True Blood 5.02 "Authority Always Wins" discussion/spoilers

[Dorian Thompson]

Eric was more interesting when he didn't speak much and kept that air of mystery about him. Now that we know so much of his backstory, both the character and actor just come off as very bland.

God, you got that right. So many women find Skaarsgaard highly sexually appealing. I just don't get it. He's bland. He's skinny, he doesn't have a deep voice. I just don't get it. He doesn't come across as threatening or even particularly masculine. At least Alcide, dull as he is, has a very brawny "maleness" to him. Sam's masculine. Even Bill occasionally. Not Eric. Yawn.

My biggest complaint with the show has always been the number of storylines that don't really relate to each other at all. It's like they have an A, B,C,D, maybe an E plot each season, and, while A & B come together, C,D, and E may do so only tangentally or not at all. That's bullshit writing and it makes for a cast that, while high in variety, comes across to me as far to many for too long. It's one thing to have recurrent characters, it's another to set it up to have what amounts to several subcasts within the entire cast.

Heroes. Too much cast. No coherent plan. No cohesion of story. Throw everything at the wall. See what sticks.

 

[JD]

They have new featurette all about The Authority on HBO.com, and they say that they're setting up a Sanguanista (not sure if I spelled that right) aka Vamps who view humans as nothing but food vs. Mainstreamers conflict that will be a main focus of the story as the seasons go on. Here it is.
So far I'm going just by the recaps and previews, but I do have to agree that they do seem to be stretching themselves pretty thin with all of the different characters and stories. Honestly, if I had control I think I'd pretty much just narrow the focus down to a human, vampire, and shifter story and just tie all of the characters in those groups into just those plots, and just turn Tara, Arleen & Terry, Lafayette, and Andy into recurring characters who just pop up for a scene or two every few episodes. They're pretty good characters, but I don't really see all of them needing their own individual stories every season.