Discussion Series / Trueblood

This could be one series to serve as an example of managing to avoid Flanderization.

Question: does anyone else think Sam's brother Tommy crossed the Moral Event Horizon when he tried to maul Hoyt (after Hoyt delivered that beautiful punch right to the little shit's forehead without breaking stride—hell, this troper actually applauded)? Should I wait to add that onto the main page until the third season is over or would I be able to add that now? Just checking.

Given that he'll be gone all-too-soon, does antagonist!Bill count as an Ensemble Dark Horse? Also:

Maybe this is a holdover from the earlier seasons, but why does everyone (mostly Alan Ball) seem to class Bill as the "good guy" and Eric as the "bad boy" of the 'verse? Oooh, Eric tricked Sookie into drinking his blood. He should have done the honorable thing and had her beaten by the evil Rattrays until she needed it, like Bill. Also, why is Bill's main crime in the show's 'verse lying to Sookie, not the aforementioned beating?

If there's any "good guy" on the show, it's Alcide.

Magical Negro again.

I added an "Averted" to the item because I didn't have the guts to change it entirely. and because I'm afraid if I just deleted the item it would be back within a day.

I think it's another repetition of annoying "the character is black and magical = Magical Negro" mistake. D*** it, (nearly) everybody in the show is magical! Lafayette could be caucasian or asian or anything and have the abilities he has. There are witches, mediums, psychics, shape-shifters, were-whatevers etc. of all colors.

If Lafayette at least was restricted to dispensing sage advice to white characters, maybe. But I don't see that, either. He dislikes his magical side but he's definitely there when a friends, especially Tara, is in trouble.

Faux Action Girl: Not quite. If I remember correctly, Sookey was the one who decapitaded Rene with a shovel, with some help from Sam in dog-form. She chased of that V-addicted werewolf girlfriend, magically punched out Marianna, was pretty effective when she and Tara had to break out of Russel's mansion and so on. For frag's sake, in the first episode she fought of two V-dealers who tried to drain Bill.

True, she does very often need help and sometimes actual saving. BUT: which character in the show doesn't? Bill needs saving sometimes. Eric needs protection after being spell-struck in season 4. Jason is forever in trouble. Tara is tough as nails but at one point even she needs Jason to shoot Psychotic Lover Franklin. Lafayette is one clever, valiant, adaptable guy but at some part even he needs help to get out of Eric's dungeon.

Two important characteristics of the show: 1) - it's not quite as fantastic as Buffy or similar, where there's one super-powered main character who (with exceptions) is strong enough to fight off four opponents simultaneously. In True Blood, characters with that sort of ueber-power are usually either evil or short-lived. 2) - the show is very much about the constantly shifting alliances, goals and power concentrations. Everyone eventually meets someone who's older, more magical, meaner, ... and then needs friends or allies to be helped or saved.

So the question shouldn't be, does Sookie need help on a regular basis, but: does she fight herself _with_ the others or is she standing at the sidelines wringing her hands?

Quite a few of the characters (1/3 or 1/4?) on the Characters page are refered to as Ensemble Darkhorses. I don't think that's right. Of course, it might be due to the dull stars...

Ought Green Rocks be changed to Minovsky Particles or Mineral MacGuffin, or one of the other species of Phlebotinum? It seems to me that V can't do just *anything* the writers want, its properties are all defined (more-or-less) in the first few episodes of the first season and they haven't changed since then.

Also, could we get a poll or a separate page for the various crowners? It seems that now we just have a list of every single awesome/funny/sad thing to ever happen on the show.

Regarding Lafayette being a magical negro, shouldn't we have confirmation of his magical powers first?

Just saying.

Removed this:

• Canon Sue: Sookie. Superpowers? Check. So special? Check. Lusted by every male in town? Check (this one requires a bit of imagination from the viewers, since she is not much of a looker.) And nobody can be mad at her, even when she fucks up in a major way, getting mad at her is frowned upon. She can get pissed at anyone though, and is always entitled to do so. I am surprised this isn't here already.

Explanation: Sookie has telepathy, which is treated as more of a disability than a power. The light flash thing she can't even control, even if it is a power. The remark about her being not much of a looker is a one Troper's opinion on Anna Paquin's looks. As the story goes in the books, Sookie looks like Barbie, i.e. very pretty. And the "nobody can get mad at her" is patently erroneous. Sam, Pam, Eric, Bill, Tara and Jason have all gotten angry with Sookie. Comes off like Complaining About Actresses You Don't Like.

I removed this:

• Season 3's Talbot is 100% Camp Gay. When Sookie asked Russell Edgington if there was a vampire queen of Mississippi, one half expected Talbot to pop his head in the room and ask, "You called?"
  • The actor apparently took many of Talbot's personality traits from his Greek mother, i.e. the decorating, the meltdowns if anything breaks.

Although he's clearly the feminine partner of his relationship, Talbot is not Camp Gay at all. Camp Gay is the limp-wristed, glittery, screaming queen charicature, like Rip Taylor. Talbot is played like the conservative and strong-willed wife of a powerful politician, who just happens to be male.

I see that somebody asked which Season Three episode(s) the Butt-Monkey Edward lookalike was in, which is something I've been wondering myself. It's probably best not to talk about it in the actual entry, though. Anyway, is it the quarterback who Jason pulls out of his car mid-coitus, or somebody else?

Is it just this troper or is Tara reaching The Scrappy or The Wesley levels? I used to like her strength and rationality in the first season but now...the woman is just makes the dumbest decisions and keeps on throwing the Race Card to defend her outbursts. I won't add the entry to the main tropes page but I'd like to know if there are other people who are sick of her Character Derailment as well. Don't want to step on any toes.

Why can I not add a review to the True Blood article? There doesn't seem to be the review button present on the page (where it is suppsoed to be).

Re: Cut in Anvillicious: the lines tend to get blurred now and then where book canon is concerned, but I'd still say as long as it hasn't happened on the show, it shouldn't be used as an example, even if it is something that happened in the books. Especially since in this particular case - Sookie talking about how much she hates vampire discrimination - the show seems to go quite the different route, as right now, she seems to think that every vampire apart from Bill is evil and has repeatedly said so.