by Claire Sterling

Created on: June 21, 2009

I came across a behind the scenes special for the show before it aired by fortunately discovering that I had free cable in my apartment someone must have forgotten about. My first impression was a good one. Given the fact that at first I thought maybe it would just be another Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then, that Sunday night at 8 pm I tuned in for the first episode and was very impressed. The first thing to grasp my attention was the location of the boon-dock town called Bon Temps in Louisiana. The characters being so ''country'' was a different take for a vampire show and the setting made it interesting. The plot is based in a time when humans and vampires co-exist. Vampires actually have some legal rights and are fighting for more. I like to compare this fictional situation with the civil rights and gay rights movements.

The main character's name is Sookie Stackhouse who is played by actress Anna Paquin; known for her role in the series of X-Men movies as Rogue, the mutant that can involuntarily drain another's super powers. In the show she is a telepathic young lady that possesses a gift she thinks of as a curse. She works at what seems to be the only bar and grill in the small town called Merlotte's. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it is the local hangout and it's where fate would have her meet tall, dark, handsome and bloodsucking Bill Compton with whom she builds a relationship. Sookie has a grandmother she calls Gran (who is long gone since the show is in its second season as I am writing this) and an older brother Jason. The show is full of certain lovable characters such as owner of Merlotte's Sam Merlotte, and Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton. The show is full of all sorts of different stories based on each unique character such as Tara being the daughter of an abusive alcoholic mother that believes she is possessed by a demon and needs an exorcism, to Sam keeping it a secret all these years that he is a shape-shifter. There are also nail-biting twists and turns like murders (including that of Gran and his love interest Ami played by the lovely Lizzy Caplan) throughout season 1 that were linked to Jason Stackhouse, Sookie's brother, who in the season finale we find out is innocent and the murders were actually committed by an unsuspected long time friend who was actually a vamp-hating murder suspect from another town, lying about his identity the whole time.

Alan Ball, the creative mind behind the show, managed to take old myths we've all come to believe about vampires and put a new twist on them. I mean sure they are still harmed by the UV rays of the sun but not necessarily killed by it. And, he put a new use to vampire blood and made it a recreational drug with acid-like effects. Also, the name of the show is based on a synthetic blood served in a bottle as drink for vampires that choose not to feed on humans. The distribution of True Blood puts people at ease knowing that there are vampires decent enough to want to ''mainstream'' as they call it, as if they were just like them. The show is a suspenseful masterpiece, and I hope it stays around for a while. For those that don't know but are interested, the first season is on DVD and you can rent it from your video store. Or if you have HBO, new episodes are on Sunday nights at 8 pm central time. Enjoy!

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