I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: phwoar.
Glad to see the beyond fabulous, yahtzee-obsessed, taxman-hounded Queen making a return too, and more screentime for the gloriously catty lesbian vamp Pam too. Heck, I love pretty much every character in this, which is rare for a show with such a large ensemble, but the great writing gives us such gems as 'hell hath no fury as a vampire queen in debt' extends all the way down to the most minor of characters.
New style hero, obvs
That said, four episodes in to this new series and I do worry the show may be taking a turn for the torture porn, which seems a bit beneath it. Any idiot with a Hostel writing credit can pen ‘girl in underwear gets tied up/bitten/poked with something hot’- did we really need four instances of this in one episode? Bring back the biting social commentary! Last series they were pillorying the Religious Right, this time it seems to be “look- boobs!” A tad disappointing. But then they made Eric frickin' FLY, so conscience off, dick on, no?
Sparkle Vamp take note- this is the red-blooded woman / right-thinking man's slightly creepy nighttime visitation method of choice
From the first episode, however, True Blood subtly announces itself as the thinking person's vampire-based entertainment (granted, not that hard a sell, when you consider the competition). Set in the Deep South (and with the accents to match) its vamp situation nicely draws parallels with both civil rights and LGBT issues, from newspaper headlines such as 'Angelina Adopts Vampire Baby' to placards reading 'God Hates Fangs'. Introducing the best friend character as a Naomi Klein reader is cool, but pretty lazy characterisation, when you think about it- I still haven't forgotten One Tree Hill presenting Chad Michael Murray as a 'brooding serious type' by having him quote Shakespeare and Hemingway. Hmm.
