“No it makes me sick that they’re getting a thousand bucks to lay there and do nothing while I bust my ass for ten bucks an hour plus tips.” (Sookie)

True Blood… is something else. As I was watching the first episode, I kept asking myself (and everyone around me) who comes up with people like this. They’re all completely crazy, there’s not a single reasonable one in the bunch and the most normal one can read god-damn minds. What the hell?

Like a lot of series that don’t really want to show what they are, there’s a murder case. It’s the exact way Twin Peaks started. When someone pitched me this series, they went on and on about vampires and true blood and silver and blah, but… there was very little of that. There was a lot of Louisiana going on, and a lot of that delightful Twin Peaks “is it real, are they serious?” kind of feeling. But vampires? Back seat, definitely.

And that’s what interests me so much (and it’s something Alan Ball does brilliantly time and again): weird, over the top characters in a weird, over the top environment. Louisiana isn’t portrayed the way it usually is – it’s a comic-book rendition of it. More than that: it’s such a comic-book rendition that it’s credible all over again. The same with the characters – you can’t imagine a woman like Tara existing, but somewhere in your mind, you’re sure people like that exist and they came to Twin Peaks to enjoy the blueberry pie.

Thoughts and things

• Sookie Stackhouse. Not even comic book characters are called that anymore (sorry, Peter Parker).
• I will never grow tired of seeing redneck vampires like in the cold opener. I hope that – in Six Feet Under-style – every episode starts with a “spot-the-vampire” short like that.
• Boy, there was a lot of sex going on. And talking about sex. And thinking about sex.
• Is it just me, or does this series look kind of cheap? The camera seems to be a bit too close when it’s close and a bit too far when it’s far. It looks like a cheap horror movie. Which I guess makes sense.
• I love the idea of vampire prostitution. If vampire stories are all about passion, True Blood certainly strikes the right tone.
• “Ball said of the books, “Charlaine has created such a rich environment that’s very funny and at the same time very scary.” Thank you Wikipedia for pointing me in the right direction.

In All

It’s very hard to write something coherent about this first episode – mainly because I can’t predict where this is leading yet. It could turn into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It could be Twin Peaks. It’s something completely fresh and exciting, and I can’t wait to find out what it means. I’m not trying to be a douchey cynicist. It’s just that if it turns out they’re not being tongue-in-cheek, I’m going to be pretty freaked out…