True Blood

True Blood

This is an intensely silly show. But it is also an intensely entertaining one on top of that. And what is it? Well, True Blood is basically the same sort of a vampire wish fulfillment as is the Twilight saga. Key difference being the fact that True Blood is done with SO much more effort and talent.

True Blood ran for 7 seasons , from 2008 to 2014.

The Story

It is the early 2000s, and a scientific person creates “synthetic blood”, which basically leads to the whole point of our world here: Vampires now have a food source other than humanity, and therefore they choose to reveal their existence to the world. However, racism, bigotry and hypocrisy are abundant.

Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in her early 20s lives in the small redneck town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Unlike most, Sookie is an open-minded free spirit, mostly because she herself faces bigotry due to her special ability of reading minds. One night at work Sookie encounters the mysterious vampire, Bill Compton, and basically hijinks ensue. Or rather, intense drama.

During Sookie’s adventures with or without Bill, there’s a plethora of other side stories and subplots involving the large and varied cast of the show.

Characters

Sookie Stackhouse is the free-spirited mind reader, and an on-and-off waitress. Soon after encountering Bill Compton the Vampire, she soon falls in love, and this love draws her deep into vampire politics, and more trouble than most think it’s worth.

Jason Stackhouse is Sookie’s redneck brother most well-known for womanizing and getting into trouble constantly. Despite his rednecky ways, he is intensely loyal to family and protective of his sister Sookie.

Tara Thornton is Sookie’s childhood friend who has a complicated, strained relationship with her alcoholic mother. She is generally referred to as “the smartest person in town”, but due to her confrontational and sarcastic attitude, nothing comes out of it. Despite being a victim of bigotry herself, being a black woman in a redneck town, she is fiercely wary of the recently come out vampires. Like Jason, she is strongly protective of Sookie.

Sam Merlotte is owner of his own bar and diner, as well as Sookie’s employer. Sam is said to be carrying a torch for Sookie basically from point one. Sam is also hinted to having a shifty background. Despite that, he is loyal like a dog and has a good sense of justice. He is also strongly protective of Sookie.

Bill Compton, or “Vampire Bill”, is our male protagonist vampire, and Sookie’s long running love interest. Pretty much when they meet, Bill saves Sookie’s life and feeds her his blood to heal her wounds. Bill has lived for over 170 years, and is in constant existential brood, and is usually presented as the perfect man. He is strongly protective of Sookie.

Lafayette Reynolds is a flamboyant gay man, fry cook, drug dealer and a prostitute. And strangely, he is also one of the most badass characters on the show. If for nothing else, then at the very least for his flegmatic attitude through all the crazy shit he goes through.

The World

As obvious, there are vampires in this world the show presents. Although, other than that, it’s just our everyday “normal world”. That coupled with Sookie’s mind reading, it’s not a stretch to figure out that the world will contain more than just vampires:  so other supernatural creatures are to be expected as well. Which fits quite well the whole modern supernatural YA romance.

Summary

You might have noticed the phrase “strongly protective of Sookie”, which probably tells a lot: Luckily Sookie’s character is never rendered into just a damel in distress for others to save: She is active in her own story and can take care of herself. Still, the phrase mentioned earlier is just expected from a Twilight-esque wish fulfillment story.

But hey, it sounds like I’m badmouthing this show: No! I actually really enjoy it, albeit for it’s extreme silliness, but I enjoy it nonetheless. And to give the show something fair: it is well-written, most of the storylines draw you in really good (seriously, I basically marathoned half of the show in one go), and the the “silliness” of it just is… good. It strangely adds to it all.

So, I warmly recommend this show for anyone who’s into the whole modern fantasy kind of stuff (such as Supernatural, Grimm, Originals, or something like that).