I almost feel ashamed at my reaction to HBO’s new series, True Blood. From the creator of Six Feet Under (which I like) and American Beauty (which I hate), it’s set in a world where vampires have come “out of the coffin” and are attempting to co-exist with humanity. The catalyst was the invention of a fake Japanese blood product which allows vampires to gain sustenance without feeding off of humanity. (Why they can’t just drink animal blood like any other selfless vampire, I’m sure I don’t know.)
It would be difficult to tell this story without vampires becoming a metaphor for the minority group du jour, and creator Alan Ball isn’t helping things by including a “GOD HATES FANGS” church sign in the opening credits. Yeah, we get it.
The hypocrisy metaphor is also complete – some humans, apparently, drink vampire blood for its drug-like properties. Yeah, we still get it.
The metaphor breaks down when you try to apply the existence of synthetic blood, which is what allows vampires to live in “normal society.” Condoms, I guess? I don’t know.
Anna Paquin leads the cast as a waitress who can hear people’s thoughts, and who immediately develops some kind of connection with Stephen Moyer’s character, a darkly attractive vampire. After she saves him from a couple who planned to drain and sell his blood, a budding romance seems inevitable. But, of course, society frowns.
Though the show’s far from perfect, and Anna Paquin’s performance leaves something to be desired, I find myself drawn into the dark world of True Blood. Moyer’s character, Bill, is so obviously created to be captivating and sexy that it’s almost shameful to fall under his spell. But, so help me, he can suck my blood any time.
I can tell that I’m going to get sucked (har) into this show, despite my best efforts to view it as an impartial critic. No matter how crappy it gets, I just have to find out what happens to Bill.
Popularity: 1% [?]
i noticed they were trying to insert a recurring “lesson” in True Blood’s first episode, which is “Don’t be prejudiced;” seemed a little out of place, but okay…
Best comment from elsewhere on the Internet: “SOOKIE STACKHOUSE is walking around the bar reading people’s minds, and if that was not enough to establish she is psychic, she hears some kid thinking about how he hates it there and wants to leave, and if that wasn’t enough to establish her powers, she responds to him “well, leave as soon as you can, the older you get the more stuck you are” and if that wasn’t enough to establish that she can read minds the kid responds, “How did you know what I was thinking? That’s weird” so know we are inarguably certain that she can read minds AND that she is considered weird as a result. Also everyone thinks she is crazy. We know this because characters keep telling each other that they think she is crazy.”