Sons of Anarchy, Season 1

I finally got around to checking out this show and just finished the finale. I definitely enjoyed it. It’s like Mad Men for me in that I don’t like a lot of the characters, but I find them fascinating. I think Clay and Tig are absolute monsters, but at the same time, I know they’re monsters with hearts, and I can empathize with them at times. When Clay cried over what happened to Donna, I cried. When Tig and Clay had their moment at the stables, again, I teared up.

And Gemma, wow. That’s definitely a love/hate relationship for me. I hate how manipulative she is, and much of the time I think what’s she’s doing is wrong, but she does everything out of love; even when she hates someone, it’s because she loves someone else, which is wonderfully twisted. She’s mesmerizing, and I love the fact that I can very rarely figure out what game she’s playing. I’m usually clueless as to whether she’s being sincere or whether she’s being manipulative, or hell, both at once.

For me, personally, the loyalty and family shit is extremely warped. There comes a point where that level of loyalty and expectation is more selfish than selfless, and these people are way past that point. (I felt the same way watching the D’Angelo storyline on The Wire.) It’s still compelling, and I care about the relationships between these people, but sometimes it’s hard for me to give a damn if they can continue to have each other’s backs over running guns and murdering people. Granted if they were all about saving kittens from trees and beating up rapists and puppy kickers, it wouldn’t be nearly as compelling. This show makes me root for these guys and hope they get away with everything, and then every once in a while I stop and realize who I’m rooting for and what these people have done. That’s admirable writing.

One thing that drove me crazy about the “Opie is a rat” storyline, though: I specifically remember them all talking about the mark going to church with his wife and then fucking his black girlfriend afterward, the implication being that they were going to kill him wherever he hooks up with the girlfriend. Why did it never occur to any of them that the girlfriend could be the witness? She never came up again when the club members were discussing the issue, which made me yell at the TV on more than one occasion. They knew she existed, but they somehow never made the connection that she was probably still inside the motel room (apartment?) when Bobby shot the guy?

I also got the impression that Clay, at least, had been around the block enough to realize exactly what the ATF agent kept saying, which is that they’d soon find out whether or not Opie was the witness. They really couldn’t hold out for a couple of days in order to avoid murdering someone they cared about? ATF already had whatever information Opie provided, and I don't think he would've been beyond their reach even when he was revealed as the informant (had that been the case) given some of the shit this club has pulled off in the past. Those two storyline issues made the club’s reaction seem incredibly reckless and stupid, and made the ensuing violence feel like even more of a tragic waste.

And finally, Jax. For at least the first four episodes, that stupid swagger and the constant pissyface drove me up the wall. About halfway through the season, I realized I was warming up to him, and I’m not entirely sure why. Hell, I’m not even sure how I feel about the way his character was written. Violent hothead streak aside, he just seemed too mushy and sweet, and it never really seemed like his hands got dirty, at least in comparison to the other guys. He just stood around making bitch faces while everyone else did the dirty work. By the end of the season, I felt like they were pushing the “Saint Jax the White Knight” angle way too hard. I was so completely rolling my eyes at the funeral, with everyone else in black, and Jax with his pristine white t-shirt swaggering up and glaring at everyone.

Maybe his character would have worked better if viewers could have seen more of the “old Jax,” because I have a hard time believing this guy was ever hardcore. Yeah, silver spoon and all that, but are viewers supposed to see it that way, or are we supposed to think he earned every bit of his authority? He and Tara both make a lot of references to what he used to be like, but it’s hard to imagine, at least not without a lot of mental effort.

But even though I could see the storytelling flaws, I’m also a complete softie, and the guy just looked so genuinely thrilled every time he saw that (ridiculously cute) baby of his… Even the swagger and the self-conscious “Yes, I know I look totally hot with my shirt off” thing became bizarrely endearing character traits to me. I’m easy. Bottom line is, I don’t hate the guy, but I can see where I should have issues with him.

True Blood – Pam and Eric Back-story - *SPOILERS*

So I’ve been trying to stay away from spoilers, but I was unable to avoid being exposed to the contents of this interview with Kristin Bauer regarding the back-story between Eric and Pam. I’m not even sure how spoilery it is, since Bauer is actually summarizing some of Pam’s back-story that’s going to be explained by Pam on a Season 2 DVD extra. If it’s just going to be unceremoniously related to viewers by Pam in a DVD feature, I’m not sure there’s much difference between knowing now and knowing when you watch the Season 2 DVD.

From what Bauer said, the gist of it is that Pam was turned 100 years ago, when she was living with her wealthy parents and trying to find a husband—suitors were lining up all over the place, apparently. Eric showed up and swept Pam off her feet, turned her, and screwed her for a few years. At some point he released her (as Lorena did for Bill), but she stuck around because she’s in love with him.

I hate this idea for several reasons.

1. How old is Pam supposed to have been when she was turned? No offense to Kristen Bauer, who is a beautiful woman, but she’s 37 and she looks it, so I have a hard time buying that back-story for Pam. A woman as attractive as Pam would probably have been married off no later than 25 in the early 1900s, and even that is really pushing it as far as a believable age for when Pam was turned. If she was older than thirty (which seems likely going by appearance) and still unmarried, then she must have been even pickier than Elizabeth Bennett. I’d say it was miraculous that she had suitors at all, but since her family was wealthy, that part isn’t such a leap.

2. Eric shows no signs of still having any sort of romantic inclinations toward Pam these days, so it’s a little too easy to assume, from the given information, that he released her because he grew tired of her. It’s possible that it was actually something she asked for, and the falling out of love happened later, but either way, it comes off like present-day Pam is hanging around being Eric’s obedient lackey because she’s still in love with him and can’t bear to be parted from him rather than because she still hero-worships her Maker.

3. I have never felt the slightest hint of former romance in their character interaction thus far, at least not from Eric. I’ve always seen Pam as more of a spoiled-but-obedient daughter, not a kicked puppy former lover who gets ordered off to traipse around in the mud in her new pumps. I guess I should know better than to think Eric would turn a woman he's not interested in boinking, and I can certainly buy Pam being unrequitedly in love with him, but the way Eric talks about/to her is so non-sexual and brusque that it never occurred to me they might have actually been lovers. Well, it occurred to me, but I dismissed it because it just didn’t feel right.

4. As per the above, this back-story really puts a different spin on their interactions in retrospect. I'm going to have to spend some time wrapping my head around Eric talking about his former lover like a daughter to Bill and calling her "extremely lazy, but loyal" in that head-patting, paternal tone. Despite the complexity we just saw with the Godric/Eric relationship, the quasi-incestuous lover/daughter angle still just feels weird to me, or at least it does without actually seeing it played out in detail onscreen. Which brings me to my next point.

5. I passionately hate the fact that it sounds like this is just going to be dumped on viewers via some special feature on the DVD, rather than actually shown to us with flashbacks and character interaction on the show itself. First of all, it makes Pam feel like an afterthought, which kind of sucks after what a huge deal the Godric/Eric relationship was. Secondly, this back-story would probably work much better if we could actually see Kristin Bauer and Alexander Skarsgård play the complexity of the lover/daughter relationship—if they just dump that back-story on the DVD, then start playing to it in the aired episodes, it may feel like it came out of nowhere for a lot of the viewers who didn't watch the DVD features. Finally, it seems like the Pam/Eric back-story would be relevant to the Sookie/Eric relationship, which is becoming a pretty prominent part of the show.

This information has made a relationship that I always found darkly charming into something rather pathetic on Pam’s end and rather assholish on Eric’s end. If it were a mutual "Eh, the magic's not there anymore, but I still really dig your company" thing, and we were actually going to be shown some flashbacks of their history together and then get to see their present-day relationship addressed with a little more depth, I might be swayed toward thinking their relationship is totally awesome again.

This is why I hate big relationship spoilers, though. I got blindsided by something I never saw coming, and without the mitigating factor of seeing the actors try to pull it off. Maybe some of this information will make its way into aired episodes, and maybe Bauer and Skarsgård will knock it out of the park and make me think, “Oh hey, I actually don’t hate this!”

True Blood, 2x10, “New World in My View”

Episode Title: New World in My View
Writers: Kate Barnow and Elisabeth R. Finch

Director: Adam Davidson

Originally Aired: 08/23/2009
Grade: B+

I never quite believed that this episode’s opening dream was real, though I must admit I was afraid that it was. I was fairly certain, just from the Lynchian camera angles and the conveniently open door, that we were in dream territory. And then Eric was naked, and I found that very strange and convenient, as well. When she kissed him? “Ack! Gross! Emotionally inappropriate!” If that had been real, I would have been livid. The kissing turned overwhelming, unfathomable grief into a breathy, woobie romantic scene straight out of The Vampire Diaries, which is just fucking tacky. Even the fact that Sookie dreamed it is kind of tacky, but it’s in-character for her and Eric’s blood is making her hormones wonky, so I can give it a pass.

Ultimately, I loved the dream, because it made me think of how uncomfortable it must be for Sookie to have every positive emotion toward Eric turned into "Let's have sex!" by the side-effect of his blood. That’s how it felt to me—Sookie has compassion for Eric, and she tried to express that in her dream, but then the Eric blood twisted it into something erotic. Had Sookie been able to speak to Eric after Godric's death, I don't think she would have done, or even thought about, anything she did in this dream. She probably would have said that Godric was gone and touched Eric's shoulder, he would have flinched, and she would have said, "I'll leave you alone" and shown herself out. There would have been plenty of concern and compassion in that, and it would have shown respect for his vulnerability and personal space.

I think the fact that her confusion and uncontrollable blood-induced horniness turned her genuine compassion into a "compassion soothes the beast, and then it gets sexeh" romance novel moment disturbed her. She looked both turned-on and rather disgusted with herself when she woke up, and I don't think it was simply because she had another wet dream about Eric, but because her wet dream was a little emotionally twisted. I found the entire sequence very well-done and unsettling.

I also found the popping fang bit quite interesting. DreamEric’s pause before diving in was significant—he didn’t look ashamed, but rather as if he was displaying the fangs, giving her a chance to say no, which means acknowledging her power to say no. And instead of flinching away, she caressed his fangs. It seems that Sookie is becoming increasingly curious about vampires while Bill is retreating further and further into shame and discomfort, so it makes sense that her subconscious self would believe that Eric, who is not ashamed of being a vampire, would let her explore openly.

In any case, unless the show eventually indicates otherwise, I believe that her dream was not an echo of something that actually happened. I don’t think they’ve spoken since he left the roof. I’d guess his door was shut and he was unavailable to her when she came back from seeing Godric off, and either she went back to the hotel room and made preparations to leave (calling the front desk to get someone to help Bill into the travel coffin, etc.) if we started this episode the same day Godric died, or she cried herself to sleep, and by the time she tried to talk to Eric again, it was after dusk and he’d checked out and headed back to Shreveport.

I have a feeling that she’s embarrassingly eager to see Eric because of her promise to Godric to take care of him and the fact that his recent displays of emotion have made her unbearably curious. But I’m also guessing that by the time she, and we, see him again, he’s going to at least appear to have his shit back together. And I’m okay with that. I am, of course, painfully curious about what happened after he left that rooftop, but the rooftop scene was so gut-wrenching that I think it was enough, in a way, and I almost feel like he has a right to privacy now, even from me. I don’t want his every emotion laid bare. I want him to remain relatively enigmatic for a good long while yet, and being denied access to him here helped remind me of that.

Moving on…

Finally getting Tara back made me cry! I've missed her so much these past few episodes, so just seeing her come back to herself made me feel like a great weight had been lifted. I'm also relieved that she now has allies who love and cherish her, and Lettie May and Lafayette even accepted partial responsibility for what happened to her. When Lafayette hung back and let Tara and her mother hug, then gave her that shy little wave when she noticed him, he looked so adorable that even I wanted to give him a squishy hug right through the TV.

I’m not sure Bill’s glamoring power is enough to explain how Sookie was able to influence Tara’s mind, unless she and Bill’s powers sort of melded in Tara’s brain, but I thought the superpower teamwork was an interesting concept. I suppose it’s possible that Sookie used a deeper level of her power that she’d never tapped into before, and perhaps the white light she inadvertently used against Maryann was something similar. It’s also possible that Eric’s 1000 year old blood gave her powers a kick in the pants that Bill’s much younger blood never quite accomplished. Whatever the case, this seems like a setup for a Season 3 arc, much like they introduced Maryann near the end of Season 1.

As for Sookie's house, I am supremely squicked by all the nasty Maryann energy that place probably absorbed. I can certainly see Eric or a few repentant townsfolk offering to take care of cleaning and/or remodeling it, but I like the idea of Sookie and Tara cleaning it together much better. It would be a nice way for them to bond and get some healing done at the same time, especially since I assume they're still going to be living together.

Bill was actually competent and non-self-absorbed in this episode, which essentially means he was likable. He recognized and respected Jason’s capabilities, he thought of a way to help Tara, and he allowed himself to leave Sookie alone for a few hours in a dangerous situation. He even looked better than usual! It’s interesting that he was able to get in to see the Queen so easily… I’d think there’d be quite a waiting list and background check for that sort of thing, so he must already be acquainted with her. That idea puts his rebelliousness toward Eric into perspective…

I was actually right that Sam and Andy teaming up wouldn’t amount to much—they accomplished nothing but locking themselves into a walk-in refrigerator until Jason showed up! That whole “bumbling trio” storyline was absurdly entertaining. I found it hysterical that Jason used his brain to come up with a stupid plan that worked because it was aimed at stupid people. I guess that makes it smart, and it was a promising start for Jason!

My biggest gripe about this episode is that the black-eyed Maryann mojo felt inconsistent. Most of those affected were mindless, destructive zombies, but they were able to pull it together enough to hide in Merlotte’s to trick Sam? Tara was apparently not even at home in her own skull, but Arlene cared about busting up the top-shelf liquor, and Terry cared about Arlene getting hurt and had enough sense to boss the other mindless zombies around.* And they listened to him! Did Maryann appoint him as some kind of leader and make sure all the other zombies knew? Maybe that was mentioned and I missed it.

(*I can buy Terry's level of competence through the idea that he already learned to function in that mental space, or very close to it, when he was in the war. I’ve never been in a war, and the closest I’ve come is true-story docu-dramas ala Generation Kill, but even using that as an example, think about the things those soldiers said to each other, the things they did, how they had to go "somewhere dark" morally/mentally and stay there for a long time. There's a particular scene involving Colbert that really works as an example, but I can't for the life of me remember it! It's gonna drive me nuts now, but I don’t feel like trying to watch the whole miniseries again to find it...)

So far, Maryann has been all about feeding on the chaos of the out-of-control townsfolk, but only recently has she begun to seem truly out-of-control herself. Things are starting to unravel just a bit—Tara has been taken from her, and Sam escaped her retarded minions rather easily. She’s probably not accustomed to this level of resistance, especially not effective resistance (mounted by Jason Stackhouse, no less). I kind of love the idea of Maryann essentially Rumplestilskin-ing herself into oblivion—I think that might be even more appropriate than Sam and Tara destroying her.

Finally, I know the Queen’s house was only a snippet at the end of the episode, but I thought the lighting was very interesting. Most of the “vampire abodes” we’ve seen have been dark and moody—Bill’s house, Fangtasia, Godric's home, even the Hotel Carmilla had low lighting. But the Queen’s house was garishly bright, which tells me she has no shame in her perversions and wants to see everything that happens in her home in explicit detail.

Other Stuff

-It got dark awfully fast in this episode! It was daytime when Sookie and Jason were headed through Bon Temps on the way home and Andy and Sam had their hotel room talk, then suddenly it was night and Jason was calling the sheriff about the zombie people their driver had hit.

-I thought the kissing in the Sookie/Eric dream was okay. Better than the open-mouthed mauling from last week, certainly. It was all a bit precious, with the tear-kissing and little pecks, but it worked for a fantasy dream sequence with someone who probably doesn’t kiss like that in reality. Honestly, though, the fang-caressing was much more erotic than any of the kissing and pre-sex tumbling from either dream…

-Arlene having her back to the camera while calling Sam was a juvenile bit of writing. Viewers are going to know that she’s possessed simply from not being able to see her face—really, we’re not that dumb—so it’s not like the reveal was a surprise to anyone but Sam Merlotte.

-So far, the Sookie/Eric dreams are functioning how I thought they would. Sookie’s mind is romanticizing Eric in a way that reality can’t possibly live up to (though he can probably surpass it, in his own unique, non-sugary way…). The dreams are also titillating the audience and getting people arguing about how much of it is the blood, whether DreamEric is partially real, whether the dreams are sexy or gross, etc. I do hope we get some concrete answers on some of that, though, because fangirls arguing about breathy love scenes can get a little… overwrought. I’m in the camp that thinks the dreams are mesmerizingly gross, and that the writers intend them to be kind of gross even though they know many viewers won’t see the ick factor.

-I’m curious as to why ZombieTara actually responded to Lettie May’s prayer—she really seemed to recognize it and struggle to break free. I’m assuming it had more to do with familiarity than the power of the Christian God, but was the familiarity based on Lettie Mae’s religious background, or all the time Tara spent with sweet Adele Stackhouse?

-I'm really beginning to question the meaning of "The God Who Comes." I mean, the double entendre is pretty obvious considering what's been going on at the ORGIES, but really, the guy's taking a long time coming either way. And if this guy comes galumphing out of the woods in one of the next two episodes, I might just explode, though it certainly might explain why it’s taking him so long.

-Maryann’s comment to Sookie that “I daresay there’s nothing stopping him from leaving you cold” is quite intriguing. It could simply be a bad pun about Bill someday turning Sookie into a vampire, but there are very few wasted words on this show, so I tend to see it as an ominous foreshadowing of something a little less obvious.

-I am so intrigued by Bill/Stephen Moyer’s makeup. No, really! I usually don't pay much attention to it, so when people point out how horrible he looked, I kind of just go, "Oh yeah, he did look kind of blech, now that I think about it." But for some reason, in this episode, I found myself thinking, "Wow, Bill looks really handsome. His hair looks soft, his wrinkles are less prominent, and I'm not seeing pancake makeup..." And it's not just me who noticed. Very curious whether the shitty makeup was a deliberate characterization tactic that they were hoping no one would consciously notice, and now they've changed the makeup again to go along with his emotional state. Or whether the makeup just accidentally sucked, and they found a better foundation for him in this episode...

-The exchange between Bill and Sookie where Bill tells her that she can do more good for her friends by staying in Bon Temps, and she responds with, “You’re right. I left everybody before, and look what happened…” is so incredibly ridiculous. Granted Sookie seems to have some mysterious newfound superpower, but that wasn’t really part of the sentiment of that exchange. It’s true that the shit hit the fan when Sookie left, but that’s not because Sookie wasn't around to prevent it. The only reason Sookie could have helped is because she has the ear of vampires like Bill and Eric, both of whom accompanied her to Dallas! And at present, one of them is leaving and the other is holed up somewhere recovering from a great personal loss.

-Surely Jessica won’t kill Maxine. She was hungry and pissed off, but she seemed to have enough self-control left to be snarky, so maybe just a little snack?

-I enjoyed this episode, but wow did it feel different from any other episode this season or last. The tone was rather schizo and campy, and some of the dialogue fell very flat for me, like it was trying too hard to be quippy in moments where it shouldn’t be (Sam’s “to cut out my heart while a bunch of naked people watch” comes to mind). I wasn’t surprised to see that the episode was written by two writers who have never written for the show before, which might explain the bizarre tone and the “filler” feeling, even though plenty of significant things happened. Looking at their IMDb credits, though, this is the first filmed script for either of these two, so congratulations to them both, and it was a great first effort. The worst is over, and it can only get better from here!