It doesn't match real time. Each season takes place in 2-3 weeks, and each season leads directly into each other. From the time Sookie met Bill in the pilot, to the time she went into Fairyland (season 3/4), only about 7-8 weeks would have passed. There was the missing year from Fairyland, then the other flash forwards were when Sam sold the bar, and then the finale. Were there any others? I don't remember if there were ... Anyway, not that much time has gone by in-series. And still, the writers can't figure out how to, ya know, write. Shame, really. I live-blogged the finale on Facebook, and give it a solid D.
I figured the final season took place in 2011. The diary entries Sookie was reading from that ghost town they visited were written in 2011.
The final season takes place in 2011. It was confirmed onscreen when they read the girl's diary in the deserted town (I forget which episode, but in the first half of the season). The first jump was a year to Eric and Pam at the stock exchange, and the last Wed. July 11th was in 2012, so that fits. I took the "three years later" to indicate three years from the initial starting point of 2011, not from the last jump to 2012. But even if it was from 2012, it would still just be Thanksgiving 2015. ETA: That'll teach me not to read the next page before responding.
Well, it can't be 2015, because there's no Wednesday, July 11th, in 2015. The only two choices are 2012 and 2018. I'm pretty sure the second jump said "Three years after that," but I'd have to check. But that doesn't fit with the ghost town dates either way. And it doesn't fit with OmahaStar's timeline estimate either. Basically the timeline makes no sense whatsoever, unless we just assume there's some minor difference in the calendar in their universe.
I went back and rewatched the end of the finale. To establish the timeline from this season's episode I Found You: Then we get three time jumps: (click to enlarge) - "About a year later" takes us to Eric and Pam doing the infomercial for New Blood. I thought this and the NYSE shot were roughly the same time, which is what messed me up, but they actually had an extra jump. - "Three years after that" take us to Eric and Pam at the NYSE on a Wednesday, July 11th, which is impossible since the only years those occur in are either 2012 or 2018, as mentioned. So apparently they screwed up and used a shot from the actual NYSE in 2012 or didn't realize their own timeline, which is entirely possible given their other screw-ups. - "The following Thanksgiving" is the last time jump. So it goes roughly April, 2011 to ~April, 2012 to a non-existent July 11, 2015 to Thanksgiving, 2015. But then there's still the problem that both Sam and Jason have kids which are clearly older than four, so yeah, they screwed up. Other info from my rewatch: - Sookie's boyfriend/husband is either not a vampire or is more likely feeding off her fairy blood to remain in the daylight, since he's the one lowering the turkey into the deep fryer in daylight in the pic above (he says "turkey's in" in an unrecognizable voice, and she says "thanks, honey," so it's definitely the new guy). Point in favor of him being a vampire is the large supply of New Blood in the fridge, though it's really fucked up that Eric and Pam wouldn't share the cure with him. Point against is that he's wearing gloves to lower the turkey into the deep fryer, which I guess even vampires don't want to be burned, but it seems unnecessary if you'll immediately heal. - There are still roving vampires with Hep-V in the future, because Sookie has a "Never Walk Alone" magnet on her fridge. That might be how she met her vampire boyfriend/husband; in the vampire/human protection/feeding program. Which again, makes what Eric and Pam are doing releasing the New Blood instead of the cure really fucked up.
Pam and Eric are going to be really really rich. So who is the baby's daddy if the daddy is a vamp? Maybe she has tons of New Blood because a whole bunch of vamp friends are coming for evening Thanksgiving as soon as it gets dark.
It would be pretty hilarious if Bill suicides by Sookie so she can be free from vamps (which makes no sense but whatever) and she hooks up with another one.
I'm thinking the latter, since it's a four-year jump and four years from the present takes us to 2018. My fanwank on that: Thanksgiving was cancelled for two years because of the Vampire Apocalypse, so the "next" Thanksgiving was two years later. Okay, I didn't catch that. I thought of that, but then I thought maybe New Blood is all there is in the future. Why bother bringing back True Blood if you've got New Blood? That's weird. Maybe it's just a relic-- a "never again" kind of reminder. Maybe more happened in those four years than we know. Or maybe he was turned after the impregnation. I thought of that, but it's all right there in the kitchen fridge, not in the beer cooler you'd keep outside or in the cellar for a large party. I know that proves nothing, but it just seems that way to me. Indeed it would.
Why would Eric's fans rejoice (at least anymore than anyone else who hated the character)? It's not like they were ever in competition with each other except for a brief portion of a single season.
I finally limped over the finish line with this show. I got more of a Dragula vibe personally: Anyway, yeah, finale... what can I say, this show really petered out. I recall the first season being legitimately good. Now I'm really questioning if that happened or if I have some kind of early onset dementia, because looking at where it ended up it's hard to imagine it ever having been decent. The only good thing about the final couple of episodes is that Pam and Eric got to act like badass vampires. Even so, Eric is still a ridiculously inferior version of ol' Spike, and played by one of the most dreadful actors to ever make it onto a TV screen. It was hilarious watching him try to ham it up for the infomercial, when really that's how most of his acting comes across If I could turn back time, I'd just do a Buffy rewatch instead of bothering with this show.
SO it seems all that crapola about the Noble Bill leading people to freedom on the underground railroad had absolutely no connection to anything. Not even a teeny parallel about Vamps being saved. Just a bunch of eye rolling hooey.
I was just so disappointed in the wrap-up for Sam. 7 seasons and NOT ONCE does he turn into something seriously badass--by which I mean a lion, a gorilla, a rhino, a bear, an elephant; a BIG and powerful animal that causes some folks to dirty their pants. NOT ONCE. I thought I'd at least see him do a lion, because someone told me that's in the books. That ghost-Tara storyline was a major timewaster. It was good for the Lafayette/James interactions, but other than that, a huge waste of time in the last season.
Well, he did end up underground to "save" Sookie from a lifetime of his passive-aggressiveness and moping, and his attitude about women and relationships remains stuck in 1865 terms, so it's a metaphor for that. Yeah, the only time he ever did anything out of the box with it was going super-tiny to become a fly and then revert back to human form inside the vampire to kill them, but then that's not really as satisfactory as becoming something cool like a lion or elephant.