True Blood season 4 - Transitional as it can be

True Blood may be taking full advantage of the whole vampire fad that's going on, but it's the one thing that has been doing it decently. It's the only current vampire thing I can stand. And I only put up with it for one reason... It's kinda awesome. Season four just wrapped up and by this point is almost as big a phenomenon as that other vampire thing (yes, the fucking sparkly ones).


The season opened interestingly enough. Sookie Stackhouse had recently discovered that she was actually a faerie, she had then been carried off into some magical faerie dimension where everything was nice and pretty. I won't spoil much here, so lets just point out that time in this world works differently than in the real world. So when she comes back by the end of the episode she had been gone from Bon Temps for around a year, and much has changed.


They really play up Sookie's disappearance and they use it as a plot device to really shake up every character's situation, most importantly, Bill has become King of Louisiana. The vampire community is in damage control mode after the mess caused by former King Russell Edgington. On the human side, Jason Stackhouse is now an actual police officer while the other officer, Andy Bellefleur, is hooked on vampire blood. That's really all you need to know to get started with the season.


These occurrences by themselves would probably make for an interesting season. Unfortunately they went in a whole other direction. Without spoiling much, Eric Northman runs into some trouble running an errand for the new King, he ends up losing his memory, and with it, most of his identity. Thus the most badass vamp in Louisiana becomes a wuss. And to me, this just about ruins the season. I looked forward to all the Eric scenes, because he's such a great character. When you take the best character in the show and turn him into an unwatchable, whiny, lovey-dovey bitch... You're going to lose some of your audience.


It's not totally bad. In the end it does make for some interesting character scenarios and situations. And the scene where that whole memory loss thing gets resolved is easily the best in the season, but they make you wait too long, and some people probably lost interest.


On the plus side, there's enough happening with other characters to keep you invested, at least in their stories. The problem is how transparent this show is becoming. It's easy to tell when we're getting a transitional season; along with season 2, this is the other clear cut example of this situation. Any time the main villain of a season of True Blood isn't a vampire, it's a transitional season. At least up until now. This might change in the next two seasons though, because I happen to think the faeries are finally pissed.


The show keeps true to it's formula of lots of sex, violence, and cursing. The character drama is also very present, it just takes different turns playing with the time lapse of Sookie's disappearance. You still get the good characters giving the hilarious one liners that everyone I know tunes in to laugh at and quote later. But without a doubt this season the 'one liner award' goes to Pam, who stole all the laughs. The poor vamp goes through hell this time around, and she makes certain that you hear her yell about it. It's really fun to watch.

The dirtiest mouth on TV, next to Cartman and probably someone on the  Jersey Shore.

The villain this time around isn't even as good as the last transitional baddie. She seems harmless most of the time, and for the most part all the evil things she does she seems to do by accident. It's not until later in the season that she actually becomes an actual threat, and again, by that time you might have lost interest.


The season doesn't really pick up until the final three or four episodes, and at that point it actually gets pretty good. I'm not saying the rest of it is bad, it's still better than most things on television, it's just not up to par with the last season which was great. I hate making excuses for TV shows, but in this case I must tell new viewers not to judge True Blood for this season, watch the last one, or wait 'till the next.


The finale is a typical close to a transitional season. The main plot gets resolved fairly early on, and then we get a massive (MASSIVE) build for what happens next. I can say with confidence that the next season might be the best one yet. There's enough emotion brewing between these characters to get some pretty intense stuff going, and I think that kind of thing (along with sex, lots of sex) is what keeps this show interesting.


As for this season, it's a decent transition. Nothing spectacular, but watchable for the most part. If the villain had been a bigger threat from the beginning it would have been better, but by the time she is, it gets pretty good.


5.5/10