True Blood

I was skeptical, but interested by the premise: a small town Louisiana girl falls in love with Bill, a vampire whose human life ended in the days of the Civil War.

I was interested when I first saw the sleek billboards for this show; a dead white face with blood dripping from red lips. I wondered if it was something similar to Six Feet Under, seeing that this was on HBO. It turns out that it's a new vampire tale starring Anna Paquin.

The teleplay is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels written by Charlaine Harris. I had never heard of the novels before the show, but I have added Harris to my must read list.

True Blood works well as an ensemble show. Of course, Sookie and Bill are the main focus, but the other characters are well crafted. Jason, Sookie's brother, is a loveable but dimwitted playboy who finds himself in the worst types of trouble, including drugs and murder. Tara, Sookie's best friend, has her own share of issues: an alcoholic mother and problems with "demons." Lafayette, Sookie's cousin, is a short order cook by day and entrepreneur (of illegal sorts) by night.

Vampires are not the only things to fear in this town: there are shape shifters, a serial killer, and a few lawless rednecks.

Like the other inhabitants of the town, Sookie has her share of secrets. She can read people's minds, which she feels is more curse than blessing. It takes effort to block out the thoughts of people around her. Her relationships with men tend to be short lived, because she gets turned off by the things she can hear them thinking.

One of the things that attracts her to Bill is that she can not read his mind. She can be with him without hearing the running commentary of random thoughts. Bill likes that Sookie is a bit of an outsider, as he is. She is kind to him from the first time that they meet, and even excited to meet "her first vampire."

Bill is not accepted within circles of vampires. He is "mainstreaming," drinking synthetic blood to survive and swearing off humans as sustenance. His friends (if they can be called that; most of the vampires claim that they have no feelings) think that he's going against his identity by changing his lifestyle. The humans in town view him with varying levels of fear and lack of acceptance. Bill lives in a sort of vampire version of diaspora, not accepted by the undead or the living.

I like that the show has a social conscience. There are references to racism and homophobia. Vampires and their movement to "come out of the casket" and obtain the same civil rights as humans are used as a metaphor.

True Blood is a fun, tasty bit of modern vampire lore to sink your teeth into.