True Blood: Season 3 Episode 1: Bad Blood – TV Review

A lot of TV shows travel in circles (here’s looking at you “Gossip Girl”), meaning that every season brings new problems that have very little to do with the previous one. This inadvertently leaves the viewer confused. A season should always end with a very suspenseful cliffhanger; will a finger with a ring on it and a missing vampire do it for you? “True Blood‘s” premiere picked up right where it left off with Anna Paquin‘s Sookie finding out that her beloved Bill has been kidnapped. We watch as she begins her crazy search along with gay porn, ‘bad blood,’ and werewolves.

Check out our review…

The Players:

• Director: Daniel Minahan
• Writers: Brian Buckner
• Honorable Mentions: Alan Ball (Creator), Charlaine Harris (novels)
• Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Chris Bauer, Anna Camp, Nelsan Ellis, Carrie Preston, Todd Lowe, Michael McMillian, William Sanderson, Alexander Skarsgård

The Plot:

“True Blood” centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Paquin), a telepathic barmaid living in a small fictional Louisiana town. She becomes romantically involved with a vampire named Bill Compton, after he walks into her workplace. Their human-vampire relationship brings nothing but drama to themselves and those around them.

Title of this Week’s Episode: “Bad Blood” Season 3: Episode 1

Bill has been kidnapped and Sookie goes on a wild search to find him and asks Eric and Jessica for their help. Tara is an emotional wreck over the death of her boyfriend Eggs. Sam begins looking for his birth parents and the Vampire Queen pays Eric a surprise visit. Bill is also able to free himself from his kidnappers, but finds himself in, dare I say ‘werewolf,’ territory.

The Good (Spoilers ahead!):

• The Beginning: I’ve discussed this already, but I’ll say it again: it is so great that “True Blood” season 3 opens right where season 2 left off because that way the viewer doesn’t feel like they’ve missed anything. It’s better than having several months go by and then spoon-feeding missing information to them over the following episodes.
• Werewolves: Yes it’s happened. Werewolves will be the new mythical creatures in “True Blood” and so far, they look awesome. Word on the street is that the werewolves aren’t CGI (which is probably why they look so cool), they’re actually trained by professionals and put in front of a camera.

The Weird:

• Evan Rachel-Wood: I don’t dig her whole Vampire Queen character. At one point she threatens Eric by grabbing unto his male parts. She’s beautiful, but unnecessary. She gives “True Blood” a Queen of the Damned touch that just does not work.
• Nudity And The Use Of It: There’s no problem with some boobs here and there, but female full-frontal and bare buttocks are unnecessary on HBO anytime before 10 p.m. There’s also some foreplay involved that gives “Bad Blood” a weird and bad vibe.

The Bad:

• Too Many Plot Lines: There’s the whole Bill and Sookie story; Sam will be reconnecting with his family; Tara is crushed due to the death of Eggs; Jessica is dealing with the dead body in her house (and the smell), and her feelings for her ex-boyfriend Hoyt. There’s also a handful of other characters that have yet to be introduced, hence the overcrowding factor.

Overall:

It wasn’t a great start, but it was good. The biggest problem were the subplots. “Bad Blood” was trying to get a lot in, instead of dealing with a few stories at a time to better explain them. The best part of season 3 will be on introduction of the werewolves, whom will surely add more spice to the show. Bring on the Lycans!

Rating: 8/10

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