(*HA!)

We had quite the time meeting some past and current contributors and readers, attending loads of television panels to see what our favorite shows have in store for us this fall (and what new and exciting shows we can expect to be dazzled by), and passing out some awesome promotional materials for our Glee, True Blood, and Dollhouse anthologies.

Here are the highlights of the show from our viewpoint:

• The Transmedia Entertainment panel we attended early Thursday and given by the very-fascinating Henry Jenkins
• The buzz surrounding the pilot screening of The Event (did you see it? what did you think, if so?)
• Showtime’s Anti-hero panel
• Seeing the Smart Pop sampler on the Freebie table (did you get your copy?)
• The following panels that were fun, interesting, and filled with just the right amount of spoilers: Dexter, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Fringe, and Glee. (What was your favorite panel?)
• All the great panel moderators, including Tim Stack and Wil Wheaton. Great energy on the stage!
• The San Diego downtown area in general, along with the easy-to-navigate trolley system
• And, of course, the Smart Pop meet-and-greet party at the House of Blues Saturday night (which will be covered in a part two post with pictures!)

If we got to meet you at the show, we’re so glad, and we’re already planning how to make our presence bigger and better at next year’s show. If we didn’t get to meet you, we look forward to the chance when we do!

If you were there, what was your favorite part?

***

In my essay “Working Class Heroes” in A Taste of True Blood, I took a look at the class composition of our protagonists, and the mechanisms of soft control—religion, social work, etc.—that society uses to dominate the working class. Season three continues to offer class politics aplenty with Sam’s family of shifters (who apparently make their living in the underground dog fighting ring), Jason’s dalliances with the police force and with Crystal, and with the uber-suave King of Mississppi and his army of biker-werewolves. In Season three, True Blood has taken us into the world of the lumpenproletariat.

The lumpenproletariat are basically, according to Marx, segments of the population that exist on the refuse of capitalism and who are thus objectively counterreovlutionary. He saw this class as one of the bases of Napoleon III’s power grab, and the lumpenprole include: “. . . discharged soldiers, discharged jailbirds, escaped galley slaves, swindlers, mountebanks, lazzaroni, pickpockets, tricksters, gamblers, maquereaus, brothel keepers, porters, literati, organ-grinders, ragpickers, knife grinders, tinkers, beggars – in short, the whole indefinite, disintegrated mass, thrown hither and thither, which the French term la boheme.”

Literati? Hey, that’s me! Uh, moving on. . . . Today we might call the lumpenproles the “underclass,” except for the fact that the lumpenprole can come from any class. Convicted mobster John Gotti was a lumpenproletarian for example, despite his immense wealth, as were the fairly well-off brothel keepers of nineteenth-century France.

Napoleon III (not to be confused with his more famous and competent uncle) himself was called a “princely lumpenproletarian.” So when Russell, the King of Mississippi shows up in leathers in a biker bar to supply V to a gang of werewolves, we know he too is a member of the lumpenproletariat, just like the pit-bull fight coach Joe Lee Mickens is. That one lives in a fancy home and eats blood served nine gourmet ways between episodes of rough trade matters, and the other would likely be called “white trash” by everyone he knows matters not at all.

And, of course, we see that Russell has been using lumpen muscle, in the form of werewolves, to preserve and expand his power for at least 1000 years. He’s pleased to use brute force and human law (the IRS) to gain a politically useful marriage vow from Sophie-Anne to further increase his power base. His bohemian lifestyle isn’t just an affectation or slumming, but a central part of his place in the class structure of True Blood. One wonders if someone at HBO, or Ms. Harris herself, read up on the lumpenproles, who as Marx put it, allied with “the bourgeois order . . . a vampire that sucks [the peasantry's] blood and brains and throws it into the alchemistic cauldron of capital.”

Then we have Sam’s family—in this episode it was revealed that the Mickenses support themselves in the illegal dog-fighting circuit. As mama Melinda is a shifter, but Joe Lee is not, the dynamic of pimp/whore exploitation is clear. (And of course prizefighting of all sorts has only recently, become respectable, historically speaking.) But why are the Mickenses not simply accepting Sam’s help and working toward respectability? Nobody wants to be “white trash,” do they?

Well, a class is hard to leave, psychologically as well as sociologically. Joe Lee especially has a sense of ownership over his family—power by proxy as the power to shift is denied him. Through ownership, the weak become the strong. Russell’s ownership of the werewolves gives him an immense power. The desire of both Bill and Eric to own the enigmatic Sookie are their ways of dealing with their relative powerlessness in vampire society as well. (Eric is older and stronger than Sophie-Anne, but was practically her servant!) Then there’s Franklin Mott; physically powerful but so psychologically weak that he feels he must own Tara—and that Tara must want to be owned—to have any personal sense of self-worth. Even Jason gets in on the act, with his increasingly creepy pursuit of Crystal.

What makes this episode great is the simple juxtaposition of the different aspects of the lumpenproletariat: we’re used to the ambition of the attractive and wealthy on television; we may dislike Russell, but we don’t despise him the way we hate Joe Lee. But with a bit of careful thought, we realize that we’ve been hoodwinked—there is no difference in the ambitions of the King of Mississippi and those of a lowlife from the backwoods. At least the underclass lumpens of the show have some ability to break out of the cycle of power and exploitation—the “white wolf” (telling color choice!) Alcide barely appears in this episode, but clearly he’ll be a major player in the revolution to come!

***

Thanks for such an interesting take on the episode, Nick!

You can purchase A Taste of True Blood today, and we invite you to read an excerpt of (or purchase!) Nick’s essay “Working Class Heroes,” as well!

***

My essay “To Live and Live in Dixie” examined how traditional Southern culture was changed, or not, by magical creatures. Much of my essay focused on Louisiana, and since most of season 3 seems to be taking place in Mississippi … well, at least it’s not Nebraska.

Actually, Mississippi is considered more a part of the traditional Deep South than Louisiana, what with the confederate flag still part of the current state flag, and all. The conflicted Southern legacy of slavery, secession, and segregation (among other things) that I mention in my essay is especially dramatic in Mississippi, and more associated in history and popular imagination with that state than Louisiana.

So as for the show’s latest installment, the big plot—the conspiracy between vampires and werewolves—deepens in this episode, with even Eric drawn into its twisted web through another piece of his fascinating backstory. Silly Eric, you can’t spend your life between a woman’s legs! Or can you?

Bill’s broken allegiance to Sophie Anne and Louisiana is still not entirely explained, but his wooden refusal to help Tara hints at a greater purpose. He continues playing the right role in Russell’s court (and wearing unsettling black track jackets), but he falters when questioned about the dossier he had on Sookie and her family.

Thus, Russell finally decides to put Bill’s loyalties to the ultimate test, but instead of bringing Sookie to him, he finds Bill already with her at Alcide’s house. Whoops! Like last season’s big villain, Russell is delighted by Sookie’s magical blue light of fury. Bill, however, looks dismayed. At least Bill and Sookie are finally reunited, and the suspense over his true feelings toward her somewhat ended. Will this end the other suspense building over who will woo Sookie first, Eric or Alcide? I doubt it!

Tara is once again under the control of a white “master,” but this time he is male and English and a vampire. And this time Tara is fully lucid, so she sees how to manipulate Franklin by using his extreme neediness against him. It’s a nice response to her helplessness under Maryann last season. And her warbly, big-eyed trickery seems to be working until her plot to get Franklin to take her out in public for a nice meal turns out to be heading for a Shoney’s and, as if that weren’t bad enough, a wedding with Tara as his vampire bride. Do they still sell those little teddy bears in overalls at Shoney’s? Because that would be both something new and something blue. I can’t be the only one kind of hoping for a happy ending for poor, twisted Franklin, right?

Meanwhile Sookie may be soaking up some inspiration from the ghosts of old belles lingering around Jackson, since she now seems to be fully embracing her good ol’ Southern grit. Separated from Bon Temps and with her lover in danger, Sookie is finally using her two greatest powers to their full, and devastating, effect—her telepathy and her charm. Actually there’s a third weapon. No, not her blue light: her bluntness. Perhaps being out from under the microscope of the Bon Temps community is giving her the courage and freedom to push the limits of polite behavior. Hence her infiltration of Lou Pines, her sugar-and-spice bossing around of Alcide, and her champion verbal smackdown of Debbie. It’s fantastic to see Sookie so driven and putting her strengths to use for herself. And I’d bet that when (or if) this mess is behind her, she will return to her Southern hospitality without missing a beat.

On a side note, I also love how little make-up Sookie is now wearing in the show. Narratively, it makes sense that she wouldn’t be bothered with putting on make-up in her current heartbroken/anxious state. Symbolically, as she embraces her social and supernatural powers more and more, the show is keeping her looking more natural and authentic with fresh skin and plain hair.

Across state lines then, the Bon Temps crew is exposed to a grittier reality that includes werewolves, Nazis, branding, scary bars, corrupt kings, and vast ancient conspiracies. And all these threats are popping up as the characters venture deeper into the South. This trend points to the show exploring and echoing the darkness associated with the region even more as the conflicts build. The Southern stereotypes in season 3 (trashy biker chick, tight-lipped Colonel, freeloading trailer park family) are already more menacing than the naïve Bible-thumpers of season 2. And even though the forces at work in this season’s big plot span a huge range geographically and historically, it will be fascinating to see how the writers weave all of those elements into a climax within the Dixie culture they’ve created in True Blood.

Meanwhile, back in Bon Temps things are much safer and sweeter, at least for now, and at least for those characters that aren’t poor ol’ Sam. Lafayette gets a well-deserved gentleman caller, and somehow his character becomes even more adorable and fun to watch in the process. Jason continues his disastrous quest to wield a gun 24-7, and becomes involved with the mysterious Crystal, who seems likely to introduce us to another form of magical creature.

And as for sweet, suffering Sam, his role as social janitor for Bon Temps seems to have been extended. As Arlene mentioned last episode, Sam has taken in every stray on the Merlotte’s payroll, but this affords us nice moments of interaction between Tommy and Jessica and Hoyt, and even Jessica’s petty teenage revenge at Arlene. The Mickens’s are coming into their role as dead weight right on cue. There is almost certainly something rotten going on with Joe Lee that will entangle Sam in some mess, and Tommy seems unable to help himself. And here I hoped this season would bring Sam a girlfriend!

***

Thanks, Paula!

You can purchase A Taste of True Blood today, and we invite you to read an excerpt of Paula’s essay “To Live and Live in Dixie“ (which is also available for purchase), as well!

Smart Pop will be hosting a meet-and-greet Saturday evening at the House of Blues (a quick 15-minute walk from the convention center) to celebrate so many pop culture enthusiasts being in one city at the same time and to provide a sneak peek at the upcoming Smart Pop fall line.

Party details:

Saturday, July 24, 2010 from 8-11 p.m.
At The House of Blues (website)
1055 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
(link to map)

For our guests:

• A copy of A Taste of True Blood: The Fangbanger’s Guide while supplies last (come early!)
• A copy of our Smart Pop sampler
• Delicious appetizers
• A complimentary drink to our first 15 guests

No RSVP is necessary, but if you are planning to attend, we’d love to know! (Either comment on this post or feel free to send an email my way at jennifer@benbellabooks.com.)

Please feel free to invite your friends, family, and colleagues!

We hope to see you next week!

***

My essay in A Taste of True Blood – “Pure Blood” – is concerned with the differences and similarities between True Blood and the granddaddy of all vampire sagas, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Bill Compton rides a perpetually swinging pendulum between the Southern Antebellum era gentleman and the beast of Stoker’s narrative. The pendulum continues to swing in season 3 of the show, particularly in the fourth episode, “9 Crimes,” which sees Bill Compton return to the savagery from whence his undead existence began.

The episode begins with Sookie tending to Alcide’s wounds, presumably received during last episode’s brouhaha. The tension between the two continues to simmer. But Bill calls, and tells Sookie, “Our worlds are too different. . . . You are no longer of concern to me.”  He and Lorena, he explains, “just fucked like only two vampires can.” It’s all a bit much for Sookie, and she convinces herself that Bill is under someone else’s control. She sobs nevertheless, to the point where Alcide – still down on love due to his ex-fiancé Debbie breaking his heart – comforts her.

Meanwhile, Sam has had enough of family bonding. Still looking for his thieving brother Tommy, he instead finds his parents camping in their trailer – in Merlotte’s parking lot. He tells them the truth about his bro. Ultimately he has a change of heart and helps them out.

Tara’s enduring dishonest relations of a different kind, as her new vampire boyfriend Franklin glamours her into revealing information about Sookie, Bill, and, weirdly, Jason. He then makes her call Sookie in order to locate her friend, but Sook’s too bummed about Bill to say much and hangs up, prompting an angry Franklin to bite Tara.

Back at the King’s mansion, Lorena’s enjoying the first of what she assumes will be a long string of afterglows. Bill, however, tells her they’re finished, and last episode’s violent lovemaking turns to plain old violence, much to Lorena’s delight.

Sookie, still dealing with being dumped, gets a new haircut (a meh bob we may be stuck with all season) from Alcide’s sister Janice in order to blend in with the werewolf pack. While Janice trims her tresses, Sook reads her mind and learns Alcide’s ex is a V addict connected to Bill’s werewolf captors. Her engagement party is really a pack-initiation party. Bill, meanwhile, is up to his jugular in vampire politics. Using his new-found leverage, he asks the King if he can kill Lorena. A request the King won’t grant without some evidence against the Queen. So Bill spills the beans on what Eric’s been up to, selling V to help the Queen with her financial problems. The King’s delighted; already he feels the balance of power rising in his favor.

Jessica’s working at Merlotte’s, and meets an old God-fearing friend, who’s a little too happy he’s found her. She glamours him to make him forget he saw her, so he cannot alert her family to her whereabouts. Hoyt, however, spies the two of them getting chummy, and doesn’t look all that happy about it.

And what of Lafayette? Our favorite V-peddling cook is in Hot Shot, pushing it on the local, well, head hot shot, Calvin Norris. But Norris doesn’t take kindly to Lafayette’s kind. Eric blows his cool cover when he comes to Lafayette’s aid against his attackers. As they drive off, Pam calls, and warns Eric that the Magister’s in town; and he’s on to Eric’s side business.

Franklin ties Tara up and hits the road with her, driving off to meet his employer.

Sookie and Alcide infiltrate Lou Pines, where Sookie tries to mind-read a werewolf. She soon meets Alcide’s ex-fiancé Debbie.

Eric arrives at Fangtasia to interrupt the Magister’s torturing of Pam. Pam claims Bill’s behind the V peddling, and the Magister gives Eric two days to gather evidence against Bill, or Pam “dies for good.”

At Lou Pines, Sookie tells Debbie that Alcide loved her. Then Alcide gets her clothes ripped off by the pack.

Climax time. Bill, Lorena, and Russell wait in a limousine outside a strip club. Russell tells Bill he needs to get them a stripper snack, and then disappears. He suddenly shows up on stage at Lou Pines, and stands revealed (somewhat abruptly) as the Master vampire that’s plagued Eric for centuries. All the werewolves shift in a spectacular, disturbing display.

Bill escorts the stripper back to the car. Sensing Sookie’s fear as she flees Lou Pines, he disregards her and joins Lorena and the King in chowing down.

What else happens in this episode? Andy Bellefluer gets promoted to sheriff. Jason, once the star quarterback of Bon Temps’ football team, feels his ego threatened at Merlotte’s by Kitch, his successor on the gridiron. So threatened, in fact, he blackmails Andy into making him a cop. Oh, and Eric fantasizes about Sookie seducing him.

But it’s the conflict within Bill that’s at the heart of this perfectly paced episode. There’s a grim, sad air about him as he resigns himself to his fate as an animal, forfeiting happiness for base instinct and carnal pleasure. The pendulum swings towards Stoker’s Count once more. The manner in which it will swing back is what gives this season its undeniable, infectious propulsion.

***

Thanks, Joe!

You can purchase A Taste of True Blood today, and we invite you to read an excerpt of Joe’s essay “Pure Blood” (which is also available for purchase), as well!

You’ll get to read a few of them yourselves this fall. Specifically, submissions from:

Debbie Duncan
Suzan Hyssen
S.R. Johannes
Caitlin Marceau
Maria Mora
Jacob Sanchez

Congratulations to all of you!

Now, onto the talent! Alisa’s essay “Blue-Collar Bacchanalia” takes another look at the much-talked-about character of Maryann. Here are the same questions we’ve given all the contributors with Alisa’s original answers.

Who is your favorite True Blood character?

Oh, this is hard. I had so much fun with Maryann the maenad, who really delighted in her own bitch-goddessness. As a kid, I always wanted to be a villainess for Halloween. But I suppose that in season one, my favorite character was Bill. I like my heroes conflicted, and Vampire Bill was a delicious, simmering cauldron of conflicted all through season one. Then he began to congeal into “Conservative Nice Guy,” at which point I started to have some unsettling dreams about Eric.

What episode or subplot has been your favorite so far?

I enjoyed watching the citizens of Bon Temps revert to their baser natures during Maryann’s Bacchanalian revels, especially since the bump and grind was punctuated by thrusts of social satire. But my favorite episode of all was where Bill surged naked out of the grave, overcome by love and lust, and pounced on Sookie  – who said, as I recall, “Not the neck.” Sly humor, an unexpected note of emotional realism and a steamy Gothic sex scene – True Blood at its best.

Have you read any of the Charlaine Harris series True Blood is based on? If so, did you read it before or after watching the show?

I was a fan of the Sookie books before the series – I’m a little saturated with vampires, but I started watching because I loved the easy, earthy intelligence of Charlaine’s Sookie, and the fact that her telepathy was, at least to begin with, a major dating handicap.

That said, I think the books and the show are two distinct entities, which is why they both work. My feeling about turning books into tv shows or movies or comic books is that you need to reinvent a bit. There’s no point in being too faithful, or what you end up with is a watered-down version of the original.

Recommend an essay, if you’d like to, in the book other than your own.

I enjoyed the essay about Vampire Bill’s Slide from Hot to Not. (Editor’s note: This is Jonna‘s essay, “Sookeh! Bee-ill! and the Downfall of William T. Compton.”) There’s a school of thought that people in monogamous relationships fool themselves into thinking they are safe, and wind up bored, which makes them vulnerable to outside attractions. Are you listening, Bill?

What’s your other TV obsession, besides True Blood?

I’m a big fan of Glee and Spartacus, was deeply into Rome and love Mad Men. I went through a long phase of loving Richard Armitage’s darkly conflicted Guy of Gisborne in the new BBC Robin Hood series.

Share one other thing about yourself to familiarize readers with you as a contributor.

I’ve written a lot of novels and graphic novels, but a lot of people are most impressed to learn that I wrote the comic book letter column for Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” back when I was assistant editor on the series. I am currently writing a novel about a woman who is haunted by the ghost of her dead ex-boyfriend.

Where else can readers find you online?

Readers can find me at www.alisakwitney.com or can join my author fan page on Facebook, where I love to discuss esoteric bits of pop culture.

***

Thank you, Alisa! Take a peek at her essay “Blue-Collar Bacchanalia,” and order your copy of A Taste of True Blood today.

***

(Editor’s note: we’ve left the English spelling of certain words to retain Kirsty’s voice in this recap.)

In my essay “True Stud” I examined the relative masculinities of the main male characters of True Blood and episode 3.3 was a smorgasbord of complex male behaviours.

Eric starts the show by displaying how he can straddle primal masculinity and metrosexuality. He’ll rip the throat out of a fleeing werewolf but will then apologise for getting your rug wet with the unfortunate creature’s blood. Was it just me or did Sookie seem rather impressed with the display of violence? (Towards the werewolf, not the rug.)

As a flaming lamp of death is hurled across a dining room, the damage to homeware, and not Lorena, is also of the most importance to our newest male vamps Russell and Talbot. “It’s like Armageddon in here every time someone chips a dessert glass” we are told, and we can imagine that most of the opulent surroundings at the King’s mansion couldn’t be recreated after a swift dash to IKEA. Bill isn’t so comfortable here, even after a night in Elizabeth Bathory’s bed, and his male brain is sending him careering back to his primary motivation — sex. (Let’s call it ‘Sookie’ for now.)

Will Bill turn Sookie to make sure they are together forever? I can see hints of an old English saying — “Keep her well shagged and poorly shod and she’ll not wander far” — or if you don’t speak Lancashire, take away the means and desire and you’ll keep your woman. So we know Bill can keep Sookie “well shagged,” and if he can make her shrink from the sun and crave his guidance as an experienced vampire, we might be looking at a romance for the ages.

Doubt we’ll have much of that with Tara and her vampire lover, for a start he doesn’t know her name despite sinking various parts of his anatomy into hers, until irritating baby vampire Jessica tells him. For some reason he seems to be pronouncing Tara’s name the American way, despite being English (we pronounce Tara to rhyme with ‘farther’). He manages to glamor her with practised ease and Sookie’s going to come home to find another vamp in her parlour. As Tara says she has a terrible track record of allowing people into the Stackhouse place. Arlene’s also having trouble with the men in her life, the one she’s with, and the dead murdering one whose baby she’s having. “Thank you for making my life mean something” sobs Terry as he finds out that he’s (ahem) going to be a daddy. Expect fallout from that very soon.

The Mickens family men are in an interesting state of flux. There was Jo Lee, the ‘technical’ man of the house, and Tommy, who is the dominant male. (Jo Lee makes no secret of his diminished status in the house, even warning Sam that when he gets married he’ll be a candidate for the same treatment.) Now Sam comes along — he’s the older brother and can also challenge Tommy’s position in the family because he has status as a business owner. (Tommy later tries to get himself a slice, flying in through the window of Merlotte’s to rifle through Sam’s stuff whilst a bird.) Having said that, Sam in his dog form could muster more status than this sorry lot. Their lunch out appears to be the highlight of their year and although Jo Lee tries to assert his position above Sam in the family, he fails miserably and has to be bailed out by his wife. Something tells me this particular cockfight isn’t over yet, Sam has to get used to the fact he’s got a father for the first time in a long time.

Fatherhood is a hot topic in this episode — we find out how Bill lost his son during his absence in the 1860s. His ill-advised return to see his wife and kids doesn’t go unnoticed by Lorena. “The only way to show your love for a human,” she says “is to stay away forever.” So with his son in an early grave and his wife Caroline glamored into thinking he was never there, Bill leaves the world of human love behind for a couple of hundred years. (One thing — why does he look at his penis when he wakes up from the nightmare? What did I miss and can it be played back in slow motion?) As it turns out his love for Sookie leads him to sacrifice his allegiance to Louisiana, and possibly bring on the wrath of Sophie-Ann and whatever Yahtzee related pain that brings with it.

Eric isn’t taking the lesson about staying away from humans. As well as helping Sookie he pulls up outside Lafayette’s place in a big shiny penis mobile and invites his ‘sweetheart’ to hop in. He’s offering Lafayette a slice of the American dream in thanks for his loyalty and impressive sales rank. And despite how unsure Lafayette appears, he’s due a move up the social ladder from cook/drug dealer/prostitute to cook/drug dealer/prostitue with a nice car.

Jason — the focus of my essay — has his sights on something to replace his malfunctioning manhood. He wants a gun and a license to shoot it as he sits down to his tests to get into the police force. In a dream sequence that provides us with a great shot of his ass he fails the test. In the end, he decides he’ll try to take a shortcut, having served up this beautiful pep talk to Hoyt to demonstrate how far he has come since he was wailing on the floor of Merlotte’s meat locker with a ribeye over his crotch: “There are two types of people in this world; people who got no dreams; people who got dreams and don’t do nothin’ about it; and people who go out and fulfill their dreams. I don’t know about you, but I’m the third kind.” Luckily for Jason. Bud has cast off the symbols of his authority and left an opening for someone who can cope with the “crab grass” murders that are plaguing Bon Temps. Although he ends the episode burning his application form for deputy, he has an arc to be getting on with which may lead to us seeing that award-winning ass filling out a police uniform yet.

But can Jason find that elusive masculinity through protecting the public? Protector is certainly a very masculine role — Alcide, Eric, and Bill are queuing up to protect Sookie, although Bill has his work cut out this season. Alcide is taking care of Sookie on Eric’s orders but certainly seems to be relishing the task so far. In fact, Eric and Alcide are making Bill look a little redundant and dare I say — impotent? Luckily for us he ends the episode with a stunning peformance, dominating Lorena and contradicting himself all at once with a show of raw sexuality and violence. This is the Bill we’ve been missing! Likelihood of him returning to his brooding and tortured self next week? Pretty high. The men of Bon Temps are trying hard to impress their masculinity on the world, but they need to have courage and make it stick.

***

Thanks, Kirsty!

You can purchase A Taste of True Blood today, and we invite you to read an excerpt of Kirsty’s essay “True Stud,” as well!

Peg’s A Taste of True Blood essay, “Night Is the Color of Blood,” is on the importance and meaning of color in True Blood, and it’s a fascinating read, full of things I had never considered about the show before.

Here’s her Q&A:

Who is your favorite True Blood character?

When a friend of mine in Florida found out I was watching True Blood, he texted me “Bill or Eric?” And I wrote back “Sam.” Then he texted back to say his wife also liked Sam, and then wrote “Moi: Lafayette.” I think he wanted to know who I thought was the hunkiest vampire — and I do think Sam is the hottest male character — but there are so many interesting characters in the show it’s hard to pick one. I enjoy Hoyt a lot, and also Jessica. Eric can be really funny, and I also love Lafayette. But if I had to pick one, yeah, Sam. Handsome, mysterious, troubled, and more than human.

What episode or subplot has been your favorite so far?

It’s hard to pick a favorite episode because I have so many favorite moments. My favorite subplot was the one in season two with Maryann Forrester slowly weaving her spell over everyone. But my favorite episode is certainly “Hard-Hearted Hannah” (editor’s note: this was episode 2.6) because I absolutely loved the period costumes and music, and Bill is such a great singer!

Have you read any of the Charlaine Harris series True Blood is based on? If so, did you read it before or after watching the show?

I haven’t read the books, and don’t have any immediate plans to. I might read them at some point, I hear they’re very good.

Recommend an essay, if you’d like to, in the book other than your own.

I haven’t read all the essays yet, but out of the ones I perused in the proofs, I think I most enjoyed the one that is written like an evangelical sermon. Very witty and original. (Editor’s note: this is Peter B. Lloyd’s essay “Communion of Blood.”)

What’s your other TV obsession, besides True Blood?

I have many TV obsessions. I honestly think there are so many good shows on TV right now. My favorites include Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Damages, and Rescue Me. These shows just keep getting better and better with each season. If I had to choose one, I’d say Mad Men is my favorite, it’s so stylish and well-written.

Share one other thing about yourself to familiarize readers with you as a contributor.

I’ve written for several other Smart Pop anthologies, including Seven Seasons of Buffy, Totally Charmed, and Revisiting Narnia.

Where else can readers find you online?

I have a film review blog online at http://blog.timesunion.com/movies, and also write about movies and media at http://celluloidbough.blogspot.com.

***

Thank you, Peg!

Readers, take a peek at her essay, “Night Is the Color of Blood,” and order your copy of A Taste of True Blood today.

One thing I enjoy about True Blood’s storytelling is the way nearly every episode ends on a high note of action and suspense, leaving viewers feeling like they can’t wait to find out what happens next. It’s a very apt approach to a series that deals so strongly with issues of addiction, no?

My Taste of True Blood essay was on True Blood‘s use of color, and season two’s cliffhanger ending was emphasized by the way the episode was steeped in color symbolism, with Sookie wearing lavender (a lighter version of purple, which signifies death and the occult) and other characters wearing purple right and left. Season three has picked up exactly where season two left off, not only in terms of action, but in terms of color, as well.

Episode one (“Bad Blood”) begins in high energy mode with Bill kidnapped by a band of V-addicted thugs, Jason (in a dark purple shirt) feeling guilty over Eggs’ death, and Tara (also in deep purple) in shock and mourning the death of her lover. Jessica is also in a state of intense emotion, signified by the color red: in her red dress, she discovers she has killed the human she drained of blood, and sees Hoyt’s gift of red roses left as a token of his devotion to her. Second-level characters also give us clues to their state of mind based on their costume colors: Terry, in soothing deep green, tries to console Andy (in pale, ineffectual blue, an emasculating version of the dark blue associated with police clothing) about Eggs’ shooting (which Andy takes responsibility for, to protect Jason).

We continue to see color used as a way to connect characters as well. Sam’s attempt to find his birth family leads him to Arkansas, where a man named Tommy who might be his brother displays Sam’s propensity for wearing dull-colored plaid shirts. Following Tommy’s blue and white van in his blue and white SUV, Sam wears nondescript brown, and the editing almost fools us into thinking they’re the same person: shape-shifter trickery!

One thing we’re seeing more of so far this season is characters’ direct reference to colors: when Sookie goes to Pam for help in locating Bill, Pam coolly comments, “I don’t remember telling you lavender was my favorite color,” and Sookie impatiently retorts, “I’m in no mood for lesbian weirdness tonight, Pam.” (This reference to lavender’s connection to homosexuality is intriguing since the first episode is loaded with homoerotic content—as with Sam’s dream of Bill and his suggestion that they shower together (HOT!) and Jason’s attempt to bed the two veterinary students.) Later on, Pam (in a bright magenta suit) threatens Lafayette by saying she can’t understand why people think she cares to hear about their problems. “Maybe I smile too much; maybe I wear too much pink.”

Which brings us to “Beautifully Broken.”  We begin with Bill surrounded by werewolves. They turn out to have been his kidnapper/escorts, sent by a man Bill refers to as “Your Majesty” (who is amusingly dressed in a formal fox hunt outfit, on a white horse). Invited to stay at the Vampire King’s exquisite mansion in deep Mississippi, Bill is shown to his room, an exquisite chamber draped in red with a door decorated with silver, by a dandy named Talbot (in white shirt and deep gray silk dressing gown, who blathers on about Lady Bathory).

Meanwhile, Jessica is torn over what to do with the dead body in her coffin, and spurns Hoyt when he visits. Dressed in a red and black shirt (a sign he is ready to merge his world more deeply with Jessica’s?), Hoyt leaves her a four-pack of Tru Blood and insists he can help her “fight her nature.” She wears a pale blue tank top, signifying her return to a childlike state of helplessness as she attempts to deal with the corpse on her own, since Bill is nowhere to be found.

Russell, the Vampire King of Mississippi, wants to make Bill the sheriff of his region in exchange for Bill’s help in wooing Sophie Anne; Talbot and Russell discuss matters with Bill over a four course meal in a red dining room featuring exotic dishes made with blood. Meanwhile, Sookie tries to clean up her house (with the help of Jason, who surprises her in the dark), and wears a white shirt covered in pink and red flowers—a major costuming motif for Sookie. In this instance it shows her vulnerability and, perhaps, growing romantic connection to Eric, who has not relented in her pursuit of her (the following evening, we see him insist she invite him in so he can protect her). Jessica tags along when Sookie visits Eric (she and Pam bond in the ladies’ room, where Jessica asks her advice on how to drain victims without killing them), and they see a runic symbol on one werewolf’s neck. They learn this a Nazi insignia, and Eric  flashes on a memory of himself and Godric, posing as German SS soldiers during the war, tangling with a female werewolf. She offers information to Eric in exchange for a taste of his blood, but Godric tries to stop him, saying the blood is sacred. We get a hint here that Eric’s descent into being a dealer of V may have begun here, and also learn of Eric’s connection to the current werewolf army.

Sam wakes up outside his parents’ home, with Tommy pointing a gun at him. The inside of the home is dirty, as are his parents’ clothes, but as his mother recounts the story of Sam’s birth and the reasons he was given up, the light takes on a sepia-toned quality (to match Sam’s brown shirt), romanticizing Sam’s past. Talking later with Tommy, Sam hears of how hard his brother’s life has been, and reassures him his own has been no picnic. Tommy decides to run to cool off and, after shaking his head at Sam’s transformation into a shaggy mutt, transforms into a big, sleek pit bull. The two run in the woods until dark.

Lafayette drives Tara to a clinic two hours away, and they see his mother Ruby Jean (in a cherry red robe), spewing racist and homophobic insults, and we learn why Lafayette works so hard: to pay for her care.  His white headscarf covered in rhinestones makes him look almost angelic here (which, in a way, he is).  He drives Tara back to Bon Temps and brings her to Merlotte’s where he can keep an eye on her while he works.

Jason gets drunk with Andy and almost says too much when the patrons of Merlotte’s praise Andy’s bravery in shooting Eggs. Jason then tags along with Andy on a call, and manages to help snare a meth dealer. As they get ready to leave, he Jason sees a pretty blond girl in a pink flowered dress, who runs off into the woods after he speaks to her. Terry overhears Arlene vomiting in the ladies’ room, but, clueless about her state, reads from a list of why he would be a good influence on her kids. Tara starts drinking, and a mysterious stranger dressed in black with a working class British accent (whose pointy-toed boots we recognize as belonging to the stranger who was rifling through Sookie’s photographs and papers at her house) talks with her. She serves him a Tru Blood, and later, when she goes postal on two rednecks (one dressed in bright red) in the parking lot, who decide to desecrate the spot where Eggs was shot, he intervenes and, fangs showing, insist they “apologize to the lady.” He holds them down while Tara beats them. Back at the Vampire King’s mansion, Lorena makes an appearance, and Bill, consumed with rage, throws a lantern at her and she bursts into flames. The episode ends with Eric at Sookie’s house, insisting (fangs out: a lot of that in this episode) she invite him in when he senses danger. She does, and a werewolf attacks.

Another cliffhanger! Can’t wait until next week.

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You can purchase A Taste of True Blood today, and we invite you to read an excerpt of Peg’s essay “Night is the Color of Blood,” as well!