True Blood is officially at midseason with "Hopeless" and I for one am really hoping that the storyline's will begin to blend together with this episode because everyone’s been so far away from each other; it almost feels like they don't all live in Bon Temps. The return of Russell Edgington marks a turning point for Roman's strong hold over The Authority as well as Bill and Eric's trouble with the law. Meanwhile Sookie and Jason are slowly beginning to piece together what really happened to their parents and Alcide deals with the ramifications of his pack.
I would like to start off by saying I totally missed last week's episode "Let's Boot and Rally" because of our SDCC coverage, for that I apologize. I'm going to include a mini review in this because I do have some thoughts on it. Overall I thought the episode was okay but True Blood has been absolutely chaotic with its story telling, nothing is coming together and there are a lot of unnecessary plots that are getting way too much screen time for the sake of including the cast. Despite some great moments between Eric and Bill and Jessica and Tara I didn’t really love the episode, I am pretty sure I was only engaged for about half of it if even. "Hopeless" picks up a bit but there is still much left to be desired and I hope the plots begin to collide together soon.
The Good:
- Eric and Bill clamoring Sookie and Alcide. Well Sookie gets fake glamoured by Bill so that he can say his goodbye in case he meets the true death and Eric takes the opportunity to tell Alcide to back off Sookie by glamouring him into thinking he finds her repulsive. Oh Eric, you are such a delicious scuzzbucket. "Did you just recoil from me?" asks Sookie of Alcide who looks at her like she's some three headed beast. Priceless. Brilliant comedic timing from both Manganiello and Paquin. Eventually Alcide does get unglamoured by Sookie but the fact Eric did that is so...Eric.
- Tara, Jessica and Pam at Fangtasia. Baby vamp on baby vamp brawl! Jessica and Tara duke it out and Tara lays Jessica bare for all to see when she declares this is her house and Jessica was acting a fool. (Though Tara ended up getting hers later when Pam corrected her and said it was her house.) That's the Tara I remember who used to kick ass and take names that worked at Merlotte's. I felt a little bad for Jess when she looked all sad that their friendship wasn't working out the way she hoped and I loved Pam telling Tara that she was proud of her, "proud the way a human is of a well trained dog." Oh those two and their foreplay. Pam is just a regular old Christian Grey, isn't she?
- Roman meeting his bloody end. As much as I enjoy me some Christopher Meloni it was time for Roman to go. The Authority was getting boring and so was his character. The only good thing Roman did was get Eric and Bill together for a reunion tour. When Russell staked him I was happy, let’s face it we didn't know if Roman was a villain or a good guy and our heads hurt just from thinking about it, so we had to have someone a bit easier to pin as a resident of The Batshit Motel. Russell is going to make life hell of a lot more interesting for everyone this time around, we can bank on that I am sure. Russell also takes the cake for best line of the episode with "peace is for pussies!" You go boy!
- Sookie and Jason sort of finding out the truth about how their parents were killed, the big ball of light incident at the club sadly didn't end well for Sookie but what actually does? Claude is the man btw, I want more of him.
The Bad:
- Hoyt. Sometimes I hate watching this show live because I desperately want to fast forward certain parts; his are definitely most of them. I enjoyed sweet Hoyt in the earlier seasons; right now I suffer second hand embarrassment from his evil smirks at Jessica and his heinous leather daddy clothes. Who does he think he is? Tobias Fumke?
- Terry and Andy. YAWNFEST.
- I'm not sure I care about Alcide, JD and the wolfpack? This show is really making me hate Werewolves, it's a good thing I watch Teen Wolf which makes me love them again. When it comes to Wolves I look like the drama mask between Sunday and Monday nights, Sunday I am sad face about them, Monday I am happy face about them. Guys, sometimes my brain cells get eaten away when I think about these things that I have to resort to expressing myself entirely in emoticons. I'm a mess.
I don't know much, but I know one thing, this show needs to rev up the engine a little bit because it's falling dangerously close to falling off a cliff. We had a few good episodes in the beginning of the season and right now it's hard to follow again. I get that it has an end game for the finale and everyone's plots will somehow all collide and people will die and blah blah, problem is this is True Blood we need more, it's given us more. Unlike the title of the episode this show is not hopeless. I hate to say it but sometimes I think this series could use a nice dose of cast shrinkage. I get the writers want to give everyone a little something to do, but it's the core characters that are giving us the best arcs, not the side characters. Fact is Sookie, Bill, Eric, Jason, Jessica, Pam and sometimes Sam are pulling this show together. Lose the other stories and give them more to work with, or at least incorporate them into them.
It's too much to follow right now, I really hope this series does what I know it can do it pull it all together and fast. Honestly, my favorite seasons were 1-3, everyone had something to do, and everyone was intertwined in one way or another. Now... not so much.
- Hoyt. Sometimes I hate watching this show live because I desperately want to fast forward certain parts; his are definitely most of them. I enjoyed sweet Hoyt in the earlier seasons; right now I suffer second hand embarrassment from his evil smirks at Jessica and his heinous leather daddy clothes. Who does he think he is? Tobias Fumke?
- Terry and Andy. YAWNFEST.
- I'm not sure I care about Alcide, JD and the wolfpack? This show is really making me hate Werewolves, it's a good thing I watch Teen Wolf which makes me love them again. When it comes to Wolves I look like the drama mask between Sunday and Monday nights, Sunday I am sad face about them, Monday I am happy face about them. Guys, sometimes my brain cells get eaten away when I think about these things that I have to resort to expressing myself entirely in emoticons. I'm a mess.
I don't know much, but I know one thing, this show needs to rev up the engine a little bit because it's falling dangerously close to falling off a cliff. We had a few good episodes in the beginning of the season and right now it's hard to follow again. I get that it has an end game for the finale and everyone's plots will somehow all collide and people will die and blah blah, problem is this is True Blood we need more, it's given us more. Unlike the title of the episode this show is not hopeless. I hate to say it but sometimes I think this series could use a nice dose of cast shrinkage. I get the writers want to give everyone a little something to do, but it's the core characters that are giving us the best arcs, not the side characters. Fact is Sookie, Bill, Eric, Jason, Jessica, Pam and sometimes Sam are pulling this show together. Lose the other stories and give them more to work with, or at least incorporate them into them.
It's too much to follow right now, I really hope this series does what I know it can do it pull it all together and fast. Honestly, my favorite seasons were 1-3, everyone had something to do, and everyone was intertwined in one way or another. Now... not so much.
7.5 Bar Room Brawls out of 10
What did you think of the episode? Let us know either in the comments below, or tweet us @FilmThrasher or @TooBadDiane on Twitter!
