"True Blood" Witches. True Blood Watchers?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 2:10PM 
I've been on a True Blood tear, catching up with Season 3. I haven't enjoyed it nearly as much as Season 2 (the peak) partially because the Big Bad "Russell, King of Mississippi" (Denis O'Hare) wasn't half as interesting, dynamic or amusing as immortal maenad "MaryAnn" (Michelle Forbes) from Season 2. Plus, I've missed the comedy gold that sprung up in the religious cult satire subplot which starred Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), the ensemble's undersung hero. Yes, everyone loves his body. But he's arguably the most gifted comic in the cast.
Here's the new teaser for the fourth season of True Blood. If Fiona Shaw, the sensational stage actress, Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia, and our favorite batshit crazy sociopathic rich lady (The Black Dahlia) is this season's Big Bad, maybe Season 4 will rival Season 2?
Here's the teaser.
Quick show of hands for any TFE coverage?
Please vote.
Fiona Shaw, TV, True Blood, sci-fi fantasy horror, vampires, witches
Reader Comments (21)
See, I loved both Russel and Mary Anne. I liked Season 3 less b/c it felt too fractured. I liked that everyone's stories sort of met at the end of Season 2, and I sort of hate Jason's storyline with the meth heads, though I think it's going to an interesting place next season.
Never watched it but then again, I started watching Mad Men after reading about it here, and I fell in love with it. So there ...
Totally agree about Kwanten. His body is so distracting (that isn't a complaint), that people often fail to comment how he nails the comedy every episode. I'm hoping for more Jason, Pam, and Arlene, less Bill and Alcide in season 4.
PLEASE post about true blood! such an awesome show. I actually liked Russell because Dennis O'Hare was so absurdly evil, it was great watching him top himself each episode. But season 3 was a bit of a let down, it felt more like a transition year, to set things up for season 4 rather than a stand alone story
I'm a one episode person when it comes to new series, so if you don't get me in the first episode then you don't get me at all. I found the first episode of True Blood boring so I never watched the rest. My parents and older brother follow it, though.
I just think that the characters Bill and Sookie are so damn annoying, gladly they broke up now. The other characters of the show are so much more interesting to watch and they also have much better dialogues. The only characters that I care for on the show are Pam, Eric, Lafeyette and even Jessica and Hoyt are more interesting than Bill.
I swear to (Scandinavian) gods I saw Joe Manganiello in Madrid a few days ago. Either that or he's got a doppelganger as hot as him. I could say that the instant our eyes met I would've howled, but I'd lie, at that moment I didn't connect the dots, I just thought he was another hot guy.
It's all about Pam--I would love for her to move in with Sookie and Tara.
See, it's interesting, I liked Season 3 better than Season 2 while it was happening, I think because everyone was apart for most of S2, but it didn't end with the same sort of bang that S2 did. The whole of S2 was better than the sum of its parts for me, while the parts of S3 were better even if they never came together like I hoped. That Maryanne storyline just had everything you want from a serialized television show, in exactly the right amounts. And Michelle Forbes was INCREDIBLE and robbed of any award nominations!
I cannot WAIT for Fiona Shaw to finally (wishing, hoping, praying) get a meaty role to really sink her teeth into. Her stage performances are so legendary that I forced myself to sit through Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman (a play I really dislike, if not outright hate) for her. And it was worth it. With each screen appearance I keep hoping that she'll get to show what she's made of, but she hasn't really had the chance yet (haven't seen Black Dahlia).
I hated season 3, personally - I liked Russell as a character but hated every single thing (excepting Alcide) about the Mississippi storyline. It also annoyed me that we're getting to the point now where there are almost no regular human beings left on the show. Part of what was so fun about the show originally was imagining this alternate world where normal(ish) people suddenly have to adapt to living amongst vampires in totally mundane settings. The ingenuity of that premise is almost completely absent now, and the myriad new magical beings (werepanthers?!) is snoozeville. That said, when the action resettled in Bon Temp toward the end of the season and the Bill-Sookie-Eric triangle suddenly came back to the fore, I found myself liking it as much as I had in seasons past. So I've still got fingers crossed for a good season four.
I guess that's a longwinded way of saying, "Sure, cover it."
Ryan Kwanten rivals Andrew Garfield for my undying love. Gawd, I need to stop being so dramatic about these things...
I thought I was alone on Kwanten, I don't think it's his body alone that's the distraction - the fact that he's not a vampire or any super-powered human seems to make him automatically "less interesting". It's like January Jones, who for example who's often phenomenal but who always gets considered as an afterthought because she doesn't work at the agency.
I got very frustrated with Season 3 at the end. It felt like too many plotlines (Sam's, Jason's, LaFayette's) were allowed to peter out or just disappear in favour of setting up Season 4 plotlines. And I feel robbed of more Jason as a cop stories. Having that dropped for the methhead story made me sad.
I tried to keep that spoiler-free, tricky since most of my objections were about the end of the season.
Totally agree that S3 doesn't match up to S2, although I liked Russell as much as Maryanne. Still, I hope S4 gets a little more focused like 2 was; can't wait to see what Fiona Shaw does. Looks like Aunt Pentunia was lying about being a Squib.
roark -- well the "sure, cover it" is what i'm afraid of. i wanted to gauge if there was real interest not just a small portion of readers. but votes aren't so promising. most of the people reading don't vote on the polls which i find highly irritating. DO AS I SAY ;)
jbaker -- i think the tight focus in season 2 was good but it did have one drawback. sometimes it felt like there was not enough plot to keep that one story going for so long. It was definitely more repeitive than Season 3.
Bia -- I LOVE PAM. i didn't really care about her for the longest time and then i was like "awesome! why haven't i noticed the awesomeness?"
Drew --i'm with you on the less Bill thing. But I like Alcides and I've just met him so i want to see more (at least for now). I have two episodes left of season 3 so we'll see...
The season 3 finale was a big let down considering the rest of the season had some great bits here and there. The one that lingers for me as my favourite, though totally random, has to be Tara running barefoot through the front yard, in the daylight. of the vampire King's mansion while wearing that old-fashioned wedding dress. Insta-classic.
Yay Fiona Shaw. Michelle Forbes was aaaah-mazing as MaryAnn so hopefully the writers take her down that awesome path because YOU KNOW she can bring it.
I like True Blood, so I hope you cover/write about it, Nat.
Season 3's Jason storyline with him going on and on and on about wanting to be a cop dragged down the show, imo. It was boring and even Kwanten's innate hotness wasn't enough to keep me interested in that plotline.
O'Hare's Russell Edginton was over the top awesome sauce, and I found him just as interesting as Michelle Forbes' crackpot Maryanne villain.
Though I gotta agree with the comment above about how all these supernatural creatures like to hang out at Bon Temps is whacked. Surely supernatural creatures want to hang out in a place a tad more cosmopolitan, yes? Also, more humans and less creatures of the night...etc.
God i detest fiona shaw,what a british ham she is,never brings anything to her roles except charicatures and a side of well cooked ham!!!!
the worst performance i have ever seen in my life is her in the black dahlia - simply awful!!!
Denis O'Hare was THE reason to watch season three of "True Blood." Nothing else. You missed the boat there.
Can't wait for season four to start! Then it'll start to feel like summer's started.
Renny -- hmmm. i feel like i always miss that boat. I have enjoyed approximately one of his performances (TAKE ME OUT on broadway -- he was brilliant). Otherwise i just haven't cared for his work.
I don't necessarily think that was her fault, MARK. Have you seen DePalma movies? Since Carrie, there's usually at least one "over the top histrionic" character and matching performance in the films of his I've seen. Except for the first time, they're the darkly funny part. (Carrie: Piper Laurie, Blow Out: Dennis Franz, Scarface: Pacino, The Untouchables: DeNiro, Carlito's Way: Sean Penn.)