Sep 8, 2008 12:55 PM
9,284
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 12:33 AM
Wed Feb 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours
Last night we went on our first date with HBO's sexed-up vampire series True Blood. Lets just say after the night was through, there were a lot of flushed cheeks, broken bones and glimpses into a whole seedy vamp underworld that left us intrigued, excited and curious for more. But still we have our doubts. We round up the pros and cons as to whether True Blood is worth a second date, because we've all been burned by terrible vampire shows before. Spoiler talk ahead.
Pro: Blood Sucking Music Worth Singing About
Alan Ball's new HBO series starts off with a very seductive and very hot introduction, with the country swing blusey, let's-get-crazy-in-the-dark song "Bad Things" by Jace Everett. I've already downloaded it onto my iPod. But the introduction itself has completely changed from interesting medical pics of vampire orthodontics in the original pilot, to creepy clips of a strange Southern world in the televised version. The second is something you would have expected from Ball, but it's trying a little too hard if you ask me, and goes on a little too long. I've included both intros below:
First Introduction From Leaked Pilot:
Second Introduction That Aired Last Night:
Pro: Great Character Casting And Recasting:
I know there was a lot of fan hesitation over the casting of Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, but in my opinion she's one of the first characters on television to make that whole virginal trait work without being incredibly annoying. Yelling out lines like, "You will talk to me like the lady I am," and "Well that just proves how low-rent you really are," after being called the c-word by the filthy Rattray couple was actually quite endearing — without being condescending or making her look like an idiot. Even the horrible Rattray "trailer" couple were 100% realistic and believable.
Nelsan Ellis nails the role of Lafayette Reynolds, putting the right amount of swish in his over-the-top dialogue, but he adds the one-liner flavor that True Blood would be desperately missing without.
Another noticeable difference that we mentioned before was the recasting of the role of Tara with Rutina Wesley instead Brook Kerr. While we loved Kerr in the daytime soap opera Passions, she didn't seem as mean as she could have been for the character of Tara. Her "bad attitude" wasn't as believable as the new Tara, though I admit both have a terrible horrible Southern accent (but more on that later).
Pro: Love The Side Stories:
I may have waited my whole life for the side story about how one time this sorority girl did V-juice (vampire blood) during hell week and went crazy and "scratched her face off." Fantastic, thank you — more stories like that please!
Pro: Quality Blood-to-Boob Ratio:
For all of the naked vampy sex scenes there was a ton of rough 'em up fights. Which is something I applaud True Blood on, because if you're going to throw in a lot of T and A, you might as well earn that rating with a healthy addition of gore here and there. And watching Sookie get the shit kicked out of her and bloody up her pretty white t-shirt was wonderfully traumatic.
Con: Truly Terrible Southern Accents
Bad, terrible awful Southern accents. For shame, actors, for shame. They walk in and out of their Southern dialect like a swinging saloon door.
Con: Poor Boob To Ass Ratio
I'm a bit worried, with all of the naked ladies. Will there be enough cute boy butt besides Jason's? I have a bad feeling that the answer is no. Come on guys, don't be afraid to reveal a little skin.
Con: Don't Force The Anger It Will Come Naturally:
A lot of the "angry" moments in the True Blood pilot seemed incredibly forced and scripted. Especially the Wal-Mart-esque store where Tara loses it on a customer. That could have been so much better, instead I felt like I was watching the 11th take on a long day of filming. A few other moments with the new Tara were a little forced as well but I'm giving them some credit on this. I'm sure they had to re-shoot just about all of those scenes with the new character, but you're only getting one more chance. Embrace your inner angry lady and go crazy.
Over all, I'm definitely tuning in next week I need to see the sexy vampire sex-bar that Bill takes Sookie to on their second or so date (which I think may be a few more episodes down the road). So I'm in for a another date, but no funny stuff. Plus it's vampires, I can't not watch.
Send an email to Meredith, the author of this post, at meredith@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
Start a new discussion