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133 of 162 humans found the following review helpful.
Good, but unquestionably not the best season
By Trixie
This season started off with a fantastic bang, but as it modern the sequences became growingly stupid and disappointing. The third season’s main plot point is the stimulating kidnapping of Bill by the King of Mississippi who has a pack of V-addicted werewolf henchman. Naturally, Sookie does everything she may to save her man with Eric both preventing and/or helping her in her endeavors. However, this season bombards the viewers with too a heap of new characters and subplots. There are in a literal sense more than a dozen new characters, and most of the already established characters (Layfayette, Sam, Tara, Jessica, Jason, Arlene, etc) seem to have their own subplots going on. Some of the characters seldom have any fundamental interaction with each other, but only with the new characters in their own personal story. In fact the subplots take up so much of the show that I often times feel like I am watching 4 or more shows at once. Along with new characters there are various new “supes” (supernaturals) that are introduced in this season including werewolves, werepanthers, fairies/”fae”, and witches. I also find it strange that a good amount of the “supes” are backwater, dirty hicks who don’t even look classy sufficient for a trailer park. Some cheesy and downright stupid scenes make viewers feel that perchance True Blood is going in the direction of each other vampire show, book or movie, which is mind-numbing stupidity. Possibly the worst percentage when it comes to this season was the finale, which was a horrid episode, nevertheless horrid season finale. In fact I think it was in all probability the worst episode of True Blood I have ever seen.
However, this is not to say this season did not have some great twists and turns to keep viewers on the edge of their seat. So in light of lots of criticism I will spotlight some of the best parts of Season 3.
1. Background with regards to Eric’s life as both a humane and vampire
2. We learn “what” Sookie is and why she may read minds and shoot light from her fingertips
3. Eric and Pam’s maker-progeny kinship is staged in a deeper and more significant manner
4. We learn more in regards to vampire hierarchies and politics
5. Jessica’s adjustment to her vampire identity and engaged in a struggle with her kinship with Hoyt
6. We see a darker side of the gallant and gentlemanly Bill
7. We see a lighter side of the cold and cruel Eric
8. Some funny one liners (ex: “His cheese done slid off his cracker!”) But they best be careful with this lest they put too much crusade into “funny” lines and not significant dialogue
9. Some aweinspiring fight scenes
10. Russel Edgington
258 of 318 humans found the following review helpful.
Completely and altogether barking mad
By A. Whitehead
Following the hedonistic sovereignty of terror of the redoubtable Maryann, the residents of Bon Temps are once again attempting to pull their lives back together. For Sookie Stackhouse, events are perplexed by the disappearance of her vampire lover Bill Compton, the emergence of a bunch of werewolves on the scene and the machinations of the vampire King of Mississippi. Meanwhile, Sookie’s brother Jason pursues a new career in law-enforcement, Sam Merlott tracks down his real parents and Jessica, now broken up with Hoyt, embraces her vampire side more freely. Meanwhile (again), Lafayette gets a boyfriend called Jesus (True Blood? Controversial? Never!) and there are a great deal of meth-dealing hicks around causing mischief. And there’s this werewolf called Alcide who fancies Sookie and spends a reasonable bit of time with his shirt off. And Tara gets in an emotional manner mistreated (yet again) by Thomas Cromwell from The Tudors. And a whole ton of other stuff happened which I’m forgetting right now.
True Blood has always been a nutty, camp, more or less trashy but always resolutely agreeably diverting show, but it is third season is not one thing less than a sustained, full-scale assault on the viewer’s senses and sanity. Learning from the pacing difficultnesses in Season 2 (where the latter percentage of the season degenerated into a tiresome parade of filler orgy scenes for no discernible plot reason), Alan Ball has to a massive degree overcompensated, packing each single instant of this season with surprising plot revelations, new characters, surprise reappearances of old characters (including dead ones), new ideas, new races, new conceptions and, indeed, the kitchen sink. It’s surely not a dull season, but it is one that is overloaded to the point of near-incoherence.
If it’s possible to pick out a central thread from this anarchic and demented tapestry of pure chaos, it’s the try by the vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington, to reverse the policy of appeasement by vampires towards persons and have vampires seize control of the world. Edgington is as barmy as a box of frogs on ecstasy (but still a long way from being the craziest reputation on the show this season) but is extraordinarily entertaining, played with scene-chewing relish by Denis O’Hare. His lover Talbot, played by Theo Alexander, is closely as amusing. This storyline, where Eric and Bill pretend (or do they?) to defect from the Queen of Lousiana’s side to Edgington’s and political machinations unfold at his stately home, is the definitive spotlight of the year, in spite of the presence of a number of exceedingly cheesy actors playing ‘evil’ werewolves who are allied to Edgington.
The werewolf storyline other than as supposed or expected doesn’t in truth go anywhere, in spite of the pre-season hype touting this as ‘the werewolf season’. We do get a promising new regular reputation in the form of ‘good’ werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) who manages to stay likable in spite of inexplicably being attracted to Sookie, who is at her most annoying this year. Hopefully he gets more to do next year.
Other storylines range from the mind-bogglingly inane (the meth-dealing hillbilly plot is closely breathtaking in it is utter lack of enjoyability) to the compelling (Jessica and Hoyt proceed to have the most believable kinship and best alchemy of any pairing on the show). Tara gets with regard to emotions and physically maltreated and manipulated again to the point where the viewer is in severe peril of losing the last vestiges of sympathy and respect for the character. This story is more or less saved by James Frain’s wholly bonkers performance as mentally unstable vampire Franklin Mott (who makes the King of Mississippi look like a stable and dependable fellow), but the writers need to stop using Tara as their aroused punch-bag, in particular since they relent with her cousin Lafayette and give him a reasonably happy storyline, finish with a new love interest (which was great up until the hippy-trippy voodoo resourcefulness stuff kicked in).
There’s likewise a series of plot revelations that hark back to the beginning of Season 1 and earlier, exceptionally retconning the backstories and motivations for Sam and Bill. In the former case this is laughably unbelievable, whilst the latter works better. Whilst Sookie is rather unlikable this year, Stephen Moyer’s performance seems to improve once Bill is given more layers and made into a more duplicitous reputation than we initial thought he was.
Overall, this season of True Blood is watchable, but also many times headache-inducingly overwrought. The ‘Arlene’s baby’ storyline is unnecessary and tedious, as is the story in regards to Jason’s latest romance. The less said regarding the introduction of the Fae (supernatural beings who apparently dwell within the mystical realm of a Timotei advert) the better. However, we also get a lot more screen-time for Eric and Pam, which is great, and we likewise get one of the most gloriously demented TV cliffhangers of all time (you’ll recognise it when you see it).
True Blood’s third season (***) is a cataclysmic explosion of sleaze, storylines and characters, a good deal of of which are compelling and galore of which are hardly watchable tedium. Sorting the good from the bad is hard work this year, but the show is never less than watchable, if also often times achieving far less than it is potential.
128 of 158 people found the following review helpful.
Nay Sayers Be Gone! Campy,Entertaining and VERY fun(just me time!)
By susan thompson
I love to curl up and watch as the scenes unfold…..Sookie and Bill….Sookie without Bill….Sookie and Bill…Hey Sookie,Take a good look at Alcide! Hot actors, engaging story lines…FUN FUN FUN! People relax…enjoy…stop making it SERIOUS….we have hard bodied guys for us ladies, and hot bodied women for the guys…add a touch of the obscure and you have this fantasti hour of not one thing to worry about…Another HBO great! Thanks
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