True Blood

HBO, which has been struggling to replace the critical and commercial success of departing series The Sopranos and Sex and the City, has launched its Fall season with the series premiere of True Blood, created by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) and based on the book series by Charlaine Harris. True Blood tells the story of Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a Southern waitress with telepathic powers who is trying to live her life as normally as possible until she meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a vampire who has recently made his residence in Sookie’s hometown of Bon Temps, Louisiana.

True Blood is set in a universe in which vampires have revealed their existence to the world at large, and are trying to attain equal rights as citizens (they are awaiting and lobbying for the passage of a Vampire Rights Amendment). There is no suspenseful discovery of vampires in this series; vampirism simply exists, so the series’ focus is the fall-out from such a revelation. How does the human race integrate supernatural beings into society? More interestingly, how does this culture shock play out in the backwoods of Louisiana, a place infamous for past Civil Rights abuses (assuming, of course, that vampires would qualify for such rights)? From the stunning imagery in the opening credits (which includes footage of KKK members, Baptist services, and road signs that read ‘God Hates Fangs!’), it is made clear that Southern culture and identity will be crucial to the dialogue that takes place within the series.

Though the political allegory is present, it is not the focus of True Blood. Sookie is, paradoxically, both an everywoman, and something more than ordinary. She lives with her grandmother and her brother, and her life has been centered around her family and her friends. She is a well-adjusted and much-loved member of the town in which she lives. In fact, it is precisely Sookie’s good humor which makes the series such a delightful departure from the ultra-cliched moroseness of recent vampire fiction, which tends to focus on the vampire (and his lover) as the misunderstood outsider. Here, though for the present an outsider, the vampire is trying to assimilate, and Sookie is glad to help him do so.

True Blood is a romance set in an adult world, which means that it doesn’t shy away from the graphic or the sexual. Nevertheless, it also maintains a great sense of humor about itself and the genre as a whole. It subverts some of the genre conventions while embracing the genre as a whole. For example, when the dashing vampire visits Sookie’s window in the pilot episode, she immediately rushes out to meet him, intent on consummating their nascent relationship, stating, “I didn’t know we would be having sex so quickly!” (that the encounter turns out to be a dream brought on by her overactive imagination makes it that much funnier). Clearly, this is a series that is aware of the cliches, and has fun playing with them. Still, there is enough darkness within its supernatural world to make for a great Southern Gothic atmosphere.

Actingwise, Anna Paquin makes a charming heroine out of Sookie. She has great warmth and humor, and a sense of wonder that make her instantly likeable. Stephen Moyer has a more difficult job, playing a character that has been played a million times before: the lonely vampire. He brings a great charm as well as naughtiness to it (see his comments about his favorite artery in the female body), but as of the second episode, it is difficult to see whether the role will rise above the lonely vampire routine. Ryan Kwanten (as Sookie’s brother Jason), Sam Trammell (Sooki’s boss Sam Merlotte), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), and Rutina Wesley (Tara) round out the wonderful supporting cast. Wesley, in particular, is one to watch out for, as Sookie’s hilarious best friend Tara, whose tough attitude masks great insecurity and an unrequitted love for Jason.

If the series can live up to the promise of the pilot, then True Blood will be a highly addictive series, indeed.

-Artemis

~ by Artemis on September 15, 2008.