True Blood Finale Review – “Evil is Going On”
I suppose at this point, we should expect True Blood season finales to deliver massive cliffhangers. That’s exactly what happened in “Evil is Going On,” the final episode of the third season of True Blood, where many new questions and angles manifested just after the old ones were resolved. Eric (sort of) squashed his beef with Russell, we learned even more about what Sookie is, Jason seems to have found his calling, and Bill’s true motivations were revealed. And oh yeah, Jedi Godric. The season finale of True Blood was pretty damn good – especially when compared to last season’s finale – and it’s clear that Alan Ball has carefully set the stage for a fourth season. Keep reading for the full review. As always, there will be spoilers.
So it turns out that Eric’s plan was to die all along, so long as it meant taking Russell to the true death with him. While the two vamps are cuffed to each other and charring under the literally blistering sun, Eric has a vision of Godric, all Jedi-esque and at peace. Godric tells Eric that everything – even vicious, evil vampires like Russell – find peace in the true death, and that Eric should make use of the time he has on Earth to forgive Russell. Eric ignores Godric’s suggestion, opting instead to die with the vampire that slaughtered his family. For a show as dark as True Blood can be, I’m a bit surprised – and maybe disappointed – that all beings find peace after death. Not to get all existential on everyone, but if that’s the case, then what’s the point?
Sookie’s been healed by Bill’s blood, so she barges outside to save Eric and, for some reason (maybe I missed this? Help.), Russell as well. Despite being charred to a crisp, it was great to see Russell maintain his sadistic charm. A bit later, while Eric and Bill are sleeping and resting up (not together, heh), Russell tries to convince Sookie to remove the silver chains from around his neck and free him. Naturally, Sookie refuses, and getting the idea that Russell wants to use her blood to somehow revive Talbot, she takes great, twisted pleasure in dumping Talbot’s remains down the bar sink and grinding them into nothing. After all Sookie’s been through, I suppose she’s entitled to an act of nastiness.
Of course, no one’s been through more than Tara, and if you didn’t already know that, the quick flashback sequence that included the death of Eggs and Franklin served as a good reminded that there’s a legitimate reason why the girl is so batshit crazy. It’s clear that the reason Tara has clicked with Sam over the past few seasons is because like Tara, Sam has been through a ton. Sam suggests to Tara that she leave town and start anew, which really doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Tara chops her hair off, says her goodbyes – I thought the scene with her and Sookie was very well done, by the way – and ditches Bon Temps. Will it be for good? Will all the Tara haters get their wish and see her exit from the show? I guess we’ll find out next season.
We’ll also find out whether or not Sam killed his brother, but I’m guessing he just shot him in the leg. To be honest, I kind of like the new, pushed-over-the-edge Sam, and I think it’s a testament to the acting of Sam Trammell that he’s able to be convincing as both an “aw shucks” nice guy as well as a pissed off drunk. I’m not saying he should have shot Tommy for stealing his money, but Tommy is a real piece of unappreciative shit and likely deserves whatever comes to him.
I’m guessing that witches will be to Season 4 what werewolves were to Season 3, what with Holly being a Wicca and Lafayette’s boyfriend, Jesus, being a witch. There wasn’t much going on with Lafayette in this episode aside from his insane V-visions (the one of Rene choking Arlene was pretty freaky, as was Lafayette’s vision of the “true” Sam) aside from Jesus’ revelation to him, but it looks like Jesus and Lafayette will be a big part of Season 4. Fine with me, especially if we’re going to get more trippy sequences.
Jason seems to have finally found his calling, which isn’t necessarily being a deputy, but being a hero and someone who can help others. This fits perfectly with Jason’s naive innocence and bravery and it’ll be interesting to see how he helps the poor, starving people of Hotshot. True Blood has been pretty violent all season long, but even I was shocked when Felton shot Calvin right in the head. I don’t think it made a lot of sense for him to have shot Calvin and then not shot Jason, as Jason is someone that he isn’t real familiar with and who he sort of hates. Of course, I’m glad Jason didn’t get shot, but it was pretty convenient for him to escape unscathed. Now the question is: are all the poor residents of Hotshot werepanthers?
There was a little bit of this episode dedicated to Hoty and Jessica, and Hoyt’s certainly grown up a ton since the first season. If ever there was character growth, it was with regard to Hoyt. Hoyt’s mother is still having a real time accepting the fact that her only child is in love with a vampire, so much in fact that she decided to purchase a (presumably) vampire-killer rifle. It’s gonna be bad news if she points that thing at Jessica. Also – and I hate to sound like a broken record – but can we please get some Jessica sex dreams? The ladies drool over Eric and Alcide, give me some damn naked Jessica.
I’ll finish with the same storyline with which I started, since that’s the central one to this and every season so far. Specifically, the Bill-Sookie-Eric triangle. Eric decides that to truly punish Russell, he should be buried alive in concrete for one hundred years with nothing but the loss of Talbot to keep him company. Again, Godric appears and urges Eric to spare Russell, but Eric’s desire for revenge outweighs any loyalty he once had to his maker. Once Russell is covered in concrete and gone for the next hundred years (not likely, please come back next season), Bill turns on Eric and gives him the same treatment. This came as a shock, not only because Bill has always seemed so passive, but also because Eric should be able to rip Bill to shreds. Bill’s reason – of course – was that it was to protect Sookie, as anyone who has tasted her blood must be destroyed, the idea being that only Bill is capable of restraining himself when drinking the vampire equivalent of crack that is her blood.
Eric isn’t submerged for long, though, and shows up to find Bill at Sookie’s. Eric tells Sookie that Bill was ordered by Queen Sophie Anne to “obtain” her and, surprisingly, that he paid off the scumbags in Merlotte’s to beat her to a pulp so that he could heal her with his blood. That’s quite a twist, and although I think that Bill truly did fall in love with Sookie along the way, it’s a much darker side of Bill that we’ve only glimpsed in the past. Sookie’s still pissed as hell at Eric, but he’s probably going to be fine as far as she’s concerned. Is this finally the Bill and Sookie breakup? I say yes.
Also – why the hell didn’t Eric kill Bill? Yeah, I know that having Sookie hate his guts may be a fate worse than the true death for Bill, but still. Bill later is approached by Sophie Anne (who expects Sookie to be handed over to her) and in his frustration and anger, challenges her to a duel. The two of them rise Trinity-in-the-Matrix style and engage in battle, but we’ll have to wait until next season to find out who won.
Finally, while graving at Gran’s grave and feeling very alone, Sookie is approached by Claudine. The two of them disappear into a bright light, and that’s the end of Season 3! I do like the setup of Bill becoming a possible villain (it did happen rather organically) and the witches should be interesting next season. Also, Eric can put the full court press on Sookie. What did you guys think of the finale? What do you expect next season? Who’s happy Tara may be gone for good? Who’s upset that she wasn’t killed?
I don’t know, I thought the season finale was pretty underwhelming. I thought it was slow with very little actually happening.
I took Alan Ball’s appearance at the end to be almost apologetic for the finale – promising new and interesting things next season because this one ended so poorly.
Interesting. It didn’t blow me away, that’s for sure. I think one of the problems is that nothing in the finale came close to Russel’s appearance on the news.
Man I think the finale ended WEAK!!! They had episode mid season that went harder than this one. And I kinda wanted a sex scene, they could have gotten Jessica and whats his face getting it on. But whatevs.
Tara… I’m torn 2 ways. One Taras one of the only black characters so yea… (someones gotta represent.) BUT God damn shes makes the same fucking face of distress every scene and its irritating. She’s like the black Kristen/Bella…
I hope Sookie gives up Bill for good. I hate the way he looks, and he so fucking under handed, but hes tries to be slick about it. At least eric doesn’t hide it. Plus I would loooooove to see Alcide naked and getting it on with Miss Stackhouse. (Just sayin’).
Me me! Please remove Tara from this show. It’s a horror to watch her.
I absolutely adored Jessica and Hoyt. Sadly everything seems to point to Hoyt dying next season. Which is really sad but it will probably take Jessica to some very interesting places
By the way have you sen the Jessica HBO blog http://babyvamp-jessica.com/
If you like Jessica I think you will thoroughly enjoy it
Sookie crossed the line in the Talbot scene. You dont torture mentally unstable people, whats wrong with you? His husband died like two days ago
You’d think that Sookie would be just as mad at Eric as she is at Bill. Eric has done more to screw her over than almost anybody else in this show. Then again, it’s a testament to Eric’s sexiness that he still looks good whilst covered in half-dried concrete.
I hope Tara comes back. She has consistently been the most believable character on the show, if not the most likable. I doubt they’d send her away for good, considering the shit that Lafayette is no doubt about to get into.
Yes to seeing Jessica nekkid! She’s all kinds of sexy.
Is Bill gonna be bad? I hope so. At this point anything to make him more interesting. He’s lost everything, so it makes since.
I hope Tara is gone- couldn’t stand her.
Russell, please come back!
C’mon Season 4!!!
@lol,
I was super surprised that she ground up Russels man. I was screaming at the tv. I thought it was a little much.
But Sookie has been through some shit. So hell have no fury like a woman scorn. let alone a fairy I guess.
I guess she did it because he said he was going to do something with her blood to bring him back. I kinda felt bad for him but… Thats revenge for you.
Pretty weak finale, aside from a couple of cool points. Not looking forward to Jason’s story in season 4 at all. Tara should be gone, or at least change the actress.
The finale was a hot mess. The whole season could have been 5 episodes long. I think season 2 was loads better, although I do like Russell, etc.
Awful. The characters became more ambiguous, nothing was resolved.
The best part about this show is the Vampires and they are less than half the show. Every time Tara is on screen she is gonna get mad. Sam’s character is so retarted, first 2 seasons he is lonley and the next he is a psycopath. That’s why when i watch True blood I skip through all the other crap and it actually becomes a good show.
@Chrystani
If you tie up a mentally ill person and pour the ashes (or goo) of his dead husband down the drain while you laugh your ass of, you are a horrible and sadistic person end of story
@lol,
yea but Russel kept fucking with Sookie. He ordered a torture fest for Bill, which is the equivalent in a way. Because Bill would have surely died if not save d last minute.
Then he almost drain Sookie trying to get her fairy blood to walk in the day light.
I dont know…
I get your point though becasue I was shocked. But Russel is fucked up.
It was extremely better than Season 2’s finale. That was unbelievably bad. So, of course THIS season’s was a lot better. It was pretty weak though, (it didn’t help that I had to keep stopping it and get up to go do something that the other FIVE people in my house somehow couldn’t do) and felt kind of bored.
I am glad that Tara is gone, we’re all assuming that anyway. It’s more than likely that she’ll be back, which will be kind of disappointing. She just doesn’t do anything for me. And in the books, and I hate to bring them up, but she’s hardly in there. She’s pretty much just a bystander (except for the Franklin/Mickey bit), worse than that, a bystander to a bystander.
When Sookie put Talbot down the disposal…I actually felt kind of bad for Russell. I love that he was still incredibly hilarious through most of his scenes.
At the very end, I didn’t really like it. I’m assuming Claudine took Sook to fairy world or whatever. What they should have done is get started on witch thing. Which is…you know, the entire premise of book 4.
And Alan Ball was there? I totally missed him.
What was up with the creepy doll in the house that Hoyt took Jessica to?
For me the finale didn’t have that great a cliffhanger. We already sort of know where Sookie’s going and she’ll get back to Bon Temps soon enough. Bill vs Queen is not anything too great either. It wasn’t as intense as some other series left us hanging.
Otherwise I thought it was a pretty good episode
Did nobody else notice the creepy as sh*t baby doll in one of the room’s at Hoyt and Jessica’s new house? Is that a hint at a haunting? More witchery? All I know was the music suddenly turned ominous and it freaked me out a little.
Bring on season 4!
I was expecting russel to get up from the sun and beat the crap out of bill and eric. And maybe a full on vampire battle royale with the authority involved. But unfortunately they made it kinda dull. I expected more gore in this episode.
The La fayette moments were really freakY!!! got goosebumps when he saw the blood on sams hands.
Next season I hope tara dosn’t comeback. there are no freaky beings that she needs to sleep with. And she is just dragging the story along.
The idea of Bill being the villain in the next season would be awesome. And Sookie realizing her real powers against hopefully not witches.
I think that the baby in Jessica & Hoyt’s new house was symbolic for the children they will never have.
I enjoyed the final episode of these season for the most part. I am one of those people that actually like Tara so, I will be sad if she is actually gone. I seriously doubt she is out of the picture though. I have enjoyed everyone’s character development this season. The only person that I dislike is Crystal. Her character just does not seem like someone I would fight for.
Well, I only started watchin it cos i saw the very 1st episodes (about vamps), watched it again the other day, far superior to this gash they have put on now. wolves, panthers, witches, fairies?! I say capture them all and let the vamps eat em. Sookie is a pain in the sack, she should bugger off wit Tara. All these Kings and Queens too, lame. If it went back to its roots of bein about vamps it would be good, and don’t say it has a story to follow because of the books, well thats crap too, look at all these comic remade into films, did ANY of them follow the story? NO! Agreed Jessica is hot, so i’m totally up for her “eating” (take the meaning as u want, i’m sure we agree!) Sookie and bein number 1 female in the programme. So, whats next? Ex-KGB were-bears? Orangutans (If you don’t know the actual meaning of the word oragutan it means “man of the forest”, so i didn’t mean random monkeys jumpin about wantin to know mans great secret)? I shall of course continue watchin, just so i can be like every other moany shite out there and voice my opinion, but YEAH, thats what I think!
And why is Godric such a lil bitch, u let us down man, u let us down…
My biggest issue with this season was that it was all over the place, never slowing down to focus on one storyline. Everything seemed rushed, especially the finale, which had it’s moments, but not enough time to properly end the season. The Bill-Sookie-Eric-Alcide love triangle was also a bit much, even if at times it was pleasant change. I’d much rather see Sookie pick someone (difficult I know) and stick with him. However, the revealing of Bill’s original reason for encountering Sookie will make it much harder for that to happen now. The best characters of the season, hands down, would have to be Franklin and Russel. Franklin, because he’s played by James Frain, who has been stellar in everything from Invasion (TV), The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Tudors, to name a few. How can you not like the Franklin character? He’s basically a depressed hopeless romantic/degenerate gambler/psychopath, which is 10lbs of entertainment in a 5lb bag. Too bad he had to die…again! Then there’s Russel, the extremely long lived/un-dead/hilarious/devoted/homosexual king of Mississippi, and he’s evil too! Not to mention, but I also thought that his interruption of the nightly news was the best moment of the season. As for the other characters, I really liked Sam’s storlyine this season, even if I didn’t care for the dark side all that much, it was still nice to see a change in character. His dark past/crazy backwoods family was one of the better moments in the season. I even liked Tommy, for all his faults (many) I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, hoping he’d change his ways. And it just seems that when he started to make that change it was too little too late. I look forward to seeing him back next season, there’s no way that Sam could have killed his only brother. Then there’s Jessica and Hoyt, perhaps my favorite part of True Blood for the past season and a half. There story seems to be picking up steam every episode, which leads me to believe something epic is going to happen next season, although, it may not be for the better. (What was with the creepy doll on the floor of their new place?) Let’s not forget about Eric and Godric… What happened to the Eric that would do anything for his maker? I guess I can understand why, though, it’s not like Godric was all that convincing or determined to make Eric understand (Another part of the finale that seemed extremely rushed). So… Tara? Well, I seem to be on the fence about her now. Since the show started, I’ve had issues with her, granted she does have many major issues. Which might be why I have trouble connecting to her, mainly because nothing good ever happens to her, or when it does, it ends in some tragic way. Which in turn, makes Tara resort back to the depressing/woe is me/strong/angry/black woman. (On a side note: Was I the only one who thought that Tara’s new hairstyle made her look more attractive and appealing?) Last but not least, Jason! I know that he’s not the brightest bulb in the lunch pale, but I think he’s finally stepping up. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with his love interest/werepanther, but at the moment I’m not really worried about that. I’m more intrigued by him becoming more selfless, and taking the path to helping those less fortunate than himself. He’s definitely a good guy, although stupid at times, you can always count on him to be there when the going get tough. This season, to me at least, was bit of a letdown… though it had some really great moments, the majority (like I said) just seemed rushed and unfocused, never leaving enough time some something good to develop. That being said, however, I’m still very much interested in where season 4 will take these characters… Just so long as it doesn’t meet the same fate as did Heroes! I hate seeing good shows try to do too much, only to fall flat.
I forgot to mention Lafayette and Jesus… As long as my comment was, you think I would have included them. I was interested in the flashbacks/trips/visions that Lafayette experienced, although, because they weren’t able to spend much time on it, I felt like they could have put it off until next season. That, or just not spend so much time on the both of them, seems like more time could have been put into the main story which suffered somewhat, due to lack of time. Also, Arlene and Terry peaked my interest as well, what with that whole hell spawn of Rene that’s currently growing, plotting, and scheming inside of Arlene. I’m not completely sure where that’s headed, or how much it will mean when the next season finally rolls around, but with all the witches that seem to be popping up, I’m sure something will come of it.
If Sookie forgives Bill after his real nature was exposed i will never watch true blood again – it will become too hard to give her credibility given that she has forgiven him so much already. Also, in reference to an earlier episode I am staggered that Sookie did not confront Bill about leaving Tara to rot in Mississippi. The writers should be shot for that given what happened to Tara.
There were far too many storylines throughout the series and not enough Sookie, there should be a stronger focus on the main characters in Season 4. Sookie was better when she was away from Bill – she seemed to grow as a person. Personally I hate Bill, he has taken advantage of Sookies love for him to get back into her affections far too much. If I had drained someone of their blood to the extent that they nearly died – deliberately or not – I would leave them on principle just for their own safety because next time that person might not be lucky enough to survive.