From Dead to Worse

by Courtney Hilden
Spoilers: This review gives away almost all of the surprises of this books.

When sitting down to review From Dead to Worse, the eighth book in the Southern Vampire Series, I found myself wondering what I could possibly say as to what the plot was. The plot was really several episodes thrown in together. One involves Sookie meeting a new, mysterious (of course he’s mysterious, this series is nominally a mystery series) relative, another has a Nicene war within the local werewolf pack, another features a hostile takeover, and finally there’s a broken marriage thrown in for good mix. The plot sort of meanders along, and although this would usually be a good thing, it is unlike previous books in Harris’s series, and feels less controlled. This tight, no-flab writing was one of the most admirable things about Harris’s series, which lacked the bloat of other popular urban fantasies and romances. The book felt like Harris is setting up for something else (what I do not know, as I have yet to read further), maybe giving us pertinent information for future books, but otherwise feeling like a letdown.

The other majorly disappointing thing about the book is staving off (yet again!) the romance between Sookie and Eric. Eric, finally remembering everything that took place four books ago, has yet to have an important “talk” with Sookie. This is getting dragged out to the point of boredom. And also, when is Bill going to disappear? His earliest scene, talking to an undressing Sookie, felt forced, and in light on the events of the book, was totally unnecessary to the rest of the plot. His later moments in the book, talking to her on her porch and then arriving at her house during a crisis, felt more like a way to insert an otherwise useless character into the plot and way to compensate Bill/Sookie shippers for having thrown in their lot with not only a jerk of a character but a bland jerk of a character. He is the sort of person, excuse me, vampire, who desperately needs a hobby.

It seems increasingly unlikely that Sookie would still want Bill, given that he has not done much other than talk about wanting to love her. Meanwhile, Eric has shown all the initiative to respect her enough to be there for her when she meets her mysterious relative (telling her he’s there for her but backing off and allowing her to make her own decisions.) And he has shown pragmatism and care for his followers and employers. Of all the tyrants in this series, he is the least interested in power for power’s sake and the unhappiest with what power he has. Why can’t Sookie see that?
Also getting more “page time” in the series is Sam, who was also steadfastly by Sookie’s side throughout the book, helping her when he could. His back story near the end felt a bit rushed, but otherwise Sam’s a lovable character, and a great match for Sookie too.
The last quibble with this book is over lesbian relationships. Even though Amelia could be in either a heterosexual or homosexual relationship, and the book flirts briefly with Amelia and Pam as a couple, Amelia’s longer relations are always with me. Other women with women pairings are shown in earlier parts of the series as dangerous, and there’s something deeply sad and disappointing about this.
Readers could do worse than this series or even this book, which is one of the lower books within the series. The writing is still interesting, the world still imaginative, and there was even a surprise or two.

Crimes

by Courtney Hilden


In True Blood land, Bill has officially (thankfully) dumped Sookie.  A normal girl would get angry, break some glass bottles, and then move on.  Sookie, of course, decides to take denial to new levels by staying in another state to look for him.  Sam tries to right his family, Jason attempts to bypass become a police officer the traditional way, Tara is held hostage by Franklin, Lafayette fails to sell his drugs, and Eric's club is sacked.  A lot happens in these episodes, so let's focus on the good and the bad.  
It's really bothersome that Sookie takes two seconds to be attracted to Alcide, especially after he's involved in violence.  Is Sookie attracted to violence and emotional baggage?  She's almost as bad as Bella Swan.
In the books, the audience does not see Bill's stay in Mississippi, and now that the audience can see it on screen, it's easy to see why Harris, the author, left it out.  Bill's plotline continues to be boring and slows down the rest of the episode.  The other irritating plotline is Arlene's anti-vampire screed.  Once again, this show has decided that women are all crazy and bitchy, especially when they are pregnant.  
Some of the other problems with this episode included originality.  Jason's little football-playing-rival Kit called himself the "QB" which is exactly what Kevin called himself on Daria.  And apparently the writers have watching high school rom coms from the nineties, because Sookie got a makeover in order to impress a guy. 
But some things are worth watching for.  The acting by the secondary characters continues to amaze.  Franklin and Tara's scene where Franklin dictated her call was spot on, both scary and terrifying, like a particular moment in the "Midnight" episode of Doctor Who.  Tara's scenes where she was tied up was great too, showing us that Franklin is a rapist, using not just sex but people's mind against them.  Points also to Sookie and Eric, who once again have chemistry in a line of dialogue that outdoes everything Sookie and Bill have had this entire show.
The interesting juxtapositions with faith have also continued, though this is by far the bizarrest way yet.  This time, vampires donating blood in a ritual meant to imitate the Christian ceremony of drinking Jesus's blood.  How exactly the audience should interpret this on-the-nose reference has not been yet revealed, but probably will be as the season continues, just like the show's thoughts on evangelicalism was fleshed out over the course of season two.  
There are also great friendships on this show.  At the end of the last season, the show highlighted Andy and Jason, which continues to be wonderful but now slightly painful.  It's too sad the relationship between Andy and Jason is souring, because so many shows lack friendships that feel as real and faithful as the ones in our lives. This episode showed Eric and Lafayette in a different kind of friendship.  Scenes where Lafayette is discriminated against because of his sexuality, his race and his connection to vampires is hard to watch, but seeing Eric protect his own was a relief, though not as empowering as "AIDS burger" from season one.
And no show can be bad if it uses a song from Massive Attack, so the show, despite having clunky elements to it, also has moments of genius. 

It Hurts Me Too

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert: Some of the twists from this episode are given away in this review.

The next installment in the plotline juggling show that is True Blood started out with a literal bang: Sookie shot at a werewolf that had let himself into her house. (Is her house possibly some supernatural magnet? Seems like a lot of bad guys just waltz all over it, including Marianne, who turned it into a brothel mixed with a cult headquarters last season.) There were some other fun twists in the episode, including the revelation that Arlene is pregnant, not with her boyfriend's baby, but with Rene's baby. (For those of you not in the know, Rene was the villain from season one.) It also looks like Jason will become a police officer. It's a smart move, since it'll allow the audience to see more of the Andy/Jason bromance that brought so much comic relief to the last episodes of season two.

Alexander Skarsgard once again gave a stellar performance. He perfectly blends Eric's bad boy posing and his inner romantic. He gives great small touches too, like the patting of the funeral wreath after he buried the dead werewolf in an already recently-buried grave. But make no mistakes about Eric; Skarsgard can still give the menace. He's a brilliant leader, one that Machiavelli could be proud of.
Good quotes were brought to you from Lafayette, of course, who commented that it must feel new when Jason said he had a lot on his mind. Talbot had a good zinger too, telling Cooter that it was insulting to boxes to compare werewolves to them. It's hard not to love sarcastic, teenager little brother, who noted that if Sam threw a punch, he would "totally be one of them."
It might be interesting to see what they're going to do with the Sam storyline, since Sam's little brother seems surprisingly like a sociopath. It's nice that they brought Sam's family to Bon Temps, instead of having the rest of this season's Sam storyline happen elsewhere. My guess is that Sam's family is going to abuse their relationship with him, sucking money from him.
Also making an appearance is Alcide. He's a much more attractive man in this show than I thought he'd be. The other new-ish man, Franklin, is total scum, since he's clearly into blackmailing poor Jessica and Tara. He's not much of a villain, since the only thing lamer than Franklin's come-ons is his theme music.
The plotline that is the least interesting? Bill's. It's hard to care what happens to him, even with the information that he is important to Sophie-Anne. It's hard to even believe he's that important to her, since Sophie-Anne said several episodes ago that she was happy to hear he was out of the way. The flashback featuring Bill and Caroline was decent, given the flashbacks are usually dry and uninspired on this show. It's too bad we can't spend more time with Bill and Caroline, because they're a legitimately interesting couple. Lorena's lines are as terrible as Franklin's, like her whole "Your only loyalty is to your own sentiment," which she said to Bill.
Other not good things about this episode included the stilted post-coital dialogue between Tara and Franklin. It sounded more like a bad film from the forties than two modern adults talking to one another. (Bill and his wife Caroline were also somewhat stilted, though not nearly as bad as much of what came out of other vampire's fang-framed mouths.) The lack of chemistry between Tara and Franklin was particularly noticeable given the easy and sweet dialogue between Sam and Sookie and Tara and Jason. This episode was not as good as the first two of the season, but still fun and with some interesting changes to the storyline of the books.