist and as such I found that I could not sympathize with him in the least.  What I felt was relief because this means that we have now officially seen the last of all of the Mickens, unless Joe-Lee decides to haunt Sam from the grave in those horrendous yellow drawers.  I don't understand Sam's interaction to Tommy's death.  He just finished throwing him out of his house for raping Luna, and now all of a sudden he loves him deeply and will remember him forever.  How is it that he suddenly forgot that the first time that they met, Tommy tried to kill him. Nope, it's time to go all dirty Harry get his revenge on Marcus.  To me, this smacks of having too many characters that need something to do and so to keep them active writers are forced to conjure bullshit that distracts from the main plot. 

Debbie sits down with Marcus to talk about how she just wants to lead a normal life - you know, run with the pack and have a few cubs.  She tells him that Alcide is a loner and does not want to subject children to a life of a werewolf.  Of course, stalking creepy Marcus thinks that Alcide has it all wrong and tells Debbie that she needs a new wolf.  Wheeee yet another love triangle that I could give a damn about. Debbie and Marcus should run off into the sunset together, never to be seen and heard from again.  Alcide would be much better off without her and doubly so, if he could stop mooning over Sookie.

Speaking once again of Sookie, she finally decided to show some concern for Tara, after Bill announced that he planned to blow up the emporium.  Funny how she had no problem running off and leaving Tara there against her will. She has got to be the worst friend in existence. Now that she has remembered that Tara is supposedly her friend, it's time for the spunky agency to kick in.  Sookie grabs Lafayette, Jesus and Jason to try and free Tara.  Once again Sookie uses her magically fae power to listen to Jesus' thoughts.   Does anyone remember way back in the first season when Sookie said that this was her disability?  I remember how she talked about how this ability made her life difficult and now it seems to all have been swept under the rug to be constructed as a super power.  In many ways it reminds of the way that disabled characters in the media are constantly cured or they rise above.

Jesus manages to squeeze inside but moments after he arrives, Tara makes her move.  Marnie realizes that a jailbreak is going on and Tara, Lafayette, and Sookie disappear leaving Jason standing in the street looking at the emporium.  I know that it is too much to hope that Sookie was shifted to some mystical place never to return however, I cannot help but wish that this is the case.  Of all of the urban fantasy that I have read and watched Sookie is absolutely one of my least favorite characters.

My favorite scenes in this episode involved Terry and Andy.  I found myself thinking, who knew that Terry had it in him.  In many ways, these men both love and resent each other.  Terry talked about being poor, having to wear Andy's cast offs and joining the military to be able to go to college  and this was perhaps the most honest exploration of class on True Blood in a very long time.  It does not make up for what Ball did to the Hot Shot community, or the fact that the characters who are supposedly working class, don't ever worry about not showing up for work, and are able to take off at a moment's notice. When it comes to class, Alan Ball often gets it wrong and perhaps that's what the exchange last night caught my attention the way it did. 

What were your thoughts on last night's episode?







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