Product Description
-------------------
True Blood: The Complete First Season (DVD)
TRUE BLOOD chronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon
Temps... where vampires have emerged from the coffin, and no
longer need humans for their fix. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin,
Golden Globe(R)-winner for "True Blood", Academy Award®-winner
for “The Piano”) works as a waitress at the rural bar Merlotte's.
Though outwardly a typical young woman, she keeps a dangerous
secret: she has the ability to hear the thoughts of others. Her
situation is further complicated when the bar gets its first
vampire patron - 173-year old Bill Compton (Steven Moyer,
"Quills") - and the two outsiders are immediately drawn to each
other. Delivering the best of what audiences have come to expect
from Creator and Executive Producer Alan Ball (writer of
O®-winning Best Picture “American Beauty”, creator of the
Emmy® Award-winning HBO® series “Six Feet Under”), TRUE BLOOD is
a dark and sexy tale that boldly delves into the heart - and the
neck - of the Deep South.
]]>
.com
----
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 Can), 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 man
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 ty 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
, 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)