True Blood Season 2 Finale was Underwhelming, but Season 3 Looks Promising
Sunday night saw the conclusion of Season 2 of True Blood and, just like in the Season 1 finale, we were left hanging. The citizens of Bon Temps – humans, vampires, and shapeshifters, too – finally figured out a way to deal with Maryann. Things didn’t go quite back to normal right away, and for some characters, it looks like there are going to be more tough times ahead. Overall, the finale was somewhat disappointing, but that’s mostly because, well, nothing really happened. Keep reading for the full review. As always, there are spoilers.
Read the review of True Blood’s penultimate episode HERE.
When we last left Sookie, she was back at home where Tara and Eggs tended to a giant egg and Lafayette – under the control of Maryann – had come to grab Sookie. He orders Sookie to slip into a bridesmaid’s dress before leading her downstairs to Maryann. it turns out Maryann is planning to marry Dionysus, with Sookie standing in as the maid of honor. Just like we were, Maryann is terribly curious about Sookie’s new found “power,” but Sookie is unable to discharge the “pink electricity” from her hands again. I guess we’ll have to wait until next season to see what that was all about it. Maryann tells Sookie – as all classic villains do – her grand plan, which is to use Sookie as bait to lure Sam to the “wedding.” One thing we’ve always been able to bank on is Sam’s loyalty, which I think goes well with the fact that a collie is his animal of choice.
Eric plays Yahtzee with the Queen and tries to bring up the subject of Maryann, but the Queen is pretty pissed at the fact that Bill found out that Eric had been selling vampire blood to humans. The Queen, it turns out, was behind that scheme from the beginning, although we don’t know why. A couple of interesting developments occurred in this scene: 1) Eric vowed to take care of Bill, which sets up the inevitable love triangle/conflict quite nicely (Eric now has a non-Sookie excuse to get rid of Bill) and 2) The Queen mentioned that Eric was better off for not drinking Sookie’s blood. Why? Well, Sookie clearly isn’t human, and – without reading the books – I’m guessing that Sookie is much more than a telepath. Could there be something about her that makes men of all species fawn over her? It sure seems like it.
Jason and Andy make there way over to Maryann’s wedding and try to stop the proceedings, but they’re brought under the control of Maryann pretty quickly. So much for that. Soon enough, Bill shows up with Sam in tow, and it looks like Maryann will have the final piece of her sacrifice puzzle, as Sam is the “vessel” through which he God/groom will appear. Sam is tied up and Eggs stabs him in the chest with a dagger, drawing blood. While Maryann is in ecstasy, Sookie communicates with Sam telepathically and, per his instructions, destroys the rest of the sacrificial items – including the giant ostrich egg – infuriated Maryann and causing her to reveal her clawed maenad form. Sookie uses her “other” power to push over the giant meat/bull statue, but we’re still left with no explanation. Maryann chases after Sookie but halts when a giant, white bull appears in the road.
The bull gorges Maryann to her delight (remember the Queen stated that Maryann wants to die), bu soon we see it wasn’t Maryann’s god, but Sam in the form of a bull. With Maryann killed, Sam explains that Bill and he had this planned, and that he drank Bill’s blood to help heal his wound. The next day, the entire town blacking out is attributed to various rumors, including alien abductions. Sam himself spreads the rumor that it was all due to tainted vodka.
Most of the town goes back to normal, except for Eggs, who can’t get over all the blood on his hands. With Sookie’s help, he remembers all the murders he committed (including that of Miss Jeanette) and later begs Andy to arrest him for murder. Eggs gets a bit too aggressive, though, waving a dagger in Andy’s face. Jason shows up and shoots Eggs in the head, and that’s the end of Eggs. Andy assumes responsibility and Jason runs away from the scene before Tara arrives. If you thought Tara was messed up before, she’s going to be absolutely batshit next season. And just wait until she finds out that it was her darling Jason that killed Eggs, too.
Bill and Jessica both leave their home at the same time – Bill to meet Sookie for dinner at a French restaurant, and Jessica to track down Hoyt feast on some trucker. Bill proposes to Sookie, but she’s at a loss for words and has to think things over in the bathroom. She tries on his diamond engagement ring and it appears as she’s going to say yes, but when she leaves the bathroom, Bill has been abducted. We don’t know who did it, but hopefully Eric’s involved. There was a big misdirection last season (we assumed it was Lafayette in the car, not Miss Jeanette), so I wouldn’t be too surprised if someone else kidnapped Bill.
And so Season 2 has concluded. I think it was inferior to Season 1, but I did enjoy it a great deal. The Godric episodes were great, and it was nice to see Jason emerge as true comic relief. We got much more Eric this time around, and I’m guessing that he’s going to be as prominent as anyone else next season. Like I said, I wish more happened in this finale, but I think Season 3 looks very promising. The death of Maryann perhaps could have been much cooler, but I think it was somewhat poetic that Sam was the one who finally killed her.
What did you guys think? And really, how bad does Sookie totally own Bill? She bosses him around like he’s a child. Eric would never stand for that type of treatmen
I visit your site everyday! It’s damn near profound to find so many related and interesting topics. I always wondered if there’s more than of you updating this site? And man…do I wish there were more weekend updates!
In any case, the season finale of True Blood was a bit weak. Well, to put it another way, the first 35 minutes was pretty fun and exciting. After that point, there’s this built up nostalgia I became present to. Almost as of the creators of the show themselves were going through it and we, as the audience, had to endure the last sad 20 minutes of the season with them. They were tying up a few loose ends, but taking there time with it, all the while leaving many questions to be answered for the next season.
There’s also a concept they created in an earlier episode that I’m having trouble wrapping my head around! That all supernaturals were imagined and then created themselves into being??? Even the death of the mainede was an imagined death and it having been thought out, that God himself could kill her, is what made it possible for her to succumb to her death. I suppose that might make some sense for the God, being that so much of her work was based on belief…and maybe even for the vampires since there’s a prexisiting mythos revolving there existence, but how does that make sense when it comes to Sookie? She wasn’t formed or indoctrinated into a sub-culture and, as stated by her final comments of the season, she certainly doesn’t understand the full extent of her powers! She didn’t imagine her self into being, but rather, is given these set of abilities well beyond the bounds of her imagination.
All in all, the whole season felt more like a loosely held comic book series. If the first season was filled with shocks and surprises…meant to be more funny and amusing then anything, the entire second season sort of took itself a little too seriously (or at least the second half). The church bit was a well done parody. However, the glue and suspension of disbelief barely held together for the GOD’s, and the lack of dark comedy/comedy surrounding her existence only made it seem that much more…BORING (unbelivable/unfunny/unamusing, but at the end of the day…uninteresting).
Will I be sticking around for the third season? Hell ya! The shows different from most anything that’s out there right now and it’s one of few fun shows around!!!
But dude…Entourage is the shizim! I can’t believe you don’t like the show!!! Be sure to pick up Breaking Bad if you already haven’t…
@ Ashik
Awesome to hear that you come here every day. Thanks. There’s just three of us here: me, Nattyb, and Paul. That’s it.
I, too, felt like there was TOO MUCH resolution this episode, and a lot of scenes we probably could have done without. Like Sam confronting his foster parents, for example. That could have waited.
As to supernatural beings “imagining” themselves into existence, it could be a metaphysical concept. Many scientists (and mystics) believe that matter did not give rise to consciousness, but rather, consciousness gave rise to matter. “Reality” is not the material world, but a vast ocean of information, perhaps a collective, infinitie consciousness of sorts. I doubt the show will go that deep, but it was cool to see this concept at least touched on a bit. Check out books like “Science and the Akashic Field or The God Theory for more on that.
And sorry, I just can’t get into Entourage. My time is pretty limited as it is, and with Curb and Always Sunny returning…
Thanks for reading!
Underwhelming is the same word I used after watching this finale. I looked around and was like “Is that it?”. It was nice tying up loose ends, and thank goodness Maryann is done and gone. There was too little of Eric, and I kept thinking that he was going to show up at the end when Sookie went to the bathroom, but sadly he wasn’t.
This season was good, and I agree that the first season was somewhat better. It was fun that the writers expanded on the supernatural world, and it seems that werewolves might be on the plate for next season. No comparisons to Twilight, please god.
Was anyone else on the edge of their seat when Eggs looked like he was about to stab Andy? I was definitely holding my breath. I think that it’s too cut and dry to assume that it was Eric that kidnapped Bill. Now we just have to wait another year or so to find out.
@ Laura
If Eric is a red herring, maybe it was Lorena who kidnapped Bill?
i love tuesdays because it means the reviews are up and it totally agree that the episode was a let down…there wasn’t much…”oommph” in it this time(if that makes any sense)..i am looking forward to next season although not as much as i was looking forward to the second season..
geez..now what do i have to look forward to all week..
@ orlisnjangel
I am guessing we’ll see werewolves next season. Anyhow, in the meantime, may I suggest It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia??
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is fantastic in it’s sheer ridiculousness.
Yes it was underwhelming, but i found the whole mary ann story line underwhelming…..so i wasn’t expecting much to begin with.
I was actually sad when Eggs died. Don’t get me wrong, he was a weak character all season, but with all the guilt he gained from having realized what he had done, he suddenly became interesting and i wanted to see how he and Tara would cope….then blam! Oh well i guess, i just hope Tara doesn’t need her mom around a lot because of it. That women annoys me to no end.
As for what happened to Bill. The logical choice is Eric, or failing that, someone working for him. The abductor knew where they were, which while not impossible to figure out, would be easy for Eric since he can track Sookie because she drank his blood. The abductor managed to sneak up on Bill which i imagine would be difficult for a human. And the abductor wore gloves, my guess is this is to protect a vampires hands from silver, but again could just be because of the nature of what they’re doing. As for motive, Eric and Lorena are obvious choices, but the Light of day institute could also be an option if the abductor is human. The hands did look kinda small……i dunno.
Either way, Sookie is bound to go to Eric for help.
For season 3 i want more Eric, more Laffayette, and a more season 1ish vibe. Werewolves would be cool too.
I loved season 2, hated the finalle. The last 30 minutes leading up to the restaurant scene was a complete snore. Who cares about sam finding his parents ! Who cares about Hoits mother, and so glad eggs is gone. And where was eric ?? I have one word for episode 12 – BORING !
One interesting detail, Eric mentioned that Bill did not know the Queen was supplying the blood he was selling.
Why would the queen sell here blood to humans?
So she can keep track of as many as possible and so humans can have sexy dreams about her?
I thought the Sam/Bull and Maryann ending was beautiful.
The dismissal of Eggs was sloppy.
Bill’s kidnapping is intriguing.
And I think that Sam’s story is potentially about to get interesting.
@ Quebeker
That’s actually my guess…if people are taking the Queen’s V, she can keep tabs on everyone.