The writer of The Mamafesto and I are watching True Blood together because everyone should watch TV with someone else and then talk it to death. We’re doing our best to occasionally apply some feminist analysis to what is otherwise just mutual lust for the character, Eric.
We were a bit bored this week.. how did you find it?
And proceed no further if you don’t want spoilers for episode 9.
Mamafesto: So I think the first thing I wanted to discuss was how Bill totally seems to be on the side of Lillith now.
blue: Yes. I have two theories.
Mamafesto: I thought for a bit that maybe he was playing them, trying to somehow be all subterfuge-y, but now… Let’s hear them!
blue: First theory – the man responds better to bossy women than bossy men – like his maker, Lorena, and now this other woman, Salome, and that he is comfortable with those women as leaders and simply falls in line when he comes upon one. And then of course, letting go of morality is a release for him after all his tortured longing for Sookie and conflicted feelings about being a vampire. Also, this would finish him as a contender for Sookie so that would be a way of wrapping up that storyline. Eric, come on down.
Mamafesto: You know I would be happy to have Eric come on through. But yes, totally agree with your assessment of Bill there. Even in the book he’s portrayed similarly.
blue: Second theory is that this is all manipulation for the audience and that Bill is earning the trust of the Sanguinistas so he can do them all in once and for all in a big complicated way and make Sookie and every other human truly safe. And he can continue adding love triangle tension to the storyline. Am actually leaning more towards this one now. This would be far more consistent with him as the character he is in the TV show.
Mamafesto: But if theory #2 was the case, why go so far as to suggest blowing up Tru Blood factories? The fall-out is immediate (and could even endanger Sookie). Even when Eric played the “Sookie card” Bill didn’t falter much.
blue: Think this is all to make you believe as an audience member that he has definitely turned. My hunch, anyway.
Mamafesto: Oh! You were totally spot one re:Sheriff Dearborn. Well played, there!
blue: One thing that fatigues me about the show is how little they resolve things believably. Like the whole vampire power structure is represented by this tiny group of them in New Orleans? Everyone else around the whole world would just fall in line with a handful of vampires in the USA? Power hungry vampires? I think not.
Mamafesto: Right? Super convenient for the show, but not very believable for the audience.
blue: And the whole anti-vamp movement is represented by this tiny hate group in Bon Temps, too. Loved the Sheriff’s girlfriend, by the way.
Mamafesto: And the fact that she was the Dragon? Way to just shove the race/supe connection in our faces. But oh man, feeding them to pigs? Ugh.
blue: Those pigs so were not going to eat anyone. Sweetest looking murderous pigs ever.
Mamafesto: Haha. Of all the ways to torture a person. But, I don’t know. Maybe pig bites hurt?
blue: Why was she wearing her bath robe all the time, too? Was it to look fat and slovenly as a stereotype?
Mamafesto: I almost got the impression of a female wrestler.
blue: Anyway, I liked her, thought she was interesting and actually even found her relationship with the older Sheriff quite compelling.
Mamafesto: But, oh. Poor Hoyt.
blue: Nice touch that their victims are drugged with opiates left over from the Sheriff’s cancer treatment. I like little elements like that in a story. Not sure you could take over the world with this plan though. Yes, who is Hoyt going to be after all this?
Mamafesto: Yeah, their plan wasn’t well thought out at all – and playing into the “dumb Southerner” stereotype doesn’t help. Oh, completely random thought about Eric I meant to mention earlier when we were discussing Bill/vamps
blue: Ok.
Mamafesto: When Eric is chatting with the tech-vamp girl, and she’s explaining things to him. He goes “I don’t speak techy.” That felt disingenuous to me. Like, here you have a 1,000 year old vampire. Don’t you think he’s going to keep up with the times, especially technology? And I mean, it made for a cute interchange between them. But it was one of those “Oh, please True Blood, that wouldn’t really happen.” moments for me
blue: Hmm probably. But then in some ways these vampires stay old-fashioned.
Mamafesto: But Eric is also a businessman (business-vamp?). I don’t know. I’m pretty sure he knows about apps and iPhones and whathaveyou.
blue: Personally wish there was less witty nerd girl vamp; she’s a good character but she belongs in another show – Dawsons Creek/Buffy/Veronica Mars and more of the tone from the opening credits of True Blood. Southern gothic – it’s a great genre, use it.
Mamafesto: Oh, we’ve come a long way from the first season, that’s for sure, the show has definitely gone away from its roots.
blue: Yes definitely. Speaking of which, I feel they are trying to bring back the old Lafayette, which is good, but they need to let him not work so hard for laughs for him to be successful at it. Oh, we forgot to mention.. terrified hairless nude men. If that’s your thing, you’re a niche, and TB had you covered this week.
Mamafesto: Oh! Full frontal male nudity to start – but not in a sexy way, sadly.
blue: Ok.. what about the change in scene at Fangtasia? Eating humans is no longer passe. I like the new vampire, he’s so goth. You can imagine him just throwing himself at vampires asking to be turned when he was human. No conflict there in being turned, none at all.
Mamafesto: Ha. Yes. I wonder if we’ll see Pam and Tara team up now work together to undermine this new Sheriff
blue: Yes, I see teamwork in the future. We had another flashback, again, not done terribly well. Teen-weres with an annoyingly sexist induction process. All this talk of as much were-girl action as you can get and fraternity and such, what’s in it for the female-weres exactly? Pfft.
Mamafesto: Right? But it made me sad for Debbie
blue: Yes, you can understand why Debbie ran off the rails.
More pain for mother viewers. That scene at the end where the vamps stole a were-child for a pet left me sad. Child abduction, cannot be viewed as entertainment for me, no matter how camp, and even though the show tried to soften the image by keeping her in her puppy form.
Mamafesto: I know. Especially since it was our favorite couple – Rev Steve & Russell. :/
blue: Forgot to mention that Terry’s story got resolved. How do you feel about a good character like Terry killing his mate? All our good characters are getting hard-bitten. Sookie killed Debbie and Terry killed his friend. I mean, provoked, but still, they’re firing first.
Mamafesto: Poor Terry. In the end, did he have a choice? And how heart-breaking and mentally mind-fucking to be in a similar position twice, forced to kill somebody you don’t want to. Go Arlene! I like that she’s a character that – despite the number of things she has going against her – is still independent and pretty strong
blue: Yes, Arlene has been a good character this season.
Mamafesto: Oh! I did want to give a shout out. At the end of the episode, they played a version of Everybody Wants To Rule The World and the band who played the cover is called Care Bears on Fire and they’re young teen girls and really awesome. I found them from Smart Girls At The Party (plugging myself, woohoo! ha!). So, final thoughts? I feel like stuff happened this episode but not much was “wow” worthy maybe?
blue: Yes same. I mean, really, no oral sex on women, what can I say about that? Nothing, obviously. Predictions?
Mamafesto: Shirtless Eric perhaps? I’m definitely curious to see how Eric gets himself out of his current situation. My guess is that between Alcide/Sam/Luna there will be a huge were resistance to the Team Lillith vamps (especially now that they took Luna’s daughter). So, definitely an epic battle involving vamps, weres, and maybe faeries?
Are you writing a novel? lol.
blue: (Hahaha.. just wrote something and then decided against it and then deleted it and then started again.. I really need more alcohol). Yes. Also the vampire spirit haunting Sookie? I’m thinking maybe two battles actually for the finale and not everything/everyone all in together now. This season might go down in history as the most disappointing sex season ever. TB, I hope you can redeem yourselves. I’d hate to have to clean up my act here.
“blue: First theory – the man responds better to bossy women than bossy men – like his maker, Lorena, and now this other woman, Salome, and that he is comfortable with those women as leaders and simply falls in line when he comes upon one. ”
What, are you KIDDING?? Bill KILLS every powerful woman he comes in contact with. His maker Lorena, Queen Sophie Anne, Nan Flanigan, Marnie…Bill’s hatred for women is manifest in the TEXT, nevermind the horrors hinted at in the subtext.
Agree, he does end up killing them. But don’t you think that’s often the way with people? When they respond a little too easily to someone’s authority they end up being very resentful of them?
“blue: Second theory is that this is all manipulation for the audience and that Bill is earning the trust of the Sanguinistas so he can do them all in once and for all in a big complicated way and make Sookie and every other human truly safe. ”
Yeeah. Umm, you are aware that Bill let two psychos beat Sookie to within an inch of her life so he could get his blood into her, right? Blood that, btw, is a mind-altering drug. The safety of Sookie and humanity is not really something Bill is concerned with, regardless of his pompous speechifying about his own nobility. *rolls eyes until they fall out of my head*. Bill’s actions speak for themselves.
Bill is all about wealth and power—his own. You did notice that no matter what, HE is the one who planned and executed the bombings of Tru Blood factories. If he’s so worried about the safety of humans, he wouldn’t have done something that resulted in multiple human deaths. And so quickly! He laid out his plan and a couple of hours later, it was done. Bill’s got a plan alright, and it involves his ascension to King of the World.
I disagree. I think Bill was changed by Sookie and I think it was a falling in love kinda thing and that’s why he ended up making a lot of other decisions that undermined his own power. I think he was compromised though in his love for Sookie by his less than perfect vampire ethics and his out-of-date chivalry. But I liked the internal conflict.
Eric has been manipulative with Sookie, too, it’s just that he’s the show’s hero. They’re vampires, their behaviour should be a little dubious.
Finally, yay for the discussion sunny, thanks.
I find it difficult to believe that Bill has truly converted to the Sanguinistas cause – it does seem like a set up for some elaborate plan of his.
I did wonder why no-one at the Authority seemed to notice tech-vamp staring up into security cameras and pointing remote controls at them – not the most subtle method.
I did sort of enjoy the jolt of finding the Rev and Russell fairly amusing, and then having them do something so horrible. And the poor grandmother – Luna will never forgive her for that.
I’ve really liked Arlene this season and was enjoyably surprised by Terry’s decision. I wonder if he’s going to be guilt ridden over it, or if the ‘blood for blood’ thing (and the very convenient disappearance of the body) is going to ease his conscience.
I have been extremely disappointed in the limited naked vampire screen time this season! Even though this year I am watching it with Sprog the Younger (17yo) so in some ways that makes life simpler.
They’ve successfully bamboozled me so far with what the hell is going on in Bill’s head. Eric is relatively straightforward by contrast.
Loving Tara. Loving Hoyt. Loving Arlene. Damn I want to see actor playing Terry doing more stuff on other shows.
[...] Episode 9. [...]
[...] Episode 9 [...]