True Blood season 4 ep 1
Jun. 27th, 2011 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightWell, that was fun. Spoilers behind cut.
The Fairy!Sookie stuff was utterly daft, just as it promised to be at the end of season 3. 'Fairyland' looked like a bad 1980s porn movie. I'm so glad it all turned out to be an illusion. The real, actual fairies were more interesting anyway. And Queen Mab? Nice one.
I think moving the action on a whole year from when Sookie went to Fairyland worked very well, especially as - unlike Joss Whedon in the Buffy comic - at least we got some reference to events from the past season and thus some context as to why everyone is doing what they're doing now. Mostly, I liked it, though have to admit my heart sank when it became plain that despite what he did, Sookie is still All About Bill. I like Stephen Moyer. He and Anna Paquin make a lovely couple. But Bill is boring. He just is.
Except when he's well away from Sookie and being just a little bit evil. I was wondering what had happened in the fight between Bill and Queen Sophie-Anne. I guess we know now. Bill is the new king of Louisiana and looks very sleek and politician-like. Which leads on nicely to one of the best sequences in the episode - the intercutting between Eric doing his media-friendly spiel about Fangtasia (you could see Pam's heart wasn't in it), to Bill as the leading light of the local community wittering on about the trees his long-dead wife had planted and cutting ribbons. Loved that.
Was also pleasantly surprised that Jason seems to have grown up a bit (Jason is such a sweetie) and is now the responsible one in the Jason/Andy bromance. Disappointed that he ended up back with the Deliverance rejects (good description), as I find them and Crystal really boring, but I knew it was coming. Oh well. Anyway, nice couple of scenes between him and Sookie.
The episode didn't dwell on Sam or Tommy much, which I'm glad about. That said, I liked Sam's anger management class. Also, all does not seem to be well chez Hoyt and Jessica. I wonder how much of that is down to the vampire/human thing and how much to the voodoo figure left in their house at the end of the previous season? Also, Arlene worrying about her half-evil baby was cute!
The Tara stuff was great. I love that Tara seems to have got her mojo back after what happened with Franklin Mott. I also like that she's gay now (though it does seem to be trying to tick as many boxes as possible with as few characters by having both African-American characters in the show also be the gay ones). In fact, the only things I didn't like about Tara's story was how indifferent Sookie seemed to be about her. Jason actually had to remind her what Tara had been through. That made me not like Sookie much.
However, I'm happy that Eric still seems to be obsessed with Sookie. They're a much hotter couple than Sookie/Bill, even if - as I understand he's said - Alan Ball thinks Sookie and Bill are soulmates (god, I hate that word). Not sure why Eric thinks Sookie is his, though, unless he thinks she's part of the fixtures and fittings.
Left Lafayette's story till last. Nelsan Ellis was great, as always. I love the new hairstyle. But my main reason for leaving him till last is Fiona Shaw's extraordinary turn as head of the coven (or whatever it is). Fiona Shaw is a well known classical actress (she played the title role in Richard II once). She has honours and everything. It was just bizarre seeing her in this setting. I guess I'll get used to it but...weird.
Good start anyway. I hope all these currently very disparate storylines will be brought back together somehow. Season 3 was too fragmented, with some stories being really enjoyable (Eric vs King Russell was best of all) and some (Sam, Jason) being forgettable verging on boring. I hope that won't happen this time.
The Fairy!Sookie stuff was utterly daft, just as it promised to be at the end of season 3. 'Fairyland' looked like a bad 1980s porn movie. I'm so glad it all turned out to be an illusion. The real, actual fairies were more interesting anyway. And Queen Mab? Nice one.
I think moving the action on a whole year from when Sookie went to Fairyland worked very well, especially as - unlike Joss Whedon in the Buffy comic - at least we got some reference to events from the past season and thus some context as to why everyone is doing what they're doing now. Mostly, I liked it, though have to admit my heart sank when it became plain that despite what he did, Sookie is still All About Bill. I like Stephen Moyer. He and Anna Paquin make a lovely couple. But Bill is boring. He just is.
Except when he's well away from Sookie and being just a little bit evil. I was wondering what had happened in the fight between Bill and Queen Sophie-Anne. I guess we know now. Bill is the new king of Louisiana and looks very sleek and politician-like. Which leads on nicely to one of the best sequences in the episode - the intercutting between Eric doing his media-friendly spiel about Fangtasia (you could see Pam's heart wasn't in it), to Bill as the leading light of the local community wittering on about the trees his long-dead wife had planted and cutting ribbons. Loved that.
Was also pleasantly surprised that Jason seems to have grown up a bit (Jason is such a sweetie) and is now the responsible one in the Jason/Andy bromance. Disappointed that he ended up back with the Deliverance rejects (good description), as I find them and Crystal really boring, but I knew it was coming. Oh well. Anyway, nice couple of scenes between him and Sookie.
The episode didn't dwell on Sam or Tommy much, which I'm glad about. That said, I liked Sam's anger management class. Also, all does not seem to be well chez Hoyt and Jessica. I wonder how much of that is down to the vampire/human thing and how much to the voodoo figure left in their house at the end of the previous season? Also, Arlene worrying about her half-evil baby was cute!
The Tara stuff was great. I love that Tara seems to have got her mojo back after what happened with Franklin Mott. I also like that she's gay now (though it does seem to be trying to tick as many boxes as possible with as few characters by having both African-American characters in the show also be the gay ones). In fact, the only things I didn't like about Tara's story was how indifferent Sookie seemed to be about her. Jason actually had to remind her what Tara had been through. That made me not like Sookie much.
However, I'm happy that Eric still seems to be obsessed with Sookie. They're a much hotter couple than Sookie/Bill, even if - as I understand he's said - Alan Ball thinks Sookie and Bill are soulmates (god, I hate that word). Not sure why Eric thinks Sookie is his, though, unless he thinks she's part of the fixtures and fittings.
Left Lafayette's story till last. Nelsan Ellis was great, as always. I love the new hairstyle. But my main reason for leaving him till last is Fiona Shaw's extraordinary turn as head of the coven (or whatever it is). Fiona Shaw is a well known classical actress (she played the title role in Richard II once). She has honours and everything. It was just bizarre seeing her in this setting. I guess I'll get used to it but...weird.
Good start anyway. I hope all these currently very disparate storylines will be brought back together somehow. Season 3 was too fragmented, with some stories being really enjoyable (Eric vs King Russell was best of all) and some (Sam, Jason) being forgettable verging on boring. I hope that won't happen this time.