True Blood; why I love it.
Oh, how I adore this show! Utterly love it. Not as much as Supernatural or the first two incarnations of the Stargate 'verse, but I love it a great deal.
The thing about the show is that though it deals with a number of very mature subjects there is a wonderful innocence about it through Sookie's eyes. These, on occasion, can be annoying or jarring and sometimes you want to shake her and tell her to wake up, grow up, and get over it. She's had a hard life, our Miss Stackhouse, but sometimes her naivety can be quite irksome. This comes through in the books too, to a degree, but it's far more palpable in the series simply because of the way that television works. The books are all Sookie's POV, we see what she sees and experience the tarnishing of her innocence as she does. The fact that she goes through it with a wicked sense of humour and an internal bitch that sometimes puts my own to shame is a bonus.
Not so for the tv. The very medium this version of events is told in means that other characters need extra stories where there were none before. Eric needs additional dramas with Sophie-Ann, Bill and Lorena's relationship is delved in to, Sam is adopted and we get to see the effects of Tara's time with Franklin more. Lafayette and Jessica are completely blank slates. He didn't make it past the end of the first book and she never even existed. They constantly fascinate and the ingenuity of the writers to take the basic ideas and events of the books, flesh them out and twist them to make sense in the medium is wonderful.
Case in point, and the most recent episode to boot, Bill nearly killing Sookie after she rescues him from Lorena: never mind that he is half starved, tortured, drained and unaware of what is going on around him, he nearly kills her. Bill is not my most favourite character. Hints are being dropped constantly on the show, big Hints, about the real nature of his relationship with Sookie. I do believe that he really loves her, now, but I also know that the nature of his job for the Queen (a 'procurer') and his ties to the area make him ideal to go after her. As does the Queen's real interest in her, which Eric is now all too aware of and this never happened in the books. While Eric and Bill both manipulate Sookie to no end, Mr. Northman does it openly and with relish and if Sookie is hurt by him she has only herself to blame. Bill, on the other hand, does it with stealth, he is secretive and almost vicious, in some ways, about it. He feeds Sookie his blood, arguing that it would have saved her life, and this is most probably true, but he also knew that she was already fascinated by him and what better way to do that than to begin to form a bond with her when the silly girl didn't even know it.
But back to the original argument; in the books, Debbie Pelt pushes Sookie into a trunk with Bill to get back at her and get her out of the way. What happens to Sookie is by no means a result of her own stupidity and is more a case of attempted murder that Debbie strenuously denies and later repeats. In the series, Sookie climbs into the back of a truck with Bill, cuts her arm and feeds him her blood and while she is attempting to save his life, this is by no means the brightest thing she has ever done. I'm not saying that she deserved the outcome by any means, she sought only to save the 'man' she loves, but in her hysteria she failed to note that in the kind of condition Bill was in he was little better than an animal and he behaved as such. In the medium it made perfect sense but my head spent a great deal of time calling the poor girl every name under the sun for doing something so very daft. Tara was in the right, if he went for her she would not be able to hold him off.
For the moment I'm wondering where they're going to take this next. I've seen the preview, I know that Bill's obviously gotten a real taste for Sookie now, I know that she's not best pleased to see him, I know that she's going to hold a gun on him for all the good that it will do her. I know she can't trust him anymore. But will they separate? Will they stay separated as they did in the books? Will Sookie eventually welcome Eric into her life and her heart? Will they introduce Quinn to the fray?
Actually I really hope they don't bring Quinn into this. I liked him well enough, I suppose, but I've always shipped Sookie/Eric, or Sookie/Alcide in a real pinch. I don't know what she sees in Bill at all. I'm normally all for guys with dark hair and eyes (although blue is my prefered eye colour it must be said and this is why Misha Collins owns my soul) but as soon as Eric was described in the books I wanted Sookie to throw Bill over for him and as soon as I saw Alex in the show I was lost completely. Eric may often come across as a heartless SOB, and he's supposed to, but regardless of that he is still sex on legs and I wouldn't say no. Actually I'd probably offer myself to him on a plate but lets not go there. Besides which, Eric makes no secret of his darker nature, he wears it with pride and occasionally uses it to frighten Sookie. Bill does hide it and when it does come to the fore it's all the more shocking to her.
Which brings me onto Claudine. Interesting way to introduce that little curve ball. I love what Charlaine Harris does with them in the books, and I love how they make everything make a little more sense (including various supernatural menfolk wanting to jump Sookie), but Claudine was never so manipulative as she came across here. Never imagined her so upper class either. Seriously, if you believe US tv you'd think there were two accents here in the UK, cockney and upper class. I don't talk in either of those ways and I'm waiting for a nice pirate shaped accent since that's what's closest to mine anyway. It'll be interesting to see where they take that too. I by no means think that they'll translate all ten released books into tv time, ten years is a long time for events that are supposed to happen in months, and I can imagine the storylines that they will cut out. They've already touched on a number of the revelations of the fifth book, including that Bill's relationship with Sookie isn't all that it appears, some of the nature of Sookie's power and the breach of trust between Sookie, Bill and Eric.
There's so much left to do, though, and I can't wait to get to the next bit. What fun shall be had!
The thing about the show is that though it deals with a number of very mature subjects there is a wonderful innocence about it through Sookie's eyes. These, on occasion, can be annoying or jarring and sometimes you want to shake her and tell her to wake up, grow up, and get over it. She's had a hard life, our Miss Stackhouse, but sometimes her naivety can be quite irksome. This comes through in the books too, to a degree, but it's far more palpable in the series simply because of the way that television works. The books are all Sookie's POV, we see what she sees and experience the tarnishing of her innocence as she does. The fact that she goes through it with a wicked sense of humour and an internal bitch that sometimes puts my own to shame is a bonus.
Not so for the tv. The very medium this version of events is told in means that other characters need extra stories where there were none before. Eric needs additional dramas with Sophie-Ann, Bill and Lorena's relationship is delved in to, Sam is adopted and we get to see the effects of Tara's time with Franklin more. Lafayette and Jessica are completely blank slates. He didn't make it past the end of the first book and she never even existed. They constantly fascinate and the ingenuity of the writers to take the basic ideas and events of the books, flesh them out and twist them to make sense in the medium is wonderful.
Case in point, and the most recent episode to boot, Bill nearly killing Sookie after she rescues him from Lorena: never mind that he is half starved, tortured, drained and unaware of what is going on around him, he nearly kills her. Bill is not my most favourite character. Hints are being dropped constantly on the show, big Hints, about the real nature of his relationship with Sookie. I do believe that he really loves her, now, but I also know that the nature of his job for the Queen (a 'procurer') and his ties to the area make him ideal to go after her. As does the Queen's real interest in her, which Eric is now all too aware of and this never happened in the books. While Eric and Bill both manipulate Sookie to no end, Mr. Northman does it openly and with relish and if Sookie is hurt by him she has only herself to blame. Bill, on the other hand, does it with stealth, he is secretive and almost vicious, in some ways, about it. He feeds Sookie his blood, arguing that it would have saved her life, and this is most probably true, but he also knew that she was already fascinated by him and what better way to do that than to begin to form a bond with her when the silly girl didn't even know it.
But back to the original argument; in the books, Debbie Pelt pushes Sookie into a trunk with Bill to get back at her and get her out of the way. What happens to Sookie is by no means a result of her own stupidity and is more a case of attempted murder that Debbie strenuously denies and later repeats. In the series, Sookie climbs into the back of a truck with Bill, cuts her arm and feeds him her blood and while she is attempting to save his life, this is by no means the brightest thing she has ever done. I'm not saying that she deserved the outcome by any means, she sought only to save the 'man' she loves, but in her hysteria she failed to note that in the kind of condition Bill was in he was little better than an animal and he behaved as such. In the medium it made perfect sense but my head spent a great deal of time calling the poor girl every name under the sun for doing something so very daft. Tara was in the right, if he went for her she would not be able to hold him off.
For the moment I'm wondering where they're going to take this next. I've seen the preview, I know that Bill's obviously gotten a real taste for Sookie now, I know that she's not best pleased to see him, I know that she's going to hold a gun on him for all the good that it will do her. I know she can't trust him anymore. But will they separate? Will they stay separated as they did in the books? Will Sookie eventually welcome Eric into her life and her heart? Will they introduce Quinn to the fray?
Actually I really hope they don't bring Quinn into this. I liked him well enough, I suppose, but I've always shipped Sookie/Eric, or Sookie/Alcide in a real pinch. I don't know what she sees in Bill at all. I'm normally all for guys with dark hair and eyes (although blue is my prefered eye colour it must be said and this is why Misha Collins owns my soul) but as soon as Eric was described in the books I wanted Sookie to throw Bill over for him and as soon as I saw Alex in the show I was lost completely. Eric may often come across as a heartless SOB, and he's supposed to, but regardless of that he is still sex on legs and I wouldn't say no. Actually I'd probably offer myself to him on a plate but lets not go there. Besides which, Eric makes no secret of his darker nature, he wears it with pride and occasionally uses it to frighten Sookie. Bill does hide it and when it does come to the fore it's all the more shocking to her.
Which brings me onto Claudine. Interesting way to introduce that little curve ball. I love what Charlaine Harris does with them in the books, and I love how they make everything make a little more sense (including various supernatural menfolk wanting to jump Sookie), but Claudine was never so manipulative as she came across here. Never imagined her so upper class either. Seriously, if you believe US tv you'd think there were two accents here in the UK, cockney and upper class. I don't talk in either of those ways and I'm waiting for a nice pirate shaped accent since that's what's closest to mine anyway. It'll be interesting to see where they take that too. I by no means think that they'll translate all ten released books into tv time, ten years is a long time for events that are supposed to happen in months, and I can imagine the storylines that they will cut out. They've already touched on a number of the revelations of the fifth book, including that Bill's relationship with Sookie isn't all that it appears, some of the nature of Sookie's power and the breach of trust between Sookie, Bill and Eric.
There's so much left to do, though, and I can't wait to get to the next bit. What fun shall be had!