Posted by Janie Logan Sep 13, 2010, 9:14 GMT
Sookie (Anna Paquin) starts to see her vampire boyfriend, Bill (Stephen Moyer), in a whole new light after learning what she is in True Blood's third season. Photo courtesy of HBO.
Another thrilling finale, another frustratingly long wait for our next fix of True Blood! "Evil Is Going On" saw characters seeking vengeance, facing demons, and searching for direction. We got our first tease of the witches to come, the supernatural element that's going to be thrown into the melting pot in Season 4 to stir up trouble. We also watched our protagonist disappear right before our eyes.
Alan Ball threw some surprises into the episode, but did he sacrifice a truly surprising cliffhanger for the sake of avoiding a finale formula? It was well-written, to be sure--Ball always delivers great dialogue and a compelling story. The general reaction, however, seems to be somewhat negative, at least from what I've seen on Twitter. I think people enjoyed it and got emotional over key moments, but if we're comparing this finale to the previous 2 years, I think what may have been lacking was the element of excitement and tension to carry us into next year.
Especially with the Season 2 finale, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the characters took down Maryann in grand fashion, after which new, surprising storylines began. Exactly as a good finale should, there was resolution to the season-long journey, as well as a cliffhanger to hint at what was to come and leave us craving more.
"Evil Is Going On" seemed to have the resolution part down with very little in the way of shocking twists and new doors being opened. We already knew Sookie was a faery, so her disappearing with Claudine was more like a continuation of her quest for identity. It will lead to more revelations in Season 4, certainly, but it wasn't quite on par with "Oh no- someone's been murdered in the back seat of this car/someone's taken Bill!" Both of those things seemed to come out of nowhere and leave us awe-struck with disbelief, in a good way.
This is not to say there weren't enjoyable aspects to the Season 3 finale. I loved everything about Hoyt. The Jessica intervention was hilarious, complete with the old high school guidance counselor as a mediator, but Hoyt is done letting his mother stand in the way of his happiness. That night, he surprises Jessica with a house and a marriage proposal. "I don't know what I'd do without you," Jessica tells him. "Lucky for you," he replies, "you'll never have to find out."
As Hoyt picks her up to kiss her, it's a picture perfect moment of young love, as the camera pans out framing them in the doorway...until it falls on the doll lying in the dark, a reminder of those who would break them apart. I'm not sure what doll-fanatic Summer is capable of, but Maxine showed the lengths to which she would go when she bought a gun with wooden bullets.
Denis O'Hare was engaging as ever. Like with Nelsan Ellis, this is a case where the actor extends the life of the character beyond the story in Charlaine Harris' books. Russell is too fascinating to die…so they just wrap him in silver and cover him in concrete. It will add some tension to the show to have the threat of his return hanging over everything, plus it's good that they don't get in a habit of setting up a Big Bad every season only to kill him/her in a finale standoff. Best of all, though, is knowing that O'Hare will be back.
Eric, Bill, and Sookie all showed their dark sides. Eric ignores the words of Godric, appearing to him in spirit form and urging him to find peace, love, and forgiveness. Instead, he decides that the true death is too good for Russell, rather he should suffer in agony for many years encased in cement.
Paying him back for how powerless he made her feel, Sookie taunts Russell when he's burned, black and crispy. She laughs almost maniacally as she pours the jar of Talbot down the garbage disposal, as the King screams with grief to hear the last remains of his lover destroyed.
As for Bill, he takes his overprotectiveness to a new level when he swears to kill any vampire that knows of Sookie's true nature. He orders a hit on Pam, which is unacceptable! He turns on Eric and tries to bury him in concrete alongside Russell: "When Fate presents one with such a grand opportunity, what else is one to do?" Well, Fate turns the tables on Bill. Eric gets free and divulges to Sookie the secrets Bill has been hiding: that he was sent to Bon Temps by Queen Sophie-Anne to find out about her, and that he allowed the Rattrays to beat her nearly to death so that he could give her his blood and form that bond with her.
Sookie feels like she was manipulated into falling in love. She rescinds Bill's invitation into her house, and her life. It's not like she runs into Eric's arms, though. She's tired of all the vampire nonsense and wants nothing to do with him, either. That night, she runs off into the woods, echoing the first night she spent with Bill, after Gran died. This time, however, she goes to Gran to mourn the loss of Bill. That's when Claudine appears to her, and Sookie vanishes with the faeries in a burst of light.
Having Crystal taken away and being left responsible for taking care of the people in Hot Shot might make Jason finally grow up. He certainly sounded mature when he told Andy, "Sometimes the right thing to do is the wrong thing." Then again, maybe he'll be up to his dumb antics soon enough.
Lafayette turns to Jesus in a panic over his V-induced delusions and learns that his new boyfriend is a witch. Season 4 has a lot to cover in terms of the magical vibes we've been getting from Lafayette, Jesus, and Ruby Jean, with little to no explanation.
Tara wants to change her life so she pulls a Felicity, cuts off her hair (and, symbolically, her burdens of late), and presumably leaves Bon Temps for a while. I'm just ready for Tara to stop being a victim. She's holding a lot of resentment and sadness in her heart right now. If this new path she's on releases some of that, I'll be happy.
I don't know what it will take to fix whatever complicated issues Sam is dealing with. One second he's opening up about what he is to Tara and apologizing to Terry, the next he's shooting his own brother? He doesn't want people to walk all over him anymore, but why does he seem to have lost all human empathy?
It's hard to believe that it'll be nine months before we have answers to these questions. Despite some of my complaints about the finale, I love these characters and can't wait to see them again.
What did everybody else think?
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