While there are a plethora of vampire based comedies, horrors and teenage high school dramas dominating the small screen, the silver screen and the bestselling book charts, one clearly sticks out above the rest, and it’s name is True Blood.
Debuting last year on the juggernaut that is HBO, True Blood instantly found an addicted audience, and its second season proved to be just as intoxicating. In an attempt to NOT spoil any of the shows surprise plot lines and revelations, here are the top 10 reasons why you should be watching season two:
10. Murder, mystery and mayhem.
Like in season one, there is a murderer on the loose, and each episode brings us a step closer into finding out who killed the victims of these “heart-pumping” crimes (if you’ve seen the second season, then you will hopefully get the reference.) This mystery and mayhem only adds to the “I have to see the next episode NOW” addiction of the series.
9. Alan Ball and the Writers
The genius of writer, director and creator Alan Ball – from American Beauty and Six Feet Under fame – brings us the continued second series that is loosely based on Charlaine Harris’ second instalment in the Sookie Stackhouse novels. With the aid of Nancy Oliver (writer of Six Feet Under episodes and the feature film Lars and the Real Girl) as well as many other brilliant writers, amazing scripts are produced that make for captivating viewing.
8. The Cast
True Blood features an cast to die for, mainly made up of American actors, with the notable exception of the three main stars (Candian born/New Zealand/American raised Anna Paquin as Sookie, former Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten from Australia as Sookie’s brother Jason and British actor Stephen Moyer as Vampire Bill). Sam Trammell (as shape shifter Sam), Rutina Wesley (as Sookie’s best friend Tara) and Carrie Preston (as the red-headed/bad taste in men waitress Arlene) are just a few examples of this exceptional and compelling cast.
7. Small town hillbillies
The town of Bon Temps (a fictional town in Louisiana) are filled with small minded, low class, trashy people. And it is these drunk and intolerant bigots that help create such an interesting town to be “invaded” by vampires.
6. Coded representations
As carried on from the first season, this idea of coded representations of homophobia and racism are carried out. In the title sequence we see the “GOD HATES FANGS” on the Church bulletin noticeboard, and throughout this series the idea of voting for marriage rights of vampires and humans (allegory for Prop 8 anyone?) is part of a storyline that arcs over a few episodes. We also see in the title image, people being hosed down, which reminds us of the state of 1950s/60s America. The character of Lafayette also explores and adds to these representations in less coded ways as being a gay black man.
5. Evangelicalism
As mentioned with the coded representations, the Evangelicals have a strong part of season two, and we see Jason going down a path that few could have seen coming with the anti-vampire preaching church group “The Fellowship of the Sun”. This is all I will say for now, but as often depicted with organised religion, there is an interesting turn.
4. Tough Vampires!
There is no sugar coating with these Southern vamps. Adhering to the true terrifying ideas of a vampire, the blood thirsty-ness is shown as a central part of their making. A hierarchy of ruthless and power hungry (as well as human hungry) creatures helps portray the vampires as the blood sucking fiends that we really want to see.
3. Anna Paquin = GOD
Seemingly post famous as the New Zealand 11-year-old Oscar winner Anna Paquin is truly a force to be reckoned with as Sookie Stackhouse. Empathic, sympathetic, head strong, determined, funny, naïve and basically everything you could want from a lead character. Her resemblance to Holly Hunter, which we first saw in Jane Campion’s 1993 Oscar winning The Piano, is once again astonishing. But Paquin shows us her acting chops, and boy are they something to sink your teeth into!
2. Forbidden love
When Twilight came out in cinemas last year, I went to see it, hoping to be sucked into a guilty pleasure movie that contained the gory bloody nature of vampires in conjunction with a consuming forbidden love. As to be expected, I was not satisfied with what I was given with Twilight and luckily, TB contained what I needed and more. And it is no secret guilty pleasure, either! With the prejudice that surrounds the vampire, comes the controversial and ultimately “forbidden” aspect of a “inter-species” relationship (and another coded representation with inter racial relationships). This illicit practice only makes for the more compelling viewing.
And finally, my number one reason for why I found the second season so particularly enthralling is because of its storyline relating to:
1. Dionysus and the Ecstasy
Seemingly out of nowhere comes this storyline relating back to Greek mythology. A pursuit of ecstasy falls pray over the town that is one of particular fascination to this viewer as a student of Dionysus and ecstasy. Without giving too much away, a drive, need and exploitation of alcohol, drugs, sex and cannibalistic sacrifice in the name of ritualistic, grotesque and gargantuan excess are shown, and it is simply spellbinding television.
True Blood Season 2 screened on HBO in the U.S. and the finale airs on Tuesday 1st December @ 8.30pm on Showcase on Foxtel in Australia. There is no release date for the DVD in either country.