'True Blood' - 'I'm Alive and on Fire': Tie me up, tie me down
What's with all the bondage storylines this season?
Fiona Shaw on "True Blood."
You should know the drill with me and "True Blood" by now: I put up these posts so people can discuss the episode immediately without waiting for Leslie Gornstein's recap at our Monkeys as Critics blog (and/or for people who want to keep all their HitFix TV discussion here), and then I step out of your way, because y'all know how I feel about "True Blood."
One thing I'm slightly curious about this week, though, is where people stand with the show's tradition of storylines involving characters spending an extended period of time as someone else's helpless prisoner (Tara with Franklin, Lafayette in Eric's basement, Jason this year at Hot Shot, etc.), and, at times, rape victim. There seemed to be a lot of pushback against the Jason story last week, while others pointed out how often the show has done similar stories in the past (and will continue to do in the future, as we see here). Is it just that Alan Ball has done it once too many, or is there something people found particularly unpleasant about this one?
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupChrissy
July 17, 2011 at 10:09PM EST Reply to CommentI found this one particularly disturbing, in part, because, well, it's gang rape, but also because we are clearly supposed to feel bad for his female captors. It's a storyline that could be harrowing, but this show doesn't have the time or interest to delve much, and so I found it nothing but deeply, deeply unpleasant (much as I found Tommy's treatment tonight). There's a way to have bad things happen to your characters without making the audience just want to shut you off; recall the storyline in Breaking Bad where Jesse and Walt kept a man locked in the basement. This show is better at crazy action and goofy horror.
The one thing I might like is if Jason's new state puts him into a storyline with Sam, or even Alcide. His character really needs some overlap with anything else that's going on.
webdiva Well, gee, if they'd have stuck with the story arcs in the books, they'd have had Jason more connected to other characters. Alan Ball also made the residents of Hotshot much crazier, more retarded, and more malicious than they were in the books. I'm still trying to figure out why he thought that was a good idea, 'cause I don't: it's the source of a lot of that revolted feeling many of us have had about the Jason arc.
July 17, 2011 at 10:53PM ESTAnd yeah, there's a lot more holding people prisoner in Ball's scripts than in the original stories. If something doesn't change for the better soon, I'm gonna start calling this show the character-in-peril program of the week. And not in a good way.
Boricua in Texas
July 17, 2011 at 11:37PM EST Reply to CommentI think what disturbed me most about the Jason storyline was the betrayal factor. Jason was showing signs of maturing as a character by taking care of the Hotshot clan, and he had grown fond of them, only to be to horribly betrayed and abused by the woman he loved.
Last season's storyline with Tara and Franklin was at times disturbing, but also campy and funny. By contrast, the Hotshot chapter has been mostly played straight.
rowan729
July 17, 2011 at 11:41PM EST Reply to CommentOk, this show has no devolved into straight out fan-fiction on the part of Alan Ball and the writers. NONE of what is happening this season, except for the amnesia bit-has anything to do with the source material anymore. Even how that happened wasn't in line with the books.
Now, I'm not trying to be one of those oh the books are better people, but the previous seasons all had something in common and relied on the books somewhat to direct the plot. This year, not at all. And I just have to think that perhaps if they stuck more to the Harris story in any way whatsoever, it might not be a complete disaster. The show is such a mess now and the characters are not even who they were originally on page anymore, they're entire personalities are different, not just the plot. It's almost like the creators said this year "all we want is to use the names of primary characters from the books-we don't need anything else." I can handle some alterations from the books just fine and pretty much liked how the show deviated in the previous seasons-this year, I find myself losing interest altogether, even with the amnesia storyline.
Yikes. What a bad episode, with all the nonsense going on not just in Hotshot, but with the witches as well and the idiocy with the fairies.
I don't even think there was any nudity to make up for the stink, other than Jason, who had wounds that distract from the nudity completely.
Thank you yet again, Alan, for giving us this outlet to discuss the show-the TB related sites out there would probably delete me if I voiced this opinion on their sites.
At least Breaking Bad is back....
charlz But Ball put the entirety of at least one book in this episode -- Sookie was reading one at the kitchen table. 8-)
July 18, 2011 at 8:39AM ESTkimshum
July 18, 2011 at 12:32AM EST Reply to CommentI've never liked the way Ball goes to the prisoner/rape well every season. Some shows can justify it by actually saying something meaningful with it (not very many, but some), yet maddeningly, Ball never does. The point is forever to make us boggle at the messed up stuff people do to each other...but there's no deeper point. It's pure spectacle.
And that's just not compelling. Yes, people do horrible things to each other. Welcome to the human condition. Your point is?
Constantly going there and never using it to say anything just gets tiresome. Which is probably why the Eric storyline (and everything revolving around it, like Pam and Lafayette) is one of the very few I'm finding interesting.
On another note, Alexander Skarsgard is magnificent.
Tiresotired
July 18, 2011 at 12:58AM EST Reply to CommentJust when it looks like we won't have to endure the stupidity of the white trash werepanthers for a while,up pops Sam and Tommy's dysfunctional Momma and Daddy again! I've never read the books,but it seems the show would be so much better if these idiotic storylines (werepathers,demon babies,Hoyt's Ma,dogfighting shifters,etc.)were jettisoned. I'm in agreement with the people that think the Eric storyline is the only compelling one right now.
rowan729 Well, as far as what you mentioned being idiotic storylines, I agree, and they DO NOT exist in the Harris stories. At all. Except for the werepanther stuff-the folks in Hotshot are weres, but they are not nearly this crazy and messed up or dangerous. While Crystal in the books is not necessarily a likable charcter, the Crystal in the show is ten times worse.
July 18, 2011 at 1:17AM ESTAs far as this bondage issue that Ball and company have, I don't get it either. Neither do I understnad demon babies-did no show runners learn anything from SOA's mess this past season? The Mickens are purely invented for this show, as is most everything having to do with Sam. It's almost as if every person on the show has to be involved in some kind of mess at all times, and that just gets old and is shitty storytelling.
This show is losing me, fast....unless they really improve the Eric bits (yum!) AND have it make some sort of sense, then I'm out. This is definitely not an improvement on last year at all!
PopCandy Are you implying that Abel is a demon baby? What does SOA have to do with this storyline at all?
July 18, 2011 at 10:18AM ESTrowan729 I'm just saying that using a baby to drive a plot point in a negative way is not necessarily a great idea. Abel's kidnapping and being used for blackmail was weird, Arlene's demon baby is weird. Both are questionable uses of a baby as a plot device, that's all.
July 18, 2011 at 1:05PM ESTRemy
July 18, 2011 at 2:07AM EST Reply to CommentPart of the problem with the Jason scenes is exactly what webdiva noted--the Hotshot characters are redneck crazy hicks in the television show and far more complex, sophisticated, and sometimes likable folk with their own moral code in the books. Blatant stereotypes just don't make for good television. Then throw in a really unpleasant group rape scene and you have something worth cringing about. The Mick Even Andy Bellfleur has descended into a caricature of a hillbilly addict.
I can't believe how terrible the show is this season. Do they have a whole new set of writers? It always had a campy but fun vibe to it and enough plot twists to keep it halfway interesting. But I find myself getting bored and the is a third over already. Perhaps skipping ahead a year in the show's arc was a big mistake?
webdiva Thanks fo the shout out, Remy. You're right about stereotypes. It's not just the weres in Hotshot, it's the Mickens, too. Plus, they've changed the way Bill gets to know the other Bellefleurs; in the books, it was Bill Compton who had the family bible and knew the family connections, which allowed him to do his descendants a good turn anonymously -- but instead of that, which would make Bill a more complicated and interesting person, we get another bout of incest. Really?? Did we honestly need that on top of bizarro-Hotshot??? I think not. Part of the charm of the books is that no matter how strange, grotesque and wacky things get, we also get these glimpses of the less than normal folks of Bon Temps trying to do normal things. Like Pam wearing a perfect preppie twinset and enjoying it, Tara becoming a businesswoman and trying to have a normal love life, and Bill discovering he likes computers snd finding a way to make a living with one. But all Alan Ball gives us now is one absurdity or monstrosity after another, as if to test our shock tolerance, and less and less of it is funny or entertaining.
July 18, 2011 at 3:06AM ESTnycflo88
July 18, 2011 at 3:16AM EST Reply to CommentThe make believe goofy witch/wiccan messed up Pam's face. I laughed at next week's advance promo where she is complaining and dressed for a funeral. As for good looking actors in the buff--a guilty pleasure, and the Hotshot and Sam's folks' story-lines represent "intermissions," for the viewing audience. As soon as any of these stories appear, I cringe with disgust. Sam is a nice character who deserves better, but he's stuck on nowhere relationship(s), he too will have to deal vicious predator and will learn to shift into nastier animals, because a dog or a bird will not deter a werewolf. I know nobody pays close attention to a show like this, it's all about the eye-candy, but his reaction in being told by the woman he's interested in has a husband that is jealous and a werewolf didn't register right, not after his previous reactions toward werewolves. Although, he has become more brazen and he did beat Crystal's father into a coma if not for vamp blood. I mean I could understand if she told him when she was butt naked in front of him, but he just smiled as if she told him he worked in construction. Jason is not funny is just boring. Rape is always disturbing, and anything having to do with Hotshot and Sam's family is disturbing, disgusting, and dumb. However, the one recurring theme in this season are "false" appearances. There are characters that are hiding secret agendas, which I hope unfolds in an interesting and entertaining way. So far this season, I like the Eric, Pam, Lafayette, Wiccans, and Bill scenes. In the beginning this season seemed promising, but after episodes 3 and 4, it seems as if the show is breaking crazy and out of control with no mind and purpose.
Viginti
July 18, 2011 at 8:48AM EST Reply to CommentI hated having the Jason storyline as last week's stinger but kind of appreciated what they tried to do with the young girl; if you give Ball and the show the benefit of the doubt that is a pretty intense and challenging scene. The rest of it, not so much.
Plug: http://deerinthexenonarclights.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/true-blood-im-alive-and-on-fire/
Teklanika
July 18, 2011 at 10:22AM EST Reply to CommentI find the extended prisoner story lines to be boring. As it drags on from week to week I keep thinking to myself, when will this end already?
Especially Jason as his story line appears to have absolutely nothing to do with any other part of the show and I don't find even remotely entertaining.
This whole show jumped the shark for me last season and so far this season I'm not seeing anything that has changed my mind.
Vanessa
July 18, 2011 at 12:17PM EST Reply to CommentI found the Jason kidnapping particularly foul for a number of reasons: multiple rapes, child endangerment, that scene where the woman cried about her brother-husband--was that supposed to be amusing? Not to mention how stupid and skeevy the entire Hotshot plot line is. TB isn't known for its subtlety but they've really gone off the rails into what they think is edgy but is instead just disgusting and off-putting. I watch now on DVR and have resigned myself to fast-forwarding to the parts I still care about (Jessica, Arlene, Sookie, Eric, Pam, Lafayette and Bill.)
See also: the return of Tommy's dog-fighting WT parents. Good Lord, seriously?
M
July 18, 2011 at 5:41PM EST Reply to CommentI know I'm a little late to the party with a comment, but I think I find the Jason storyline so offputting because it's such a betrayal to everything we saw last season. Last year it seemed like the people of Hot Shot were messed up, but I think we were supposed to feel sympathetic to them and it seemed like things were turning around with Jason in charge. Now they're just leftovers from some bad horror movie (Wrong Turn, maybe?) with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I find the whole thing particularly odd since last season it seemed like they wanted us to root for and be invested in Jason's relationship with Crystal, but this year everything about her is so completely loathsome that I'm sure most people would be fine with her getting killed off. And, while Jason has always been dim, it undermines his character to have him have fallen for someone so demented.
As for all the kidnap/torture storylines on the show, I just assume they're part of the show's DNA (like the moles on 24.) That being said, the most effective one was the first season kidnapping of Stephen Root by Jason and Lizzy Caplan. You actually felt bad for Jason as much as you felt bad for Root's character. Since then, though, they've increasingly become a form of torture porn and this Jason storyline is the worst offender. At least the other storylines have had something redeeming in them (great performances by Eric, Pam, Franklin) and resolutions that resulted in real change for the characters (Tara's lip hasn't quivered once this season!) But this Jason storyline just seems like an excuse to be sick and twisted for the sake of it.
remy Torture porn--good call. That's it exactly what it is. And are we to find a group rape scene more palatable because the victim is a man (Jason)?
July 19, 2011 at 1:17AM EST
July 19, 2011 at 6:39AM ESTThat's not only buying into profoundly offensive rape myths; but it takes no imagination to picture the hell Ball would raise about a show where a gay/bi/trans-male sex worker -- not so different from Lafayette -- had been treated like that, and the executive producer had described it in those terms.
LJA
July 18, 2011 at 7:19PM EST Reply to CommentSkarsgard. Manganiello. Naked.
I didn't notice the rest of the episode.
Budo "Krokodiler!" had me laughing the most since... forever on True Blood.
July 20, 2011 at 6:27AM ESTNish
July 19, 2011 at 12:57PM EST Reply to CommentI swear I'm not trying to be snarky, but why do people like this show? Aside from the sex/nudity, I can't conceive a single positive attribute for this show. Hasn't it (and Anna Pacquin) been nominated for an Emmys in the past, too? How on earth is that possible? Is that supposed to be a joke like voting for William Hung to win on "American Idol"?
Jonas.Left
July 19, 2011 at 3:47PM EST Reply to CommentI enjoy the show and enjoy picking on it,too. As a change of pace I thought I'd say something positive. I love that the vampires are scared now. They're such bullies and sadists that its nice to see them in danger. I like that Tara is standing up to them by packing heat ( although shouldn't Pam be able to superspeed behind her and grab the gun? ). Another possible positive is the potential death of Arlene, the most irritating character on the show ( or any other ). Sure the evil/possessed baby is godawful stupid, but if it kills Arlene I will thank it kindly for its service to humanity.