Review: True Blood – Season One (DVD)
Author: Tigervamp | Date: October 28, 2009
If this DVD release proves one thing it’s that you need not look far to find a few favourable quotes. I happen to find the following favourable quotes for True Blood to be somewhat misleading and I will take this opportunity to address each of them.
‘Stylish, scary and darkly comedic. A modern classic.’
The Guardian
‘Story lines that would make Sarah Michelle Geller blush’
The Times
‘HBO’s biggest hit since the much-missed Sopranos’
The Telegraph
‘Addictively pulpy Vampire raunch’
Time Out
I suppose “stylish” is accurate as obviously low-lighting + vampires = stylish but True Blood isn’t “scary”, nor is it “darkly comedic” whatever that means, and “modern classic” is a term thrown around too often without much thought. I can’t tell if the story lines would cause Sarah Michelle Gellar to blush. She could be the kinkiest girl on earth for all I know. What I can tell you is that I’ll also be comparing this show to Buffy but in a less than favourable way. This may very well be HBO’s most watched show since Sopranos but as far as quality is concerned it doesn’t even come close to that show. I will concede that True Blood must have something about it as I watched the entire season in two consecutive nights but I wouldn’t describe it as addictive as I won’t be in a rush to give those episodes a second viewing. I like to think of “pulp” as a word for a piece of work which pushes some boundaries and will be copied by others. This offers nothing inventive and I dread the day a critic describes something as being “a True Blood clone” since the earlier works which heavily influenced this show are vastly superior.
A few things were certain of True Blood. This show would feature men in dark clothing standing around in a brooding manner, in familiar HBO style it would include copious amounts of sex, and would inevitably be compared to Buffy. I’ll pick up on this last point as while watching the first episode I immediately saw similarities with characters from Buffy. Sookie is Buffy, Bill is Angel, Sam is Xander, and Tara is Cordelia. Sookie’s brother Jason, on the other hand, is a sex-crazed lunatic and a law unto his own. Sookie (Anna Paquin), with her vampire fetish, is a more sedate version of Buffy with an additional talent for mind-reading. Reading minds is useful but she of course avoids using the talent as to do so would help her solve the mystery in a matter of minutes and that would make for a very short series. Bill (Stephen Moyer), the recipient of Sookie’s affection, not only shares the vampire affliction with Angel he also suffers from that same emo wishing he was human thing. Sam (Sam Trammell), and his unhealthy obsession with Sookie, is a lot like Xander except nowhere near as funny or interesting and even his big secret turns out to be disappointingly dull. Tara (Rutina Wesley) is one of the rudest characters to ever appear in a TV series. It’s actually quite harsh of me to compare this monstrosity to Coredlia who in all fairness underwent an attitude adjustment and blossomed into something lovely after moving to Angel. We are then left with Jason who stands out as being unlike any character from Buffy. It is worth noting the character is played by Ryan Kwanten who once played the cheeky scamp Vinnie in Home and Away. It is also worth noting that Jason’s penis brings more bad luck than walking under a ladder, while a black cat runs across your path, as you open an umbrella indoors, which hits and smashes a mirror, and then hearing a garbled “seven days” as you answer the telephone.
The attitude of the characters is what poses the biggest problem in True Blood. Through the entire series there are only two characters who avoid being a complete and utter asshole and to call them secondary characters would be an exaggeration. The characters I refer to, for those in the know, are the tall goofy friend of Jason and the ex-Marine. Every time a character was introduced who appeared to be nice they would go ahead and ruin that by doing something truly awful. A perfect example of this is a love interest of Jason (not giving away much as he is the town bike) who initially seems adorable but turns out to be a twisted psychopathic little bitch.
This brings me nicely onto the topic of racism. I have never before witnessed such casual and unchallenged racism in a TV series. True Blood is set in the deep south and an element of racism is to be expected. The significant and unusual thing about the racism found in this show is that it’s directed solely at the undeserving white population. The three culprits are Tara, her mother Lettie May, and her cousin Lafayette. I can only apologise if I missed the word “Nigger” or any other racist statements directed at black characters but I can honestly say I didn’t notice anything of the sort.
Alternatively you would think “Cracker” was just as acceptable as “hello” in every-day speech. I really wish one over-used word was the problem but the black characters go out of their way to spout racist bile at every opportunity. At one point Lafayette tells Jason no-one wants to see his “stubby white dick” and Lettie May describes a bank manager as having a narrow ass and being a “white devil” and no-one says a word. Tara is the worst of the three as she runs around accusing everyone else of being racist without any reason whatsoever. The worst example is when she accuses one man of being racist when he playfully mentions she grunts in her sleep, like a Tennis player, and Tara takes offence and asks “like Serena Williams?” As though it’s unacceptable to compare a famous black female Tennis player to someone who grunts like a Tennis player, is female, and black. Her “reverse racism” nonsense reminded me of Ali G asking “is it coz I is black?” and this would be worthy of laughter had it not made me despise the character instead of caring about her. I must add that the alcoholic antics of Lettie May and the ensuing troubles with Tara made for one of the most ridiculous and boring sub-plots of all time.
I have very mixed feelings about the series. I can’t imagine it was the creator’s intention but when something semi-interesting happened, such as the addiction to “V”, something absolutely ridiculous would come along and smash it to pieces. Another area which left me feeling numb was the focus on showing sex just for the sake of it. There’s absolutely no way I could ever be considered prudish when it comes to sex but when Sookie finally jumps into bed we are shown a few minutes at the end of one episode followed by a few minutes at the beginning of the next as though we’re too dumb to understand what happened. It seems to me the creative team found themselves on a long leash at HBO and were blinkered by what they could get away with rather than focussing on something more valuable such as depth.
This is where things get slightly confusing because you’d think I’d keep my distance from any show which I believe fails in almost everything it attempts to do. There is a second series. I want to watch it. This doesn’t make any sense so I can only put it down to True Blood being car-crash TV and an acceptable way to waste a weekend. Apparently the second series is a lot better than the first but to be fair I heard this was great before watching. As far as I’m concerned this is a very average show, and I almost forgot to mention it has a terrible intro and theme tune, which is decent in some parts but really poor in others. If you’re a fan of vampires I suggest watching Buffy instead, or The Lost Boys, or 30 Days of Night, or From Dusk Till Dawn, or Count Duckula, or almost anything else featuring vampires apart from Twilight because vampires don’t sparkle.
5/10




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To tigervamp,
You’re a fucking idiot. what makes the show racist is that it has scripts asking the black actors to spout out these lines painting them as ignorant, and uneducated in comparison to their white counterparts. And Tara is awful, really, REALLY?!?! Because this show has the most overblown depiction of an angry black woman maybe in the history of television and she’s not allowed to be a 3D character, she’s rude, she’s loud and has demon possessed abusive mother. Not only that but she offers “no strings attached sex” to her boss who also happens to be in love with her virginal white best friend. Really?!?! Tara is the one that’s awful, how about blaming the script writers who are uninterested in writing a non-stereotypical black woman who has dimensions and settings other than angry and pitiful. Don’t EVEN get me started on how Tara is unavoidably juxtaposed with the virginal, perfect Sookie who everyone seeks to protect. And the unchallenged racism that YOU’RE worried about is the one apparent in the ignorant things that the black characters are scripted to say?!?!??!? Again I repeat tigervamp you are a FUCKING IDIOT.
I think you’ve made it quite clear that you are the idiot and I don’t need to reply but I’m going to do so anyway, because I find it funny.
Blame the scriptwriters, not the show? You seem to believe this show somehow exists outside of the script. You are a genius. I didn’t say the actors and actresses were racist. Perhaps it takes a genius such as yourself to get that from what I wrote.
I think you’re confused. The black actors are given a script and they play certain roles by following said script. I must check…you do understand that the characters are fictional, right?
You go to great lengths to make it known that you agree with everything I said and then call me an idiot. I find that hilarious.
Additionally I’m sorry that the dangerous “racist bile” spewed by the script writers in the scenes with Tara and her mother BORE you. I’m sorry that these scenes which cause people to have false preconceived notions about black people don’t make for interesting enough television for you. Again, you an ignorant, narrow-minded, stupid, stupid person. Oh and I forgot, A FUCKING IDIOT.
Did you write the script? If not, why are you sorry? Parts of the script almost bored me to death and I’m pretty sure I explained why.
I am narrow minded because I give evidence to support my belief that the show has a ridiculous amount of racism? What part of that is narrow minded? I am confused. Perhaps I wouldn’t be so confused if I wasn’t a “FUCKING IDIOT”.
You appear to be a very mixed-up individual. You want me to be interested in a story which you admit yourself is poor? I can’t figure that one out.
Feel free to return here and continue to show everyone how incredibly intelligent you are. Don’t forget that nothing shows the world how smart you are quite like using capital letters to place emphasis on profanity.
Have a nice day.
First of all let me say, HA HA HA HA HA! The fact that velanie not only has the time, but also the inclination to get so bent out of shape about a review of a shit show is FUCKING HILARIOUS! Secondly, because i’m presently very bored and would like to stir the pot a little, I’m going to add to the heat by introducing some much needed sexism to the argument: Tigervamp, don’t waste your valuable reviewing time on this any longer. It’s Not her fault it’s that time of the month…. Peace out suckers.
I used to like vampires but this and twilight has put me off for good and I totally agree with you that reverse racism goes unchecked and if we mention it it’s so non pc and frowned apon because we are still paying for a century of slavery even now and we are supposed to be still ashamed, well that’s the past dude, get over it. And zombies are better anyway.
Tigervamp, unfortunately *sigh* I agree with you 100%. I was and still am a huge Buffy fan. The acting was incredible and the writing(and Joss Whedon’s overall genius were brilliant)! The themes explored were daring and actions had conscequences. Therefore, True Blood is the antithesis of Buffy The Vampire Slayer in every way. I watch it simply because I enjoy the books that True Blood is based on. I keep waiting for the show to reach the level of Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse books, but it never does. I think that the fact that the writers can’t make a strong black female character that doesn’t turn out ignorant and racist herself is a sad fact. I think the Twilight books are okay and that the last book is what the first three books and the tweenager movies should be more like by the way.
On a personal note, I am acquaintances with a couple of the actors on True Blood. The other day, after not having talked to one of the actors in question (online or in life) for at least 6 mos-a year except for Merry Christmas, I woke up at 5:30am to one of the rudest and most disrespectful emails I’ve ever seen or received. I was accused of ‘stalking,’ ‘emailing ‘garbage’ to this individual ‘everyday,’ and was generally threatened. He made no attempt to be respectful or matter-of-fact, but blasted me, talking at and not to me as if I were a piece of garbage under his shoe! Mind you, I’m a psychological therapist with several college degrees, who happpens to be terminally disabled and ill. He knows this. I simply responded that I didn’t need to listen to such disrespect and that he ought to recheck his facts as I haven’t had any communication of any kind with him for quite a long while except for holiday wishes and having once presented a petition on my Facebook site and notified all of my Facebook friends including him that they could sign it if they chose. If this is stalking then lock me up, I’m guilty. With prick actors like that added to all of the above issues, I won’t be tuning in for season three. And, I will be spreading the word. I miss Buffy(and actors before the Robert Pattinson generation)!
Your discussion of Sam and Tara is offensive. You don’t understand race or racial politics, you don’t understand the scene, you don’t like having to see black characters on tv so maybe you should just STOP writing about race. I mean, don’t write about it ever again. By the way, plenty of white reviewers and viewers understood why Sam’s grunting comment was problematic so you’re only excuse is your ignorance and insensitivity.
First, Sam didn’t grunt and I didn’t say he did. Tara grunted in her sleep. You should know this if you’re such a big fan of the show.
Second, I don’t have a problem with seeing black characters on TV and I didn’t say I did. By accusing me of having such a problem with no evidence suggests that you’re the one with the problem.
Third, I can write about anything I like.
Fourth, the fact you came on here to write that nonsense, then follow it up by calling me ignorant, makes me laugh, and for that I thank you.
Fifth, I bet you’re wondering if I’m racist. No, I have lots of gay friends.
Have a nice day.
P.S. Your opinion of my opinion is offensive. I wonder if my response to your opinion of my opinion will offend you as much as my initial opinion. Let’s hope not.