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Released by: HBO
Released on: May 21, 2013.
Director: Various
Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Based on the 'Sookie Stackhouse' novels by author Charlaine Harris, HBO's True Blood started off as a fun mix of horror, drama, romance, comedy and, well, it's got pretty much everything, including a kitchen sink or two. It isn't a particularly deep series and it probably owes a small debt to Twin Peaks but it's certainly an entertaining genre tinged soap opera that'll keep you coming back for more just to find out how it all ends. Now five season in, what started off as a refreshing and interesting addition to HBO's generally excellent line up is starting to get just plain silly.
As most already know, the series is set in an America where vampires have 'come out of the coffin' and been kinda-sorta accepted by everyday living and breathing folk. The stories are based around a young woman named Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) who works as a waitress at a bar called Merlotte's in the small Louisiana town of Bontemps. She lived with her kindly old grandmother (Lois Smith) until she was taken out early on in the series, and making trouble for Sookie constantly is her dumb sex fiend of a brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten). There's a a bar run by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), who has no qualms about his affections for the pretty blonde waitress he's hired. Sookie's best friend, a fiery black girl named Tara (Rutina Wesley) gets canned from her position at a 'Wal-Mart' style superstore in the first season and winds up tending bar at Merlotte's as well, while her gay cousin, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), works in the kitchen.
Sookie's life seemed pretty normal for the most part (notice the use of past tense there), save for one thing - she can read people's minds. She doesn't want to, mind you, as it sometimes leads to some rather unsettling discoveries, but there are times where she just can't help it. When a vampire named Bill (Stephen Moyer) comes into Merlotte's one night seemingly by chance, Sookie notices him and he her. Their mutual attraction is instant, much to Sam's dismay and almost everyone else's disgust, and they begin a courtship that is simultaneously unusual both in its old fashioned traditions and in its taboo breaking. Sookie is soon introduced to Bill's world. There are also some local cops skulking around and pretty much everyone involved is up to no good.
Season Four left things open ended, there were a whole bunch of cliffhangers going on and this season picks right back up where the forth left off. As such, we get repercussions from the murder Sookie committed, we find out what happened when vampires Bill and Erik (Alexander Skarsgí¥rd) killed a powerful vampire, we learn of existence of a clandestine vampire government known only as The Authority and we find out how vampire Russell Edgington escaped from prison to cause more trouble than any one man should be able to cause. Tara's dying and there's only one way to save her, but Sookie doesn't want to think about that and so she leaves her with Pam, Eric's daughter, which spells trouble for Sookie and for Lafayette as well. As all of these plot points intertwine as this batch of episodes evolves, threads start to tie up while others unravel and honestly, it starts to get to be a bit much. Characters are introduced quickly and to the point where the cast for the show is just getting to be too big.
This season does do some interesting things in regards to the deaths of Sookie and Jason's parents to tie all of that into the main storyline but then it all gets nuts when Tara's turned and Lafayette's possessed and what is essentially a civil war amongst the vampire factions breaks out and causes chaos. Werewolves show up and things get unusually political for them, lots of people die, lots of people have sex, and the twists just keep coming and coming and coming to the point where the series that was once a nice southern gothic take on the coexistence of humans and vampires has now got as much to do with faeries and stuff as it does bloodsuckers and mortals. It's great that the series finally gets around to exposing The Authority, something that it's been teasing at since its early days, but not enough is done here to cash in on the weight that they should bring to the series. You do get the impression this go round that the series is moving towards its end. With things getting more and more melodramatic and preposterous you have to hope they're building to a big finish - otherwise, the point is becoming increasingly lost. There's still fun to be had here, plenty of sexy/gory thrills and some decent humor too, but you may find yourself yelling 'enough already, get on with it' at your TV more than once.
For those keeping score, the episodes that make up this season and which are contained in this set are:
Turn! Turn! Turn / Authority Always Wins / Whatever I Am, You Made Me / We'll Meet Again / Let's Boot And Rally / Hopeless / In The Beginning / Somebody That I Used To Know / Everybody Wants To Rule The World / Gone, Gone, Gone / Sunset / Save Yourself
Not surprisingly, the last episode once again ends on a cliffhanger - but you probably knew that already. To the writers' credit, it's a good one and it's a hook that ensures you'll at least want to give season six somewhat of a chance if only to see where it's going to end up. It piques your curiosity and pretty much guarantees that, if you've stuck with the series this far, you're going to at least check out the first episode of season six. Here's hoping the storylines can get back on track and that the show can return to the lean and original series it was in its first two seasons rather than the hodgepodge of loose ends and screwball characters forced into genre trappings that it has become.
Video/Audio/Extras:
True Blood looks fantastic in high definition. HBO's AVC encoded 1.78.1 1080p transfers are strong from start to finish and do an amazing job of bringing the series' colorful cinematography to life. Everything looks lifelike and natural, while skin tones look dead on - though depending on the characters can look quite different - vampires look different than humans and such. The upgrade in quality that the Blu-ray offers over what standard definition can offer is substantial, making it easier to appreciate the details in the series' production values from the costumes to the sets to the props to the locations. There aren't any problems with compression artifacts or edge enhancement, though eagle-eyed viewers who are looking for it might spot some minor banding once in a blue moon, and a couple of shots look to have been shot with a softer look in mind than others, but the authoring here is excellent. There's no noticeable noise reduction, leaving the gritty and grainy texture of the visuals wholly intact. A couple of outdoor nighttime scenes look just a tiny bit noisy but this is nitpicking, the series really does look fantastic in high definition and its loyal fanbase should be more than pleased with HBO's superlative efforts in this regard.
The English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix that this set contains sounds stunning right from the opening chords of the series' song which plays over the credits of each episode. Surround channels are used throughout the series to build atmosphere by spreading out the effects and score perfectly. Directionality is spot on, with plenty of left to right and front to back movement noticeable when the series calls for it. Ambient and background noise is very crisp detailed, so you'll pick up on not only background character voices but more subtle effects like animals in the background of certain scenes. Dialogue is very natural sounding and easy to understand without having any of the dialogue sound pumped up at all. The more action intensive scenes benefit from strong and full bass, making each sound effect resonate properly and with a good amount of weight behind. This series sounds excellent on Blu-ray, it's difficult to imagine anyone complaining about the work done here. Optional subtitles are offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch.
HBO supplies Inside The Episodes featurettes for each episode in the set. These basically allow the cast and crew, with an emphasis on the writers, to dish the dirt on the behind the scenes stories that took place as all of this nuttiness was being put together. Complimenting this are five separate commentaries (for the episodes We'll Meet Again, Somebody That I Used To Know, Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Sunset and Save Yourself) with the cast and crew of the show including input from Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Denis O'Hare and Carrie Preston among others. These tracks are done fairly informally and there's an emphasis on what the characters go through but there are plenty of behind the scenes stories told here, from what it was like to be involved in some of the more risqué moments that pop up in the season to ideas that were tossed around and not used during the writing process. You can also watch each episode with the Enhanced Viewing mode turned on, which will allow you to access character biographies, vampire histories, flashbacks, and 'flashforwards' in real time as the episodes play. True Blood Lines is another interactive "re-Vamped guide and archive†you can use to get more information on who is who and how they all connect to one another.
HBO have also supplied some featurettes here, starting with Authority Confessionals in which some video entries from Nora, Kibwe, Rosalyn, Salome, Steve, and Russell explore the history of The Authority as it pertains to the events in this particular season. There's a half an hour's worth of material here. True Blood Episode Six: Autopsy is an hour long documentary and a pretty good one at that which lets the cast and crew as discuss the major events of episode six. This also lends itself towards some behind the scenes footage and info and a nice overall look at what goes into putting this show together from various perspectives. Rounding out the extras are 'Previews & Recaps' for each episode, menus and chapter selection. All of the extras on the Blu-ray discs are presented in high definition. This release also includes standard definition DVD versions of each episode and digital copy versions as well.
The Final Word:
The fifth season of True Blood is, quite frankly, a mess. If it's building to something brilliant, well, we'll find out soon enough once the six series debuts but until then, despite moments of effective horror, humor and drama the series goes in too many different directions with too many different characters at the same time to work. If the writers can streamline things, maybe we'll see a return to past glories, but until then… well, there's this Blu-ray set from HBO, who really can't be faulted for the presentation here. The transfers are gorgeous, the audio quality is top notch and the extras are plentiful, well made and sometimes more interesting than the series itself!
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
