Wanna Do Bad Things In Bon Temps?

TRUE BLOOD (Blu-ray)

Release Date: May 17th, 2010
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 12 hours (apx.)

Created by: Alan Ball
Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Alexander Skarsgard, Allan Hyde, Deborah Ann Woll and Michelle Forbes

Created and produced by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), True Blood is based on the novels, The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris and stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in the town of Bon Temps with telepathic abilities. It’s set in a world where vampires have come out of the coffin and struggle for power against the humans. When Sookie meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a 173 year old vampire, the two of them fall in love, but things in Bon Temps are about to get a little more dangerous with the little bad things everyone does in Season 2.

Picking up where Season 1 ended, Sookie, her best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley) and detective Andy discover a body in a car. The car belongs to Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) who runs the local bar. He’s in love with Sookie but in the previous season he hooked up with Tara for a few one-offs, he’s also a shape-shifter but no one knows…yet. Fearing the body might be Tara’s cousin Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), it turns out to be the woman who conned Tara and her mother into paying for an exorcism. As they examine the body, they see her heart has been removed.

Meanwhile, Lafayette is being held prisoner by the Viking vampire Eric in Fangtasia’s basement. Along with a couple of other captives, Eric has them chained up and living in their own filth while they await questioning in the disappearance of a vampire. When Eric picks them off and chews them up with only Lafayette left, he is ready to make a deal and say anything in order to stay alive, but his information is useless. Eric hopes to find Godric (Allan Hyde), his maker, who is missing.

Sookie meets Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), the teenage girl whom Eric forced Bill to turn into a vampire after he killed one to save Sookie (Season 1). Jessica is now living in Bill’s house and under his care while she adjusts to her new vampire life.

Tara falls under the spell of Maryann (Michelle Forbes) and moves into her house with her. At the house she meets Eggs and the two are attracted to each other. Maryann plays matchmaker while feeding them with the food and wine fit for Gods. When she pays a visit to Merlotte’s bar, Sam begins to panic, realising he knows her from when he was a teenager/puppy. As the bar fills up during the course of the night he is shocked to see the people of Bom Temps engaged in a drunken orgy which seems to be orchestrated by Maryann.

Elsewhere, Jason (Ryan Kwanten), Sookie’s dim-witted, 6-packed brother is falling under a different kind of spell. Unhappy with the vampire situation in Bon Temps after the deaths of his grandmother, girlfriend and best friend and with his sister becoming a “fang-banger”, Jason finds solace in the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire movement who plan to start a war. Jason joins their camp and follows their, impressing its leader Rev. Steve Newlin with his dedication and physical abilities. The reverend’s wife Sarah is also impressed with his physical abilities!

As the plots converge, Sookie finds herself at the centre of it all. Eric enlists her to help him find Godric which puts her right in the path of the crazy church people from the Fellowship of the Sun. While she is away, Maryann takes over her grandmother’s house and uses it as the base for her worshipping of the “God who comes”. Building a towering effigy of rotting meat and animal bones, she summons the God while wearing Sookie’s grandmother’s wedding dress.

True Blood is unlike any television I’ve come across before.  It’s like Buffy on drugs, mad, mad drugs! The storylines are incredible, the dialogue is fast and foul and the characters are so full of life, even the undead ones! The fusion of vampire folklore, Deep South superstitions and ancient Greek mythology gives the show a remarkable amount of depth. The introduction of Maryann as the maenad who worships Dionysus was fascinating to watch, the character is utterly despicable in her actions with complete disregard for the feelings or belongings of others. The meal she prepares for Eggs and Tara almost made me throw up – revolting yet hilarious. It’s right up there with Eric worrying about whether or not he got a victim’s blood in his hair.

It will be very interesting to see how this series continues, especially with the inevitable relationship with Sookie and Eric, so will definitely be looking out for Season 3 on Blu-ray!

EPISODE LIST:
Nothing but the Blood
Keep This Party Going
Scratches
Shake and Fingerpop
Never Let Me Go
Hard-Hearted Hannah
Release Me
Timebomb
I Will Rise Up
New World in My View
Frenzy
Beyond Here Lies The Truth

BONUS FEATURES:
- The Vampire Report: Special Edition
- Fellowship of the Sun: Reflections of Light
- 7 Audio Commentaries with the Cast & Crew