True Blood 3.4 - "I'm a Vampire, Not a F&%#ing Idiot"
The serious, academic portion of this True Blood thoughts post:
I have a burning desire to do a study on the use of the grotesque in Southern Gothic, specifically comparing True Blood and Flannery O'Connor. I've been obsessed and fascinated by the South for years, going all the way back to eighth grade when, in protest of people's near-obsession with Titanic, I became a huge Gone with the Wind fangirl (I was ostracized by my peers for not liking the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME which was ZOMG SO WORTH SEEING TEN TIMES IN THE THEATER!!!1!!, so being able to sneer at the fangirls that my cinematic taste is so much more refined than theirs gave me false sense of superiority I still relish to this day). Yeah, I was well aware of how racist the whole thing really was (and my stomach still turns at the thought of Hattie McDaniels forced to sit at her own segregated table at the 1940's Oscars where she was a nominee), but I liked it still. So I've always glomped onto Southern literature, films and ideas, and True Blood really is the culmination of a lifelong fascination with Southern Gothic. From the teaser cold open of the pilot where the college kids ask the backwoods liquor store owner for some V and get it turned around on them to the entire credit sequence, I knew this show was going to be a Southern Gothic smorgasboard (I actually used the credit sequence in a class presentation describing what the Southern Gothic sensibility is. Got an A. I rock). This kind of project (along with the study of the Buffy fandom as a support group for people who have struggled with clinical depression or other mental illness) is why I'm seriously considering getting my master's in media analysis, and my thesis will probably have something to do with vampires. And no one would be surprised. So yes. True Blood totally makes my inner Southern Gothic literary geek fangirl sque.
On to more squeeing . . .
I love Jason Stackhouse SFM. While he didn't really do much, he had one brilliantly Jason-like speech, which harkened back to those halcyon days of Jason "Explain Europe to Me" Stackhouse, theologian, from early season 2. I'm repeating it here in its entirity mostly because it makes me giggle to no end.
Jason: (to punk-ass QB who might break his high school football record) You think you're a rock star, don't ya? World at your feet, folks serving you beer underage, girls sucking your cock whenever you say go (no offense, Tammy)? You ain't nuthin', boy. You'll find that out soon enough.
Punk-ass QB: Well, come end of season, they'll be shouting my name, and they'll forget you ever existed.
Jason: Well, ten years from now, there's gonna be a version of you, ten years younger, doing the same thing to you, and then who you gonna be?
Punk-ass QB: Wha--?
Jason: Yeah, that's right, you heard me!
. . . and then Arlene spazzes.
The squee-worthy part, where Jason has a snarky concept he can use but isn't bright enough to articulate it, had me laughing hysterically. Oh, Jason. So pretty, yet so, so dim.
This felt kind of like a transition episode, where we're mostly heading into the meat of the season, but stuff had to be explained first. And some of that stuff was explained on screen though even my mother could have figured out the plot twist. So the King of Mississippi is the head guy of the German Nazi werewolf brotherhood thing? Saw it coming light a freight train, so when we're watching Alcide and Sookie come to that same realization, it made them seem kinda dim for not realizing something so obvious, though they didn't have all the information the audience did. But still, if this twist or big reveal was supposed to be a big twist or reveal for the audience? Kinda failed.
Another big twist exposed at the end of the episode was that Bill is a very, very bad boy. I've done word vomit about ths subject mostly on other people's journals, but one thing I've become really interested in is the comparison of vampire morality with the BtVS verse. In Buffy, the soul is everything; it exonerates and condemns. We can exonerate (though never condone) Spike's behavior in Seeing Red because he is soulless; his confusion and lack of moral compass is clearly evident, and so when rectified by the soul quest, his actions become forgivable. In the True Blood universe, each vampire's actions are their own. There is no soul to blame for good behavior or lack of for bad behavior, no Maguffin to show Angel's still supposedly "the hero" even when he lets Dru and Darla snack on some lawyers while Spike is, if not necessarily evil, still morally ambiguous enough to be seen as repugnant even while enduring torture to protect Dawn.
This has always been problematic for me in the Buffyverse; perhaps I am just too taken in by JM's soulful performance, but I always felt the writers should have just come out and said there was something special about Spike, some connection to his humanity that made William's ability to love continue even after being turned. Instead, I always felt that the AR, while believable within the context of the story, was set in place to reaffirm the soul mythology that made Angel the most special snowflake of the batch: Spike has no soul, therefore we need to make Spike do something heinous enough to make him desire a soul in atonement. As a storyline that continues into the meditation on grace and forgiveness of season 7, the AR works, and I can accept and love the full story for what it is, but I can't help but feel that it was still an unnecessary plotline imposed on the story to show that Spike isn't as special as we thought. They could have done something different with the story, and I don't claim to be brilliant enough to speculate on what they could have done to make it work, but I feel that as a whole the AR was kinda bungled for many out-of-story, writer-related reasons. Jane Espenson was against it, and that's why i love her so much.
Back to the topic of Bill: this episode featured some of his most heinous behavior. He returns to his old occupation of "procuror," finding suitable humans to snack on, who are too alone to be missed. The stripper suited; and the episode closed on Bill going off the True Blood wagon. Even though there's some hints that all is not what it seems, it's gonna be hard for the character to come back from this, because there is no soul quest to redeem him; no "surprise" de-souling that made him behave like this. In True Blood, actions are owned by the vampire alone, and these actions are reprehensible.
(Note: the entire time Bill was talking to the stripper, in the back of my mind I heard Shirley from Community saying "that girl needs Jesus!" Is that weird of me?)
Speaking of reprehensible, let's talk Eric. I had a realization watching him come to Lafayette's defense, and it was this: I'm rooting for a drug dealer. One who has killed humans, who has done all the monstrous things Bill was seen doing this time. Why is it that I'm able to compartmentalize Eric's actions while condemning Bill for his? I know it's more than just my thing for hot blond vampires, because contrary to what it seems, I'm really not that superficial. I think what happens is Eric never professes to be good; he is what he is. Bill has set himself up as morally righteous as opposed to morally gray, so his actions are condemned based on his own set of professed standards. Eric doesn't set such standards for himself, so when he does good it is a revelation about the changing nature of his character, and when he does bad, that's just Eric being Eric. The same could be said for season 5 Spike as well, and again this is why I often do the Spike:Eric::Angel:Bill analogy - Angel sets himself up as morally righteous, so when he falls, he is falling at his own standards. Spike has no standards, so his good actions should be duly noted while his bad actions are merely to be expected.
I found Eric's daydream of Sookie to be remarkably "Out of My Mind"-like, and very poetic with the "smelling of the North Sea, where you played as a child" aspect. After centuries as a vampire, Sookie is bringing out the humanity in Eric, and it's fascinating. His salesmanship mentoring of Lafayette may just be a side blip of a serious plot, but I do find it to be an entertaining relationship to watch unfold. And when Pam was being tortured? There was so much fear in his eyes; his fear for his "childe" (what does this show call them?) was palpable, as was his desperation. It wasn't touched on in the episode, but it made me wonder if Bill is concerned for Jessica; if Eric's connection to Pam is so strong that his stoicism would crack so much at the threat of her death, why is Bill not more concerned for Jessica's well-being? Has he completely abandoned her? Anyway we're now on to the political thriller portion of the season with the machinations of the different vampires coming to light, and I can't wait to see more.
Alcide is, as I've mentioned, Wolverine II. That's my name for him, get used to the reference. So that means we had Rogue patching up Wolverine II at the beginning of the episode, and my inner (though socially-constructed because I've never actually read the comics) X-men fangirl squeed. The entrance of his sister showed yet another colorful side character that True Blood is so apt to produce; no one is generic on this show. They all are individuals with multilayered facets, and the supporting characters are the show's strongest suite. The ritual at the biker club was disturbing at the "abuse of women" level, but I'm gonna just say how insipid I am: the whole time I was waiting for the guys to turn into werewolves so I could shout "FURSPLOSION!" a la cleolinda. It was a cheap thrill for me.
Wasn't impressed by Sam's heart to heart with his family; still bored; I have alcoholic redneck relatives to, and you don't see me crying about it. And yes, I will use that phrase at some point in every post on the subject until that plotline goes away.
Sheriff Dearbourne's retirement party was notable only in the fact that it allowed lady cop Kenya to have some scenes, which I liked, and for Jason to pick a fight with Punk-ass QB (see above).
Terry had one line in the entire episode, and he nailed it. And Arlene's spazzing about being stressed and pregnant was the perfect white noise to run through the bar scenes. Arlene, she really grows on you.
Franklin and Tara was . . . just . . . no. Just no. DO NOT WANT. Though if this entire plotline was created to garner sympathy for Tara because everyone's always so sick of her whining, I guess it succeeded. Hard not to sympathize with the woman tied up in the bathroom. Gotta agree with shipperx here that the violence against women was very strong in this episode, and the Tara/Franklin plotline is actually the most disturbing, because the abuse is so much a mental game rather than just abuse of her body. We're desensitized to violence, to some degree; the stripper can be bit until the limousine runs with blood, but the long-term, slow-burn fear Tara is living with is what really squicks me.
And lastly, my beloved Jessica. Poor, poor Jessica. Jessica goes to work in the restaurant industry (and OMFG JESUS LOVES ME THIS I KNOW, FOR THE SAM/JESSICA INTERACTIONS TELL ME SO!) just like I did, and so I'm gigglesnorting the entire time because I DO THAT CHIRPY LITTLE HOSTESS VOICE TOO! Of course, my boss was an actual nazi, so that's a difference. And the little snippets of life as a churched youth made me laugh because I grew up with so many people like that ("I was the best server at our church's pancake breakfast!" "I was on my way home from picketing the baby-killing factory in Birmingham . . ."). Hoyt, in one scene, conveyed so much pain that my heart broke for him. I think most everyone who watches this show is rooting for them as a couple, so this constant low is quite angst-inducing without going into the realm of man pain because such heartbreak is something we're all so familiar with. Yeah. HOYT&JESSICA 4-EVA!
All in all, the violence against women was, in fact, very notable in this episode, but my pure delight in almost every aspect of this show didn't let it harsh my squee enough to not enjoy it. Honestly, this show is the most entertaining aspect of my summer; I am loving it so much that words cannot express it. I watch the episode, constantly rewinding to see a great bit again and agian (you have no idea how many times I watched Jason's speech), and am just thrilled to pieces with each new episode. It's stimulating me intellectually (as the wordiness of this post shows), as well as on a sheer id level of squee. My enthusiasm knows no bounds, though I'm not inclined to start delving into the fandom itself yet; I'm quite happy with the Buffy-centric views of my f-list, so carry on with the reaction posts, folks. Enjoyment is at a maximum.