True Blood begins with a compelling premise. Vampire Culture meets Deep South, with a touch of the Outer Limits.
Last season focused on introducing this universe, and anchored it with a 'Serial Killer meets Sookie Stackhouse' storyline.
This season delves deeper into Vampire Inc. (it’s a corporate and political machine). It also peels back the onion (so to speak) on vampire metabolics.
The anchor this year, however, is pretty mind-blowing. There is a Satan-like character named Maryann. Maryann can take over the minds of people and turn them into obedient animals (their eyes become black saucers when this occurs - pretty freaky).
Maryann seems hell-bent (pun intended) in getting revenge against Sam Merlotte, a shape-shifter, and the proprietor of Merlotte’s Grill. Sam's a good guy and a survivor, though.
Plus, wouldn't you figure that the vampires would have some say on how all of this plays out?
In terms of narrative and visual presentation, True Blood is well-produced, richly-executed entertainment that is worthy of DVR’ing (and plugging in to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad).
Alan Ball, who created American Beauty and Six Feet Under, is behind the show.
What follows are some story streams from last night’s episode (TRUE BLOOD 21: I WILL RISE UP) to give a sense of the show's myriad story arcs:
Godric, the Sheriff vampire and Eric's Maker, dies at sunrise. It is a very Zen, Bardo-like moment. Sookie, Bill and Eric are now fully in a vampire love triangle. Maryann is ready to reveal herself.
Can Lafayette (Tara’s cousin; and highly sketched character) and Lettie Mae (Tara’s alcoholic Mom) get Tara back or will they get sucked in to Maryann's lair as well?
Earlier, Lafayette showed a fortune telling card to Tara that suggested she'd have to make some kind of choice, some sacrifice.
Will Sam (almost literally sacrificed a week before) evade Maryann, and working in tandem with Andy Bellefleur (down on his luck, suspended police detective), can they make a difference?
Next Week: It’s Jason Stackhouse’s (Sookie's brother) rally cry "This is the war that I have been training for" versus Tara’s black-eyed cackling "He's gonna kill us all."
Check out HBO's True Blood HERE. Three more episodes left to the season finale.
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