*WARNING* Contains enormous amounts of gushing over a TV show and even more spoilers.
Despite being the creators of critically-acclaimed, fan-adored shows such as Game Of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, HBO has received a LOT of hate over the past couple of years. It seems to be that many viewers are sick of seeing a show coming back year after year, a show that I am personally, still very fond of; True Blood.
If you've (been living under a rock and) haven't heard of it already, it's a supernatural show that centres around a fairy mind-reader named Sookie who finds herself falling in love with a vampire, much to the dismay of her family, friends and town, Bon Temps. But that was only the premise of the very first season. Since then, we've had a love triangle, a witch who was freaky in more ways than one, a murderous Mississipian King, spirits, werewolves, vampire elders, war trauma, family issues, voodoo, sex addiction, drug addiction and shape shifting! Who says shows about vampires are one-dimensional eh?! And that's genuinely just a handful of the subjects that this programme has covered.
The whole show is campy and sexy and doesn't seem to ever take itself too seriously, which I have always admired. Unlike The Vampire Diaries or Supernatural, or even sometimes, dare I say it, Twilight. True Blood knows that it's viewers are going to think that the plots are far-fetched but the way it cleverly plays upon those stereotypes and hugely hams it up, makes you forgive it instantly. It realises it's fan base and it's not afraid to make it as extreme as possible.
Being a horror fan, I also liked the fact that whilst overtly sexualising the vampires and other characters, the show was not shy of gore and making it go a little darker. Even this aspect of the television programme was always exaggerated and I loved it. From your typical neck-nipping to exploding bodies, from beheading to pulling someone's spine from their back. It was damn graphic and it was bloody good. It knew vampires were sexy, but it didn't forget their horror origins either.
Now whether the network has caved in to the peer pressure of the picky viewers or whether they truly feel the programme has run it's course on it's own, I'll never know, but I for one, am not ready to see it go and I am genuinely saddened that it is ending.
Being a huge vampire fan, that element drew me to the show undoubtedly at the beginning, but it wasn't just the fantasy that kept me watching over the years. Aside from the supernatural element, I fell in love with the characters, the story lines and the setting of the show, finding myself really caring for and understanding every one of them. What impressed me about True Blood from the get-go, is amongst a huge ensemble cast, absolutely no character is wishy-washy or fades into the background.
Whether you love them or hate them, they made you feel some kind of emotion and they MADE you notice them and I think this can only warrant praise aimed towards the writers for creating such fleshed-out believable characters despite the not-so-believable story lines. That statement doesn't mean I don't think the actors do an amazing job at portraying their characters, because they certainly do, it's their ability to really bring Sookie, Bill and the others to live that makes them seem like normal people that you really know and feel for.
I've truly loved every episode that True Blood has ever had but one thing they really know how to do are season openers (and ridiculously dramatic finales, of course) so I wasn't surprised when the first episode of season 7 was no exception to this trend. What they do seem to do so well at the start of every season is swiftly but almost unnoticeably reintroduce viewers to the action of the last series and the characters roles.
Unlike a lot of other shows, the season premieres always start off at the exact moment the last season ended, meaning audiences have no need to fill in the blank space in the fictional story.
Season 7 always followed this trend as we saw it open on the human/vampire mixer they were having at the end of the previous series, with the focus very much on the deadly (and undead), gatecrashers that rocked up just before the credits rolled on season 6.
Pretty much the whole episode is based around that one night, with all the characters falling into their typical placements again, really easing the viewer back in to the drama.
Guilt-stricken Jessica swears to protect Andy Bellefleur's last remaining daughter after her horrific slip up involving the others. Alcide is being his usual self worrying about Sookie whilst all she's concerned about are the town's thoughts filling up her head with hateful opinions. Bill tries to maintain authority over the vampire side of Bon Temps, whereas Sam is still finding his feet as officially-appointed Mayor. There's no sign of Eric after last seasons dramatic end and Pam is god knows where being as sassy as always. Jason is once again chasing after a woman like a love-struck pup and let's not get into what Tara's doing, shall we?!
But it's a very good opener by any series standards and certainly gears us up ready for what's in store later on in the season.
Okay, so even me, an avid fan, can't really see where else the show can actually go from where it's ended up now. Which is most likely why the creators are certain this is the final season. The writers seem to have driven themselves into a bit of a dead-end with the whole human vs. vampires storyline as it's never going to end with them all of sudden living harmoniously again. It seems that one side is going to have to win.
In True Blood style, it probably won't be as simple as that but it's hard to imagine another ending for the show. I guess us remaining fans will have to wait until the end of the seventh and final season to find out just what they will do with our well loved characters. Let's just hope that by the very end, that we won't be agreeing with the people who have been slating it since day one.
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