Being in full-on 'True Blood' mode I cannot stop devouring every peice of information I can gather whether it be book or show related. Blogs, articles, videos, facebook pages, you name it, I'm on it!
I started watching 'TB' season two last weekend and finished up last night, promptly delving right into three. Wow, It's amazing how I can watch this show over and over and still be surprised, excited, sad or just plain pissed! Season four is still eight long days away. They're right. Waiting Sucks! If I finish up season three before then... well back to season one I go!
I've read the books also, the show is better in many respects. When I first started reading the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries, True Blood was not around yet and wouldn't be for a couple more years. At the time I couldn't see how vampire stories really could get any better than this.
The first book is amazing. It really sets the tone. Vampires have lived amongst humans for... well, forever. They have decided to "come out of the coffin" once a japanese pharmaceutical company has developed a synthetic blood that vampires are able to "live" on as opposed to feeding from humans. (Where is the fun in that?)
Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic barmaid at Merlotte's, seemingly, the only restaurant / bar in all of Bon Temps, Louisianna. She doesn't know why she has been inflicted with this "curse" but she does her best to stay out of the heads of the people she loves. Sometimes it's not so easy. One day a vampire walks in the door and her life changes forever.
Charlaine Harris really did a fantastic job setting the foundation for Alan Ball. She had given him the canvas and a pallette of brilliantly vibrant colors and he created what we know as 'True Blood'.
I get so annoyed with people who say "why can't he go along with the books?" Honestly, what he has done has made the books more alive. Do we really want to see Lafayette die? Hell no! Do we want Jason to actually be a huge asshole? Not even a little. We love his S-L-O-W southern style.
Speaking of Jason, what's with all this buzz about HIS character being the one to come out as gay? I just can't see it. I mean, it would be like Lafayette realizing that he's a hetero! Doesn't work for me. Tara too... I know she has been jilted, but not enough to switch teams. Sam? Well, we know he drank a lot of Bill's blood and he had that dream about him. (When I watched that scene, I thought it was really happening... I was so confused!) But, you could tell how badly Sam wanted to shake it off. No pun intended.
I love Sam, not in the way I love Eric, of course. I love Sam as a big brother. He's dealing with demons of his own right now. Anyone that dealt with a childhood like his, you would think he would be a lot worse off. At the end of season three, he shot (at) his brother Tommy. I'm sure he didn't kill him. If he did though, I don't know if I can handle any more scenes with Joe Lee in his tighty whit... erm, brownies.
See... Sam is another Alan Ball "creation", if you will. Yes, he is in the books, but Ball gave him much more life than just his wild hair. (Something Charlaine Harris always mentions while writing about Sam.) Sams entire past was created through the show. We don't get much information in the books other than yes, he is a shifter and his "go to" shift is a Border Collie... and he, along with the huge plethora of Supes living in Renard Parish.. are in love with Sookie Stackhouse.
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie... I hate to say it, I think Anna Paquin is great and all, but Sookie is not one of my favorite characters in the series. I know, I know, she is the star. Maybe I'm jealous. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it. What has she ever done to me? The whole fae thing, and yes, I know I'm beating a dead horse... but I don't like it. It's exactly what has been turning me off so much in the books. I want vampires and werewolves and shifters... oh my! (That was insanely corny of me, wasn't it?)
The eight minute sneak peak intro I've been fed over and over again... just does not satiate this hunger I have. Queen Mab? She looks like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus. The whole thing was just too silly for me. I think the only thing I did appreciate out of the whole thing was getting to meet Grandaddy Earl. I thought it was so sad that he had no idea that he had been on the "faery plane" for twenty years.
This does bring me to a question though.. and maybe I'm wrong somehow. But Why would HE be there? In the books they elude to Gran having an illicit affair with (and I can't remember his name now) a fae. So why would Earl, her husband be there? You'd think Sookie would find her father there, right? I'm going to have to do a little searching and see what I come up with.
I just learned something else from our little sneak peak... for those of you who read the books. You remember Claude? Claudine's (Sookie's... pffft... Fairy Godmother... yes, this lameness comes from the books.. the later ones.) I digress, in the books Claude is the sexiest man alive. But gay as they come. (*Sigh... isn't that always the way!?) In this little snippet we see a fairy who is trying to save Sookie and Grandaddy Earl from Queen Mab. That's him! Ewwww.... creepy! At first when I saw Barry the Bellboy's "fairy Godmother" I thought that was him... but I knew as hot as he was he couldn't be Claude. Then to find out that scary looking dude was him was just... weird!
The guy who is playing him is Neil Hopkins. Don't know who he is? Neither did I at first. He played Charlie's brother in Lost. Liam... heroine addict... ring a bell?
Claude as a scary fairy...
Neil Hopkins sans scary makeup...
Amazing what a little make-up can do! I still can't get over this being Claude. Having just learned all this... I know Claude's character is going to be a lot different in the show than the books. In the books... he never looked ugly and moreso... he wouldn't try to save Sookie. He's not a bad guy... er, fairy, he's just super selfish and quite the snob!
Ugh, I've said it once and I will say it again... and again... freakin' Fairies! I hope these eight minutes are not what the whole season is like. I would love it if the show started entirely different and this was just kind of a "fooled you!" from the people at HBO.
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