True Blood – Review of “Hopeless,” Originally Aired on July 15, 2012
I’ve got to say that True Blood wasn’t something that I thought I would like, when I originally started watching. The opening credits are something that lack taste, I would have to say. I originally started watching it quite by accident. I get into these phases where I watch everything on a subject. In this particular case it was vampires: vampire movies, vampire TV shows, anything else vampire that I could find.
Now I can safely say, that with True Blood being in its fifth season, I have not watched it from the beginning. I can also safely say, after disconnecting HBO for the last 12 months, True Blood and Game of Thrones makes whatever HBO costs worth every penny. True Blood, much like Game of Thrones, is a guilty pleasure that at times can disgust you, but it’s always entertaining and enjoyable.
Now let’s get on with this week’s episode, “Hopeless.” I have watched several episodes of this season, most of which I got caught up on, while I was visiting in California at a convention. This episode, being the sixth episode of the season, did not disappoint. I’m still in the process of catching up on all of the characters in what I have missed over the last year. Having watched the first four seasons only very iffy and spotty, I was not strong on anyone’s position in the show except Sookie. And PS, where did they come up with that name?
So in this episode, wolves attack Eric, Bill, and Alcide, while Russell attempts to feed Sookie, vampire authorities are interfering and everything. They capture Russell, Bill, and Eric. They are after some super vampire, attempting to help the authorities capture him to prove their loyalty and to get themselves out of trouble. Because of the murdering going on with the shifters, which they call them the shifters. I personally call them werewolves. But because of the murdering going on with the shifters/werewolves, the werewolf’s child stays with her grandmother. This is significant because the mother of the werewolf baby girl has never gotten along with her grandmother. She is human and wants her daughter, whom she did not know was a werewolf until recently, to live a normal life.
I was a bit annoyed by one of the characters, the role of Kwanten, Suki’s brother, played by Jason Stackhouse. He used to be this chick magnet, and life is given him a couple of things to think about. And all of a sudden he’s done a 180° turn, and he wants nothing to do with, shall we say, girls. As much as I respect what he’s been through, and as much as I understand that this type of change could happen, this thread or part of the story is too dramatic, and too major of a personality change to be believable. For example, he runs into an old schoolteacher that used to “abuse” him. After taking her home, while laying in front of a fireplace with her, he decides it’s wrong, and he’s using sex to cover up his feelings. He gets up and leaves. His entire life changes at that moment. No second thoughts, no falling off the wagon, and no young man’s urges anymore; he’s been saved by these changed, and it’s over. Very annoying.
Jessica Hamby has got to be one of my favorite characters. When she was turned into a vampire, she came from an abusive family: her father abused the entire family, didn’t allow them to leave the house, watched them like hawks, preached to them all the time, and didn’t allow her to live her life. At first she was very disturbed by the idea of becoming a vampire, then she realized she didn’t have to listen to him or shouldn’t have to do anything. She can do whatever she wanted. She did, and he died. Then she turned into a brat for a long period of time, not listening to anyone and causing lots of trouble. She’s grown to learn to party and to have fun, but yet still be miserable feeling like the outsider. An awesome character and a good story in itself.
Tara is one of the newest vampires. She was recently created when Sookie had a little mishap in her house, and she ended up dead. This is another character that kind of feels like an outsider, but is been given a second chance at life by becoming a vampire.
Now with all this going on, everything is a bit hard to follow. There’s got to be at least three or four different stories concurrently happening at one time. All in all a well-built story, at a good pace, and entertainment on multiple threads with tons of vampires, werewolves, fairies, and other supernatural style people for lack of a better word. I’d rate this episode about a 6.5 out of a total score possible of 10.
Next week airing on HBO, on July 22, 2012, is the seventh episode of the fifth season, called “In The Beginning.” I look forward to your feedback and your opinions. Please post a comment.
