Three Reasons Why I’ve Dropped ‘True Blood’

Ah, True Blood. As the HBO Southern Gothic vampire soap opera wraps up its third season, I have been thinking back about what transpired. The show used to inspire so much enjoyment thanks to its over-the-top exploits and campy humor, not to mention because it’s preposterously gory (bloody explosions after a vampire is staked to death) and unbelievably sexy (Boobies! Vampire Sex!). And with those insane cliffhangers every episode, you can’t wait to tune in again next week. That is, until this season.

Season three has been so all over the place that it has me wondering if the show has lost its way or simply going in a direction I don’t want it to go. Where it used to be one of the first things I would watch each week, I’ve let many episodes pile up in recent weeks. In anticipation of the finale, I finally caught up, and while there is still much to admire, the show is not hitting the same highs it used to. I think I have it pegged down to these three issues:

1) Too Many Characters.

True Blood is not the first show with an ever-expanding cast. Deadwood, Sopranos, and The Wire rarely had an issue with huge rosters of characters to keep track of. True Blood hasn’t delivered as seamlessly as it expands its universe. Because the show is primarily plot-driven rather than character-driven, we see little in the way of character development. As such, True Blood continues to introduce new people* with little for us to care about, while leaving others on the sidelines for long extended periods of time, or mired in inane story lines.

(* Just this season alone they’ve introduced us to: Russell Edgington — the decadent vampire king of Mississippi and his Nazi redneck werewolves; Alcide — the one good werewolf apparently; Franklin — yet another sadistic vampire; Sam Merlotte’s annoying shapeshifting brother; Crystal — the newly discovered were-panther? — and her meth-making family; Jesus — Lafayette’s love interest with connections to black magic; a Wiccan waitress; an underground dog fighting ring; a meth drug ring; a secret vampire gov’t black ops illuminati group.

Whew, got that? I’m sure a ton of crap I’ve somehow blocked out. Oh yes, that’s right… and a bunch of mystical fairies with connections to Sookie, who has finally been revealed as one herself.)

Even with all the additions — and a few of them have been somewhat good, specifically Denis O’Hare as Russell — it’s often at the expense of characters who previously showed a lot of potential but often haven’t had much to do: Jessica; Sophie-Anne, the Queen of Louisiana; Pam.

2) Everyone Has Special Powers And It Doesn’t Seem All That Special Anymore

One of the other major problems with True Blood is directly related to the first. Nearly every character on the show has, or is developing, a special power or is some new creature. I understand that this is an established aspect of True Blood, even from the first season with Sam turning out to be a shapeshifter and the mystery surrounding Sookie’s abilities. But where that season introduced us to a mysterious world where vampires and humans co-exist, and how the humans might fear them as the vampires are integrated into their towns, that mystery has fallen by the wayside. There are now very few humans left at the heart of the show. This has had two effects.

First, as each new special power is introduced, the show begins to lose the characters meant to represent the audience’s point of view. Therefore the audience has increasingly few characters to identify with or comment on the action for them. That is often what keeps a batshit crazy shows like this grounded in some sort of reality (see: Hurley on LOST, for example). Even Jessica’s plotline as the newly created, forever teenage girl vampire had a ton of potential for her to be a stand in for the audience and show what it’s like to deal with becoming a vampire, especially when it’s against your will. But they’ve often dropped the ball on her story, only to suddenly remember she’s still around.

The audience is willing to forgive the fantasy aspects of the show — creatures and magic and all that — if there is someone to counterbalance it and make it seem like this could all be happening.

Second, those with powers begin feel less special and original. Characters with the powers and abilities like Eric, Bill, Sookie are not as different in comparison to everyone else. From the vampires and werewolves and shapeshifters to maenads, fairies, and (what they’re now hinting with Lafayette and others), voodoo, black magicians, witches and Wiccans, it’s just getting a bit out of control.

Sure, there’s still humans like Jason, Hoyt, Andy Bellfleur, and I guess Tara (as impossibly dumb her plotlines have been). But those characters have often operated over to the side of the main action until all the plot lines coalesce at the end of each season. This would work a lot better if some of these normal day-to-day characters were more frequently brought into the fold and forced react to all the things Sookie and company are dealing with. Instead it often feels like two shows, and not in a good way.

3) Plots Do Not Make Sense

This one is simple. The breakneck of the story lines the last three season has been so fast that plots are often introduced and rarely given enough time to establish a status quo before moving on to something else. The serialization used to be part of the fun — each episode picked up where the cliffhanger of the previous left off. It felt immediate and exciting. But characters never seem to have the time to think things through, to formulate ideas or even catch up to see ramifications of their actions. Plot lines are often just dropped when the show gets bored with it.

And it’s starting to affect the show. The plots go in circles (see the increasingly tedious Sookie\Bill\Eric triangle; anything involving an angry Tara getting brainwashed or tortured or getting drunk or feeling sorry for herself) and some just come out of nowhere (Sam is now an angry drunk?). And as I said before, the introduction of characters as type but with little characterization has started to affect the amount of time spent on characters we like and want to see stories with.

Now, it’s very possible it’s just me. It likely is. True Blood is a bona fide hit and its popularity has never been higher. Simply put, people are going bananas for the show. Still, I feel like I’m starting to hit a wall. There are too many other good shows I’m more interested in following closely like AMC’s Mad Men, and the upcoming Boardwalk Empire on HBO. I’m not giving up for good just yet. But hopefully True Blood will find a way to keep me interested as it wraps up this season and preps for next summer’s return. It has too much potential still left to fulfill.

2 thoughts on “Three Reasons Why I’ve Dropped ‘True Blood’”

  1. @rh: Believe me, if there was more of Jessica on True Blood I’d have one less thing to complain about. Her character is still really interesting and full of potential. Plus, she’s one of the most beautiful on the show — no small feat.

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