All they need to do to fix up Jessica is have Dr. L remove her hymen with silver implements. I’m sure if you do it right stuff never grows back.

That’s my explanation.

People often ask: do you want the good news or the bad news?
I myself get tickled pink, overcome with heart palpitations and prickly ears with the prospects of some bad news. Often it’s the phenomena of showing up to a fist fight and wind up seeing a hockey game. However, since most could say I’m a little cynical I will throw them for a loop and start out with the positive!

The Good:

1. Alexander Skarsgard/Eric Northman:
Where would we be without this wonderful portrayal of the Viking god? In the first season I felt Eric did not get his just deserves. We were unfortunately seeing only a little of whom he was, and that was mostly one-dimensional: evil, brooding Eric, using poor waitress Sookie and her abilities for his own gain. Bad Eric, shame on you (yet, it made me think of giving him a spanking’… I digress)
Most people, who never read the books, automatically didn’t like Eric on the show. Sure there were a few choice moments and words where we had glimpses of his sarcasm, his whit.
Then sprang forth Season 2. Hallelujah!
First of all, the haircut heard around the world- can a vamp get any sexier by simply snipping some length and foiling on the highlights? Heck yes! Most importantly with this sexy new haircut came long needed snippets of who I believe is the real Eric, a complex mixture of devious, manipulative, sardonic, witty but underneath and much deeper a loving, needing, almost dare I say, human!
Alexander does a brilliant job of portraying Eric. His timing is impeccable, his eyes and face tell the entire story in subtle nuisances. All I have to say is the rooftop scene with Godric and the first dream sequence with Sookie. Both so natural, so pooling over with emotion, Alex pulled me in made me think I was watching two real people (er- uh- or 1 real person, 1 real vamp).

2. Nelsan Ellis/Lafayette:
Purple glittery scarf-like hats off to whoever made the decision to allow us to enjoy this character for more than one season! I was celebrating when it was someone else in the back of Andy’s car. Lafayette is the perfect blend of sassy Cajun spice this show needs. He knows who he is, and he isn’t afraid to show it, tell it, do it, you name it; and if you don’t like, then he isn’t afraid to let you hear about it. Nelsan has taken a side character and made him memorable and one we want to see more of season after season.

3. Alan Hyde/Godric:
The show gave us more into the life of Godric, whether some of that was creatively different than the original book, it was well worth the exploration. Alan portrayed a vampire over two millennia old vampire whose life experiences have withered him to the decision to meet his own demise. Even though Godric was not originally Eric’s maker, the storyline made sense when it went that direction, didn’t disappoint me whatsoever, and gave us the best episode of the season. Again, central theme: rooftop scene with Eric, need I say more?

4. Ryan Kwanten/Jason Stackhouse:
It goes without saying what the first appeal to Jason is, but Kawnten takes us past the hot bod this season. He shows us keen character transformation going from total doofus, to soul and purpose of life searching young man, to almost intuitive, realizing that everyone and everything is certainly not what it seems, and likely the person, who on all outward appearances seems righteous, is morally and ethically worse than… let’s say your garden variety vampire.

The Bad:

1. Tara.
Loved her sassiness in the first season, understood her issues concerning her mother, found comedy in her infatuation with Jason, and liked the connection with Sam. Then Maryann had to come along and ruin this for me. Tara the forever victim. Didn’t she learn anything from the last season and all the years she allowed herself to enable her mother and get sucked into co-dependency? Thought she was over that… I sure was.

2. Not enough Eric.
Where was the Viking god in the finale? I think I saw him on screen for two minutes, maybe three. Total rip off! He is crucial to the show!

3. Cop out on Jason and Andy falling under maenad’s spell.
They went how long- like until the 11th hour- not susceptible to her black orbed spell? Then Jason saying to Andy, it doesn’t matter if they don’t know we’re the heroes, all that is important is that we know. This doesn’t sound the Jason I read about in the books, and even considering soul searching, semi-reformed TV version of Jason, it’s still not likely. And Andy was pretty much on everyone’s pooh list as the cantankerous, ultra-suspicious, bumbling alcoholic cop whose badge was taken away. Don’t you think he’d push more for some redemption? Come on.

4. Bill Compton: He is the ever knight in shining black T-shirts. Anytime we get to see a glimpse of his bad side, it gets whitewashed (and that’s not just my pooh-poohing on some terrible make up shots) and seen as the forever hero. They better get into the complexity of Bill Compton and his original, true motivation behind coming to Bon Temps. It makes for a better story. Plus, selfishly, will likely lead to more Sookie and Eric. (See my ulterior motives here?)

The Ugly:

1. Maryann/maenad storyline.
Was a cool concept that went ice cold- and what I mean by that is it done gone south, way south, like Antarctica. This dragged on and on, was so contrived and bizarre, and I’m all about bizarre and paranormal. It was just way too overblown. Charlie Brown sums it up best: Ugh!
Think this could have been summed up in 1-2, maybe 3 shows at best. It was not worthy of season finale material. It was to the excruciating point that I didn’t care about any of the plot, the characters involvement in it and worse yet it made me HIGHLY disappointed with the ho-hum finale.

2. Complete blindness to stereotypes. You girls have done an excellent job of already going over those points. I don’t think there is more to add, so I will just acknowledge my agreement.

I’d like to think more thought went into Maryanne’s story, but I think the lack of thought is (was) the whole problem. I don’t think anyone set out to deliberately plunge into racial stereotypes — but that’s exactly what happens when no one thinks.

People think in symbols. We’re good at picking out meaning from what is random. I wish someone had taken the time to think about the symbolism of Tara’s character. It would not have been hard to give her more awareness and avoid some of the ugliness. And you’re right about the superficiality. What’s scary about mindless slaves if there aren’t any mindful people around as a counterpoint?

At any rate, it’s been fun reading all the comments and thoughts on the show.

From what I’ve heard, Ball is being rather coy about Season 3 (doh) but from what he’s said, I now expect Lorena will be the Bill-napping culprit. He’s also talked about Bill’s Big Fat Lie (which readers of the books know about) and which has been, I think, pretty well set up in the 2 seasons so far.

I’m looking forward to more.

The Newlins and their church offer that to Jason. They physically challenge him to be righteous and part of something greater than himself. They “make” him into something special.

Maryann’s offer is similiar for Tara but she’s challenging Tara to let go of her inhibitions, to allow herself to lower her shield and that chip on her shoulder. To consider herself loveable.

By far the greater risk, although given that Tara’s character protrayal grates on my nerves, it just isn’t subtle enough.

It’s interesting that the two characters get such vastly different treatments. Jason gets to be a hero. He eventually comes to the realization that the Newlins are hypocrits (not by himself but because Sookie is in danger –hero role) and that Sookie/family is the most important thing. Something that he had all along.

Tara…well, Tara gets to be a victim. Sookie and her family help her break free of MaryAnn’s influence and yet instead of giving Tara a heroic role, the writers/director give her the stereotypical damsel in distress role, having her run back into danger to turn the plot.

And, even though, Jason ends up being MaryAnn’s, he still gets to assume a hero role because he made the attempt while Tara is simply just another victim.

Even so, I liked the potential of the MaryAnn storyline. What a contrast it could have been to the Newlins’ storyline. Both cults, both striving to have a certain level of control over their members. Maybe on re-watching I’ll catch more meaning on the MaryAnn side of the equation.

While the Fellowship storyline was heavy-handed, there was tension and humor between the parties involved. We’ve seen it before, but it was interesting to see how the character’s would move the plot and which role they would assume.

With the MaryAnn storyline, Karl’s role was pretty standard, Eggs wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I missed some of the complexity but I felt that the temptation and seduction MaryAnne offered was treated superfiscially.

Think of the possibilities: to truly let go without fear of societal judgment, guilt or retribution. Well, except for that little death part. How insiduous that temptation would be in real life and how interesting to watch something like unfold on the screen.

I never got that. Maybe because each time Tara came on the screen I got annoyed or because the writers/director concentrated on the drunken orgies. Or maybe it’s because to truly show something like that they’d need more time to properly seed the character motivations so the audience was seduced at the same time.

Anyone else see any of that? Or did you see it another way?

I wasn’t aware that the second season had a new director for each episode, and that Ball didn’t direct any this season. Do you think that may have accounted for the less than satisfactory elements? At least in part? Because I was wondering what the heck Ball was doing all season, only to find out he’s not been directing it. My sister had to point out to me that there was a new director in each ending credits. Apparently this isn’t uncommon with HBO series.

And Carolyn you made this point:

“…a lineage that Sookie’s brother Jason shares. Why wasn’t he immune too?”

If I recall, in the books, isn’t it revealed that the only real benefit Jason gets from his fairy blood is his looks and sex appeal? I thought he did not gain any kind of special powers, not like Sookie. Maybe that accounted for his not being immune in the show? If they in fact decided to go with that part of the books.

I’m liking that they deviate from the books, but this season really was like some kind of carnival train wreck and wasn’t nearly as entertaining for me as last season. I used to do recaps every Monday, but I just didn’t have the heart to after about midway this time.

Maybe third time’s the charm and Season 3 will bring the TV series into its own.

When something — a movie, a piece of art, a book, a TV show — has something special critics can, and do, come out of the woodwork because there’s something worth thinking about critically.

If True Blood was horrible, believe me, there wouldn’t be any kerfuffle at all. It would just be another stupid TV show that died a merciful death. But that is just not the case here.

There’s too much right, too much well done, too much complexity to dismiss the show without taking a look. Plus, there’s Alexander Skarsgard.

For me, that’s the best reason to participate! (ETA: Well, I meant the complexity, but to be honest, Skarsgard is another excellent reason to watch.)

True Blood is doing a lot of things right — most things I’d say, actually. As has been mentioned, the acting is really first rate, pretty much across the board. The writing is often brilliant. There are, in fact, some complex and fun things to think about. Jason’s character arc is, as pointed out, particularly good at framing issues of societal hypocrisy.

I did not care for the Maryanne storyline, but the actress did a wonderful job and often saves scenes by virtue of her portrayal.

The fact that several very smart people cared enough to write and comment about this show is ample evidence that True Blood rises far above the common.

When my Season 2 DVD arrives, I will re-watch the entire series and eagerly re-subscribe to HBO for Season 3.

I don’t have any complaints about the acting, which is first rate, not just among the leads, but the smaller roles as well.

I have a superficial complaint about the vamp makeup. It is very inconsistent. In some scenes, the vamps’s skin seems very human and natural, in others very whitened. Bill, in particular, suffers from a very badly done and obvious makeup job.

I agree with everyone on Maryanne storyline. Although I confess to getting more of a dramatic kick out of Sam’s goring of her than I expected, it came way way way too late. I think it may have worked well as a 4-5 episode arc.

I’m not sure what function the Maryanne storyline served. even the excuse to show gratuitous violence is lame — that’s what VAMPIRES are for, Mr. Ball. To show transgression, to show hypocrisy, you don’t need more than the vamps (look at how well the hypocrisy of Hoyt’s mother played out?).

The worst casualty was Tara, a character I was already sick of by the end of season 1. I felt like I was stuck in some kind of Groundhog Day character loop with Tara. Did they actually give her the same lines show after show? It sure felt that way to me.

I agree that Sookie is practically a cypher at this point. This is my biggest disappointment with the series. I never felt Paquin was a good casting choice — sorry to be superficial, but Sookie needs to be the all American beauty, busty, tall, and gorgeous. Anna Paquin’s face is, at best, “interesting”, like a Picasso — but what can she do when she is given almost nothing TO do? I understand True Blood can no longer be “only Sookie’s story”, but why does it have to be everyone else’s story BESIDES Sookie’s?

I feel that Bill is much more heroic in the show than the books, and that’s too bad. Perhaps his kidnapping will yield up the trunk scene Robin mentions in her comment, and perhaps the hints that he is a plant for the queen will develop into a full fledged betrayal. But I regretted that the carnage he enjoyed after the bomb in the books, precipitating a separation from a grossed out Sookie, was excised.

A lot of my favorite things about Book 2 were left out actually, such Eric’s showing up in Dallas in disguise, or Eric donning a leotard to attend the orgy party with Sookie, or the mirroring of the traitor human’s relationship with his vamp love to Sookie’s own with Bill, and the divine punishment he receives.

Also, while Godric was well acted, Godric’s horrible centuries of violent crime against innocents, including pedophilia, was left out, something that made Sookie’s witnessing his suicide that much more complex.

Ok, so that’s what I didn’t like. But there are certainly things about the show that are as good or even better than the books.

First on my list is Jason, the number one reason I watch the show. Kwanten’s comic timing is a thing to behold. Jason’s time at the Fellowship of the Sun was the highlight of the season for me. Watching a dull person come to realize how hypocritical everyone around him is, was a real treat. I didn’t much like the hero he turned into after that — it was out of character — but I still love him overall.

The skewering of religious fanatics was superb. I loved every minute of it.

I also think Eric is perfectly cast and acted. His character is more fleshed out, and that’s to the good (although I miss Eric;s humor, one of the irresistable things about that character in the books.)

Andy has also been made into comic relief, to great effect. That actor is amazingly versatile, by the way, as anyone who has seen season 2 of the Wire knows.

And I love Hoyt. The Hoyt and Jessica storyline is easily the most romantic in the show, and while Jessica’s last scene was perhaps predictable Alan Ball camp, it was very effective for me. The idea of being an eternal virgin is perhaps the most horrifying thing to happen in the show.

This is a minority view, I think, but I liked what they have done with Sophie-Ann whom I always felt was underdeveloped in the books.

The music is amazing. The title sequence, of course, but also the way music is used throughout the show. Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy” when Jessica goes to Merlotte’s and sees Hoyt. Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love” when Jessica wakes up to find Hoyt decorating the hotel room. “The Good Life” sung by Ann-Margret when the queen and Bill are lounging by the pool. It’s heavy so heavy handed, it’s funny. And it’s GREAT music, especially the end credit choices.

Like Carolyn, I subscribed to HBO just for this show. It must be said, however, that we have also been enjoying Entourage (a surprise hit in our house) and we have always loved Curb Your Enthusiasm which we now get to watch new episodes of. We have even watched a few Hung episodes, which aren’t too bad.

I cannot believe it’s going to be June before we get new episodes, but I will definitely be ready for them.

http://www.popeater.com/2009/09/10/true-blood-accents-bill-sookie/

Here’s one of S. Moyer, note how much higher his natural voice is: