True Blood 4x11 - "Soul of Fire" (spoilers)
- Thread starter OmahaStar
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Great episode. Left me on the edge of my seat. I did NOT expect Marnie dying in the penultimate episode. Interesting to see her "coming back" next episode but I much prefer Fiona Shaw's acting to Nelsan Ellis's.
I just didn't buy Eric and Bill both being so willing to kill themselves on the promise that Sookie would go free. I can only hope that they had some kind of expectation of Sookie to freak out and use her powers to lower the barrier that Pam interrupted by attacking.
Loved Marnie's lackey's death (I never cared to learn his name) and eric drinking blood from his heart.
I hope the whole Andy on vampire blood storyline is over as well as ALL of the Were's. I've had more than enough. Sadly I feel next season will revolve around Sookie and Alcide getting together, more Faerie stuff (with Andy), and Jason's Werepanther children.
Next week looks awesome but I have a feeling it will all feel rushed or they will miss out on some opportunities.
4 Fangs
I just didn't buy Eric and Bill both being so willing to kill themselves on the promise that Sookie would go free. I can only hope that they had some kind of expectation of Sookie to freak out and use her powers to lower the barrier that Pam interrupted by attacking.
Loved Marnie's lackey's death (I never cared to learn his name) and eric drinking blood from his heart.
I hope the whole Andy on vampire blood storyline is over as well as ALL of the Were's. I've had more than enough. Sadly I feel next season will revolve around Sookie and Alcide getting together, more Faerie stuff (with Andy), and Jason's Werepanther children.
Next week looks awesome but I have a feeling it will all feel rushed or they will miss out on some opportunities.
4 Fangs
I'm just glad to see the end of everyone stuck in that shop. That and hearing spells constantly being recited in bizarre tongues. Marnie feels oddly disconnected from Bon Temps even as she threatens it.
I do continue to love Pam, she's like Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous with fangs. I have to agree Bill and Eric were odd this week.
I do continue to love Pam, she's like Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous with fangs. I have to agree Bill and Eric were odd this week.
Eric and Bill pretending to be committing suicide until someone does something to put a stop to it. Then Eric pretends to be angry at Pam?
If those idiots hadn't interfered, Sookie's love triangle would have been over! Talk about lost opportunities.
And making the literal gays responsible for this atrocity just takes the cake. As it it wasn't bad enough the metaphorical gays are blood-drinking monsters.
If those idiots hadn't interfered, Sookie's love triangle would have been over! Talk about lost opportunities.
And making the literal gays responsible for this atrocity just takes the cake. As it it wasn't bad enough the metaphorical gays are blood-drinking monsters.
Wow! Just an awesome episode all around.
The vampires are metaphorically gay. God hates fags morphs into God hates fangs. Etc. Russell Edgington raving about eating your children even references gay=pedophilia stereotpes. The occasional deranged speech about toleration for vampires is metaphorically a gay rights speech.
The only other reading that holds water for a moment is that the vampires are simply vicarious fantasy heroes, for the audience who wants the fun of imagining ripping hearts out, drinking blood, breaking necks, enslaving people with their blood, dominating people with their glamors. You know, standard family entertainment in the empire.
The gay metaphor may have been played with ("God Hates Fangs", coming out of the closet/coffin, minority rights and so on), but I don't believe that vampirism is a 100% total metaphor for homosexuality in this show. Take a look at this article, where Alan Ball says:
The vampires are metaphorically gay. God hates fags morphs into God hates fangs. Etc. Russell Edgington raving about eating your children even references gay=pedophilia stereotpes. The occasional deranged speech about toleration for vampires is metaphorically a gay rights speech.
The only other reading that holds water for a moment is that the vampires are simply vicarious fantasy heroes, for the audience who wants the fun of imagining ripping hearts out, drinking blood, breaking necks, enslaving people with their blood, dominating people with their glamors. You know, standard family entertainment in the empire.
Just stop watching. You obviously dont get it.
The vampires are metaphorically gay. God hates fags morphs into God hates fangs. Etc. Russell Edgington raving about eating your children even references gay=pedophilia stereotpes. The occasional deranged speech about toleration for vampires is metaphorically a gay rights speech.
The only other reading that holds water for a moment is that the vampires are simply vicarious fantasy heroes, for the audience who wants the fun of imagining ripping hearts out, drinking blood, breaking necks, enslaving people with their blood, dominating people with their glamors. You know, standard family entertainment in the empire.
A lot of what happened here was predictable, although I didn't think Bill and Eric were serious about dying for Sookie. That Eric got pissed at Pam tells me he really was ready to die for her. Oh lord.
It was an exciting episode and I was a little surprised they went through with killing Marnie so quickly. Wonder how they're going to fix Lafayette being possessed by her next week? Guess they could finally kill him off, which would most likely write Jesus out of the show, too.
The resolution to the Shifter/Were storyline was well-done if a bit obvious. I guess Alcide will be running the Shreveport pack now, and I doubt Debbie will stay out of the way next season. Her tousles with Sookie were a highlight of season 3 so it would be fun to see that again.
This business with Jason and Jessica has got to stop, though. Either get them together or don't, but having them go back and forth all the time is just irritating.
What was the deal with the faery that appeared to Andy? Are they tying back to what happened in the premiere, somehow? I wish they would. That was an interesting sequence and seemed to be setting up a conflict but then nothing came of it. Eric killed Claudine and the faery storyline seemed to be brushed aside. Plus, I wanna see Barry again.
I can only hope they are setting up to have a final season conflict of vampires vs. faeries --two races that suck the life from humans. Whoever wins, we lose?
I also hope they find something to do with Tara again. She was barely present this season, and I missed having a "how much can we torture Tara?" storyline.
It was an exciting episode and I was a little surprised they went through with killing Marnie so quickly. Wonder how they're going to fix Lafayette being possessed by her next week? Guess they could finally kill him off, which would most likely write Jesus out of the show, too.
The resolution to the Shifter/Were storyline was well-done if a bit obvious. I guess Alcide will be running the Shreveport pack now, and I doubt Debbie will stay out of the way next season. Her tousles with Sookie were a highlight of season 3 so it would be fun to see that again.
This business with Jason and Jessica has got to stop, though. Either get them together or don't, but having them go back and forth all the time is just irritating.
What was the deal with the faery that appeared to Andy? Are they tying back to what happened in the premiere, somehow? I wish they would. That was an interesting sequence and seemed to be setting up a conflict but then nothing came of it. Eric killed Claudine and the faery storyline seemed to be brushed aside. Plus, I wanna see Barry again.
I can only hope they are setting up to have a final season conflict of vampires vs. faeries --two races that suck the life from humans. Whoever wins, we lose?
I also hope they find something to do with Tara again. She was barely present this season, and I missed having a "how much can we torture Tara?" storyline.
Okay, so Eric's still a pussy. Lame episode. I'm afraid I'm going to have to retire from True Blood. Like last season, it's just deteriorated towards the end.
The producers do not get to tell me what to think about their programs. I will watch for myself, thank you very much. That said, I'm sure that Alan Ball would much prefer me to work for clarifications/excuses/justifications/exceptions for his mixed metaphors. That'll happen when he pays me to.
By far the best example of not getting it, is not getting that vamps sometimes being gays and sometimes being monsters is a major problem in the series. But not getting that it might not be fun to watch a man rip another man's heart out and suck blood from it is also magnificently obtuse.
By far the best example of not getting it, is not getting that vamps sometimes being gays and sometimes being monsters is a major problem in the series. But not getting that it might not be fun to watch a man rip another man's heart out and suck blood from it is also magnificently obtuse.
Eric may still be pussy whipped, but that part was pretty freakin' awesome.
The Reality of the Vampire/Gay comparison is more subtle than many people really take the time to understand.
Vampires in this series are constantly being treated as a unified group.... There's even a "Vampire Political movement" and the real mistake by many of the characters is trying to lump all the vampires together as if they're all the same, and out for similar goals...
The point of any similarity in the show between Vamps and Gays is that all Gay people are NOT a part some unified "Gay" group. They're individuals who just happen to share a few things in common.
Just because some vampires in the show are evil doesn't mean all vampires are evil.
Good & Evil are choices that you choose to make.
Vampires are all vicious predators, however despite their choices because if you're a vampire, you're a vampire.
It's a question of biology, not choice. Vampires are bloodsuckers, pretending otherwise is crazy. (Again, subtle...)
BUT
Vampires have the ability to make choices and letting those choices define their actions and behavior makes more sense to me than just writing them all off as evil BECAUSE of their biology (As so many in the show seem too.)
The whole "Vampire=Gay, Vampire=Evil, therefore Gay=Evil" syllogism just doesn't hold water.
Simply put....
People (and Vampires) are more complex than whatever box you're trying to put them into.
Except when it comes to Sookie... then they're just idiots.
Vampires in this series are constantly being treated as a unified group.... There's even a "Vampire Political movement" and the real mistake by many of the characters is trying to lump all the vampires together as if they're all the same, and out for similar goals...
The point of any similarity in the show between Vamps and Gays is that all Gay people are NOT a part some unified "Gay" group. They're individuals who just happen to share a few things in common.
Just because some vampires in the show are evil doesn't mean all vampires are evil.
Good & Evil are choices that you choose to make.
Vampires are all vicious predators, however despite their choices because if you're a vampire, you're a vampire.
It's a question of biology, not choice. Vampires are bloodsuckers, pretending otherwise is crazy. (Again, subtle...)
BUT
Vampires have the ability to make choices and letting those choices define their actions and behavior makes more sense to me than just writing them all off as evil BECAUSE of their biology (As so many in the show seem too.)
The whole "Vampire=Gay, Vampire=Evil, therefore Gay=Evil" syllogism just doesn't hold water.
Simply put....
People (and Vampires) are more complex than whatever box you're trying to put them into.
Except when it comes to Sookie... then they're just idiots.
The problem is also that when you take any allegory too literally you miss the point of it being an allegory. Real gays don't drink blood (Jesus excepted) and turn people undead, real gays don't combust under sunlight, real gays aren't harmed by silver, etc. Vampires aren't specifically a stand-in for gays but more generally represent the outsider, the same way the X-Men do. There are aspects you could assign to any contemporary demographic of outsiders and say, "Look! They're obviously saying vampires are like x!" But it doesn't work that way. This show has actual gay characters in it, so there's no real reason to hide some kind of gay agenda in the subtext of the vampire storylines.
In the context of True Blood, vampires are shown to not typically think and act like humans. You could replace them with aliens and tell the same kinds of stories--think Alien Nation but with the aliens being nocturnal hemovores. They have different social and cultural values and while some choose to act in a more human manner (like Bill), it's clear that this is contrary to their biological nature. How do you coexist with your food supply as equals? Even with a substitute (True Blood itself), that entire dynamic doesn't just go away.
But acknowledging this doesn't mean the show has "confused metaphors" or has otherwise screwed up. Vampires are vampires. Not gay people or bigamists or atheists or whatever other "out group" you want to consider them a stand-in for. It is sometimes dramatically effective to use aspects of those out groups to inform the milieu of your story, as it gives people something "real" to relate to, but if you take it as a straight allegory of any contemporary issue or group you are rather missing the point.
In the context of True Blood, vampires are shown to not typically think and act like humans. You could replace them with aliens and tell the same kinds of stories--think Alien Nation but with the aliens being nocturnal hemovores. They have different social and cultural values and while some choose to act in a more human manner (like Bill), it's clear that this is contrary to their biological nature. How do you coexist with your food supply as equals? Even with a substitute (True Blood itself), that entire dynamic doesn't just go away.
But acknowledging this doesn't mean the show has "confused metaphors" or has otherwise screwed up. Vampires are vampires. Not gay people or bigamists or atheists or whatever other "out group" you want to consider them a stand-in for. It is sometimes dramatically effective to use aspects of those out groups to inform the milieu of your story, as it gives people something "real" to relate to, but if you take it as a straight allegory of any contemporary issue or group you are rather missing the point.
When four vampires toting a handheld rocket come at you but the script insists the villain is the woman inside and the gay guys will of course drop the protective field so the vampires can come in, the metaphor vampire=gay is being invoked. In the series Eric and Pam are hardened killers and Jessica is consumed with blood lust, while Bill is the most conniving of them all, pursuing a secret agenda, ruthlessly dispatching all in its way. (Except Sookie.) The insistence that it is hateful to want to destroy these monsters is absurd. The only good one was Godric, who exercise capital judgment upon himself.
The vampires' choices, in all their psychological complexity, is purely an imaginary point of the show. The show jams together vampires=gay with vampires=sexiest bad asses who get to do fun stuff, like kill, rip out hearts, break necks, eat, bleed to death, dominate etc. ad nauseam. Which is a mess.
The vampires' choices, in all their psychological complexity, is purely an imaginary point of the show. The show jams together vampires=gay with vampires=sexiest bad asses who get to do fun stuff, like kill, rip out hearts, break necks, eat, bleed to death, dominate etc. ad nauseam. Which is a mess.