Monday, June 11, 2012

My Review of True Blood's 5x01: "Turn, Turn, Turn"


Written by Brian Buckner
Directed by Daniel Minahan

Lafayette (re Tara): “Hold up, turn her for us.”
Sookie: “What?”
Pam: “Turn her? I don’t even like her.”

And as vital plot twists go, you can forget about Bella Swan and Elena Gilbert because the most shocking lady to be made into a vampire is Tara Thornton and it’s Pam of all the vampires who got to make Tara into the very thing that she would not want to be under any circumstances either.

There’s a part of me that felt like I should be bothered by Tara’s sudden transformation but given that Sookie seemed incapable of healing her (don’t think microwave hand ability can go there) and Lafayette was the one to appeal to Pam first with the request, I think this could be a potentially interesting plot for both Tara and Pam this upcoming season.

The end scene with a newly made Tara on the attack was a pretty good way of ending an episode that mostly featured Sookie and Lafayette dealing with their losses and covering things up to a great detail. Debbie was being buried off screen, Alcide was being kept in the dark and Lafayette was more than keen to emphasise the importance of a goodbye scene as well.

I liked the pairing of these two characters in this episode and I liked that for once, both Bill and Eric elected to stay out of Sookie’s business as well for a change. Of course, given that they were being hunted by the Authority and with the arrival of ‘sister’ Nora, at least the two of them weren’t idle in this episode either.

I loved the friendship that’s appeared between Bill and Eric now. Seasons ago, Eric would’ve left Bill to die after that car explosion but Eric right now helped Bill before Nora breezed in and got rid of Hayes for both of them. As for Nora – love the casting, love the banter between her and Eric and the sex scene with them as well at the docking crates as well was pretty fun too.

Making an impression was something Nora managed to do in spades. Her willingness to betray the Authority for Eric was a nice way of endearing herself but I could’ve done without the brother/sister banter, especially given that they’re (thankfully) not biologically related to each other. Still, their scenes together with each other and Bill were definitely the highlights of a very joyful opening episode.

As for the Authority – they did catch up and managed to arrest Bill, Eric and Nora in the end and it doesn’t take a genius to reckon that they’re also the ones keeping Russell locked up and feeding him stray humans as well. I’m sort of glad we didn’t actually see Russell in this episode given how much was going on but I do hope they don’t drag his actual return out too long though.

Speaking of returns – I love Steve Newlin. As a vampire, he’s super fun to watch and his profession of love to a naked and gagged Jason was pretty damn amusing as well. Most people called it back in the second season that Newlin was in the closet but now he’s an out and proud gay American vampire. Unfortunately, he really does need to work on coping with rejection because polite as he was, Jason did make it clear that he’s a woman only type of guy.

Keeping with Jason – I felt bad for him in this episode. Jessica might have rescued him from Steve in this episode but she also kept him at arm’s length during a house party at Bill’s and Hoyt was pretty nasty to him as well. I mean, Hoyt does have a right to be mad at Jason but my sympathy is beginning wear off a little with Hoyt now. Jason did make some efforts to change in this episode when he rejected Cammy. The Jason of old certainly wouldn’t have.

Last but no least – I really do not care for Martha, even if she did have a right to know what happened to Marcus and vent her rage at Sam and Alcide in this episode and I probably could’ve done without seeing the pack eating up Marcus’s remains as well. I did however like the plot with Terry and Patrick a little more, especially given that it seems like someone out to kill them. It should be an interesting little subplot over the next few weeks to watch.

Also in “Turn, Turn, Turn”

Much as I love the reminders of the previous season antics, did we really need to see the Sookie/Debbie/Tara scene again?

Bill: “Sookie.”
Eric: “Fuck Sookie. What, did you not hear her tonight? She rejected both of us.”

New to the opening credits this season are Scott Foley (Patrick), Lucy Griffiths (Nora) and Michael McMillian (Steve). Expect at least two other names next week.

Pam (re Tara): “She smells.”
Sookie: “Is that bad?”
Pam: “Can’t imagine it’s good.”

Steve: “I’m a gay vampire American and I love you, Jason Stackhouse.”

I liked the flashbacks with Sookie and Tara as kids, great casting on that front too. Also, where the hell is Jesus’s body?

Jessica (to Steve): “I’m gonna give you a choice – you let him go or the true death? There is no in between.”

Sookie (to Lafayette, re Debbie): “I decided to pull the trigger instead. I wanted to kill her. Does that sound like self-defence to you?”

It was a little jarring to see Eric being chummy with Alcide on the phone after seeing Lafayette being quite mean to him but it was interesting though. More so than Holly’s sons or Andy’s plot with that fella at Merlotte’s.

Eric: “You always were an amazing liar.”
Nora: “Even the best of liars can be ended.”

Sookie: “You won’t want me to stay with you once you’ve heard why I can’t stay with you.”
Alcide: “Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

Standout music: Paul McCartney & Wings “Silly Love Songs”, Morning Jacket’s “Turn, Turn, Turn” and Jessica/Jason’s take on “Cherry Bomb” while playing Guitar Hero.

Eric (to Bill, re Nora): “We fight like siblings but fuck like champions.”

Sookie: “Lafayette!”

Chronology: Straight from where “And When I Die” left off and the trailer for the rest of the season means we’re in for another bumpy ride this year.

For an opening episode, “Turn, Turn, Turn” was actually a ridiculous amount of fun to watch. I know some fans are divided on the Tara plot and feel there’s too much going on but personally, I find the former interesting and the latter pretty much the same. Once again, I am hooked to this show.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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