You can always count on HBO to bring a human element to otherwise mysterious and romanticized concepts. The steamy and stylish vampire romp True Blood is certainly no different.
Based on the Southern Vampire book series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood is a blood-soaked romantic fable set in a world where vampires have "come out of the coffin" and are campaigning for equal rights. Sound a little peculiar? Well, it is. But hey, this is HBO, so to expect anything less would be unseemly.
Part mystery, part comedy, part horror, and all wild imagination, True Blood proves that there are still plenty of stories to tell in the old "star-crossed lovers" archetype.
True Blood Story
True Blood follows the adventures of a feisty southern waitress named Sookie Stackhouse, played with a unique mix of cheek and chastity by Anna Paquin. Sookie lives in a sleepy town in Louisiana where nothing much ever happens, but her life is complicated – some would say cursed - by her ability to read people's thoughts. It's no wonder she falls for sexy and brooding vampire, Bill – he's the first man she's met whose thoughts she can't read. Of course, falling for a vampire creates a whole host of complications for a nice southern girl living in a society where humans and vamps have yet to totally embrace each other.
Sookie's isn't the only complicated story in Bon Temps, LA. Just about everyone has a back story they'd rather others not know about, and to complicate things even further, there's a serial killer on the loose, targeting human women who have a soft spot for the creatures of the night.
True Blood on HBO
Few channels could really do justice to a show such as True Blood. A decent vampire tale requires a whole lot of blood, sex, and potty mouth, and this one has got all three in spades. It also plays around with old myths and new mysteries having to do with the bloodsuckers. Thanks to the development of synthetic blood (the True Blood the title refers to) vampires don't need to feed on humans (although some still do), and many believe that they can live in harmony with humans. They go to great lengths to clear up the lies about them (crosses and garlic do nothing, sunlight is bad but not necessarily fatal) and claim their rightful place in society. Although like in any society, there will always be those that want things to stay the way they are.
What's most interesting about True Blood is that the plight of the vampires is almost secondary - it's the human stories that prove the most compelling. The vampires essentially play second fiddle to the eccentric cast of human locals. Locals that include Sookie's dumb-as-a-post (but remarkably charming and attractive) brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten), her tough-talking best friend Tara (Rutina Wesley), Tara's flamboyant cousin Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) who is something of an entrepreneur, her love struck boss Sam (Sam Trammell), and plenty of quirky others. Over the course of the first season all of the characters go through various types of transformations and become more richly developed because of it.
True Blood Review
True Blood is an interesting analogy about modern society. There's more than one similarity between the plight of the vampires and just about every other real life minority group (in particular homosexuals – notice the church billboard stating "God Hates Fangs"), and the deep-south setting only drives the point home more.
With True Blood, creator Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) has added another strange, and yes, slightly ridiculous production into the ranks of prime-time television. Full of stylistic indulgence, over-the-top sexual diversions, and blood-dripping decadence, True Blood is like a refreshing thirst-quencher on a hot Louisiana afternoon. Once you get a taste you can't get enough.
Drink up.
Join the Conversation