SAVE $22 - True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series) $37.99
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Alan Ball’s True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensationalism to tantalize and enough story girth to make the viewer care about the characters. That one can finally invest emotion into monsters, including an undead Civil War victim, a transformer who can shapeshift into various animals, and a female mind reader, speaks volumes about America’s willingness to accept fantasy. Of course, television has always produced good fantasy shows (I Dream of Jeannie), but True Blood’s Southern Goth brand of fun horror is more macabre and more perverse, not to mention gorier, than most shows of its kind to date. Adapted from Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels, True Blood thrills because of its equal blend in each episode of erotica, humor, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy. Set in a rural, swampy Louisiana parrish, the show centers around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her clan, sweet grandmother Adele (Lois Smith) and air-headed brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Illicit love is spawned early on, when Sookie saves vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) from having his blood stolen in the parking lot of Merlotte’s diner, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) who completes what will form a complex love triangle. As tensions between Sookie’s suitors loosen or tighten, many side plots, such as her African American best friend Tara’s (Rutina Wesley) struggle with an alcoholic, Bible-thumping mother and her brother’s dangerous crush on drug addicted hippie, Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan), keep one wondering who will succeed in this podunk place. The main tension throughout, however, is a race war waged between vampires and humans. As murders of “fang bangers†occur (human girls who let vampires bite them) and dumb policeman Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) fails to find clues, one sees the metaphorical implications of vampirism and feels deeper resonance with what can be a downright trashy show. Gossip galore, especially about what kinds of babies interbreeding will produce, is rampant. One of the funniest characters is Tara’s flamboyant cousin, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), who deals drugs, works as a fry cook, and services the local white politicians, while making sure he’s always up in everyone’s business. What makes True Blood smarter than pure soap opera is the parallels it draws between its monster mash and actual, familiar societal problems. Sookie and her friends watch the news, where Evangelicals bash vampires and prohibit mixed marriage, and everyone is addicted to V, a.k.a vampire blood, that effects like psychedelic heroin. Even its gore reflects a mix of serious and silly, as vampires explode into red, sticky goop. Though it may not be attempting to qualify for the best vampire footage ever shot, True Blood is as addictive as that substance the town’s youth obsesses over, which is a metaphor in itself. --Trinie Dalton Stills from True Blood (Click for larger image)
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Last updated: October 17, 2009, 3:08 pm
True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series) Cusomter reviews:
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 515
(Susan C. Taggart, 2009-10-17) Charlaine Harris is a brilliant writer and has been since long before the Trueblood series. I've read all of her books, and I've watched as she has honed her craft. The Trueblood series shows her brilliant imagination married to that craft. The books are a delight, but the DVD series is nothing short of amazing. It brings us into a world that is just like ours (maybe it IS ours?), populated with vampires and many other strange creatures of the night. Seeing this world, with all of its well-drawn characters, on the screen, draws the watcher in. It is like taking a delightful, but sometimes frightful, romp on the wild side. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Caution: This series is addictive, and you will always want to see MORE.
(Graiz E, 2009-10-17) I really enjoyed Sookie books but the story traslated to the TrueBlood series is not quite as entretaining. Lot of sex involved and not so much attached to the book story line. Lots of things that I thought where important on the book where erased or modified in the series. Well, in this series you might actually fell in love with Bill, which by the way, he is exactly as I imagined physically. There are also lot of side stories that leaves the main character away from the plot, in the series Sookie is a bit annoying compared to the one on the book. The only scene I really liked how it was changed was Sookies grandma funeral, much more real than in the book. Anyway, its worth seeing this series if you really like fiction.
(FlyforWork, 2009-10-15) Purchased as a X-Mas gift, haven't viewed item yet. But Amazon was very purchase friendly. Quick & efficient shipping. Plan to continue to purchase with.
(Patricia L. Stewart, 2009-10-14) Love the Sookie books. Love the series. Absolutely rated R. I was too busy reading the books to even be aware that TRUEBLOOD has anything with the Southern Vampire series. Love it.
(MarlowesMom, 2009-10-13) I have not seen any TV, cable or broadcast, in 16 years, except going out to bars or over to friends' houses to watch things like the World Series and the presidential debates, or occasionally seeing some sitcom while visiting relatives. If I thought all TV were like True Blood, I'd subscribe to cable. Our college-age daughter left the Season 1 DVD set with us when she back to school in September. We finally started watching Friday night, and had finished all 12 episodes by Monday. Sunday night we watched 5 episodes in a row. We probably would have watched them all at one sitting, but we have a 6-year old, and this is NC-17 stuff, so we could only watch after he went to bed. The writing, acting, editing and visual style on True Blood are consistently brilliant. The first episode was a little off-putting. Vampires don't much interest me . I can't stand Anne Rice, haven't tried Twilight, and never even made it through the novel or original Bela Lugosi film of "Dracula." My initial reaction was, "This just looks like an excuse for soft-core porn." But, we stuck with it, and by the second episode, we were completely hooked. It's done old-fashioned cliff-hanger style, so at the end of each episode, you can't wait for the next one. The characters are well-developed, multi-faceted and engaging. Stephen Moyer's Bill is the sexiest screen character since Harrison Ford in "Witness." The casting of Anna Paquin as Sookie perfectly enables the viewer to project himself or herself into the story: she's pretty and a fine actress, but down to earth enough that women can imagine being her and men can imagine being with her. Someone like Angelina Jolie would overwhelm the part of Sookie. The key supporting roles of Sam, Sookie's boss at Merlotte's Bar and Grill, Jason, Sookie's horny imbecile of a brother, Tara, Sookie's hard-case best friend, and Lafayette, Tara's hilarious cousin, are very well played, as are most of the minor and temporary characters. The extremely imaginative scripts are full of suspense, insight and humor, and clever if somewhat obvious political satire if you choose to take it that way. (For example, Sookie's brother Jason bears a startling physical resemblance to Bush II, and gets himself into all kinds of messes by not thinking above his belt.) The editing is super-tight, with no scene going on too long, and yet no character or situation feeling like it has not been given a chance to develop fully. You can almost feel the swampy Louisiana nights, complete with biting mosquitoes. So, suspend your disbelief, tuck the kids in bed, and get sucked into this intelligent, sexy, extraordinarily well-done Southern Gothic adult entertainment.