True Blood (TV Series) You'll Be the Death of Me (2008) User Reviews

No blood left

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 24 November 2008]

I can't believe that I will have to wait until the summer to see another episode.

Tonight was fangtastic as Sookie almost lost her life because of that ignorant Andy Bellefleur, who was so convinced that jason was guilty that he didn't bother to check on the fax. Only a really funny moment when Arlene's kids found some naughty naughty tapes exposed the whole thing.

This weird woman that suddenly appears has some connection to Sam, but I wonder if we will find out what it is. And, what does she want with Tara? This show is just so damned interesting, I don't know how I will make it.

Great Conclusion of the First Season

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 21 September 2009]

Rene pays a visit to Jason in the jail and then Sookie arrives to see her brother. Meanwhile Tara is welcomed by Maryann and stays in her fancy manor. Jason is approached by a priest of the anti-vampire church Fellowship of the Sun. Sookie accepts a ride of Rene to her house; when the serial-killer chases her, she runs to the graveyard crying for help. Bill awakes, leaves his grave and runs in the sun to help her while Sam heads to her house first and then to the cemetery. When the serial- killer is murdered by Sookie, Jason is discharged from prison.

"You'll Be the Death of Me" is a great conclusion of the First Season. What happened to Lafayette? What is the connection between Sam and Maryann? These questions will only be replied in the next season that I look forward to see. The airhead Jason now has joined the cult Fellowship of the Sun and I believe Bill will have serious problems with this stupid character and also with the outcast Jessica. Even Eric can not support the annoying, but gorgeous vampire. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Assim Você Vai me Matar" ("This Way You Will Kill Me")

Shoot! Darn it! Son of a mother FUDGE!...

[Chalice_Of_Evil · 9/10 · 11 August 2009]

What an strange season final. It was...interesting, but a bit oddly structured.

What I liked: *Sookie running in and coming to Jason's defense at the jail. Even after all the crap he'd put her through, she was *still* there for him (which is why I can't understand how some people can hate her character). It was good to see Jason return the favour towards the end, though, when he came to check on on poor battered and bruised Sookie.

*Sookie's "swearing" in her car outside the bar. What made it funny was her desperately trying *not* to swear/say anything too "bad". She's such a good girl.

*Anna Paquin's/Sookie's scream and hitting Rene with the gun. Way to go, Sookie! *Sam running off to go help Sookie (very Supermanly) as soon as he knew she was in trouble (and thank you, show, for finally explaining just what exactly he was up to when rolling around in dead Dawn's sheets).

*Bill braving the sunlight to come to Sookie's aid. I mean...god, the poor dude was charbroiling to death and he just kept going until he was burnt to a crisp (for a second there, when Sookie looked over at his smoking corpse on the ground, I almost thought he'd been reduced to nothing but steaming ashes and wondered how he was going to come back from that. Then when she was slowly turning him over, I thought his neck was gonna break/his head was going to come off since he had been rendered extremely brittle/fragile from burning). I know there'll be those who hated Sookie for not immediately covering Bill up and getting him out of the sun...but, really, she probably thought he was beyond saving. Bit hard to think in such circumstances (at least Sam was there, with the clear thinking). It was good to see Sam come to Bill's rescue, considering how much he doesn't like him...even if he was only doing it for Sookie (but then he had to regress to his usual Bill-hating self at the end).

*Sookie finally killing that bastard, Rene, with the shovel! Oh my god, I SO very much wanted him dead after not only his sickening thoughts aimed at Sookie, as well as his beating her up, but MOSTLY for his kicking poor collie Sam! That bitch just HAD to die for hitting/kicking collie Sam! I was hating Rene so incredibly much during that whole scene, it was a massive relief when he received a shovel to the neck. Way to come through, Sookie! See? She CAN act accordingly when she needs to/the occasion calls for it.

*Everything with Mchelle Forbes. I can't believe I'm saying this...but Tara actually acted like a *human being* in her scenes with Maryann. Amazing! She was more likable in this episode than she's been the entire rest of the season.

*Sookie inviting Bill back in and them making up.

*Both Sookie and Tara screaming at the leg flopping out of Andy's car. They sure can scream (Anna Paquin especially - I love the way in which she does her screams. She did it in X-Men, as well as in earlier episodes this season). When she screams...she puts her WHOLE body into it. It's a really good scream - but, at the same time, kind of funny too.

Disliked: *Jason's born again attitude. Him "finding God" and being all "Praise the lord!"? A bit of a 180 there. Still...guess it's better than what he has been basically the entire season. Hopefully he might get some smarts to go along with his newfound religious beliefs.

*Jessica. Yes, I went from liking her/finding her hilarious one episode, to disliking her the next. To be fair, she was only in a minuscule amount of this episode (so she might still be good next season) - but just that little bit of her tonight was annoying enough. She's the bratty teenager - oh great. *eyeroll* Though Eric and Pam (looking very mumish in that blue...thing she was wearing) dropping Jessica off at Bill's, because they couldn't stand her, was pretty funny.

Questions: *The biggest one: What seemingly attacked Lafayette at the dumpster? It seemed like they were maybe trying to make us think it had been Bill (since straight after that scene, we cut to Bill arriving at Sookie's and him telling her that he'd "fed"). I'm almost positive Bill had nothing to do with it.

*Maryann shimmering and shuddering in the sun with her brown pig. What the hell was up with THAT? Yes, I realise that - given the way she interacted with Sam - she's most likely a shape-shifter...but still, that shuddering was really weird. Nice effect, though. I'm very intrigued about her history with Sam.

*Speaking of Sam...I was worried about him there at the end, emptying all the money out of the safe. What's he up to? In conclusion, I really enjoyed watching this first season of the show. Looking forward to Season 2!

That Championship Season!

[Dan1863Sickles · 10/10 · 23 June 2016]

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!

Season 1: Trashy, gaudy, steamy and engaging stuff – lacks the depth I expected but enjoyable on its own terms

[bob the moo · 19 October 2009]

I came to True Blood with this sort of expectation that I knew what it was. What with it being from Alan Ball I had equated it to Six Feet Under, while it being from HBO made me assume that it would be intelligent and complex in the way that fare such as The Wire, Sopranos, In Treatment and other of their shows are. Of course I know this is not all the shows that HBO do, but these are the ones I watch and I had forgotten that they also do Sex & The City and other comedies. So I came to True Blood expecting this alternative world of vampires being "out" to be layered with subtext, commentary and insight. While it has some of these in small measures in season 1, what the show actually comes over as is a wonderfully trashy and colourful soap opera set in the Deep South. It contains drug use, romance, murders, forbidden love, physic abilities and small town politics and it is a lot more engaging than I expected.

It took me a few episodes to be into it and it took me most of season 1 to really put a finger on why I liked it, because at times it is all very silly and trashy, with the plot devices and twists being far from those that I would expect in the shows that I have already mentioned. I think it took me a minute because I had expected something else but once I got the taste of it, it made sense on its own terms and I got interested in all the various threads and characters. Setting it in the Deep South is a key reason that it works for me in a way that perhaps it would not have done had it been in a major city. The humidity and heat of the location is really well conveyed and, along with the small town and the accents, it compliments the hot and rather gaudy nature of the material. Once you get into the trashy rather overblown nature of some of it, there isn't much of it that doesn't engage. Whether it is the central romance or the murders, Jason's drug use, the internal politics of the vampire world, Tara's personality struggles or the colourful character of Lafayette, all of it just seems to work. It maybe trashy but the professional and thorough delivery keeps it far away from being disposable or silly – it is just wearing the sheen of trashy drama. The show is funnier than I expected as well because of this trashy aspect – it uses it to have fun, to not be too serious or full of itself and the effect is positive.

The cast certainly seem to get this. Paquin is great as the central character – never out of shorts and quite the Southern lady, she plays well to the more interesting stuff below the surface while keeping her sexual and brave character strong. Moyer is a lot more sturdy and he works well with her. His weird way of speaking took a minutes to get but otherwise he is charming and charismatic while also able to keep our interest with just hints of his struggle to mainstream and other pains. The supporting cast tend to scene-steal though. In particular Kwanten is much better than his cut-out-school-jock character starts out as and I look forward to see where he goes with season 2. Wesley had impressed me in How She Move – not a great film but she engaged me. Here she does a similar turn hidden behind a character who is at first a bit too "feisty black woman". She is very good at letting her eyes and face soften before toughening up – very good at it; only problem I had was how often she did it versus doing anything else. I like her a lot though. Ellis braves comparison with equally colourful character Omar from The Wire but is quite different. His character is important within several plot threads but is also just plain old good fun at times. I liked Trammel a lot more as the season went on and am interested where season 2 goes with him as well. Support outside of these main roles is generally very strong, with Skarsgård, Porter, Preston, Sanderson, Bauer and others all doing good work.

Overall True Blood is not the show that I expected it to be with my assumptions based on Sopranos, The Wire etc kicking round in my head. While it is different though it is actually very good if you come to it for what it is. It appears to be trashy, passionate and explicit like some cheap novella or alternative-reality soap opera and indeed it is (and fun with it), but the plot threads and characters are all engaging, making the show work very well indeed. Not to all tastes but it is a very entertaining show.

Great season finale

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 25 December 2009]

As season one of True Blood draws to a close some questions are answered and others are raised, as the killer is finally exposed but it appears Tara's saviour might not be as good as she initially seemed as Sam is clearly less than pleased to see her.

When the episode starts Jason is languishing in the town jail convinced he must be guilty of the murders even though he has no memories of them. Thinking he has no further use for his belongings he gives his pick-up truck to his friend Rene; this means Rene has transport so he can offer Sookie a lift home when her car won't start... because somebody has sabotaged the engine. When she is in danger two of the men in her life come to help her, including one who really shouldn't be out in the sunlight.

This episode was a great conclusion to the season as it resolved one mystery then set things up for the next season; just who or what is Maryann and what effect will joining the anti-vampire church have on Jason?

Season Finale

[skay_baltimore · 8/10 · 20 August 2010]

Jason tells Rene who he wants to give his things to because he believes he'll never get out of jail. Sookie shows up and tells him she thinks she knows who the murderer is -- Drew Marshall. Meanwhile, Rene, who's looking on -- looks guilty as hell.

Tara wakes up in Maryann's home. She meets Eggs. And something clearly is up with Maryann and her pig.

Sookie has car trouble (the wires have been cut in her car) and Rene offers to drive her home. She notices that his thoughts don't have an accent. Coby and Lisa find tapes that Rene made of his murder victims, and are watching them on TV when Arlene walks in. Looks like Rene's our man when it comes to the mysterious serial murderer.

Sam and Bill both sense that Sookie is in trouble. Sam heads out to her place, while Bill heads out into daylight. Sam is the one who saves the day, while Bill ends up looking like a toasted marshmallow on a stick. Sam and Sookie toss Bill into an open grave and cover him with dirt so they can get him out of the sunlight.

Sam meets Maryann when she comes to pick up Tara. They know each other -- she calls him a "silly, silly dog". He looks concerned as Tara drives off with Maryann.

Jason had a grand epiphany in jail. He knows he's been given a second chance. He knows he's supposed to do something with his life. He's just a little fuzzy on the details.

Bill is back -- no real surprise there. Those vampires are a hearty group. (some pun intended) He might have fed off of LaFayette. Sookie is glad to see him. Bill offers Sookie some of his blood so she can heal faster, but she prefers to feel human, so she declines.

And it seems as if TB can always count on Terry for some funny lines...

Terry to Arlene: "Your hair is like a sunset after a bomb went off. Pretty."

Eric decides to renege on his deal to deal with Jessica. Bill is not pleased.

Sam has a LOT of money stashed away in his office safe.

Andy is drunk and has trouble remembering where he parked his car. When he finds it, he opens the back door and he and Sookie and Tara see what appears to be a dead body. Sookie and Tara scream really loud.

S1.E12 - Nice Episode To End The Season [9/10]

[panagiotis1993 · 9/10 · 2 November 2023]

(S1. E12) My Live Reaction / Review for True Blood Season 1 Episode 12 ''You'll Be the Death of Me''. Episode 11 was good and I gave it a rating of 9/10. Let's see if this one is better or worse. Does Maryann have some kind of superpower? I don't trust her. Could Rene be the killer? His behavior is a bit off. So finally we get to know who the killer is, Rene. Bill almost died trying to save Sookie. Sam knows Maryann? How? The annoying female vampire is back and Bill has to be responsible for her? Damn. Overall this was a great episode and a really nice way to end the season. My rating is... 9/10.

Hey..

[prhwmvli · 7/10 · 15 November 2020]

Not too good Predictable A little boring Totaly not bad