Was True Blood Season 4 much better than 2 and 3?

[Dream]

I haven't seen season 4 yet, and wanted to know what fans generally thought of it now that it is over. No spoilers please.

I had problems with season two. I liked Godric and Dallas, but I didn't care at all about Maryann. Season three was one big mess at times. We got a hundred storylines and most of them were meh like Jason's. The werewolves ended up being a waste of time. Only reason stuck with it was because of Russell. I was so tempeted to drop the show.

I need to know if season 4 is worth watching if I disliked 2 and 3. Thoughts?

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I liked it. There are some pretty cool moments this season, but overall it's probably more in tune with season 3 in terms of many storylines going on at once that eventually intersect at the end.

 

[DarKush]

I think Season 4 was better than 2 and 3. It's not without flaws and it meandered a bit, especially in the beginning with some unnecessary subplots, but the last third of the season tightened up a bit. I also think the big bad was one of the more effective they've had on the show. Russell, from Season 3, perhaps had more style, but the S4 baddie got more done. I don't think S4 was better than S1.

 

[OmahaStar]

Pretty much what DarKush said.

Season 1 was the best so far. Season 2 was terrible. Season 3 was better than 2, and season 4 was marginally better than 3.

But since you haven't seen it, I don't want to spoil it and say why I thought it was marginally better.

 

[Candlelight]

I'm the opposite. Season 4 was by far the weakest they're produced so far. The characterisation seemed to be all over the place (Marnie seemed to change tack each week depending on the mood of the writers), some things just came out of left field and the finale is the worst single episode I've seen all year. Even the usually awesome Eric seemed to misfire this year.

I never saw season one but season two so far has been the best. The Russell plot from season three seemed to build into nothing.

My biggest gripe is the show has fallen into the rut of having too many characters for storylines to hold (such as how the book that season two is based on barely featured the MaryAnn storyline, and primarily focused on Dallas).

 

[Peacemaker]

I enjoyed Season 4 more than Season 2 and 3. The opening episodes seemed to suffer from too many plots going on at once. The show has so many characters, I think it needs to get more focused...An A,B,and C plot work - but not A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on.

And the opening followed the cliffhanger from 3, but then it never followed up on that in a significant manner, so I feel a little cheated in that regard.

 

[FPAlpha]

Season 4 took a long while to get into gear.. almost the first half of the season is very boring because they just keep setting up events for the second half and it's nowhwere near as interesting.

However the last half is quite good and ramps up the stakes (no pun intended) quite well with some truly memorable scenes and quotes. However the season finale is kind of meh.. lot of stuff happens but the introduction of next' seasons villains and events seemed very clunky.. kind of like someone in the writers room just went.. "Hey.. we totally forgot about next season.. i need a few moments of the show to get things going". It felt a bit shoehorned in.

My biggest gripe is the show has fallen into the rut of having too many characters for storylines to hold (such as how the book that season two is based on barely featured the MaryAnn storyline, and primarily focused on Dallas).

Spoiler: Events of Season 4 finale

Well.. they really did a bit of house cleaning in the season finale. Got rid of some secondary characters (unless they try to pull a stunt and resurrect some of them via the magic deus ex machina)and re-introduced Russell Eddington who was just delightfully evil and sadistic.. much more so than Eric. I'm curious if there will indeed be a Vampire civil war which could be very cool to see.

 

[Candlelight]

And the opening followed the cliffhanger from 3, but then it never followed up on that in a significant manner, so I feel a little cheated in that regard.

They always do that though. Sookie's special fireworks ability occured in season two while facing off with Mary Ann, and was subsequently ignore for all of season three. Then suddenly in season four we find out what it is.

 

[Candlelight]

Spoiler: Events of Season 4 finale

Well.. they really did a bit of house cleaning in the season finale. Got rid of some secondary characters (unless they try to pull a stunt and resurrect some of them via the magic deus ex machina)and re-introduced Russell Eddington who was just delightfully evil and sadistic.. much more so than Eric. I'm curious if there will indeed be a Vampire civil war which could be very cool to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_to_the_World_(novel)

Some characters were meant to die as per the original book.

And if you want to spoil yourself for what is in store for next season:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_as_a_Doornail

 

[Dream]

However the season finale is kind of meh.. lot of stuff happens but the introduction of next' seasons villains and events seemed very clunky.. kind of like someone in the writers room just went.. "Hey.. we totally forgot about next season.. i need a few moments of the show to get things going". It felt a bit shoehorned in.

Really? Seems like the writers have problems writing good season finales for this show. The season finales for two and three were terrible too.

 

[Solarbaby]

I think season 2 was the best. It had a running theme that just built and built up in a pressure cooker until it exploded with an amazing ending that wrapped everything up.

Ensign Ro as Mary Ann was fantastic- she is a wonderful actress and looks stunning as she gets older- it was a shame to see her go. Even though she was evil she was also very cool to hang out with.

There were far too many sub plots in season 4- like the baby with the powers - that storyline just stopped! Suddenly Andy is over his V addiction whilst the female werewolf couldn't shift hers. I'm glad they culled some of the cast.

I haven't read any of the books so far but how many seasons would they make- assuming the audience was still there at the end?

 

[DonIago]

^Thank you for not putting in any spoilers...sigh...

 

[Captain Craig]

I agree with Candlelight S4 was the weakest season so far. When DarKush says "it meanered a bit" he's being nice.

There were too many, WAY too many subplots going on for each character in the show. If most of them came back together in the main plot with Sookie that would be one thing but they didn't.

Then an event that happens at the end of ep 10 imo should've happened a few episodes earlier.
The final episode moved fast to set up some material for S5 but was mostly anticlimatic imo. Seeing as how S3 ended leading viewers to expect more on 'x' with Sookie that whole plot thread was ditched by ep.4/5 and then was randomly inserted in ep. 10 with Andy as he walks home in the woods. I'm assuming something may come of that but I was greatly displeased with with this season as a whole.
The entire middle chunk of the season is a mess.

I'm unsure if I'll return for S5 at this point but we'll see.

 

[Neroon]

I think season 2 was the best. It had a running theme that just built and built up in a pressure cooker until it exploded with an amazing ending that wrapped everything up.

Ensign Ro as Mary Ann was fantastic- she is a wonderful actress and looks stunning as she gets older- it was a shame to see her go. Even though she was evil she was also very cool to hang out with.

There were far too many sub plots in season 4- like the baby with the powers - that storyline just stopped! Suddenly Andy is over his V addiction whilst the female werewolf couldn't shift hers. I'm glad they culled some of the cast.

I haven't read any of the books so far but how many seasons would they make- assuming the audience was still there at the end?

While I am not sure how much of a spoiler is contained in here, it's evidently close enough that you need to be careful about what you post if it involves season 4.

 

[Candlelight]

I haven't read any of the books so far but how many seasons would they make- assuming the audience was still there at the end?

Well Charlaine Harris has written 12 novels (and 14 short stories) in the Southern Vampire Mysteries universe so you never know...

 

[Hyperspace05]

I haven't read any of the books so far but how many seasons would they make- assuming the audience was still there at the end?

Well Charlaine Harris has written 12 novels (and 14 short stories) in the Southern Vampire Mysteries universe so you never know...

There's no real one-to-one relationship between the books and the show, though. It keeps diverging more and more, and the show runners are pulling plot points from many books.

Unfortunately the show seems to be in a steady decline. Season 1 was by far the best. Season 3 only gets a boost because of the end to Russel's arc (otherwise it was bad).

I still like the show, but if next season does not improve... I'm probably out of here.

 

[DarKush]

@Solarbaby,

(Slight spoilers below)

Spoiler: season 4

I thought Maryanne was an interesting villian (and well acted by Forbes), however I don't think they knew what to do with her. And it took them too long to figure out what to do with her, so the endless orgy scenes became repetitive. I can't believe that I'm saying it, but yes, the orgies were boring. They needed to elevate her plan or whatever to the next level much sooner than they did.

To some extent, I think the same problem happened with Russell. But at least he had that great scene on the evening news, but after that, no follow through, and then the writers chickened out on bringing his storyline to an organic conclusion.

With the S4 villain, I didn't mind any indecision because it fit with the character, the more we learned about them. They were just growing into their power, gaining their confidence, and there was that struggle between who they were and what they had become, so I can understand the going back and forth. Of course they also encountered, to some extent, the same problem with the escalation of stakes, however I think it was handled better than in seasons 2 or 3. I think the S4 villain wound up being the most effective, in terms of causing lasting damage/hurt to the people of Bon Temps since S1.

(a bit more spoiler space or spoiler tags would be necessary, if you're concerned enough to give the warning)