True Blood: The Waiting Is Over! Season 4 Premier (+ Episode 2 Spoilers)
Posted by Dustin on 06.27.2011 at 10:58 am
So last night was finally the season 4 premier of “True Blood.” I thought the premier was a tad dull, and it introduced a lot of new storylines (thanks to the time jump) that weren’t all that well explained. Fortunately episode 2, does some of that.
I’ll post my thoughts on episode 1 first. Then episode 2 below . . . so if you don’t have HBO Go to watch it and don’t want to be spoiled, stay away from that section!
At the beginning of Episode 1 we find Sookie’s long lost grandpa trapped in Fairyland with the other half-human’s half faeries. He thought he’d only been gone a few hours, it turns out it’s been 20 years! Of course we learn it’s all a trap, and they’ve been harvesting human’s and planning to seal off their realm from the human one. Sookie and her grandpa escaped, but tragically he ends up dying when they return home. What what what! I can’t believe they cast Gary Cole in a role that lasted but a few minutes. That’s nuts! I’m going to guess though that we’ll hopefully see more of him, and the faeries as well.
When Sookie returned home, we had lost a little over a year, and so much had changed. Eric bought her house secretly, basically so he could get to her anytime he wanted . . . no invitation needed! Tara had left town, become a lesbian cage fighter, and was now calling herself “Tony.” Jesus and Lafayette were getting involved with a witches coven, lead by the mysterious (and apparently dim witted) witch Marnie, who somehow had great powers – like bringing the dead back to life. Tommy was living with Hoyt’s mamma and had found Jesus, while Hoyt and Jessica’s happy life was anything but, they bicker a lot. Sam goes to meetings with other shifters and found himself a new possible girlfriend named Luna. Jason has been taking care of Crystal’s inbred family, while she’s gone missing. At the end of the show they kidnapped him. Andy has become a V addict, and his sister has come to town. Arlene is afraid her baby Mikey is evil. Finally Bill has become King of Louisiana!
I think that sums up just about everything in the premier. My thoughts on all of that? Well first, were is the Wolf! I hope Alcide gets a lot more airtime, he was supposed to be made a full cast member this season from what I recall.
The Tara storyline . . . . eh. I mean given all the issues she’s had with men, I can see why she might turn to the ladies for a bit of comfort. But I hope we get a bit more explanation. Is she bi? Is she really a lesbian who was just in denial? She’s still lying to her new friends and woman, claiming she’s Tony from Atlanta.
They’ve really made Bill become a total jerk. Though I understand this stays true to the books, where he in fact isn’t a nice guy. Episode 2 however . . . . more in a bit!
The storyline with the witches? I started to get the feeling that they, or at least Marnie, needed Lafayette and his powers to really use hers. It was almost like “The Craft” in a way.
I know the premier had a lot to introduce us to, because of the time jump and all, but it just seemed a bit of a let down. Fortunately Episode 2 delivers!
STOP READING NOW IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN SPOILER FREE!
Episode 2 is available via HBOGo. I watched it last night and loved it . . . . though still no Alcide! Anyway, here is some of the highlights and my thoughts.
We learn a bit about Bill’s back ground, how the American Vampire League head woman Nan found him in the U.K. in the 80s, how she admired that he drank humans, but didn’t kill them (we see him glamour one into forgetting him). She recruited him back then to infiltrate and help her take down the royalty. So really SHE seems to be the head vampire, or trying to position herself as one.
Bill, backed by the AVL, challenged Queen Sofie Anne and she was killed by troops armed with wooden and silver bullets. Nan made him the King of Louisiana. Bill, however, lies to her about Sookie . . . claiming Sofie Anne was obsessed with her and just wanted her as her toy . . . he tells her nothing about her Faerie blood. I felt that they were trying, in part, to redeem Bill . . . but who knows, he could just want to keep Sookie to himself!
Jason learned Crystal and her brother kidnapped Jason. He is hooked on V, and has Crystal back on it too. They’ve become junkies who want to have a kid, but the brother is shooting blanks. They turn Jason in order to use him to get a baby. Wonderful! Though again, from my understanding, it’s similar to the books and Crystal does turn out to be a horrid woman in the books.
Sam and Tommy take some steps to get back to being brothers in this episode. I just sat there thinking . . . . why? Why does Tommy have to be on the show? I hated him last season, I don’t like him this season. I think he’s pointless.
Arlene remains convinced that her baby is evil and doing horrible things. It doesn’t help when Sookie calls him an old soul.
The witches storyline was actually my favorite in this episode. Bill sets Eric out to investigate them, saying they are necromancers . . . they brought a dead bird back to life, which means . . . Eric comments he was around during the Inquisition, he knows what it means. Tara returned home to see Sookie, and Jesus and Lafayette took her with them to the witches circle. When Marnie announces they will bring a corpse back to life this week, both Lafayette and Tara freak, as do some of the others in the circle. Unfortunately this is when Eric comes in. Marnie, clearly getting her power from a long dead witch, begins chanting. Eric sees her true form, and is paralyzed. He clearly knows her, and my guess is she is from the inquisition.
The show ends with Sookie driving along and finding Eric walking along side the road, he has no memory! Which I’ve been told is what the forth book deals with . . . .
The second episode was sooooooo much better. Sneak a peak if you can!
If you have HBO Go (on your PC/Mac or Mobile Device) you can watch the first 8 minutes of the new “True Blood” season premier. You can also find some lesser quality versions on youtube as well. If you want to know what goes down . . . . . read on!
Sookie finds herself brought to the fairy kingdom by her fairy god mother. Everyone is eating “light fruits” and basically have a grand old time. Sookie runs into Barry the Bellboy there, and then she sees a familiar face . . . her grandfather! Gary Cole plays Sookie’s grandpa, who is still fairly young. He’s been gone for 20 years, apparently in a daze with many of the others in fairy land thanks to the fruits.
We soon meet Mab, queen of the fairies. It turns out she’s lured everyone there with plans to destroy the human world somehow. There are other fairies who are against Mab, and help Sookie and her grandfather to escape. At the end of the clip they have to jump into some canyon, which is a portal back to earth.
True Blood: Waiting Still Sucks! More Spoiler Previews
Posted by Dustin on 03.31.2011 at 3:13 pm
A bunch more of HBO’s spoiler teasers have been released. I’m pasting the videos below, along with a few spoiler comments on them . . .
Sam’s new love interest is a witch! (Side Note: If the actress looks familiar, she was on “The Gates” as the cop who had her heart ripped out . . . literally!)
Jason has been, or will be turned, into a Werepanther! This did happen in the books.
Bill and Eric discover a coven of witches . . . who are controlling the dead?
I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had time to post some of these tidbits, so I’m doing them all in one big post. These are for several shows.
Claudia Black (Stargate, Farscape) is joining “90210″ in January for three episodes as a yoga teacher at West Bev. Source: TVGuide
Beau Bridges joins “Brothers and Sisters” as a potential love interest, and old flame, of Nora’s. Calista Flockhart meanwhile takes three episodes off early next year. Source: Kristin at E!
Rob Krasinski also joins the show as Dr. Rick, an ex of Justin’s new girlfriend, Nurse Annie, who is played by Dave Annable’s real life wife Odette Yustman. Source: Kristin E!
Balthazar Getty (Tommy Walker) returns for “Brothers and Sisters” 100th episode with a new girlfriend in tow, played by Cara Buono (Mad Men).
Darren Criss, who plays Blaine, Kurt’s new boyfriend on “Glee,” has been up’d to a series regular, along with Harry Shaum Jr. (Mike Chang, aka “Other Asian” as Sue calls him).
Daniel Sunjata joins “Grey’s Anatomy” in a recurring role beginning December 2nd as new love interest for Bailey. Source: TheaterMania
And finally . . . some (now OLD) “True Blood” news! Courtney Ford joins the show as Portia Bellefleur, Sheriff Andy’s sister, who is a lawyer. Meanwhile Fiona Shaw will play Marnie, a medium and psychic.
Wow, what a finale last night! I’m not yet sure how I feel about it all. I don’t think it’s all sunk in.
As with past season finales, we were left with a cliff hanger. Actually several this time around.
I did not like Bill leading Queen Sophie Anne into a trap at the end, and the two going into a “Matrix-like” final fight. I don’t want either to die, I like both characters! We know they can’t kill Bill, but Sophie Anne ???
I was REALLY not a fan of Bill double-crossing Eric and burying him in the cement with Russell, and then trying to off Pam. Nobody hurts Pammy! They really made Bill look evil by the end of this finale, especially when a freed Eric exposed all his lies to Sookie . . . including that he uses/set the Ratrains up in the first show to get close to Sookie.
How did Eric escape the cement tomb? If he got out . . . what about Russell?
I loved Tara’s new look, but hated that she felt the need to try and run away at the end of the show. Something tells me she’s going to run into more trouble.
Jason’s story annoyed me. Crystal gets kidnapped by her half-brother/supposed-husband and Jason gets left to take care of the inbred-hillbilly bunch? I am guessing this is going to force Jason to grow up some, but I didn’t like it.
Sam finally told Tara he was a shapeshifter, which she didn’t like too much. He then learned Tommy made off with all his money and chased him down. He had a gun pointed him at the end of the show. Tommy didn’t think he’d fire, but he did. Do we think Sam shot him? My guess is no, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice that has clearly been haunting him. I however would not miss Tommy!
Jesus confessed to Lafayette that he was a witch too, and that the V had clearly opened something up in Lafayette, who know seems to have a sixth sense and can sense spirits and other stuff around people. That might be interesting, but is also a little too close to Sookie’s powers in a way.
Sookie meanwhile threw Bill and Eric out of her life at the end of the show. I thought she was going to run off to Alcide, but she ran to her fairy godmother Claudine and they vanished to somewhere . . . fairyland? That was a cliff hanger I really liked I have to say, cause at least you know it can’t end badly!
There is only one episode left in the season, and this episode seemed to set the stage for it on many fronts.
As I guessed from the promos last week, Eric used Sookie’s Fairy Blood to set Russell up to Day Walk into the light, where he’d meet the true death. However we were left with Russell and Eric handcuffed outside of Fangtasia. Will Sookie come rescue Eric? Will she heal him with her blood? My guess is yes . . . but also knowing the story for Book 4 . . . my guess is this might be how they are going to concoct that major issue involving Eric.
I’m also guessing after Bill deceived her yet again, with Eric’s plan and pretending to be complacent in giving her up to Russell, that Sookie’s going to have major issues with Bill and soon. This again might help facilitate pushing her towards Eric, and the story for the 4th season? If you want to know the spoiler, I’ll post it at the end
Sam was an angry SOB in this episode, pushing everyone away. Sam is one of my favorites on the show, so seeing him act like this is annoying to me. Also as posted by CG in last weeks comments, this just seemed to come out of nowhere. I guess learning about his own crappy family made him dredge all this up? I dunno. I did like that it allowed him and Tara to bond. Well okay, they just *bleeped* as they put it. But I would love to see them get back together.
Jessica came clean with Hoyt, saying she accidentally killed a guy, and she can’t live on Tru Blood. He then told her to drink him, which she did. Meanwhile we learned Hoyt’s mama was behind trying to set Hoyt up with Summer, to get his mind off of Jessica. This probably won’t end well at all. I could see the mom, in trying to kill Jessica, shooting Hoyt! Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll shoot Tommy, who seems to be up to no good after Sam threw him out (during his drunken fit). He was trying to break in somewhere.
Jason worked through his various issues, or tried to, and agreed to give things with Crystal a shot. She however wanted to stop her dad and half-brother, who were apparently going to endanger some people with their drug dealing. I didn’t catch all of this, mainly because I’ve grown bored with Crystal. It looks like they’ll have a gun blazing showdown in the finale though.
Arlene tried a magic tea concoction of Holly’s to spontaneously abort the baby. She began bleeding and thought it worked . . . but it didn’t! She’s still pregnant, which Terry is thrilled about. Will Arlene have the baby? Will it be possessed by Renee’s spirit? Who knows. One thing is for sure, not much time has passed, so it should be a long time before we see this kid born! Unless they speed up things soap-style, or claim he’s a supernatural baby and speed the process up that way.
Finally after the V-trip, Lafayette began seeing Jesus in a whole new light. He had this scary face to him. To me that means he’ll probably start going down a dark path like his grandfather.
Brief True Blood Thoughts: Fairies, Witches and Panthers Oh My!
Posted by Dustin on 08.26.2010 at 9:12 pm
So Sookie finally found out what she was this week, she’s a fairy! She also learned from Bill that all supernaturals believed Fairies were wiped out by vampires for some reason. Bill later learned from Eric why the queen wanted Sookie . . . . there is a rumor that Fairy blood protects them from sunlight. Bill said only momentarily, then you begin to burn. Hmmmm, that’s it? Really? There has to be more.
Russell mourned Talbot this week, by hiring a hooker to pretend was Talbot. It was little Navid from 90210, who looked more his age as a sleezy hooker than he does on his own show. Sadly he didn’t last long, Russell staked him to pretend he was with Talbot at the moment of his death. I thought maybe they’d turn him, but that might be hard when you have no heart.
Meanwhile Eric was trying to devise a plan to save himself from Russell coming for him. It seemed he got an idea to use Sookie and chained her up in Fangtasia. Was he going to hand Sookie over to Russell, who wanted her because the queen did? I don’t think so. Based on the previews, and what Bill told him, I think he plans on dragging Russell out into the light to burn.
We learned where they seem to be headed with Lafayette and Jesus’ story, and it looks like they are trying to suggest they are Shaman. They went on a V trip and saw some of their ancestors. Jesus has a grandfather who is a powerful evil sorcerer, and Lafayette’s family used to practice conjure. I’m guessing Jesus’ grandfather, who always had plans for him, might be coming for him soon?
I had some issues with all this, mainly because I know too much about it (cause it’s a class I teach). The magics the family practiced, at least Lafayette’s, is not something inherited as they suggested, it’s folk magic. I do give them credit, though it might be a lucky guess, for making them Shaman. Often Shaman were in fact gay/lesbian/bisexual, as in many cultures they were a third gender (neither male nor female) and thought to be innately blessed (as well as have the power to shapeshift, including between genders).
I am not a fan of Sam’s darkside storyline honestly. I don’t like Tommy either. I really don’t like any of Sam’s storyline this season, but I like Sam! Tara learned Jason was the one who killed Eggs, so here is hoping she ends up with Sam again. I’d like that story.
Jessica choosing Hoyt made me happy, but not as happy as her bitch slapping Tommy the pitbull into the woods to save Hoyt from his attack! Then her giving him her blood to save him, they are connected for good now. Yay! I have a feeling Tommy might not live till next season, which would be fine by me.
Arlene told Terry the truth about the baby, and he stepped up and didn’t walk away, saying she needed to keep the baby and he’d raise it. However she knew it would be evil and went to Holly for help. Holly came out of the closet as a Wiccan in this episode.
Finally Jason learned exactly what Crystal was, a were-panther. Aside from Lafayette and Jesus, I knew all the other shockers from friends who read the books. Still, it was a good show with a lot crammed in it.
Best line of the episode? Pam wins for “Blah blah, Vampire emergency, blah blah blah.”
Runner Up? Lafayette for “That’s a whole new level of white trash.”
SPOILER ALERT! The actor who played Russell has given hints as to the end of the season and next season. While many people apparently come for him, it seems whatever happens, there is a chance for him in season 4.
Info : Please, resolve the addition below before post any new comment...
Dustin : I agree, they are gonna have to kill CJ for it to be a shock, but I don't think they will
Guest_3468 : Found army wives ending really blah, been done too many times by them especially with that character
Dustin : About to sit down and watch the Army Wives! They return June 24th, long ways away
Dustin : Gunna write a post this weekend about which shows I'm looking forward to this fall! I'll try and add in all the promo videos for each as well.
Guest_3468 : This just might put me off the show for good, can't believe it was her, Shonda sucks, crappy addison sam obsession and now this
Dustin : I have some major issues with this one, as . . . . well I'll save it for after the show with my write up
Jay : So sad!
Dustin : Well this sucks!
Dustin : No it's been said its a real and permanent death, so I don't think it's one of the people whose contracts were up in the air. I heard they all would be in positions to stay or leave by the end of the season and that's how they'd be written out if they left
Guest_4669 : I heard that Shonda wrote the finale before contracts were resigned, so I'm not sure if there will be a clear answer tonight as to who dies. I think that there will be a lot of potential victims. I know this sounds morose, but I'd like to see someone come out of the accident with long lasting injuries. With the exception of PTSD (and other mental problems) it seems like people on this show bounce back from injuries too quick.
Guest_3699 : After watching the 6 min preview I'm wondering if they aren't going to do someone stupid like the captain of the plane.
Dustin : I hate that they failed April too. So lame!
Guest_4669 : I don't want Adele to die, but I think that will be too easy. I'm still angry over April failing, but will wait to comment on your thoughts to voice that opinion. (This is the only GA board I comment on so I have been holding onto these thoughts for a few weeks ha ha.)
Dustin : Though I also think there is a possibily the plane crash is a fake out, and it's still Adele who dies
Dustin : I think Arizona or Mark is gunna kick the bucket. I am thinking it will be Arizona, as then who will Lexie have?
Guest_4669 : Hey Dustin - any predictions for the Grey's Finale?
Dustin : I'll get my Once Thoughts up tonight. Have a draft. But now I'm off to see Dark Shadows My main questions really are about the haze, and also when the heck did Regina figure out who Emma was? This episode?
Dustin : I didn't think the queen looked that happy? I'm gonna have to watch it again. I am also not certain when Regina figured out who Emma was? Was it in this episode?
Guest_1607 : Like how they ended Housewives but hated the whole ghost thing.
Dustin : I'll get thoughts on both finales up a little later.
Guest_2158 : I think the purple haze is going to bring magic to storybrooke, hence the reason Gold wanted the love potion and the Queen looked happy/devious when she saw it.
Sean : I think DH went out on a very high note. The stories coming out about Terri and her bitchiness are really piling up.
Sean : Once was great tonight and really satisfying and tied up most story lines and set the tone for next season.
Sean : I only watched Once (LUV IT) and I would have dropped Grimm if it had been on any other night but enjoy it now, the second half was very strong. I gave up (mostly) on Network shows because they have such a high mortality rate. I'll commit to Cable and Premium shows because they usually go for 3 season minimum and although a shorter season they air all the eps in a row. Besides, with network shows only doing 20 -22 thats not much more than the 13 of cable et all.
Dustin : I wanna slap Tom, even in the finale.
Dustin : Wow what do we think the Purple Haze does? Make them high lol
Dustin : Last Housewives tonight! Gunna be sad Finale Once for the year too!
CGinCA : Dustin, I too had bad luck this year on new shows to get hooked on. And a few of the shows that I tried one or two episodes and gave up on as being short lived are returning..... Not fair.
Guest_1633 : Me too on circle and GCB. I really like both of those shows.
Dustin : I'm still upset about Circle and GCB! I am glad Body of Proof is coming back though
Guest_3468 : Ringer really made it too confusing for people to stay tuned in I was surprised at The Secret Circle, I thought it would make it after it's surges at the end
Guest_3750 : So sad about Ringer and GCB!
Julie : I can't believe they cancelled Ringer! I loved that show!
Dustin : I think every new show I picked up save for Grimm and Once has gotten canceled! This SUCKS!
Dustin : A lot of people suspect Arizona, because that paves the way for Karev to take over Pedes
My main questions really are about the haze, and also when the heck did Regina figure out who Emma was? This episode?
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