True Blood the Complete First Season DVD

Posted by Michael Weyer on 06.20.2009

Note to Twilight fans: This is what a hot vampire story really looks like.

True Blood: The Complete First Season
12 episodes in five-disc set
HBO Entertainment
720 minutes


　

I’ve always been a fan of vampires. The mix of horror and elegance about them, creatures who feast on blood to survive, it’s a clear parable for humanity and I think that’s the key reason they’ve become such a part of our culture. However, the last few years have brought a softening of the image that’s annoying. It began with Anne Rice but has reached its zenith now with the scores of young adult books portraying vampires as…well, wimps in a way, struggling with their curse and not as fascinating as usual. The highpoint is of course Twilight which horribly neuters the entire “vampire” concept to a ridiculous degree (and if you think the movie was bad, trust me, the actual books are worse). It’s gotten to the point where the Buffy the Vampire Slayer “season 8” comic is doing a storyline in which the soulless demon vamps use this new public perception to sell themselves as misunderstood and thus lure in new prey.

Thankfully, HBO and Alan Ball have come along to give us a real modern-day vampire saga. None of this “woe is me for my curse” crap, we get vampires who are struggling in modern society but still thirst, for blood and sex. And we get both of those in major spades as only cable TV can deliver it. The result is not only a great vampire tale but one of the best shows HBO has come up with in years and the new DVD showcases it all in its wild glory.

　
The Show

Based on the books by Charlaine Harris, the series is set in a near-future United States where vampires have come out of hiding and announced their existence to the world. The impetus for that was the creation of a synthetic blood that provides all the vampires’ dietary needs. Now recognized as citizens, the vampires still are fighting for full equal rights under the Vampire Rights Amendment. Vampires pervade all types of culture but naturally there are many who don’t want to see them mingling with humans. That’s not to mention a lot of vampires still prefer real blood over the store-bought “True Blood” six packs and consider humans beneath them.

The main show takes place in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, a place usually removed from the mainstream life. The first episode introduces us to the main character, Sookie Stackhouse (Oscar winner Anna Paquin), a waitress at Merlottes’, the local diner/bar. Sookie has always been a bit of an outsider due to the fact that, for reasons unknown, she has the ability to read people’s thoughts. This naturally makes it hard for her to relate to people, including her dim-witted brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten), her best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), her gay cousin Lafayette Reynolds( Nelsan Ellis) and her boss Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell). Her grandma Adele (Lois Smith) is sympathetic and urges Sookie to get out into the world more. Her chance comes when into the bar one night comes a man Sookie realizes instantly is a vampire because she can’t read his mind. He’s Bill Compton, who actually lived in the town before he was turned in 1865, right after serving in the Civil War. He’s long been haunted by the fact he had to let his wife and children think him dead to spare them the pain and is intrigued by how Sookie has no fear of him whatsoever. The fact she saves his life when a couple try to drain his blood to sell on the black market helps that along.

Obviously, there’s the challenges of a relationship between a vampire and a mortal. Many of the local vampires hang out at a vampire club called Fangtasia (Bill explains the name by saying that the vampire owners are old and “puns were once the highest form of humor.’) That includes Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard), the “sheriff” of one of the vampire districts who takes a dim view of Bill going that path. Most of the townspeople aren’t happy, particularly Tara and Sam, who has had a longtime crush on Sookie. Jason isn’t happy either but hardly has room to talk as he gets addicted to “V,” a drug created off vampire blood, getting into various misadventures, including a relationship with a bohemian gal named Amy (Lizzy Caplan). Tara, who’s always had an affection for Jason, is put off by his attitude and takes up with Sam. She also has to handle her long-time alcoholic and abusive mother claiming a demon was responsible for her abuse of Tara. An exorcism seems to turn her mother into a better person and Tara worries the woman who performed it is right about the claims Tara has a demon as well. To top it all off, someone starts a brutal series of murders in town that run throughout the season and leads to a wild climax.





It’s ironic that Ball, a man known for putting wild fantasy elements into his previous works, picks a vampire story to play it straight. Oh, we get some out there stuff (like Jason’s V-fueled hallucinations) but it still doesn’t go for camp or too fantastic stuff and thus sells the show better. There is humor here and there with how vampires fit into culture (like a tabloid talking about Angelina Jolie adopting a vampire baby and signs saying “God hates fangs“) but at its heart, the story still comes off pretty down to earth. The vampires themselves are revealed well with their powers and even a bit where Amy gives a scientific explanation as to how the blood fuels them. They do have the classic stuff: Super strength, able to move in the blink of an eye and “glamour” people into doing what they want. Bill openly states that many of the myths like crosses and no reflections were started by vamps themselves to hide their nature better. There’s also the little touches like how vampires are addicted to Wii golf games that simulate being in the sunlight and enjoy movies the same way, hinting that deep down some do miss being human. That helps keep the show relatable and understandable for the audience and pulls you in.

The Southern setting helps as well. This is a pretty authentic small Louisiana town, where everyone knows everyone and the old-timers still refer to the Civil War as “the War for Southern Independence.” It’s obvious how the struggle for vampire equality is meant to mirror the battle for rights for gays and blacks as people will discriminate and have wild ideas about them. A man running for Senate on an anti-vampire agenda uses the idea of them as the ultimate illegal immigrants to play on fears. Of course, there’s the tiny difference that quite a few vampires still hold to “the old ways” and have no interest in humans for anything but food. How these two species commingle and clash always adds up to fun drama. This being HBO, the show doesn’t have to hold back on the gore (when a vampire is staked, let’s say it’s a hell of a lot more messy than turning into dust), language (you’d have to watch Deadwood to get more cursing) and of course nudity (especially from Paquin, Caplan and Kwanten). But it never seems gratuitous but fitting in with the mood of the show and the plotlines.

The acting is what sells the series. Paquin has proven her Oscar win as a child was no fluke, as she’s blossomed into a truly great actress (and whoever did the casting for The Piano had to be a fortuneteller because between her looks and her flawless Southern accent, Paquin looks more like Holly Hunter’s daughter now than she did then). She’s already won a Golden Globe for the show and is no doubt a lock for an Emmy nom and deserves it. Her Sookie is a great character, bright and chipper but still shows the pain of her “gift.” Just imagine how it’d be to know exactly what everyone is truly thinking, all the secrets they hide and of course, how they really feel about you and your family. More than once, she’ll snap at someone for what they think, not say but does so in a manner that makes you understand her. Her attraction to Bill is clear as she wants to give herself to him whole-heartedly but is nervous about it; not because of the vampirism but because she’s never been with a man before and is overwhelmed by the feelings. Paquin is great handling the insanity of the supernatural elements of the show, often with a deadpan reaction that makes you laugh hard.

Moyer matches her well and their real-life relationship is clear in how they carry on. He obviously loves her but knows the dangers she’s naive to and still carries the pain of his lost family after all these centuries. But Moyer also gives the character a nice gravitas so you can buy this is a man over 175 years old and raised in the time of Southern gentlemen. There’s a nice bit where he talks to the townspeople at a historical meeting, sharing stories of his Civil War times and comes off nice and friendly. But of course, at heart, he’s a vampire and Moyer is good with that aspect as well, handling the fight scenes and the thirst. His best moment occurs when he faces a horrific punishment for killing a vampire threatening Sookie and Moyer makes you feel the agony of that all the way.

For the supporting cast, Trammell is good as Sam, his attraction to Sookie clear but also handling the aspects of the bar. It gets better as the mid point of the season gets him involved in a plotline with a terrific twist that changes aspects of the show quite a lot. He gets along well with Wesley, who starts off rather abrasive as Tara but shows softer sides as the season goes on with her worries over her mother and clashing with Sookie and Sam over their respective relationships. It takes a special type of actor to convincingly portray a sex addict moron and Kwanten pulls it off brilliantly. He starts off as the comic relief, caring for sex and V but as the season goes on, shows a bit more depth with his relationship with Amy and Sookie’s relationship forcing him to finally grow up a bit. Ellis at first is a bit of a cliché as the gay Lafayette but shows some depth too with helping Tara and how he feels when a “client” of his turns out to be running for Senate on an anti-gay/vampire agenda. Caplan is also good as the quirky Amy with some nice attitudes on life and blood and there’s also some good appearances by Chris Bauer as the detective looking into the killings; Carrie Preston as a fellow waitress who tries to support Sookie in her own way; and Michael Raymond-James as a nice guy waiter who plays into the plotline majorly. Late in the season, we get some faces that play more into the current season of the show like Michelle Forbes as a mysterious new arrival and Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica, a woman brought into Bill’s life by twisted means who truly blossoms. And just when you think it can’t get any better, the always awesome Zeljko Ivanek shows up as a vampire lord.

The show is well shot, quite a bit on location and captures the Southern Gothic vibe perfectly. That matches with the supernatural elements and the constant night shoots make everything feel great and vibrant. The effects are good with the vampire's super speed, a charcter flawlessly morphing between human and animal and even how the vamp's fangs flip out of their upper teeth. However, it’s the characters (human and immortal) who pull you in and make you care about what goes on. The dark humor is evident along with the nice tidbits here and there (like how vamps have to card mortals at bars because they can’t tell human ages anymore). Overall, whether you like romances, vampires or dark tales, this show provides some truly wicked drama laced with black humor and proves once more how HBO is able to entertain better than most anyone.


Rating: 8.5 out of 10.0


Video: As usual for HBO releases, the video is quite crisp and clear with 16.9 aspect ratio. The picture is always clear enough, a must for the nighttime sequences and no problems with quality either, especially on higher def screens.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0


Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, the audio is pretty much stable and clear although sometimes you may have to adjust for sequences of characters speaking softly. There are subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Brazilian and Portuguese and audio tracks in Spanish and French, all quite clear.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0


Bonus Material: Surprisingly for an HBO release, there’s no “making of” documentary or behind the scenes footage which you’d think would be terrific for this show. It’s a bit annoying as the challenges of adapting the show from the novels and the technical stuff of the vampires and special effects would be a great feature and it’s missed.

We do get six commentary tracks for selected episodes:
*Strange Love with Alan Ball.
*The First Taste with Paquin and director Scott Winart.
*Escape From Dragon House with director Michael Lehmann and writer Brian Bruckner.
*Sparks Fly Out with Moyer and director Dan Minahan.
*Burning House of Love with director Marcos Siega.
*To Love is to Bury with writer/director Nancy Oliver.
　
The commentaries are a good mix of the various challenges of making the show and the mood of it all. Ball talks about his plans, how he wanted to make the show “messy and more cluttered” to fit its mood and that influenced the other directors, particularly the vampire movie clichés he vowed never to see on the show (opera music, weird contact lenses, blue light). Paquin is bright talking about her scenes, joking that the producers made her start wearing flimsy outfits to prep her for her nude scenes and how it felt working with such unique material. She truly enjoys the show as she talks about how hard she fought for the part and wanted to make it as real as she could. It’s interesting hearing the stars out of character, Moyer in his natural English accent while Paquin’s seems to mix several countries at once. The directors touch on the various actors, giving a lot of credit to Kwanten’s “do-anything” drive and some of the ad-libs that take place. There’s also talk on shooting in Louisiana and how the post-Katrina mood actually helps the show. Overall, the commentaries are nice and give the insight to the show the DVD lacks without a behind-the-scenes featurette.

The rest of the features touch upon the world of the show. We get fake commercials for various vampire-themed products like a vamp-only hotel, a lawyer promising to help vampires settle in the mainstream and a couple of ads for “True Blood” liquid for American and French audiences with different fun styles. There’s also ads for and against the Vampire Rights Amendment, with the anti having the irony of blacks, gays and Muslims talking about vampires “don’t belong here.”

The best extra is “In Focus: Vampires in America”, a 15-minute “documentary” that sheds terrific background on the world of the show. It discusses how vampires publicly came out and the natural chaos that followed. Jessica Tuck shows up as the head of a vampire rights league who has some nice interview stuff. When she’s asked her age, she smirks about whether the interviewer would ask a human woman that, the man responding by showing photos of her with both Presidents Roosevelt. She also has a bit on Real Time with Bill Maher asked about vampires using humans and fires back that humans have the same bad rap. “We don’t own slaves or detonate nuclear weapons.” There’s also a look at the creation of the blood synthetic and a reverend whose church is anti-vampire. We also get some nice talk on why humans are drawn to vamps so much as a woman points out the benefits of a boyfriend with 200 years of experience and the body of a 27-year old. Overall, it’s a great way to appreciate the series more and shows how well-thought out the back-story truly is. It may not make up for a behind-the-scenes look but still fun.


Rating: 7.0 out of 10.0

The 411: The extras may be a bit lacking but the actual show is one of the best efforts HBO has put together in years. Hot as hell with plenty of blood and nudity abounding, it still manages to get at the heart of its unique romance in a convincing way. Between the excellent production values and terrific cast (especially the two leads), this is one show that reminds you why the vampire motif has always had so much bite.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]