The movie awards season is here in full force, with seemingly every little association and group handing out awards. Yesterday one of the biggies of the movie industry took place in LA, the Golden Globes. You've probably seen all the headlines: The big awards for Slumdog Millionaire, the 2 (!!) GGs for Kate Winslet (good, I really like her even though she appears to be naked on every movie) and obviously, the well deserved recognition of Heath Ledger's brilliant performance in the Dark Knight (click here for the full list of /nominees/winners). You might remember Anna Paquin for the same roles I do: The little girl in The Piano (for which she won an Oscar) and she also had the honour of playing one of my favourites comic book characters, Rogue, in the X-Men films. Now she's playing Sookie Stackhouse in the new TV Drama True Blood, which coincidentally I started watching yesterday.
Left to right: The Piano, X-Men and True Blood
I couldn't help to do something I never do: watch 2 episodes in a row. But something in True Blood had drawn me in although I cannot point my finger at what exactly.
At first sight the show has everything to work: Vampires, sex and it's written by the creator of one of my favourite tv shows that I never followed - Six Feet Under. And fortunately it does. First of all, this is not a typical vampire show by any stretch of the imagination. The pilot introduces us to a host of characters living on the outskirts of Louisiana, US. At some point, vampires were discovered to be real, and a synthetic blood developed by the Japanese and marketed as "True Blood," provides vampires with all the nutrients they need so as not to need to drink from living humans. Now, vampires are trying to be integrated into human society. Sure, it's a metaphor for prejudice and discrimination (vampires are the new gays!) – but it's handled well. Vampires and humans living together, but also not living together. There's still fear and insecurity on both sides and that's what makes True Blood really interesting for me.
The main character is Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a waitress at a diner in a small Louisiana town. She's a good Christian southern lady who also happens to be psychic. Are you getting an idea of how this isn't like other shows? Paquin is terrific (hence the Golden Globe she just won) as Sookie, a girl who is almost too positive and sunny, despite the burden of hearing everyone else's thoughts all the time. This particular bit reminded me of Phoenix/Jean Grey, from the X-Men and the way she hears the voices in her head. We’re also introduced to a variety of characters including Sookie’s best friend, boss and (really cute) brother. All of the characters in the pilot were interesting to varying degrees, and I didn’t dislike any of them (other than the ones I was supposed to.)
The show finally starts moving when a vampire named Bill (yeah, it's a funny name for a vampire and Sookie laughs too) shows up at the diner. Sookie is the only person there who isn’t afraid to talk to him, and does so with all of the southern hospitality she can muster. The rest I won't spoil for you.
The rest of the episode sets up a murder mystery involving a local “fangbanger”, a sort of groupie for vampires who allows them to drink their blood during a sexual encounter. When one in found dead, the evidence points to Sookie’s brother, but the town is convinced that Bill had something to do with it. Nothing is resolved, so I’m assuming that it will be a multi-episode arc, possibly spanning the whole first season, but I’m not certain.
Overall, I think the pilot does a great job of introducing the world of True Blood. Having watched this, and enjoying it so much, I had to ask myself what was different about this series? What makes it better than any of the other recent shows and compelled me to watch 2 episodes in a row? To be honest, I don't have an answer for that, but I'm really looking forward for my next time with "Sookie and the Vampires". Was it the best pilot I’ve ever seen? No, not remotely. But it was strong regardless, and I urge you all to give the series a shot.
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