True Blood

[Lucky Pierre]

[quote name='Ran' post='1577385' date='Nov 4 2008, 17.39']Was it unexpected? To be honest, I had the sense that Eric suspected Longshadow, and was hoping that if push came to shove that Longshadow would attack Sookie (on the assumption that the vampires wouldn't interfere), and that Bill would then attack (and kill) Longshadow. This would then allow Eric to try and get a hold on Bill, and through him a hold on Sookie.

Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but I got this vibe about it. He sure did jump at the chance of taking "control" of her, anyways, when he offered to cover things up for Bill in return for Sookie.[/quote]

*finally got caught up*

I agree.. The whole thing seemed totally setup by Eric. Although the Longshadow death was particularly gruesome and seemed to be over the top and not totally necessary.

And I have to say I chuckled watching Bill playing Golf.

[Jenna]

This last episode was, by far, the best yet. The tribunal scene was pretty intense. So was Tara's "exorcsim" and that aftermath.

A big step up this week, in my opinion.

[Mexal]

I haven't watched this past week's episode yet but up until then, I'm enjoying the show quite a bit. I like the Eric character and I think it's nice to finally get a glimpse into the vampire heirarchy beyond Bill.

It really feels like the show is hitting it's stride.

[Ran]

Sookie actually felt a bit of a third wheel this episode. "Get the fuck out!" was a great closing line to the intro act, though.

Is it me, or did they just make it really clear who the killer is?

SPOILER: Ran's Guess

Okay, everyone at the party was wearing blue jeans ... but Rene was the only guy with a black button up shirt that I recall. How does this fit with his apparently being at the bar when Grandma Stackhouse was killed, though?

The exorcism stuff was interesting, and I liked the plot turn, [i]but[/i] how in the world did the woman get the possum to freak out when it did? Did she feed it some peyote or something and waited for it to start tripping? Huh. Sure screwed up Tara a bit further.

And alas, poor Eddie. I knew it. :P

[Jakob Lightbringer]

Slight nitpick: I don't understand why the Vampiric tribunal was of such a modern-primitive quality (reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick)?
Wouldn't these self-proclaimed superior life forms want to demonstrate their highly evolved culture by hosting their formal gatherings in a more impressive (but covert) setting?

[Blaine]

[quote name='Jakob Lightbringer' post='1583994' date='Nov 10 2008, 14.23']Slight nitpick: I don't understand why the Vampiric tribunal was of such a modern-primitive quality (reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick)?
Wouldn't these self-proclaimed superior life forms want to demonstrate their highly evolved culture by hosting their formal gatherings in a more impressive (but covert) setting?[/quote]
Because vampires have style. :P

[Lupigis]

Another good episode! I am particulary pleased with the way the shapeshifter storyline was handled. I was a little afraid that they were going to milk it for cheap additional suspense by having Sookie kick Sam out before ever learning what he was, but I'm happy that they didn't. Sam continues to be the most interesting character in the series. I want more of his backstory to be revealed.

We also pretty much got definitive proof that Bill doesn't have any special status in the vampire hierarchy. Apparently, the only way to be a vampire maverick is to keep your head down really low. Will he tell Sookie that he had to turn an unwilling human for saving her life, and that he got off easy at that? Somehow I think not!

And Eddie got staked! I was starting to hope that he would get loose and turn on them. No such luck, though...

I'm still not sure abot the identity of the killer, but I will have to watch the relevant parts again to see if I can notice the clues Ran mentions in spoilers above.

Who was the woman Tara saw just before she crashed? My wife thought she looked a little like one of the murdered waitresses, but I couldn't really tell.

[Ran]

I'd assume that they hold the primitive as "higher" in an aesthetic/cultural sense than stupid human cows do. I don't think the Magister seemed very much concerned about proving anything, because the very idea of proving something presupposes that there's a concern and even the possibility that one is inferior.

Oh, jeebus, I completely forgot about the naked woman with the giant pig in the middle of the road. WTF?

Linda thought it was Dawn, but no, it's Admiral Caine. ;) AKA Michelle Forbes.

[Lupigis]

One more thing: Did anyone else get the feeling that Sam hesitated a little too long when Sookie asked him if he cold turn into a human? I sort of got the impression that the true answer to that question wasn't all that straightforward.

[Ran]

I think maybe it's true that shifting into another person is very complex and difficult, but I also suspect it's not actually impossible.

I dug the werewolf reference. Made me wonder if werewolves are wolves that can shift into people, which is the reverse of shifters, people who shift into animals. But more likely, werewolves may be more like the vampire equivalent of shifters -- more given to primal urges and violence, etc.

[Week]

The show is getting better and better, I wasn't entirely on board at the start but now I am getting to be.

SPOILER: Re: Killer

I thought they made it pretty obvious that the killer was the guy that both Sam and Sookie had sort of awkward conversations with (about old families with Sam and about grief with Sookie). I couldn't really get a good enough look at Sookie's attacker to really guess based on that though

eta- I agree Sam was lying about being unable to shift into the form of other humans.

[EHK for Darwin]

The show has gotten better. Had some big doubts about the Jason/girlfriend/vamp storyline but its actually remained quite engaging. The Vegan hippy sociopath is absolutely an original character if I've ever seen one. Loved her speech about saving starving kids in Guatemala (or whatever). Jason takes his likable idiot into somewhat dangerous territory and it'll be interesting to see how he comes out of it. (even if they managed some laughs in the storyline, he's still a kidnapper, somewhat torturer, and accessory to murder. You don't get to shrug that off 'awww shucks' style)

I'm curious where they'll go with the show, since they essentially expanded all the possibilities in the show universe tenfold with a few lines of dialog. Werewolves, shapeshifters, and god knows what else. Wonder who else will go public looking for human rights.

The show remains uneven at times. The constant bickering of various characters gets to be a bit much. And after just about every human character told every other human character to fuck off last night, I was in full on eye-roll mode. It was a bit much and felt more than forced at times.

The biggest failing of the show right now remains the vampires. As far as I'm concerned, there's only one sympathetic vampire we've been introduced to thus far and he got kidnapped, tortured, and murdered last night. The rest of them appear to deserve the torture and murder be inflicted upon them, even Bill. And I still can't get over the fact that the only voice of opposition we've heard in this show are fanatical fundies or redneck bigots. Not only would there be some sane, rational, secular objections to these things but the more we learn about vampires, the more we know that there is absolutely some shit to object to.

Yeah, the public doesn't know about their random murders, bronze age justice tribunals, rampant arrogance and superpowered threat...but we've had enough vampire stories in our culture for them to infer these things rather easily and its simply unfathomable that reasonable people aren't doing so. That the only complaints getting airtime are the God squad calling them satan spawn is absurd. At the very least I hope the military is working on devices to kill these fuckers and that the discussion turns from equal rights to genocide fairly quickly because vampires are a threat and I'm hardpressed to find many of their kind who deserve continued existence.

For all their talk of being higher beings, they're pretty fucking barbaric and seem to be partial to methods of justice that most of us grew out of centuries ago.

[Balefont]

I don't understand what influence a full moon would have on a shape shifter. :dunno:

[smegma]

I thought the killer's identity was made fairly obvious with those glimpses as to what he was wearing (as I agree with Ran), as he was the only one wearing it at the party. I think the other guy is a red herring. However it does pose some timeline dilemmas, as I think it was mentioned that he was in the presence of others at the time of one of the murders...but maybe the timing isn't hard and fast? I was hoping the killer would turn out to be some sort of werewolf thingy, but looking at the flashes they looked quite human.

I think the show is improving by leaps and bounds and has the potential for becoming a pretty great show once the characters and universe continue to become more robust. I also agree that at this time, the vampires are the weakest link. I thought the tribunal was horribly cheesy and the Magistrate or whatever didn't convey centuries of power to me at all (although I've always enjoyed the actor in things he has done). The only enjoyable vampire is now dead. Let's get some more like him (in other words, not tired one dimensional gothic stereotypes...even Bill is a friggen snoozefest). I think this could be a great show to flesh out with all the possibilities out there, let's just hope it doesn't go the way of Heroes.

I also felt that Sam's reluctance about the human shifting thing was indicative of further potential down that road. I like his character and strangely, Jason's, the best and it has nothing at all to do with the eye candy factor. ;)

[RedEyedGhost]

Wow! Great episode, and I'm very sad there's only two more episodes this season (but at least it's already been picked up for season 2 :)).

Too bad about Eddie :thumbsdown: He was great while he lasted (I still don't know if Jakob was series about not knowing that Milton was Jimmy James :unsure: )


[url="http://www.michelleforbes.org/joomla/index.php/news/59-michelle-in-qtrue-bloodq"]Here's a link[/url] that talks a bit about Michelle Forbes' character, she's apparently a maenad: [quote]The Maenad is a mythical creature, a wild woman roaming through the woods, dressed in rags most of the time. She feeds on dead animals and human emotions such as pride, violence and fear.[/quote]

[quote name='Balefont' post='1584369' date='Nov 10 2008, 19.12']I don't understand what influence a full moon would have on a shape shifter. :dunno:[/quote]

Shape shifters aren't the only beings that lose self control once a month ;)

Physiologically speaking they could have an organ that is affected by phases of the moon (including differences in either their eyes, their brains, the connections between the two, or many, many other possible differences - which could lead to cool technology that could force them into changing). FFS though, you're OK with them being able to [i]change shape[/i], but not that the moon can have an influence over them?? :P

[Lupigis]

[quote name='Ran' post='1584205' date='Nov 11 2008, 00.11']I dug the werewolf reference. Made me wonder if werewolves are wolves that can shift into people, which is the reverse of shifters, people who shift into animals. But more likely, werewolves may be more like the vampire equivalent of shifters -- more given to primal urges and violence, etc.[/quote]
That sounds likely. Also, given Sams reaction it's pretty certain that he has first hand knowledge of them. I wonder what he did after having been abandoned by his adoptive parents in his teens...
[quote name='EHK for Obama' post='1584219' date='Nov 11 2008, 00.25']As far as I'm concerned, there's only one sympathetic vampire we've been introduced to thus far and he got kidnapped, tortured, and murdered last night. The rest of them appear to deserve the torture and murder be inflicted upon them, even Bill.[/quote]
Yep, at this point the vampires have gone from being shown as a misunderstood minority to being all bad. I wonder if they will remain like that or if the picture will change again.

[Mexal]

[quote name='Lupigis' post='1584565' date='Nov 11 2008, 04.35']Yep, at this point the vampires have gone from being shown as a misunderstood minority to being all bad. I wonder if they will remain like that or if the picture will change again.[/quote]

I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It just goes to show that public perception or at least what they're trying to sell to the public isn't the reality.

I'm curious what would happen should they get any real kind of rights. Would they abuse them to shit?

[Week]

A sort of crackpot theory I came up with was that it was a werewolf, or some other faction opposed to vampires, that killed the girls. The leader of the vamps alluded to the fact that it was particularly bad for the vampires to lose a member during these times. It could be just the fact that they outed themselves, but maybe we'll discover a Underworld-esque war going on. Maybe coming out into the public was a strategic attempt to thwart attacks?

[Mexal]

[quote name='Weekapaug' post='1584699' date='Nov 11 2008, 08.39']A sort of crackpot theory I came up with was that it was a werewolf, or some other faction opposed to vampires, that killed the girls. The leader of the vamps alluded to the fact that it was particularly bad for the vampires to lose a member during these times. It could be just the fact that they outed themselves, but maybe we'll discover a Underworld-esque war going on. Maybe coming out into the public was a strategic attempt to thwart attacks?[/quote]

I like it.

Bring on Vampires vs Werewolves with more naked vegan sociopath.

[Lupigis]

[quote name='Mexal' post='1584886' date='Nov 11 2008, 17.02']I like it.

Bring on Vampires vs Werewolves with more naked vegan sociopath.[/quote]

I'm not completely convinced... Anyway, this just changes the question from "Who is the serial killer?" to "Who is the werewolf serial killer?". Do we really believe that any of the characters we have seen in the series so far is a werewolf?

BTW, who originally decided that vampires and werewolves have to be enemies anyway? It's pretty much taken for granted in most genre books and movies these days but where did this concept come from?