This is going to be a different sort of review because I want to talk about all of Season One of TRUE BLOOD. Even though I consider myself a genuine fan of the show overall, I have to say that for my money the first season really was the summit, the peak, the absolutely flawless championship season that the writers, cast and crew never quite recaptured.
First of all, most of all, TRUE BLOOD is a love story. Notice that Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton are always believable as a couple on every level, not just in bed. They complement each other perfectly. Anna Paquin is from New Zealand and Stephen Moyer is from England, yet they not only capture the southern accent perfectly, they capture everything southerners have always most valued about themselves. Courtesy, grace under pressure, concern for others, modesty about themselves, are all qualities that define both Bill and Sookie. No wonder it's love at first bite!
Season One is the best season of TRUE BLOOD because, more than any other season to follow, it perfectly balances every character and story line to maintain the tension between the very real problems of a small southern town and the bigger than life problems of vampires, werewolves, shape-shifting humans etc. The sensational performances of Nelsan Ellis (as Lafayette) and Rutina Wesley (as Tara) are not only powerful and dramatic and emotional, they are real.
Lafayette gives you the real gut feeling of what it's like to be black AND gay in a small, rural, southern community. The character almost jumps off the screen. The drama seems to punch you right in the stomach. And you know what? I'm not talking about moments when Lafayette is facing down vampires or dealing with the horrific dangers of V-juice addiction. I'm talking about when he faces down the mean, redneck diners at Merlotte's who don't want to eat food cooked by a black f****t. Nothing in the season thrilled me more than when he told those good old boys they could just ask him to "hold the AIDS."
Nothing could have thrilled me more, except when Lafayette turns to go back to the kitchen, (after punching out his oppressors) and Jason Stackhouse (the sensational Ryan Kwanten) actually gives him a high-five! Such a shocking moment in terms of race and sexual politics, the white small town southern jock treating the gay black man as an equal, a fellow warrior. But it also speaks to the fact that Ryan Kwanten's performance was as groundbreaking and free of cliché as Nelsan Ellis' work as Lafayette. These characters were so new and electrifying in Season One, even if later seasons saw them evolving (or devolving) into more familiar patterns.
The fact is, every single performance in Season One is spectacular. Even very, very minor characters ring true and make you think. That's true on all sides, by the way. Vampire Sheriff Eric Northman's stunning girl Friday Pam (Kristin Bauer) is haunting and compelling in every scene, even though she does nothing but crack wise and look sexy. Jason Stackhouse's forlorn follower Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), a repressed, unhappy mama's boy right out of the pages of Larry McMurtry, is just as fascinating. Every character -- good and evil - - seems like someone you might really meet in a restaurant or a bar somewhere in Louisiana on a dark, dark night.
All this is especially true of the two major villains of Season One, Amy and Rene. Notice that the most evil characters are both humans, with no supernatural powers, motivated solely by human prejudice. It's insightful, but it's not preaching, just effective drama. There's no way to put into words what Lizzy Kaplan is able to do with Amy Burley. She takes a character who is outwardly everything our society is supposed to admire -- a college-educated feminist vegan with liberated views on just about everything -- and peels back layer after layer to reveal a monster more terrifying (and more darkly funny) than any Bela Lugosi style bloodsucker. What James Michael Wilson does with Rene is just as impressive. Mean redneck killers, alas, are not an original concept for TV. But Rene is different. All season long we get to know him as a genuinely decent, genuinely responsible man who has the potential to be a model husband, father, and community member. And it's not merely the cover of a cunning serial killer. This is the man Rene really could be if his racial and sexual prejudices (towards the vampire species and the women who sleep with them) didn't destroy him. Having Amy die at Rene's hands is the blackest of ironies, since she is a "fang banger" who isn't one at all. Her murder of the vampire Eddie reveals her to be just as twisted and cruel as Rene himself.
TRUE BLOOD never got any better than this. It never got any more real than this. Season One was truly that championship season!
First of all, most of all, TRUE BLOOD is a love story. Notice that Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton are always believable as a couple on every level, not just in bed. They complement each other perfectly. Anna Paquin is from New Zealand and Stephen Moyer is from England, yet they not only capture the southern accent perfectly, they capture everything southerners have always most valued about themselves. Courtesy, grace under pressure, concern for others, modesty about themselves, are all qualities that define both Bill and Sookie. No wonder it's love at first bite!
Season One is the best season of TRUE BLOOD because, more than any other season to follow, it perfectly balances every character and story line to maintain the tension between the very real problems of a small southern town and the bigger than life problems of vampires, werewolves, shape-shifting humans etc. The sensational performances of Nelsan Ellis (as Lafayette) and Rutina Wesley (as Tara) are not only powerful and dramatic and emotional, they are real.
Lafayette gives you the real gut feeling of what it's like to be black AND gay in a small, rural, southern community. The character almost jumps off the screen. The drama seems to punch you right in the stomach. And you know what? I'm not talking about moments when Lafayette is facing down vampires or dealing with the horrific dangers of V-juice addiction. I'm talking about when he faces down the mean, redneck diners at Merlotte's who don't want to eat food cooked by a black f****t. Nothing in the season thrilled me more than when he told those good old boys they could just ask him to "hold the AIDS."
Nothing could have thrilled me more, except when Lafayette turns to go back to the kitchen, (after punching out his oppressors) and Jason Stackhouse (the sensational Ryan Kwanten) actually gives him a high-five! Such a shocking moment in terms of race and sexual politics, the white small town southern jock treating the gay black man as an equal, a fellow warrior. But it also speaks to the fact that Ryan Kwanten's performance was as groundbreaking and free of cliché as Nelsan Ellis' work as Lafayette. These characters were so new and electrifying in Season One, even if later seasons saw them evolving (or devolving) into more familiar patterns.
The fact is, every single performance in Season One is spectacular. Even very, very minor characters ring true and make you think. That's true on all sides, by the way. Vampire Sheriff Eric Northman's stunning girl Friday Pam (Kristin Bauer) is haunting and compelling in every scene, even though she does nothing but crack wise and look sexy. Jason Stackhouse's forlorn follower Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), a repressed, unhappy mama's boy right out of the pages of Larry McMurtry, is just as fascinating. Every character -- good and evil - - seems like someone you might really meet in a restaurant or a bar somewhere in Louisiana on a dark, dark night.
All this is especially true of the two major villains of Season One, Amy and Rene. Notice that the most evil characters are both humans, with no supernatural powers, motivated solely by human prejudice. It's insightful, but it's not preaching, just effective drama. There's no way to put into words what Lizzy Kaplan is able to do with Amy Burley. She takes a character who is outwardly everything our society is supposed to admire -- a college-educated feminist vegan with liberated views on just about everything -- and peels back layer after layer to reveal a monster more terrifying (and more darkly funny) than any Bela Lugosi style bloodsucker. What James Michael Wilson does with Rene is just as impressive. Mean redneck killers, alas, are not an original concept for TV. But Rene is different. All season long we get to know him as a genuinely decent, genuinely responsible man who has the potential to be a model husband, father, and community member. And it's not merely the cover of a cunning serial killer. This is the man Rene really could be if his racial and sexual prejudices (towards the vampire species and the women who sleep with them) didn't destroy him. Having Amy die at Rene's hands is the blackest of ironies, since she is a "fang banger" who isn't one at all. Her murder of the vampire Eddie reveals her to be just as twisted and cruel as Rene himself.
TRUE BLOOD never got any better than this. It never got any more real than this. Season One was truly that championship season!