True Blood – Season 7, Episode 10: “Thank You”

 Ok, I’ve had a week to mellow out about it.  Hmm…nope, still pissed.

All I could think about watching the ending of True Blood is “Alcide died for this bullshit?!!!”  I mean, really.  I applaud the show for actually going there and allowing Bill to die but I was less than pleased with the ending.

While I was happy to see Hoyt and Jessica get married, I felt like they spent WAY too much time on the wedding.  Some of that time could have been spent expanding the flash forward.  For example, it would have been nice to see Lafayette at all but at least we could have gotten a glimpse at his and James’ relationship.  Same goes for Arlene and Keith.  They’re still together 4-5 years later but how have they handled Arlene being Hep-V positive?  What has Willa been up to?  She was in the flash forward but we haven’t really seen her since Eric released her.  Maybe Sam could have gotten a proper good-bye.  It would have been nice to know that maybe Eric and Sookie have stayed friends.

Watching the wedding, it occurred to me that, possibly, Andy forgave Jessica a little too quickly/easily.  In True Blood time, it’s probably been about 2-3 weeks since Jessica ate his daughters but, there he was, performing her wedding.  I realize that her protecting Adilyn went a long way to smooth the situation over but still.

The death of Bill…First, even though he allowed himself to die because he believed it was best for Sookie, he was incredibly selfish about the whole thing.  I sort of understand him asking Sookie to use her light to kill him.  He wanted her to have a normal life and he knew losing her fairy powers could make that easier.  But, when she said she didn’t want to lose that part of herself, he should have let her off the hook.  Did he not think that staking him would be traumatic for her?  Why couldn’t he just have laid there in his grave until the sun came up?

Of course, my main problem with the ending is Sookie ending up with some random guy.  Bill wanted her to have a normal life but that could have been possible with Alcide.  Since she didn’t give up her powers, he would be better able to protect her.  They could have had children together (who wouldn’t necessarily have been wolves since they would only be half). Alcide seemed to be pretty understanding about Bill being Sookie’s first love.  When he became sick, I think he would have accepted Sookie needing to take care of him in his last days.  She didn’t need to sleep with Bill to show she loved him. Then she would have been able to fully commit herself to her relationship with Alcide.

I realize the show couldn’t make everyone happy but they could have put a bit more thought into the final season.

Photo Credit: TV Tag and HBO

True Blood – Season 7, Episodes 6 thru 9

Yeah, so…as much as I have always loved True Blood, even when others didn’t, this season disappointed me.  I haven’t felt motivated to blog about it for most of the season.  Anyone who’s read my blog knows I went from trying to blog everything to only blogging the shows that made an impact on me.  True Blood has always been one of those shows.  I’m just going to skim through my thoughts on these episodes.

One thing that I’ve always loved about True Blood is its fast pace.  Each season, the 10-13 episodes take place over a time span of a week or two.  This season I feel like that pacing backfired BIG time.  All it did was make Sookie look like a callous cold-hearted slut.  The time span between Alcide (who she admitted to loving just not as much as he did) dying to her jumping into bed with Bill was about three whole days.

Why couldn’t there have been a time jump here?  Why rush Bill’s Hep-V?  After Arlene had been rescued, there could have been a small time jump here.  Bill’s illness could have progressed and Sookie, feeling guilty, could have been taking care of him and their relationship could have progressed slowly from there.  The way the show handled it was SO disrespectful to Alcide’s character.  As to Bill’s reason for refusing the cure…does he not have any willpower?  If Eric can stay away from her, why can’t he?  If temptation is so great living so close to her, MOVE!  He spent a couple hundred years living somewhere other than Bon Temps, why can’t he do it again?

I’ve never really been a Bill/Sookie or a Eric/Sookie shipper.  It’s pretty obvious that I’ve always been firmly on Team Alcide and not just because Joe Manganiello is pretty to look at either.  Alcide (in the show, anyway) was always there when Sookie needed him and he never used her.  In the books, …well I liked Quinn but since he wasn’t on the show…I guess I kind of hoped she’d end up with Bill.  Book Bill wasn’t as much of an ass as TV Bill though.  At this point, I’d rather have seen her with Eric.  They had a much better relationship.  I just feel like they’ve ruined Sookie a bit this season.

As for the other storylines:

• I’m glad Hoyt came back and that he and Jessica got back together.
• I don’t like how they handled Tara this season either.  An off-screen death and then ghost!Tara?  I understand the reason for the gun story but I feel like Tara deserved better.
• I’m glad Lafayette and Arlene are happy but would have like to see them more.
• Willa was a take her or leave her character but it would have been nice to see what happened to her.  I know she was in the background of a couple of scenes but she was wasted too.
• I loved most of Eric and Pam’s scenes.  The flashbacks were especially hilarious.  Favorite scene of these episodes has to be Eric and Ginger.
• I was glad to see some character development with Jason.  So glad Violet is gone.
• I’m glad Big John got out of the kitchen and got to speak.  🙂

It sounds like I haven’t enjoyed this season at all and that’s not true.  I shed tears and laughed.  I’m just a bit disappointed.

Photo Credit: TV Tag and HBO

True Blood – Season 7, Episodes 3, 4 & 5

I was on vacation so I didn’t get to write about last weeks’ episode and, well, the week before that, I was just too mad so, whoever reads these gets three eps this week.

Fire in the Hole

I wasn’t going to write about this episode.  If I don’t write about it, it didn’t really happen, right?  I think I might have mentioned before that while most people seem to be on Team Bill or Team Eric, I am firmly on Team Alcide.  It shouldn’t be too hard to guess what my reaction was to the end of this episode.  What really pissed me off the most was Sookie’s conversation with Bill.  Why have her talk about how she doesn’t think she loves Alcide as much as he loves her if he’s going to die later in the episode?  That was totally unnecessary and kind of bitchy.  He deserved a better death too.  We deserved a last Alcide/Sookie scene.

As humorous as I find Eric and Pam’s flashback do’s and fashion, the storyline with his human love seemed pointless.  I also feel like it kind of takes away from his relationship with Sookie.  I realize now that it was to introduce the Yakuza but couldn’t they have come up with something better?

Death Is Not The End

Thank God the Hep-V storyline is over!  I’m glad they wrapped it up so quickly even though it seems like they’re rushing this season a bit.  Considering it is the final season, couldn’t we have gotten a few more episodes?  

I liked all the old characters they’ve brought back in the last couple of episodes.  Nan last week, Hoyt, The Magister, Ginger, Terry (*sniff*) and Jackson this week.  I will be curious to see who else they may be able to fit in.

This week’s Eric and Pam flashback was great. The two of them running a video store together was priceless.  The thing that bugged me though is there is no way Ginger is smart enough to have come up with the idea behind Fangtasia.  Seven seasons and she’s never had the brains God gave a chicken and suddenly she was a thoughtful college student who lost all sense just from meeting Eric?

I was glad for this episode.  I was afraid with everything going on and the things that need to happen before the end of the season that all the deaths would be glossed over.  Maybe losing Alcide made Sookie realize how much she really loved him because her grief and mourning seemed genuine.  I was glad that when Jackson was eavesdropping that drunk Sookie didn’t slip up and say something stupid.  I bawled when she slipped her arms into Alcide’s coat.

I like where most of the relationships on the show are headed.  I don’t care much for Violet with Jason.  I’m iffy on her character.  She’s not an evil vamp but she’s unstable so that makes her dangerous.  I would love to see Jason and Jessica stay together.  I want to see Lafayette happy, I just wish his hookup with James had happened differently.

Photo Credit: TV Tag and HBO

True Blood – Season 7, Episode 2: “I Found You”

I’m a bit confused about the Hep-V vamps.  At the end of last season, it seemed like they were a mindless bunch of near zombie vampires.  Now, they’re an organized group of intelligent vamps with a plan.  And what happened to Betty?  I assume she hadn’t been feeding like she should because she still seemed to have a conscience about what they were doing.

That opening scene was totally a wink at the fans.  I didn’t find it believable though because there is no way Eric is a bottom. 😉

I read some comments online that thought Sookie should have broken up with Alcide because of the thought he had last episode.  Those were mostly from Sookie/Bill or Sookie/Eric shippers so their comments don’t hold much weight.  Who hasn’t had the off-hand negative thought about a loved one when they’re mad?  Is that any reason to break up with them?  Plus, look how understanding Alcide is being about Bill.  He knows Sookie was thinking about him and seemed to be okay with it.

Shouldn’t Sam or Alcide have smelled the giant pit of dead bodies?

Why was Adalind’s fairy light purple?  I’ve only ever seen them be white.

If Eric dies, I fear True Blood will have a riot on their hands.

 

Photo Credit: TV Tag and HBO

True Blood – Season 7, Episode 1: “Jesus Gonna Be Here”

Ok, so who thinks Tara is really dead?  We didn’t actually see her die and she seemed to have the upper hand the last time we saw her.  Lettie Mae isn’t the most reliable witness and she was already in shock.  Maybe Tara killed the other vamp and took off after another one.  Also, shouldn’t Pam have felt it when (if) Tara died?  Of course, Rutina Wesley says Tara is really dead but what is she supposed to say?  I guess we’ll see.

Sookie can be really dumb sometimes.  I realize she was upset with Alcide but she’s like catnip to vamps and there are a bunch of crazy ones running around out there so she decides to take off by herself.  The people of Bon Temps are stupid too.  I realize in a crisis, people need someone to blame but why Sookie?  Yes, she’s slept with a few vampires but she’s not currently with one so how did she cause this?  Why not blame Bill?  He’s a vampire who lives right in their town and he’s made a lot of questionable decisons.

Didn’t they say a few times last season that Sookie would lose her fairy powers if she kept using them?  I’m pretty sure I saw her throw a couple of light balls during the melee at Bellefleur’s.  And where’s Niall?

Who whistled and called off the Hep-V vamps?  Is there someone leading them to attack Bon Temps for a reason?  Was it just a signal the vamps had established ahead of time for their raids?

A prediction based on the teaser for this season.  Bill dies.  I’m probably totally and completely wrong but a couple of things in that trailer made it seem possible.  First, Sookie and Jessica hugging each other while crying.  Second, Sookie distraught and covered in what appears to be vamp blood.

 

Photo Credit: TV Tag and HBO

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 14 – “The Grove”

Who would have thought when this show started that Carol would turn out to be the strongest character?  She was this meek, mild scared woman when we first saw her and now she knows what needs to be done and makes the hard decisions that others can’t.

I had thought all along that Lizzie was the one feeding the rats to the walkers.  I had also (maybe not in print but definitely in my head) said that she needed to die.  A person like that, child or adult, that has no concept of the difference between a walker and a human, is dangerous to everyone around them.  If she’d been an adult, the choice would have been obvious.  I never in a million years thought the show would go there with a child.  I thought that her obsession with walkers would get her bitten and she would die that way.

Did they make the right decision?  Hard to say.  Could Lizzie be rehabilitated after killing her sister?  Put that together with the fact that she was pretty obviously mentally disturbed to start with.  I could see how a child could be confused about walkers but if they have any bit of sanity, they should be able to understand when it’s explained to them over and over again.  Not to mention the fact that she’s watched them kill people she knows.  Judith could never be safe with Lizzie around.  Without tying her up at night, no one could ever sleep soundly around her.

Having Carol tell Tyreese about Karen and having him forgive her was unexpected.  I don’t think he could have forgiven her so easily if she had confessed before everything went down with Lizzie.  I don’t think Tyreese could have killed Lizzie.  Even though he thought it was the right decision, I don’t think he had the stomach for it.  Seeing Carol be able to do what needs to be done, no matter how hard or how it affects her, I think helped him see why she killed Karen.

Photo Credit:  tvtag.com and AMC

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 13 – “Alone”

I almost didn’t get this posted this week but I have a couple of questions/predictions I wanted to get up before the next episode.

Why they got to keep taking stuff away from my Daryl?  It’s like, because he’s a fan favorite, let’s see how miserable we can make him.

The scene where Daryl was escaping from the mortuary was awesome.  I thought for sure that Daryl was a goner or Beth was going to come back and save him.

I knew we’d see “Joe” again.  Like I said, you don’t bring Jeff Kober in for an episode and not give him anything to do.  I know the show has cast fairly well known actors (Aldis Hodge, Michael Raymond-James) for one episode but they had big parts in those episodes.  I already don’t like Joe’s group.

I still can’t get a handle on Bob.  I understand that he’s glad not to be alone again, but he’s too damn happy.  Also, he was so adamant about going after Maggie so she wouldn’t be alone but he was perfectly willing to leave Sasha alone.  Did he think his kiss was so good that she’d tag along eventually?

So a couple of questions/predictions:

• I don’t think a bad person took Beth.  I think someone rolled up in the car and told her to get in but she tried to go back for Daryl and they just forced her in to save her.  That would explain her dropped bag.  Keeping my fingers crossed.
• I figure Joe’s group is the one who killed the people in that camp earlier in the season.  Why hasn’t anyone run across them before?
• I think Daryl will go with Joe’s group initially because a) he wants to live and b) he suspects they took Beth.  I also think he’ll take the first chance he gets to escape.
• How did a one-eyed dog survive this long?
• How far away is Terminus?

Photo Credit:  tvtag.com and AMC

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 12 – “Still”

Wow!  The actors on this show are knocking it out of the park this season.  This was Norman Reedus’ best episode since “This Sorrowful Life.”  I actually think he was better in this episode.

We finally got to see Daryl and Beth deal with their grief over what just happened.  As I said before, Daryl was shutting down.  Better not to care than to have feelings.  It never occurred to me that he blamed himself for Hershel’s death and the loss of the prison.  If he’d kept looking for The Governor though, and something happened while he was away, he would have blamed himself for that too.

Beth’s feelings, on the other hand, manifested themselves in her needing to do something she’d never done before.  I think she’s decided that she’s going to die and she wants to make sure she experiences everything before she does.  She’s always been Daddy’s good little girl, rebelling against that is a way for her not to feel the grief of his death.

I read in another review that Daryl is a mean drunk.  I don’t think that’s true at all.  First, I doubt he would have been drunk off of few sips of moonshine.  Second, I think all of the feelings he’d been tamping down just came to a head when he thought Beth thought he was a loser before the walkers came along.  Daryl seems to have a pretty low opinion of himself and it always seems to surprise him when anyone else values him.  Playing that game just brought back all those feelings and bad memories. Beth led a sheltered, happy life before so I think there’s a bit of jealousy there as well.

Setting fire to the shack didn’t make much sense from a safety standpoint but I see why the characters did it.  They had both come to terms with the past and are moving forward from it.  I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have waited until morning.

Photo Credit:  tvtag.com and AMC

Related:

http://piecesofdarkness.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/tidbits-of-the-dead-still/

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 11 – “Claimed”

This was a pretty tense episode.  I think Andrew Lincoln did some of his best acting in the scenes while trying to escape from the house.  No dialogue at all, just using his body.  Laying under the bed, shaking in fear.  I don’t know about you, that’s not something I can do without feeling that fear.  Obviously, we’re going to see that group of marauders again.  You don’t have Jeff Kober (China Beach, BTVS, Sons of Anarchy) come in to play the leader for one episode with no dialogue.

Now that Michonne has made a conscious decision to truly live in this world, it’s nice to see her open up.  When she told Carl that her child wasn’t a secret, she meant it.  Up until now, she just couldn’t talk about him.  I like the relationship that’s developing between Michonne and Carl.  They seem to be softening each other up.  Sometimes having a friend will do that.

I’m glad to see that Glenn isn’t giving up on finding Maggie.  Abraham gave a pretty convincing speech about saving the world but Glenn is determined.

How can that Eugene guy have made it this far without knowing how to operate a gun?  Frankly, the way he handled that situation was odd to me.  Why wouldn’t he have just yelled “Walkers!” to get everyone’s attention?  Maybe he purposely disabled the truck, but why?  I got a slightly detached vibe off of him as well.  Possibly he has Asperger’s?  Not that I think that’s something that would be addressed on the show.

Photo Credit:  tvtag.com and AMC

Related:

http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/02/the-walking-dead-claimed/

The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 10 – “Inmates”

I totally called it.  Tyreese didn’t know about Carol and, of course, that’s who he meets up with.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this.  As far as I remember, Daryl, Maggie and Rick are the only ones who know what Carol did.  Depending on how long it takes for the rest of the group to catch up with them, Tyreese may become pretty attached to Carol.  That “Oh, shit!” look on Carol’s face when Tyreese ran up to hug her was priceless.

Lizzie is a psycho!  She killed those bunnies for no reason.  If she’d told Tyreese, that would have been different because they could have eaten them.  She also would have killed Judith if Carol hadn’t shown up.  I still think she might have been the one feeding rats to the walkers.

If Beth hadn’t been with him, I think Daryl would have completely reverted back to pre-family Daryl.  Beth had been the one who said she couldn’t take any more death but I think it’s Daryl.  I can see him cracking.  Hope they find the others soon.

Bob seems pretty happy.  I think it’s because he’s an addict.  He’s an alcoholic and had been sober but when things were relatively calm at the prison, he wanted to start drinking again.  I think the adrenalin rush he gets when things are chaotic takes the place of the alcohol for him.

Poor Maggie and Glenn!  I didn’t see Glenn get off the bus I guess.  He’s just lucky.  What killed everyone on the bus?  Did one of them succumb to the illness?  I thought that they were all better, Glenn seemed to be the worst one and he’s fine now.  Did one of them get bit?  Even so, you’d think some of them would have been able to get off the bus.  Maggie thinks she’s lost everyone.

I haven’t read the comics yet but know enough about them to know who the new people are.  Can’t wait to see what the show does with them.

Photo Credit:  tvtag.com and AMC

Related:

http://allthingshorror666.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/the-walking-dead-inmates/