Still Doing Bad Things In Bon Temps

TRUE BLOOD, SEASON 3 (Blu-ray)
HBO Home Entertainment 

Release date: May 23rd 2011
Certificate (UK): 18
Running time: 645 minutes

Created by: Alan Ball

Directors: Daniel Minahan, Scott Winant, Michael Lehmann, David Petrarca, John Dahl, Lesli Linka Glatter, Anthony Hemingway

Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Alexander Skarsgard

True Blood, Season 2 Blu-ray Review

Ever since Bram Stoker put pen to paper and gave the world the gothic romance of Dracula we can’t seem to get enough of vampires. We’re probably more hungry for them than they are for us!

Whether it’s German Expressionism with Nosferatu (1922), Hollywood horror comedies like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Hammer horrors like Dracula (1958) with Christopher Lee and even today with younger audiences devouring The Twilight Saga, vampires seem to always be in demand.

In television they’ve been well represented as well with Kindred: The Embraced, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and The Vampire Diaries, but True Blood is really unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before. It’s got a kick and a sting like nothing else, but that could be down to good old fashioned Southern hospitality, right?

Based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood is set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana where vampires have come out of the coffin and live in an uneasy co-existence with humans. Waitress and telepath Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), for the past two seasons has been in turbulent relationship with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), and Season 2 ended on a cliff-hanger with a marriage proposal and a kidnapping.

Bill has been vamp-napped and Sookie sets out to find him. After the chaos that Maryann (Michelle Forbes) brought to the town in Season 2, Sookie probably thought nothing could surprise her anymore but she learns not only that there’s a Vampire King, Russell Edgington (Denis O Hare), but also werewolves and to find Bill she has to make some alliances.

Elsewhere in Bon Temps, Tara (Rutina Wesley) is still struggling to come to terms with everything that happened including her boyfriend’s death. On top of that, she still has that crazy-ass mother to deal with.

After a failed suicide attempt she is drawn to Franklin Mott (James Frain), a deranged vampire who becomes obsessed with her and keeps her captive. Franklin plans to turn her into a vampire on their wedding night and he’s not the kind of guy who takes “no” for an answer, not even from someone as feisty, bad mouthed and ill tempered as Tara.

Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) decides to play a dangerous game with Sookie’s life, despite his growing feelings for her, in order to avenge his family’s muders some 1000 years ago. He quite literally sleeps with the enemy to get what he wants.

Season 3 of True Blood, with its 12 episodes, is filled with twists and turns and each one unravels a different mystery. Among them are some shocking truths about Bill and the revelation of what Sookie really is.

While the previous seasons drew many of the characters together, this one seems to split them up – we don’t see so much of Sookie and her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) together. He’s busy working as a deputy and has his own mysteries to solve. Sookie and Tara end up fighting a lot, mostly because they don’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to Bill. Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) is out of town tracking down his birth parents and when he returns they soon follow to heap all their problems on his doorstep.

I came to like Bill Compton even less after watching this season and while I’m still convinced that Sookie shouldn’t trust Eric completely, he seems like the better of the two candidates. It’s heartbreaking to see what Tara goes through, the girl just can’t get a good break and I think her decision to make a new start is the best thing she can do, but I do hope we’ll see her in Season 4 – she remains of my favourite characters on the show along with new-born vampire Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) who’s still learning how to control her impulses.

Season 3 doesn’t have the same powerful story arcs as its predecessor because at times it spreads itself a little too thin – storylines with Jason’s new love interest and Arlene’s (Carrie Preston) pregnancy are testament to that – while vamps like Pam (Kristin Bauer) and Sophie-Ann (Evan Rachel Wood) should have a bit more to do because they’re just deliciously devilish! It’s probably the funniest and sexiest season so far. It gets very steamy when Bill visits Sam in a dream sequence and there’s a scene so bizarre and disturbing that it’s hysterical – it’s when Tara bites into Franklin! The cussing is as unrestrained as ever and it’s one of the things I love so much about the show.

I’m curious to see where the Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) story will go, it’s always more fun to see him turmoil and in conflict with Eric and giving him a happy relationship might not make him as interesting to watch.

I am of course desperate to find out what’s in store for Sookie after this and if perhaps a similar fate will befall her as with Cordelia Chase on Angel. Only time will tell, but one thing’s for certain, once Bon Temps sinks its teeth into you, it’s hard to break free.