Couch Potato: True love for ‘True Blood’
By Casey Gillis on Jul. 14, 2010
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My favorite “True Blood” cast member now has some competition.
Alexander Skarsgard’s bad boy vampire Eric has kept me tuning in — sometimes against my better judgment (I’m talking about you, season one!) — since the show began.
This season, however, has introduced us to another who has some serious TV boyfriend potential: Joe Manganiello’s burly werewolf Alcide.
Yes, I said werewolf.
But before you accuse the show of taking a page from the “Twilight” craze, know this: the books on which “True Blood” are based were written before the tween phenomenon, so author Charlaine Harris actually went there first.
Either way, the werewolves on “True Blood” aren’t the cheesy, computer-generated ones you see on “Twilight.” The show is using actual, snarling, scary-looking wolves (sure makes those “Twilight” actors look like wimps now, doesn’t it?).
They’re also responsible for one of season three’s most compelling storylines. In the premiere, we found out that vampire Bill was kidnapped by a group of werewolves at the behest of Russell, the power-hungry vampire king of Mississippi.
Neither Russell nor his plan — he wants Bill to use his influence to convince vampire queen Sophie Ann to marry him, so they can rule over more territory together — are very interesting, but the werewolves doing his bidding are.
They’re a group of highly trained, well-funded and very nasty wolves, who are fueled by vampire blood and have ties to the Nazis.
To find her man, Sookie went to Eric for help, in some scenes that were crackling with chemistry (more than any of the ones she’s shared with supposed true love Bill, which remains one of my biggest quibbles with the show).
Eric then roped Alcide — apparently a good werewolf, if there is such a thing — into helping Sookie infiltrate his world to find out what happened to Bill (as of right now, he’s renounced his loyalty to Sophie to keep Russell from harming and/or killing Sookie; more boring Bill scenes, if you ask me).
Here’s what else is and is not working for me this season:
• I’m loving anything involving new best friends Jason, Sookie’s dimwitted brother, and Andy, the town cop, who bonded when Jason saved Andy’s life last season.
• Hoyt’s heartache over his failed relationship with Jessica has been alternately funny (see: when he tried, but failed miserably, to be new roommate Jason’s wingman) and sad. Those two have emerged as one of my favorite couples, so I hope they reunite soon.
• The increased screen time for Terry has been a treat. He’s cracked me up, whether romancing Arlene with a list of reasons why she could trust him with her kids (including the fact that he has “never killed nothin’ by accident”) or protecting Sookie from a rogue werewolf (“I’ve always liked you,” he later told her. “And I’d miss you if you got killed. Just so you know.”).
• I’m even warming up to Tara, whom I’ve never really liked. But it’s mostly because of her interactions with mysterious new vampire Franklin Mott. James Frain, who will always be Forney from “Where the Heart Is” to me, plays him; I wasn’t sure he’d be able to give off the proper vampire sex appeal — Forney is more of a loveable dork — but his real-life British accent has sealed the deal.
• Kristin Bauer, who plays Pam and was upped to a series regular this season, has been as funny as ever, especially when she’s giving new vamp Jessica advice.
• Alfre Woodard has been good so far as Lafayette’s mean mom. For his part, Lafayette looks like he’s getting a love interest in the form of her male nurse; it’s about time the tortured drug dealer found some happiness. Though I doubt it’ll last long. It never does on this show.
• Sam continues to be the show’s weakest character, with the worst storyline. I don’t even want to talk about it.
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