True Blood: Season 2 Finale

By Teresa Jusino

So this week, after a week off and a previous episode culminating in mayhem and danger, we’ve finally gotten the Season Two finale of True Blood.

I just wish it had been worth the wait.

The problems with which Bon Temps was left at the end of the previous episode were resolved quickly.  Sookie had been captured by Maryann to lure Sam, who she wanted as an offering for the imminent arrival of Dionysus.  Bill, knowing Sookie was in danger, hatches a plan with Sam in which he could both offer himself in exchange for Sookie’s release, and defeat Maryanne once and for all.

This all happens within the first 15-20 minutes, leaving nowhere for the episode to go.  So we’re treated to watching Bon Temps be awkward for half an hour.  Yay, us.  Obviously, Bon Temps has to come to terms with what it’s been through, but that’s something that can be explored throughout Season Three. It didn’t all have to be crammed into one episode, where it felt like filler.

In an attempt to make half an hour of awkward exciting, the script turned to unnecessary and unearned tension.  Eric’s scene with The Queen ended in a pointless show of force from her to assert her authority over Eric.  What’s great about the Queen is that her power simmers under a glamour and Yahtzee-loving exterior.  Letting her come to a boil this early and for no good reason robs something from her character.

Hoyt is unnecessarily harsh with his mother in the aftermath of her having been possessed by a Maenad.  Once she admits that the family history she divulged while under Maryanne’s influence was true, Hoyt blows up at her telling her that he wishes Jessica would have “finished her off” after biting her.  Hoyt had already asserted himself against his mother in previous episodes.  His reaction to her here seemed cold and heartless in a way that Hoyt is not.

Eggs suffered the greatest disservice in the name of making awkward interesting.  It would have been great to watch how something like Maryanne’s control over one’s mind would affect that person long-term.  Eggs’ not being able to reconcile himself with his actions was complex and could have added more layers to an already-interesting and endearing character.  Instead, the writers chose to have Jason shoot him in the episode’s most uncalled-for bit of violence.  This act takes away from the redemption Jason fought for so hard in Season Two and takes a viable love interest away from Tara, leaving us with the same hard, bitter, Tara we’ve always had. I’m sure she’ll find out Jason did it, and she’ll hate him, which will make her relationship with Sookie more difficult…and for what?

And Bill’s been kidnapped.  WTF?!

I really hope that True Blood doesn’t continue sadistic storylines for its characters just for their own sakes.  Yes, characters can suffer, but we should also be allowed to watch them win sometimes.  The characters on True Blood just continue to get crapped on.  To what end?  None that I can see, yet.

There were tiny moments of gold in this episode, but it seems that True Blood saved its entire sophomore slump for its final episode.  Here’s hoping for a comeback in Season 3.

TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Pareidolia Films called The Pack, which is set to debut in March 2010! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched. She is also an aspiring fangbanger. Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her in The Red Room.

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