TV Review: Strong Season Premiere For HBO’s Beloved ‘True Blood’

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CHICAGO – Let’s be honest “True Blood” fans — the end of last season was a plasma-soaked mess. It almost felt as if the writers of this often-great show had just set too many plates in motion over three years of seasons in which the plots ran consecutively. A few of them were sure to crash to the ground. Alan Ball and the team behind the Emmy-nominated hit have very wisely hit “restart” and pushed their characters forward into some fascinating new plot arcs. The first two episodes of the fourth season of “True Blood” feature the show stronger, smarter, and more fun than it’s been in some time.

HollywoodChicago.com Television Rating: 4.5/5.0
Television Rating: 4.5/5.0

Don’t worry. We will tread very lightly with spoilers. At the end of last season, Sookie (Anna Paquin) had decided not to deal with any more Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) drama and disappeared for the land of the fairies to learn more about her past. As usual, the new season picks up right there with Sookie on the other side, where she sees her grandfather (Gary Cole) and learns more about her past and her kind.

True Blood
True Blood
Photo credit: HBO

Before you know it, Sookie is back in Bon Temps but the brief time she was away was much longer in the real world and over a year has passed. The push forward in time allows the writers of “True Blood” something of a clean slate. They can push forward relationships and characters beyond the typical episode to episode progression. It was a brilliant decision as the impact of what happened in season three can still play a role but the passage of time off-screen allows for a renewed energy.

What’s happened while Sookie was away? The campaign to make vampires tolerable to human society in a “Post-Russell World” continues and, of course, Bill and Eric will play major roles. As soon as Sookie returns to the world of the living, the Bill-Eric dynamic sparks up again with the latter making the biggest move to become a permanent part of the fairy’s life.

True Blood
True Blood
Photo credit: HBO

To be honest, a lot of the threads from last season appear to have gone somewhat dormant for the year that Sookie was M.I.A. as many of the characters are in similar or related predicaments to season three. Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) and Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) are still a couple and dabbling deeper into the world of dark magic, which brings forward the most intriguing new character of the season, the necromancer-in-training Marnie (Fiona Shaw).

In other plotlines, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) is finally a legitimate cop but he finds himself in a very dangerous situation (again). Tara (Rutina Wesley) is on the road and trying to ignore her past. Sam (Sam Trammell) is working through his anger by hanging out with other shapeshifters. Arlene (Carrie Preston) is nervous that her baby carries the demon seed of Rene. And, finally, in arguably the best subplot, Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) are dealing with domestic problems as her vampire life continues to interfere with his human one. She never cooks her husband dinner because, well, she doesn’t eat food.

Most of the cast seems amped up by the promise of the new season. Skarsgard and Paquin have been the best things about the show for the last two years and they’re both strong again but even supporting characters like Woll, Parrack, Kwanten, Ellis, and Alejandro have a different/stronger energy than they did last season. And Fiona Shaw is a spectacular actress, arguably the best guest star the show has yet procured. The well-known stage actress is probably best-known to modern audiences as Petunia Dursley in the “Harry Potter” movies. I still think Trammell and Wesley’s subplots are the most under-written or just poorly-conceived. I’m tired of Tara’s overreactions and Sam’s anger but both are more underplayed at the start of this season than last time and I’m glad to see them fading into the background a bit and giving actors like Ellis and Woll more interesting arcs.

The renewed energy of “True Blood” seems focused in the right place unlike last season, where everything about the program just became more and more unfocused. The pacing of the first two episodes of this season, the dialogue, the performances — everything seems crisper, smarter, and more entertaining than where we left off. It’s going to be a fun summer.

The fourth season of “True Blood” premieres on HBO on Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 8pm CST. It stars Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Chris Bauer, Nelsan Ellis, Deborah Ann Woll, Alexander Skarsgard, Jim Parrack, Carrie Preston, Kevin Alejandro, and Fiona Shaw. It was created by Alan Ball.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Anonymous's picture

So please...

Please do us all a favor and not watch the show. How cruel of you to pick on the actor. You don’t like Eric. Fine. But what has Eric got to do with Skarsgard? There will be plenty of fans watching tonight. No one will miss you.

Anonymous's picture

This comment about Skarsgard

This comment about Skarsgard losing the show viewers is just laughable. Try logging into you tube and seeing how many more views and positive comments anything Eric gets compared with any other character on the show. And when True Blood’s facebook did a poll on what people were most looking to in season 4 - guess what came out top ………. surprise, surprise ERIC.
I don’t think HBO will be losing sleep over losing you sweetheart.

Anonymous's picture

To the person who wrote this

To the person who wrote this article, just ignore the negative comments. This has to do with the stupid Team Bill/Team Eric people. The Team Bill people have been seeing all of these glowing reviews for Skarsgard’s performance and have taken to hitting the net and talking crap about Skarsgard on any site that has these kind of reviews and allow comments.

It’s stupid, I know. But that’s where they’re coming from. I have no doubt that what you say about his performance is true.

Anonymous's picture

Enough! Back off the man

Enough! Back off the man Bill fanatics! jesus- you guys are like rabid dogs. Just stop attacking anyone who likes Alexander Skarsgard (which is the majority btw)

Its a review -don’t bash the man for giving his opinion.

deepest apologies to the reviewer for all the childish crap.

Excellent review.

Ashley's picture

excellent review

Wow, so now it’s not okay for a reviewer to say he loves someone’s acting on the show if it’s not your favorite actor or who you want Sookie with?

Please, this is called an opinion. I happen to agree that Skarsgard is one of the best actors on the show, and yes I’m team Eric. I also agree that Paquin and Skarsgard have a great dynamic.

But this reviewer was not picking sides inthe Bill vs. Eric debate, just expressing his opinion about Paquin and Skarsgard’s acting. I don’t see the need to attack him for that.

Notice he also mentioned a lot of the other actors.
I for one thought this was a great preview of the season, and since this is one of MANY reviews saying the same thing about Skarsgard, I don’t see the need to throw fits.

abnormal Billsbabes's picture

abnormal Billsbabes

My goodness, these Billsbabes are ridicolous, Brian TT you should just not listen to what these obsessive guys are writing, these guys are just Team Bill and have to hate everything that has to do with Skarsgard.
I have read several reviews and you are not the only one who praised Skarsgards performance and I agree that he is a very good actor. I am neutral to this by the way I am no Eric or Bill shipper, but Moyer isn´t that great, he is a good actor, but he talks most of the time in a really monoton voice.
Skarsgard is a really good actor, and moyer could never play either evil or show comedy, I cannot see him doing that. Watch Generation Kill for example, Skarsgard was really good in that.

Momo's picture

Great review Brian. Thank

Great review Brian. Thank you very much, im so excited about Season 4 and i really hope there will be lost of laughs and touching moments too.
Alexander is amazing, we already knew that LOL, een Season 3’s reviews pointed to that but it’s really gratifying to read this about Season 4 too.

Don’t bother with some childish comments really, we are used to read this stuff from Team Bill so just don’t pay attention to them. They even attacked you about the 8 minutes when it’s been weeks that it was uploaded on YouTube and HBO.com and all TB sites out there.

Thanks Brian. Great review and let me tell you how happy i am to know that Paquin too seems to be good in this season.

Kathy's picture

Brian Fantastic Review

You are so right that Alexander is one of the best things about the show. As an actor, I appreciate his ability to show us his conflicting emotions w/out moving a muscle, it’s all in the eyes. All the best actors know this. So many actors feel as if they need to indicate what they are doing and feeling, just pulls you out of the experience. I don’t like to see the wheels turning. With Alex it’s seamless. Ryan Kwanten is also one of the best actors on the show. His character is the most difficult on the show and I wish he would get the recognition he deserves. Here’s to hoping that the 12 storylines that they have established in the first few shows narrow down early on, so we don’t have whiplash trying to follow all of them separately. Cheers!

Anonymous's picture

Thank you got a good review.

Thank you got a good review. Good, because it concentrates on what makes the show work. Namely, terrific acting and energy, amazing guest-stars, and natural chemistry between some characters (Skarsgård and Paquin definitely, they spark off each other, acting-vise. And separately they are very good, as well.). I am glad to hear that the stories are going to be more focused and more tightly intertwined. That was a legitimate problem with season 3: the lack of connection between the subplots and their sheer number. Given a solid story, these actors can do great things, and it’s gratifying to hear that they deliver.

Freyja's picture

Love the review

I can’t wait to see all that’s about to happen on True Blood this season. 9 months of waiting!! From the reviews I’ve been reading the first 3 episodes sound promising.
I agree totally about Skarsgard, Kwanten and Ellis. Alex is phenomenal and to be able to convey so much with just his eyes is an amazing acting. Kwanten along with Ellis are my second favorite of the TB male cast. Ryan has a very difficult job, acting a stupid person, so different from himself, but he amazes me with his interpretation of Jason. Ellis is totally transformed when he’s acting as Lafayette. I’m one of those who likes Anna Paquins acting, I don’t think she’s as strong as some other from the cast but over all the cast of TB are amazingly talented. Paquin and Skarsgård have truly explosive chemistry on screen, they are what made me want to read the books the show is based on. But I also have to talk about Kristin Bauer, she is the perfect cast for Pam!
Thank you for great review :)

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