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shipperx"Less conscience, more cajones."
Does anyone have the feeling that this is what the writers are telling each other in breakdown sessions? The Andy line may well be the motto for the show that picked-up approximately five minutes after the point where last season left off. It was fast-paced with a good dose of funny and nudity.
IOW, the stuff that True Blood does well. (Frankly, the more patently campy True Blood plays it, the more I enjoy it).
Stuff I liked:
* I am a fan of the Jason and Andy comedy tour. I think they're far and away my favorite couple on the show. It's the dim-wittedness combined with good intentions that makes it work. They're both just delightfully inept dopes. This is a pattern that works for these two and produced two of the funniest lines of the night : "Less conscience, more cajones!" and "Conscience off, dick on."
I have hopes for this storyline as the Jason and Andy comedy stint was my favorite thing last season. Although I also have to give a moment of love for the Hoyte/Jason scene where Hoyte was hinting about needing a place to stay and Jason just did. not. get. it... to the point that Hoyte took offense and blurted it out, leading to dim-witted Jason saying that of course Hoyte could bunk with him. Why was Hoyte asking in such a pissed-off way?
Hee. Poor, stupid Jason. :)
* "So you fell in love with a serial killer, who hasn't?" Another great line of the night... and in Bon Temps, this statement is far more true than it should be.
* "Oh, Sookie, stop," spoken by Pam in a completely unconcerned, totally not in any way trying to stop Sookie as Pam clearly looked forward to Sookie walking in on Eric in flagrante delicto kind of way.
* Jessica hugging Hoyte's roses then realizing that she had to drag the (nearly dead) body into the house. I liked Jessica's efforts to save the guy she...well... murdered. Not sure how they're going to fix this for her, but she isn't a heartless killer.
* I'm heading into unpopular fannish opinion-land, but as of the moment, I like Bill more than Eric (I'm actually not much of a fan of Eric beyond his butt and abs.)
Bill was quite funny in the slashtastic Sam/Bill sex dream. What was so LOL at first was that it started in a way that was initially somewhat believable (in True Blood terms) just pinging a few slashy vibes of "Hey, why doesn't Bill have a shirt?" And then the "Can I have a shower?" stuff leading you to think "The slashers will love this..." and then it goes into full bore slash! Hee!
I also liked the scene where Bill talked his way into the little old lady's house, fed, then mind wiped her into forgetting while handing her a wad a cash, saying that she'd remember that her son had given it to her. It was a nice combo of vampiric ruthlessness and old fashioned courtesy. I kind of like that combo. Bill was actually a tad bit badass in the episode.
* Still love Sam (always did).
* Still love Lafayette and could live with more Lafayette/Pam scenes.
Stuff I didn't like... well, actually that's a bit harsh. It's not lack of like, it's that I'm not seeing whatever it is that so many other people in fandom are seeing. Which is to say sorry, folks, I haven't made it onto Team Eric.
Don't get me wrong. The actor is hot. Tall and hot. He has great abs and a great butt, and he's easy on the eyes. But the same complaint I had about him last season remains. I don't think I know who in the hell he is. Eric isn't a three dimensional character for me yet, and much of what we're shown of him, I don't particularly like.
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shapinglight hit on it when she pointed out that Eric is very much the alpha male of the show. I'm not a big alpha male girl.
My other problem, I think is that Eric himself isn't funny. Funny happens around Eric because he's so dead pan, but that's not quite the same thing as cracking wise. Plus, Eric still shows little in the way of vulnerability. He can do a sad puppy look for Sookie, but... I just don't believe it.
If I'm supposed to be Team Eric, the show is going to have to put some effort into it -- and more than just making him walk around naked... not that I'm complaining. It's just that right now, Eric seems very hard (Ha! Ha! Not in that way.) Very alpha. Very straight (humor wise) and not particularly accessible or vulnerable. I, honest to God, prefer Bill at this point. He's such a contradiction of creepy-guy and old fashioned gent. It's the contrast that works. Eric is just too on top of things to really work for me, too much the ruler of most of what he surveys. Maybe his problems with the Queen will work on that, but as it is, Eric is just too privileged alpha male to hook into any of my kinks. He still needs much more dimension and some vulnerability to work for me.
Not that I really ship EITHER Bill or Eric with Sookie. Right now I prefer them in their own stories away from her (this has been the case with Bill for quite a while). Maybe I'll like Alcide and go Team Wolf.
Anyway, True Blood is back and it's still its flawed, outrageous OTT self... and that's the way it should be. It's at its best when it's OTT.
Does anyone have the feeling that this is what the writers are telling each other in breakdown sessions? The Andy line may well be the motto for the show that picked-up approximately five minutes after the point where last season left off. It was fast-paced with a good dose of funny and nudity.
IOW, the stuff that True Blood does well. (Frankly, the more patently campy True Blood plays it, the more I enjoy it).
Stuff I liked:
* I am a fan of the Jason and Andy comedy tour. I think they're far and away my favorite couple on the show. It's the dim-wittedness combined with good intentions that makes it work. They're both just delightfully inept dopes. This is a pattern that works for these two and produced two of the funniest lines of the night : "Less conscience, more cajones!" and "Conscience off, dick on."
I have hopes for this storyline as the Jason and Andy comedy stint was my favorite thing last season. Although I also have to give a moment of love for the Hoyte/Jason scene where Hoyte was hinting about needing a place to stay and Jason just did. not. get. it... to the point that Hoyte took offense and blurted it out, leading to dim-witted Jason saying that of course Hoyte could bunk with him. Why was Hoyte asking in such a pissed-off way?
Hee. Poor, stupid Jason. :)
* "So you fell in love with a serial killer, who hasn't?" Another great line of the night... and in Bon Temps, this statement is far more true than it should be.
* "Oh, Sookie, stop," spoken by Pam in a completely unconcerned, totally not in any way trying to stop Sookie as Pam clearly looked forward to Sookie walking in on Eric in flagrante delicto kind of way.
* Jessica hugging Hoyte's roses then realizing that she had to drag the (nearly dead) body into the house. I liked Jessica's efforts to save the guy she...well... murdered. Not sure how they're going to fix this for her, but she isn't a heartless killer.
* I'm heading into unpopular fannish opinion-land, but as of the moment, I like Bill more than Eric (I'm actually not much of a fan of Eric beyond his butt and abs.)
Bill was quite funny in the slashtastic Sam/Bill sex dream. What was so LOL at first was that it started in a way that was initially somewhat believable (in True Blood terms) just pinging a few slashy vibes of "Hey, why doesn't Bill have a shirt?" And then the "Can I have a shower?" stuff leading you to think "The slashers will love this..." and then it goes into full bore slash! Hee!
I also liked the scene where Bill talked his way into the little old lady's house, fed, then mind wiped her into forgetting while handing her a wad a cash, saying that she'd remember that her son had given it to her. It was a nice combo of vampiric ruthlessness and old fashioned courtesy. I kind of like that combo. Bill was actually a tad bit badass in the episode.
* Still love Sam (always did).
* Still love Lafayette and could live with more Lafayette/Pam scenes.
Stuff I didn't like... well, actually that's a bit harsh. It's not lack of like, it's that I'm not seeing whatever it is that so many other people in fandom are seeing. Which is to say sorry, folks, I haven't made it onto Team Eric.
Don't get me wrong. The actor is hot. Tall and hot. He has great abs and a great butt, and he's easy on the eyes. But the same complaint I had about him last season remains. I don't think I know who in the hell he is. Eric isn't a three dimensional character for me yet, and much of what we're shown of him, I don't particularly like.
Maybe
shapinglight hit on it when she pointed out that Eric is very much the alpha male of the show. I'm not a big alpha male girl. My other problem, I think is that Eric himself isn't funny. Funny happens around Eric because he's so dead pan, but that's not quite the same thing as cracking wise. Plus, Eric still shows little in the way of vulnerability. He can do a sad puppy look for Sookie, but... I just don't believe it.
If I'm supposed to be Team Eric, the show is going to have to put some effort into it -- and more than just making him walk around naked... not that I'm complaining. It's just that right now, Eric seems very hard (Ha! Ha! Not in that way.) Very alpha. Very straight (humor wise) and not particularly accessible or vulnerable. I, honest to God, prefer Bill at this point. He's such a contradiction of creepy-guy and old fashioned gent. It's the contrast that works. Eric is just too on top of things to really work for me, too much the ruler of most of what he surveys. Maybe his problems with the Queen will work on that, but as it is, Eric is just too privileged alpha male to hook into any of my kinks. He still needs much more dimension and some vulnerability to work for me.
Not that I really ship EITHER Bill or Eric with Sookie. Right now I prefer them in their own stories away from her (this has been the case with Bill for quite a while). Maybe I'll like Alcide and go Team Wolf.
Anyway, True Blood is back and it's still its flawed, outrageous OTT self... and that's the way it should be. It's at its best when it's OTT.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 08:25 pm (UTC)I started reading the first book and kinda stalled halfway through. I'm not sure if Eric is even in the first book, but he hand't appeared yet.
I think the episode that made me such a huge fan of Eric is when Godric commits suicide. There's an amazing vid done
What continues to remain in my memory about Eric and vulnerability is that after Sookie leaves the roof, Eric pretty much breaks down. And I love when scenes have people talking intimately to each other in the native tongue (like Jin and Sun on Lost)--and the blood tears Eric sheds afterwards. I definitely see how Eric is standoffish, but to me it's more that he's a layered character with great hidden depths yet to be plumbed. And as others have said, it's when the Alpha male facade is stripped away that we'll get to the heart of him.
So I find him more mysterious, always wanting more to be shown from him. Not that I doubt there's more to be shown.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 09:59 pm (UTC)Probably because LJ ate my first post for no apparent reason.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-15 02:48 am (UTC)Maybe it's about first impressions. My first impression of Eric in Fangtasia with him sitting on his throne with artfully arranged hair dangling over his eye just so was that he was a poseur, so after that I never really buy whatever he says as bveing "real" for him... except the Godric stuff. Except Godric is gone. It's not an ongoing thing. And I don't find his relationship (such as it is) with Sookie a help because it feels so...well... manipulative. I don't get a sense of an emotional pull but of an alien fascinated by something he thinks is curious. And the fact that so much of the attraction she feels for him is predicated on his having tricked her into drinking his blood for the express purpose of creating that bond, has made that pull also feel somewhat fake.
I just don't feel like I know what makes Eric tick. What he really cares about. The only genuine moments I've feel we've gotten from him involved Godric, and in Godric's absense I feel I still don't know what he cares about. And unless or until I do, he's too much of a mystery to me. I need the show to do some of the work. They have work to do with Eric before I can invest much feeling for him other than aesthetic appreciation. I feel like I only know the character on a superficial basis.
But, then, I haven't read any of the books. I know that things are slightly different in the book and that there are many more books than TV seasons thus far. It's just that, going solely by the TV show, the only moment of genuine emotion with Eric feels like Godric's death which, while it was good, just isn't enough for me to really connect.