True Blood recap

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Fresh Blood”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 29th, 2010 at 7:04 pm

With the conclusion of tonight’s penultimate episode, we’ve reached the end of season three.  Of course, True Blood will take next Sunday off for Labor Day weekend, which means we won’t get the finale until September 12th.  It’s worth noting the first run of last week’s episode was the highest rated the show has ever seen (5.39 million, 3.0 in 18-49).  So for all the problems I’ve had with this season, it seems I’m in the minority.

Hit the jump for a review of “Fresh Blood,” the eleventh episode of season three.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “I Smell a Rat”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm

I have looked at the list of  True Blood episode titles weekly since starting these reviews.  The one that always stuck out was “I Smell a Rat.”  Not that there’s any correlation between the excellence of an episode and its title, but there’s a part of me that has anticipated this, the tenth episode of season three, for a couple months now.  That said, hit the jump for a review.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Everything is Broken”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 15th, 2010 at 7:14 pm

I’ve been of the opinion that True Blood has suffered from the mid-season doldrums in recent episodes, where the shocking and exciting trademarks of the show were too infrequently spread out among a scattershot season arc.  “Everything is Broken” — the ninth episode of season three — didn’t fully break the pattern, but featured a higher ratio of hits to misses, plus a few promises that episodes 10-12 will be vintage True Blood. Hit the jump for a review.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Night on the Sun”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 8th, 2010 at 7:26 pm

Tonight’s episode of True Blood was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.  She’s new to HBO’s vampire soap, but Glatter has spent a good portion of the last several years helming six episodes of the similarly lush (if not dramatically congruous) Mad Men, including the Emmy-nominated season three installment “Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency.”

So in theory, we were in very good hands with “Night on the Sun,” the eighth episode of season three of True Blood; hit the jump for a review.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Hitting the Ground”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 1st, 2010 at 7:15 pm

With tonight’s episode of True Blood, we officially entered into the second half of season three.  We should be well on our way to whatever crazy climax the writers have in store, though I have no well-formed possibilities in mind.  No matter — True Blood is often more about the genre-tastic journey than any logical destination.

With that in mind, hit the jump for a review of “Hitting the Ground,” the seventh episode of season three of True Blood.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Trouble”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: July 18th, 2010 at 7:13 pm

This episode of True Blood was scripted by Nancy Oliver, whose work was nominated for an Academy Award in 2008.  The fact that she’s a nominee isn’t revelatory — the show is created by Oscar-winner Alan Ball, after all.  More interesting to me is the script that earned her notice: Lars and the Real Girl.

Oliver scripted two episodes of last season’s transcendent Godric arc: both his introduction (“Never Let Me Go”), and his sendoff (“I Will Rise Up”).  Basically, Oliver’s name on the script held the promise of great things heading into “Trouble,” the fifth episode of season three; hit the jump for a postmortem.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “9 Crimes”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: July 11th, 2010 at 7:26 pm

Earlier this week, the second season of True Blood earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama.  That’s an astounding amount of validation for a show so steeped in horror/fantasy.  Now if we can just get Alexander Skarsgaard into the Supporting Actor category for season three…

Hit the jump for a review of “9 Crimes,” the fourth episode of season three of True Blood.

TRUE BLOOD Recap: “Beautifully Broken”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: June 20th, 2010 at 7:28 pm

Last week’s third season premiere of True Blood quickly got me back in the vampire mood.  It’s fantastic summer entertainment, and the first episode teased some interesting possibilities for the new season.  This episode, of course, walked just a bit further down those narrative paths.

Hit the jump for a review of “Beautifully Broken,” the second episode of season three of True Blood after the jump.

TRUE BLOOD Recap — Season Three Premiere, “Bad Blood”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: June 13th, 2010 at 7:35 pm

I recently moved from a home with HBO to a home without.  With the third season premiere of True Blood approaching, that simply would not do — I ordered HBO last night.  True Blood has never had the most focused of narratives, but maintains an astounding level of entertainment value by way of sheer audacity.  Lord knows I’m not one to miss out on a zeitgeist.

So look for my review of “Bad Blood”, the third season premiere of True Blood, after the jump.

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