Here it is, Truebies! The long-awaited, final season of True Blood has begun, and kicked off in
an especially bloody fashion with the Season 7 Premiere episode. After 6
seasons and a whole lot of crazy, the adventure has now reached the beginning
of the end, with audiences keen to find out what had happened to Eric (Alexander
Skarsgard) after his nude reading turned into a blazing affair in the last
episode of Season 6, not to mention what fate would befall the other
inhabitants of Bon Temps, as they can never seem to catch a break.
The episode opened in a particularly archaic manner, as the
poor residents of Bon Temps were attacked by some remaining Hep-V vampires, who
quickly chow down on the unfortunate townsfolk. So, a couple of people die no
big deal for the hardened residents of Bon Temps, eh? Well, the big shocker
happened in the first couple of minutes as quicker than a flash – Tara (Rutina
Wesley) dies. No sooner have we seen her back in the game, she apparently dies
as her mother is left grieving over her remains, all stuck to the ground. To
say this was rushed, would be an understatement. There one minute, and
literally gone the next, Tara’s death acted as more of a sloppy plot-device to
provoke emotional reactions from her fellow friends, with Sookie (Anna Paquin)
flipping out and going off on Alcide (Joe Manganiello) about it. Tara’s death
was executed in such an unbelievable fashion, you’ll be left wondering whether
it actually happened or not, as she didn’t even die ‘on-screen’. At this point,
you can’t help but feel bad for Tara as her death was so anti-climatic and
flippant that you are left feeling quite disappointed and disengaged for the
rest of the episode. There are so many more directions that the writers could
have taken with the character, so it’s a bit of a shame to see them kill her
off in such an abysmal manner.
With that in mind, the rest of the episode was rather understated, with writers clearly wanting to tie off loose ends and have the story arc play out as Bon Temps vs Hep-V Vampires. The delightful additions to the episode came in the form of Jessica and Pam; with Deborah Ann Woll’s performance as the former vampire being the most memorable, as her character struggles to come to terms with what she has done to the Bellefleur family, whilst she also tries to protect Adilyn Bellefleur (Bailer Noble) from other infected vampires, and herself. Woll’s character is more of the more intriguing left in the series, and so far, in the absence of Eric and the breakdown of Sookie/Bill (Stephen Moyer), it seems to be the only strong arc in the episode.
Having said that, Anna Paquin puts in a plucky performance as the telepathic waitress, who finally stands up to all the townspeople bad-mouthing her and blaming her for what has happened (even though these types of events have been going on since Season 1, so you think they’d have learned to deal with it by now...), as she delivers a hopeful speech in her usual manner. In the absence of Eric, Pam (Kristin Bauer) is back, and on her hunt for Eric we get to see her engage in a silver bullet Russian roulette-style shoot-off to gain information about his whereabouts. Here we are treated to some classic sassy Pam lines from Bauer, whose performance as Pam is always a treat, as her character puts on a brave-face in the absence of her maker.
With the first episode of the final Season dishing out some
dramatic events in a rather sloppy manner, but ultimately ‘tying off loose
ends’, we hope that the rest of the Season will be executed in a more coherent
and satisfying manner, and that the missing characters quickly make their
return to the series before the whole affair gets a little stale. That being
said, there are plenty offerings to keep fans enticed, and much to hope for
from future episodes, such as the fate of Arlene (Carrie Preston), Holly
(Lauren Bowles) and company, after their kidnapping at the hands of the
infected vampires.
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