Monday, September 15, 2008

Episode 2 of True Blood "The First Taste"

Although I was slightly disapointed with the True Blood TV series (it can't compare to the books), I still wanted to keep watching the series. I figured that it might get better as the plot goes on, as the characters start to fit in their roles, and we start to separate the TV show from the book. For going from book to TV, the story line is very close to each other. There are some differences though.

The biggest difference between the book and the show is the roles of Sookie’s brother Jason and friend Tara. I understand why the HBO made them more prominent characters though. The books center around Sookie – her thoughts, her actions, her everything. To make the TV show more interesting, there needs to be more prominent characters then just Sookie.

I really liked the grandmother when I first watched the pilot episode. I thought that HBO did a great job casting her. While I watch more and more of the series I am starting to dislike the grandmother more and more. To me she acts like she is not there all the way. She seems like she should be living by herself with 20 cats. In the books Sookie’s grandmother seemed to be a smart old fire cracker. In the TV series, the grandma is more concerned about Sookie and Bill together. In the book, Sookie’s grandma likes Bill and practically shoos them out the door to go on walk together.

My only two other gripes:
Bill doesn’t levitate in the show… why not? He does in the books.
In the beginning Sookie’s blood pattern on her face practically changed every clip – blood on her upper lip, no blood, blood on her chin, no blood.

Oh and one more….
What is up with the vampire with the swiveling eyes (see picture)? I don’t get it.

Even though the books are 100x better, I am still going to watch the series. It’s over-sexed and a little cheesy, but it is also fun. My friends and I are making it a tradition to get together and eat dinner and watch True Blood. Us girls make comments about the differences between books and movie, Marc complains that we are being too critical, and Nichole squeals about how cute Bill is. Even though we know what happens next, we look forward to watching another episode.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was definitely annoyed by the no levitation thing, since I distinctly remember that Sookie asks Bill to demonstrate and then tells her that not all vampires have the same abilities. Or am I totally wrong on this?

The disappearing blood mustache she had was amusing. I figured they figured it looked like a mustache and decided to clean it off to make her look pretty again, instead of realistically-almost-killed.

The rolling eyes are horrible. I really hope he is the only vamp that does that cause the thought of Eric or Bill or Pam or anyone else for that matter, doing that crap while excited ruins the whole thing for me.

WindLegends said...

I've been a fan of General Hospital for years and the vamp with the rotating eyes is actor Graham Shiels who is being wasted in this ridiculous role. I agree: the cheesiness of the disappearing blood, the slightly vague-bordering on OldTimersDisease of the grandma is wearing.

I like Bill because I make my living writing tortured heroes. I was really looking forward to this series because dark fantasy is my genre and vampires are my bread and butter. However, the other vamps I've see are truly terrible. Let's hope when we meet Eric, the believability picks up. I, too, am a bit disappointed Bill doesn't levitate.

I realize this is an ensemble cast but too much Tara is too much. Show more of Sam and Rene and less of her. I've from the south and that accent of hers drives me crazy. Bill's is more that of a Virginia plantation owner's son than Louisiana but since he's a Brit, we can forgive him. Sookie's just plain sucks...no pun intended.

Anonymous said...

The HBO site says that Bill can levitate. So perhaps he lied on the show.