ANOMALY //>

True Blood
Season 4 Re-cap

As much as i love True Blood, i'm more than happy to be honest about the shows flaws, which it has a good few of. Over the last 3 seasons, True Blood has gone from a smooth paced supernatural drama to an over populated melodramatic fantasy series. I don't have a major issue with that, as over crowded as it's become, it's still as entertaining and well acted as it ever was. However, season 4 of True Blood has brought some much needed change to the series [spoilers ahead! you've been warned].

Marnie [who was played amazingly by Fiona Shaw] is the best thing to happen to this season since Russell in season 3. After the annoying Mary Anne from season 2, it's good to see a well written female villain in the series that didn't make you want to pull your hair out. Not only was Marnie powerful and dangerous, but you also felt sympathetic towards her, which isn't usually how many of the True Blood villains make you feel. They tend to be bad to the bone.

Sam had some welcome changes to his storyline. His irritating parents finally died, as did his brother Tommy. Tommy was like-able, but i found i started getting bored with his endless fuck ups and arguing, they took him as far as they could. Sam also found himself in a new relationship which i enjoyed watching.

Jason's boring "Panther people" storyline finally ended, even if we had to sit through a few episodes of it in season 4 which seemed to go nowhere. However, his blossoming romance with Jessica has been a surprise twist in the series that i liked. In fact, Hoyt and Jessica breaking up would have been the last thing i wanted to see a year ago, but i like the new confident person Jessica has become after their relationship fell apart, she's very sexy and more fun than she ever was.

Sookie didn't seem to have much to do outside of having sex this season. Not that it bothered me, after all, we finally saw her and Eric get together which was more than satisfying after 3 years of sexual tension. However, i prefer Eric as the cold killer he usually is, even if seeing him act like a pussy whipped infant in early season 4 episodes was kinda adorable. Drinking blood from a heart he ripped out of a witches chest like a milkshake was definitely a highlight.

Bill also seemed to have little to do this season other than look at Sookie all the time with regret and sadness. I did like his change of career though, it freshened up his story nicely.

Tara started off with a great new start this season, but she quickly fell into the very boring "scream and be angry" storyline she always seems to get given by the writers this season. I do still like her, but i can't say that seeing her die wasn't somewhat satisfying. She's probably better off dead, she's a mess. Not sure if having her whole head blown to bits was the most respectful way to get rid of her though? she can't even die in peace it seems. They really do need to find some positive direction for her, enough of the drama with Tara, it got old 2 seasons ago. Coming back as a ghost maybe????

Alcide had a low key, but entertaining enough storyline this season. I didn't like seeing his crazy ex-girlfriend back, but Alcide profusing his love to Sookie was a nice way to end his story this year. I also LOVE seeing Sookie put a bullet in his ex girlfriends head too, another tired character thankfully coming to an end.

Other than having a really bad haircut, Lafayette was given plenty to do this season with Jesus finally given into the dark magic his Uncle forced onto him his whole life. I loved the monster face that would appear every time Jesus did "his thing".

Arlene and Terry still seem to have no point whatsoever. Their "evil baby" storyline went absolutely nowhere, and was another indication that the series is bogged down with way too many needless side characters. They should just keep these two as background folk who don't get involved supernatural drama.

Pam had the best one liners this season, her hatred for Sookie was hilarious ["gash in a dress" anyone?], and her rotting face storyline gave this season some much needed comedy. I didn't like seeing her relationship with Eric fizzle out, but if it didn't, then we never would have seen her hilarious outburst over Sookie in her office at Fangtasia in the final episode [see above picture]. More Pam, please!.

Overall, season 4 smoothed out a few of the bumps that the excellent, but cluttered season 3 had last year. Characters have been cut out and some new and interesting story lines have started up ready for season 5. The witches were a nice change of pace this season, and i hope to see more of them down the line.
The writers of the show have hinted at what we may see in season 5 with characters and story lines being taken from book 5, 6 and 7. That could be anything from zombies [yay!] to the introduction of Were-tiger, Quinn, who plays a big part in Sookie's story and is a fan favourite of the people who read the books.

Until next year!