True Blood

Recently, my roommate and I have been sucked in (pardon the pun) by the latest vampire TV hit True Blood. I once tried watching this show a couple of years ago when it first came out but the image of the decomposing fox in a time-lapse style seriously deterred me from watching anything other than the pilot. I have to admit, I regret not being more open to the idea of the show before. Having now watched Episode 4, I can tell the series really does have a number of good qualities about it. To give you a better insight into what I’m rambling on about, here’s a little run down:

Sooky Stackhouse is a paranormally affected young waitress who works at the Stackhouse Diner in Georgia. On a shift one night, she encounters Bill, a wandering vampire who happens to have acquired himself the unofficial land rights to his ancient ancestors. The small-minded folk in Forks aren’t happy with his presence and those close to Sooky don’t enjoy the attention he gives her. Her best friend, May, a sassy, slightly stereotypical, black girl, only has her best intentions at heart and doesn’t ever want to see Sooky hurt, a possibility that is always more likely when a vampire’s in town. Sooky’s boss, Bob, who’s had a secret crush on her for as long as can be remembered, is obviously jealous of the fawning Bill receives from Sooky who is utterly mesmerized by the fact that Bill’s a vampire. Finally, there’s Sooky’s brother, Luke, who hates vampires and anything to do with them and strictly forbids Sooky from attempting to reconnect with Bill after a violent night after work. Interwoven into this delicious mix-pot is the complicating mystery of a series of “vampire like” attacks on young women in the area. Vampires already have a bad rep in the area and these attacks only make things worse for Bill and his place in the town. What makes the film even more interesting is Sooky’s ability to read people’s minds, a gift she’s had since she was born. Living in a small town however riddled with secrets (it’s always the small ones that do), Sooky has to train her mind to shut off the thoughts from the people around her otherwise, things can get very messy if she hears too much. With Bill however, it’s a different story. In a reverse role situation from Twilight (In which Edward can normally read minds but can’t read Bella’s), Sooky is free to be herself around Bill because she is not worrying about whether or not she can read his mind.

The show has won heaps of accolades and praise from TV critics and theorists alike due to its ingenious storylines to its well-designed characters. I have to admit, having given it another go, I can see what everyone was rambling about now. In most series where there are a number of characters who receive a fair share of the screen-time, confusion over character motivations and actions can occur due to the lack of attention to smaller characters that are integral to the subplots but not the main narrative.

I’ve been thinking about this approach in relation to other TV series and how it is exactly that they manage to coordinate the development of multiple characters who could be taken out of the show at any time. Recently in Grey’s Anatomy, about 3 actors were killed on screen (meaning that their contracts had expired off-screen) who weren’t necessarily required for the main narrative but I was shocked at myself for caring about their imminent absence from the series future. I had no time for these characters previously and didn’t really like them if I was to be dead honest but now that they were gone, I realized just how important they were in my narrative of the show. Somewhere in my mind whilst watching the series, I had placed every character I came across into different pigeonholes ranging from “Important” to “Not Important”. Those who were important were the ones who’s story I was interested in the most, mainly the original characters of Bailey, Christina, Meredith and Derek. The “Not Important” characters were a majority of the hospital crew who had invaded Seattle Grace Hospital during the merger. It was these “Not Important” characters who were killed in last night’s season finale and I wonder how it is that the writer’s so cleverly managed to make these characters an important part of my story of Grey’s even though I didn’t like them.

All in all, I think this is the difference between good TV shows and bad ones. The ones that are able to make you care about every single character, even the ones you truly despise, are great because they are able to convince you subconsciously that you need these characters in Your telling of the story. Bad TV Shows however take characters in and out faster than Big Whoppers at Hungry Jacks to the extent where you don’t even notice they’re missing. I refer explicitly to Neighbors and Home and Away at this point. Ultimately, I hope one day I will be able to produce high quality television or film like Grey’s Anatomy and True Blood but until then, I’m content to sit back and give the ravely reviewed another chance.