The TV Triangle: True Blood

The last post was about two vampires and a human and so it this one. What can I say - fantasy is not the strongest side of recent vampire-obsessed literature and TV. The main characters here are the human waitress/mindreader Sookie Stackhouse and the (fatally) attractive vampires Bill Compton and Eric Northman.

Sookie, Bill and Eric

Image Copyrights:Blue Blog

Sookie met the Civil War veteran Bill Compton during the first episode of the series and has been on and off with him ever since. He was actually her first man. Everything was peachy until Sookie got to meet Bill's boss the 1000 year-old viking Eric. Northman was initially attracted to Sookie's mindreading abilities but soon became fascinated by ..mhm.. other parts of her body besides her brain. Both vampires used tricks to make the little blond waitress desire them (as if Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer need those) - they fed her their blood (which in the True Blood universe creates a bond of attraction and shared emotions between the vampire and the human - in Sookie's case these were some very steamy dreams). So Sookie was still dating Bill but she was also pining over the giant viking.

Sookie was just about to get engaged to Bill when they broke up over his dishonesty over his initial interest in her (Compton was sent by the vampire queen of Louisiana to gather intelligence on the blond temptation). And after that she did not need a lot to succumb to her growing attraction to Eric Northman (who can blame her?). Just as the thing were about to start getting normal between her and Eric after a few days of intense lovemaking, Bill had to feed Sookie his blood to save her life. So at the end of season 4, Sookie found herself again attracted to the two vampires in the same time.

Solution: Even though Sookie was dreaming (as in the video above) about a solution in which she could have both of them, at the end of season 4 she desided that it would be best to let both vampires go. It's not over yet, though, because even after that the two of them demonstrated they were willing to rebel against any kind of (vampire) authority to protect Sookie. And it has been a recurring part of this triangle that both vampires are willing to do crazy things to protect the blond mindreader. 

For her own good, Sookie at least knows what she wants, even though she thinks she cannot have it. In comparison, Vampire Diaries's Elena is completely in denial of her feelings for Damon. I wish there was an alternate universe in which Sookie, Bill and Eric could have a peaceful threeway (not that Eric and Bill seem to be completely opposed to sexual relations with their own sex, they just cannot stand the idea to share).

Complication: The complication for this threesome is a real world one - Stephen Moyer (Bill) and Anna Paquin (Sookie) are real life couple (together since the pilot and married since season 2). So Alexander Skarsgard is a little bit like the third wheele there. On the other hand, it seems that Alex and Stephen are really good friends, as Paquin's husband admits that he could hardly trust anybody else as much to do the steamy sex scenes between Sookie and Eric as he does Alex. Even if those steamy moments are no problem for the three of them, it seems that they are problem for the TV show writers that decided to tone down Sookie and Eric's sexual encounters, probably in an effort to spear Stephen's feelings. Additionally, sometimes it is just to obvious how much Paquin and Moyer love each other, it would be quite impossible to imagine her playing Sookie completely devoid of love towards Bill.

If you like this post, you might also like my post the Vampire Diaries TV Triangle or Skarsgard's 2011 movie Melancholia.

Melancholia

I saw Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" over the weekend. It is a truly remarkable movie. It is so honest that it is sometimes painful to watch. Yet, it is also stunningly beautiful.


I have to admit that it was Alexander and Stellan Skarsgard that got me interested into the movie when I first heard about it. I have a little thing for Swedish cinema, especially after seeing "Puss" over the summer (which merits a post of its own in the near future), that has nothing to do with my addiction to HBO's vampire drama "True Blood." So the two Skarsgards in the cast convinced me to make the leap and disregard the female lead Kirsten Durst (I don't think I will ever get over "Spiderman", even though it was not her fault that the script was extremely badly written). It was certainly worth it, even with his few scenes Stellan manages to steal the screen (similarly to Marvel's blockbuster "Thor"), while his son does a dissent job portraying Durst's one-day husband. I would expect more form the younger Skarsgard when I get to see the new version of "Straw Dogs" later this year. I have to admit, however, that Kirsten Durst is great in this movie. The emotional depth she portrays in the shoes of Justine is amazing. It seems an extremely psychologically exhausting role to play but Durst does it marvelously. The depth of her delivery certainly merits a handful of nominations when the awards season starts if not an Oscar. 


The other great thing about "Melancholia" besides Durst's polished performance is the cinematography. This movie is a stunning visual poetry. It is so beautiful that it certainly will not appeal to the mass audience in the States. The colors and the framing rival that of a Renaissance painting. The beginning is extremely controversial but it is this one scene in which Durst's character is lying on the grass next to a river completely naked that is the real money shot. I cannot remember another scene in recent cinema that works so well in portraying sensuality without any vulgar sexual subtext. 


Von Trier is a real genius and a real auteur. This is the bravest movie I have seen recently (ever since Nolan's classic "Memento") and this includes my 2010 favorites ("The Social Network," "The King's Speech," and "Inception"). It is impossible - the visual and emotional depth of this movie is stunning. Von Trier manages to portray depression with such nuances that you walk out of the cinema feeling slightly off balance, examining carefully your own emotional condition. It is not a feel good movie, not by a long shot but as a movie fan, I adore it because it brought me back the belief in the future of cinema. There are still directors that are ready to go that extra mile and be artist by delivering something new. 


This probably the only film about the end of the world that manages to keep it small and personal. It is so focused that the pain it demonstrates within its small four member environment triumph any other clash of worlds. Yes, in Star Wars: New Hope billion minds screamed and fell silent but in "Melancholia" the emotional torture that this family endures before the inevitable end is so charged that by the end your heart is racing, praying that the pain will end soon. The whole movie delivers a very loaded philosophical question: what hurts more - the actual moment of death or all those moments preceeding it when you now that this is it?

Previous Movie Reviews: Imagine Me and You, Velvet Goldmine