Will True Blood be good to the last drop?

I really have vampires on the brain this week,what with Twilight coming out this Friday and the season one finale of True Blood due next Sunday night.

Having True Blood doing so well does more than make up for the cancellation of vamp series like Moonlight and Blood Ties(if you don't have HBO and are a vampire fan,please take heart;it should be out on DVD by sometime early next year).

Part of it's success is due to having the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire series of books to give a strong setting for the characters to work on and from. Fortunately,they've been able to expand on the viewpoint and p.o.v. that the books offer up(all of them are told from Sookie's perspective only)to give a number of supporting players in this story a real chance at depth and devlopment.



This isn't meant as a criticism of Harris' work,just simply acknowledging that the show had to broaden the range of it's appeal and not allow the series to be The Sookie and Bill Show(which many folks would prefer,I know).

If Charlaine Harris hadn't set up such strong back stories for all of her characters,the series' writers wouldn't have the deep well to draw from that they do.



And they do have a good grip on the relationship between Sookie and Bill. Yes,there's plenty of passion and Bill can be quite the charming gentleman(even a proper babysitter in a pinch) at times. However,some folks are just never going to warm up to a vampire,no matter how much fake blood he drinks.

Even with Bill's attempts to "mainstream" into polite human society,other unchangeable facts about his condition will hold both him and Sookie back from becoming a pair of happy homemakers:



It's not just the human world that sets up barriers for Bill and Sookie. Vampire politics and ancient traditions keep pulling him in,even with Bill's determined efforts to stay firmly on the sidelines. Not to mention that a stroll for Sookie in the realm of the undead is no ride at Disney World in terms of safe passage:



Also,the more that Bill interacts with his blood drinking kind,the more of his true dark side comes out to play. He doesn't have to flash his fangs to cause the fear levels to rise in those around him but it does add to his menace factor:





One of most compelling characters that has been highlighted on True Blood is Tara Thornton,who doesn't even show up in the first Sookie Stackhouse book(she makes her debut in the second one,Living Dead in Dallas). She's basically the outspoken best friend type,but the series has turned her into a major player with a story line as intense and intriguing as Sookie's.

From dealing with her alcoholic mother,who has decided that an exorcism would cure her of drinking,to jumping into a hasty one night stand with her boss Sam(both of them share unrequited crushes on the Stackhouse siblings)that might be more than just a fling to trying to shake off her own emotional demons,Tara's journey has been a long hard road that hopefully leads her out of hell:

FIRST BIG TARA MOMENT:



NEW JOB,SAME OLD SITUATION



SNUGGLING WITH SAM TURNS SASSY



EXORCISING MORE THAN ONE DEMON



When talking about Tara,we can't overlook her flamboyant fry cook cousin Lafayette. He may be a hustler(of addictive vampire blood along with sexual favors)but the man holds no illusions about who and what he is. Another check in the plus column for Lafayette is his directness in dealing with nonsense from others:





So,with the show winding down this upcoming weekend,high hopes will be placed on the finale. The direction that True Blood has been taking thus far leads me to think that whatever bits of closures and dangling cliffhangers are given to us,we won't be disappointed. In fact,I suspect that the cravings for next season will kick right in during the end credits: