Writer: Alan Ball
Director: John DahlCast: Stephen Moyer (Bill), Anna Paquin (Sookie), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Sam Trammell (Sam), Ryan Kwanten (Jason), Lois Smith (Adele "Gran" Stackhouse), Lynn Collins (Dawn Green), Andrew Rothenberg (Malcolm), Aunjanue Ellis (Diane) & Graham Shiels (Liam)
HBO have shown surprising faith in Alan Ball's vampire drama, after the second episode gained a record increase of viewers from the "Pilot". Funnily enough, the same thing happened with Fringe's second episode, indicating that the majority of both series' target audience had downloaded those premieres online and didn't bother tuning in. Maybe this should become a model – with networks releasing their pilots online, free of charge, and then gauging how popular each one is before commissioning a run?Anyway, back to True Blood – where once again a tense cliffhanger is brushed under the carpet in a faintly humorous way, within seconds. "Mine" is a more involving episode than last week's exposition-heavy affair, as the supporting cast actually get some interesting things to do – as the emphasis on Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Bill (Stephen Moyer) is softened. A problem for all fantasy-themed TV shows is keeping the "normal" characters interesting (something Heroes typically has problems with), so it's nice to see True Blood take a decent stab at it...
Here, Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Sam (Sam Trammell) grow close during a heart-to-heart one night, that results in the sex-starved friends becoming fuck-buddies to take the edge off their horniness. Meanwhile, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) agrees to give Jason (Ryan Kwanten) a vial of vampire blood (colloquially known as "V") to increase his sex-drive, after he admits to having trouble performing in bed with girlfriend Dawn (Lynn Collins). But such generosity comes at a price...
The episode also fleshes out the vampire subculture some more, as Sookie meets some of Bill's "friends" – a small nest of vampires that include Liam (Graham Shiels); the bald, tattooed bloodsucker from murdered Maudette's sex-tape. Liam would appear to be the prime suspect in her murder, but surely his guilty is just too obvious. Writer Alan Ball actually has some fun with audience expectations a little later, by making it clear the mysterious dog often spotted watching Sookie (and protecting a blonde girl in a painting at Merlotte's bar) must be barman Sam – who Tara even catches barking and growling in his sleep. But then, quite amusingly, Sam is seen petting the same dog in the very next scene. There must be some connection between them, though. Is Sam able to inhabit the dog's body in his dreams, perhaps? Or is that too much of a stretch?
I was also glad to see the ambiguity over Bill return, particularly in the early scenes where Bill came across as rather sinister while in the company of his peers. I think we can assume Bill's intentions are good and he doesn't mean Sookie any actual harm, but clearly there are factions of the vampire subculture that won't drink the synthetic plasma "TruBlood" and still want to hunt and kill humans – whereas Bill prefers to live alone and approximate a normal, human life. I was also worried the show might be keeping things too simple by having Sookie and Bill declare their interest in each other so soon, but here Sookie is having second thoughts about getting close to Bill – as she realizes his lifestyle and acquaintances are so alien and rather scary.
My theory about Sookie being adopted also hit shaky ground, as her gran (Lois Smith) had a wonderfully-written scene with her granddaughter, where she told a story of Sookie's dead grandfather and his own ability to hear other people's thoughts – a gift he used to talk his brother out of committing suicide. It was a great scene, perfectly exemplifying Alan Ball's gift with dialogue and black humour. But it also means Sookie's mind-reading has a genetic lineage in her family, so ruined my fledgling theory. Damn.
The performances seemed more nuanced this week, particularly from Rutina Wesley – who got the chance to develop chatterbox Tara some more when we glimpsed some of her home life, with her alcoholic mother. Paquin is still totally charming and likeable as Sookie, while Moyer's role so far is just to act enigmatic and brooding as Bill – which he admittedly does very well. I like the conviction and energy Ryan Kwanten puts into his performance of Jason, although his character isn't much beyond the randiest person on TV with various reasons to hate and distrust vampirism. I hope he shows some other facets of his personality soon. And can't we follow a police officer character, to understand how Maudette's murder case is progressing?
Overall, this was a the best-paced episode yet and it was nice to see the supporting characters given some better material. The mystery isn't exactly deepening as such, but you get the impression than Alan Ball knows what he's doing and is laying out his pieces, ready to really starting playing. Psychologically, it's great to know True Blood will reach its twelfth episode without being axed and is likely to run for another dozen instalments in 2009. Too often with US drama you're unable to settle into the story, because it's always in the back of your mind that the network will yank it off-air. So kudos to HBO for getting behind True Blood; a series that didn't have the greatest of starts, but is now exhibiting a lot of quality and adult quirk.
21 September 2008
HBO, 9pm
