True Blood vs Southern Vampire Mysteries - The Final Throwdown

(This is the LAST POST that'll appear on this blog - I think. Unless I change my mind. Please check out my new and improved website and follow my blog there. Noni wants you to! I want you to! See ya in the new neighborhood, okay?)

So if you've been playing along, you know that Kirstin McFarland and I have done a series of posts comparing True Blood with the books on which is was based, The Southern Vampire Mysteries. We've alternated blogs, so if you're just stumbling over this and want to catch up, the first post was on her blog HERE, #2 was on my blog HERE, and #3 was on her blog HERE. We've talked about differences in tone and humor, compared notes on Sookie, and generally had a blast.

So enough rambling already. Here's the last post, in which we ask...

Who does Sookie end up with?

(Wait, here's a short (arguably unnecessary) disclaimer. I wrote this before reading Deadlocked, the newest Sookie book. I think it's safe to say my answer wouldn't change much if I'd read the book first.)

LR: Okay, so we’ve covered some of our likes and dislikes and the humor thing and some of our ideas about Sookie. Now I gotta ask you, who does she end up with? Ms. Charlaine has said that Sookie will find her HEA (happily ever after) with someone at the end of the series. From your perspective, which guy should that be?

KM: Oh, man, that’s such a tough question.  At different stages of the show, I would have given different answers. At first, it would’ve been Bill because Eric was so cold and, well, inhuman. But after the second season, Eric starts to warm up and Bill loses a lot of his luster.

Right now, I’d say Eric. Bill clearly has issues with who and what he is (hello, super-disturbing sex scene with his Maker!), while Eric is quite comfortable with his life as a vampire. Yes, he has done despicable things, but he is who he is, without lying or faking. Of course his whole memory loss muddied those waters a bit, but the fact remains that Bill has consistently lied and used Sookie to further his own agenda. Eric treats Sookie like a partner, sharing with him in the danger, while Bill treats her like a delicate flower he must protect from danger with lies and manipulation. (Okay, that’s not great parallelism, but you get my drift.)

Look at Sookie’s disappearance into Faerie and the two men’s reactions to it: Eric buys her house and keeps it for her, and Bill tells people Sookie was out on a secret mission for him. Both actions are meant to help Sookie and to make her transition back into this world easier, but one vampire protected the world she knew and the other embroiled her in another set of lies.

On the other hand, can she end up with a vampire? Her blood is basically vampire heroin. Can you really be in a relationship with someone who is addicted to you?

So, I’ll toss this hot potato right back to you: who should book-Sookie end up with?

LR: Ack! That’s THE question, isn’t it. I think the pool of candidates is bigger in the books – Alcide, Quinn, and even Sam are all distinct possibilities. I’m not sure of the answer, either, but I can tell you that I DON’T think she’ll end up with a vampire. She’s already struggling with the fact that she could end up an old woman with a lover who looks like he’s in his twenties.  Alcide is too much the were-version of Eric – a leader who puts his responsibility towards the group ahead of his personal needs. And Quinn’s got family baggage that will always come ahead of Sookie.  He’s cute, but awfully broken.

It may be that after so many years of being friends, she and Sam realize that their values and needs line up and the friendship becomes something more. Yeah, that could happen, though it leaves me feeling kind of meh.  What I hope – and I know I risk being slammed by Team_____ adherents everywhere – is that Ms Charlaine has a new character in the wings, someone who’s a grown-up, someone who has a paranormal background but who gets older like Sookie will. We’re down to the last couple books, so she’d have to work fast, but there’s still time to bring in someone new.

And with that, I think I’ve exhausted what I’ve got to say about The Southern Vampire Mysteries.  I’m looking forward to the May 1 release of Deadlocked and might even check out the next season of True Blood. The biggest burning issue I have that’s still unresolved whether or not they did put Eric in pink & blue Lycra for that scene in True Blood.
~
Alas, they did NOT dress Eric in Lycra, or I would totally have posted a picture for you to see. Thanks, Kristin, for sharing your knowledge and insights. From what I hear, Season 5 of True Blood is tearing up Sunday nights. And for those of you reading along, which is your preference, the books or the TV series? Or are you equal-opportunity Sookie fans?
Peace,
Liv

(I'm posting the True Blood theme song not to show a preference but only because the books don't have a theme song. And as you watch it, ask yourself why vampires can't seem to wipe their mouths after drinking someone's blood. I totally want to run after them with a napkin...)

True Blood vs Southern Vampire Mysteries Throwdown #3

(I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the fabulous Laird at Memphis McKay has totally overhauled my website (www.livrancourt.com) and it's new and amazing and I love it. The part I have mixed feelings about is that we've built a new blog on the website, and I'll be leaving Blogger behind. Please check out my new site, and if you're one of the lovely Rancourtesans who has been following through Google, you can easily hook up the RSS feed or email to the new site. I'll be posting here for the next couple weeks to allow time for the transition. Thanks so very much!)

Good morning, my lovely Rancourtesans. I'm sitting at a Starbucks on the shores of the lovely Lake Chelan, trying to get a quick blog post done before the husband comes to full consciousness and decides it's time to pack the motor home and go home.
:(
Today is the third post in the True Blood vs Southern Vampire Mysteries throw-down. If you've been playing along, you'll remember that Kristin McFarland and I have been sharing posts for the last couple weeks - she provides excellent and thought-provoking insights on True Blood, and I cover the written series. In the first post we talked in broad strokes about our likes and dislikes (check it on on her blog HERE) and last week we sliced and diced Sookie (on my blog HERE).

This week's post is back on Kristin's blog. I'm going to share the first bit to whet your appetite and give you a link so you can jump over to see the rest of the post. And if you're here from the AvD blog hop, welcome. I couldn't figure out the sticky thing, but my demon-loving post is HERE.
Y'all have a great day!
Peace,
Liv

LR: Which brings up the subject of Pam. Of all the casting choices Alan Ball made, she’s my least favorite, because the book Pam was more like Alice In Wonderland with fangs. She’s also Sookie’s only vampire friend. What do you think of Pam? Is she a friend to Sookie?

KM: NO. She is not Sookie’s friend. I think I can say that pretty emphatically. I like Pam a lot (I think she’s hilarious, and a friend once told me I look like her, so that gives me a soft spot for her), but she’s definitely Eric’s henchwoman. She repeatedly gets pissed at Eric for putting the pair of them in danger on Sookie’s behalf. She’s definitely an ‘us-versus-the-world’ kind of gal....

Now go HERE to check out the rest of the post. We get Eric into blue and pink lycra...just sayin'...

Southern Vampire Mysteries vs. True Blood #2

So as you may remember from last week, the very cool Kristin McFarland and I have cooperated on a series of blog posts comparing and contrasting True Blood with the books the show is based on, The Southern Vampire Mysteries. We're alternating blogs - last week's post was on her blog, with just a teaser on mine. You can find the whole post here. 

Now this week, we take on Sookie. I'm going to get out of the way and pick the conversation up where last week's post left it...

LR: I noticed in your comments that you cite Alan Ball’s vision and Eric…I mean, and “the sexy men”, as reasons for watching the show. You managed to NOT mention the main character. What’s up with you and Sookie? Is she too Mary Sue for you?

KM:
That’s interesting! You may convince me to read the books through yet. Part of what turns me off about the show is the continual darkness. It’s just so… grim. Anyway, that’s probably a topic for another question. Sookie does bother me a bit. Wikipedia says a Mary Sue is “a character whose positive aspects overwhelm their other traits until they become one-dimensional,” and that describes Sookie. She’s kind, she’s sassy, she’s hot, she’s loving… She’s everything. The trouble is, she’s just so trusting and naïve, at least at the beginning of the show, that she drives me up the wall. She wouldn’t end up in half the dangerous situations she does if she would just question the motives of the people around her. She’s so busy trying to save everyone, though, that she never really holds them accountable for their actions.

On the other hand, maybe that’s part of her charm, like Rose on Doctor Who. Just when you think she’s the blandest person ever, she’ll go and hug some supernatural creature most of us would run away from. It’s both her greatest strength and her weakness, but maybe I’m not sentimental enough to identify with or love that trait.

Her relationships with the men in the show trouble me, too, and I could probably write a whole blog post about that… Oh, wait, I have, haven’t I? Three of them! It seems to me, though, that she’s part of an insidious fantasy trope that places trusting, innocent, sweet women in juxtaposition with a secretive, violent man. Sookie’s almost the archetype for that: she has power, but she’s afraid to use it, and I hate to see that in a female protagonist.

What about book-Sookie makes her a strong enough character to carry a first-person, twelve-book series? There has to be something there.

LR: Ah, Sookie…she’s every girl with a twist. For a look at the essential Sookie, you have to read Club Dead. She starts out getting dumped by Bill, which is one of the saddest break-up scenes I’ve ever read. Then she finds out Bill has apparently been kidnapped (vampire-napped?) and Eric proposes that she travel to Mississippi to rescue him.  She agrees because it’s the right thing to do, and because part of her wants a chance to tell Bill off.  Eric arranges for Alcide to travel with her – a situation Eric later comes to regret because of the chemistry between them, but that’s for another essay.

There are two scenes in Club Dead that really illustrate her personality (spoiler alert!). First, she gets badly injured in a bar fight and taken to the home of the vampire King of Mississippi. There’s a guy there who can heal her, but it’s gonna hurt. Eric has turned up and says he’ll take the pain away but she has to give up control. See, one of the things that vampires find so intriguing about Sookie is that they can’t control her mind the way they do with other humans. She lets him help her, and then, after the healing’s done, almost gives in to his other, more romantic, demand. In the nick of time they get interrupted by Bubba, the Elvis Vampire, who points out that Mr. Bill would likely be unhappy to find Mr. Eric laying on top of Miss Sookie.  Sookie gets a handle on herself and pushes Eric away.

This is perfect Charlaine Harris, pushing you to the brink with her characters, then pulling away with a dose of humor. I still giggle every time I read it. The later scene doesn’t have the humor but is no less satisfying. It’s the last scene in the book, when after a hugely traumatic stretch of werewolf attacks and evil Debbie Pelt experiences, they get back to Bon Temps. Both Bill and Eric are in Sookie’s house, and she’s mad at both of them, so she rescinds their invitations, forcing them both to leave. There’s some fire under that bouncy ponytail, and she lets them have it.

In re-reading your analysis of the TV Sookie, I’d say that I don’t think the book Sookie is naïve and trusting as much as she is lonely. She lived a lot of years with everyone around her thinking she was crazy, and now she’s found a community of people who look at her differences and see strength instead of weirdness. She couldn’t date a human, because she’d always know what he REALLY thought of her outfit. Then she meets Bill, and not only can she relax around him because she can’t read his thoughts, he teaches her how to shield which gives her peace of mind around the rest of the world. She’s not a complete pushover, but she does enjoy being around men who think she’s got something to offer. And supernatural women like her, too….

Which brings up the subject of Pam. Of all the casting choices Alan Ball made, she’s my least favorite, because the book Pam was more like Alice In Wonderland with fangs. She’s also Sookie’s only vampire friend. What do you think of Pam? Is she a friend to Sookie?

'Kay gang, you'll have to check back next week to see what Kristin & I think of Pam. Thanks for playing along.

Peace,

Liv

Photo credit:  http://www.tvfanatic.com/gallery/anna-paquin-as-sookie-stackhouse/

Throw-Down: Southern Vampire Mysteries vs True Blood

And so it begins...

This is the first in a series of four posts that resulted from a discussion I had with Kristin McFarland, a very smart girl who favors the paranormal in her reading, writing, and, most importantly for my purposes, television viewing. She has an amazing ability to synthesize events and draw out the underlying themes, which makes her blog an interesting place to visit. She's also watched all four seasons of True Blood, a show that I feel I should like but I just...don't.

All that much.

So we got to debating the merits of the television world of Bons Temps vs the book version, and out of that came a series of posts that we'll have up the next four Saturdays. It's a back-and-forth thing; this week I'm only going to post the first bit here with a link to Kristin's blog where you'll be able to see the whole post. Next week we'll switch, and the new post will be on my blog and Kristin will be the tease. Um, teaser. Oh...

You didn't want us to make it easy for you, did you?

Enough preamble. Here's a taste, followed by a link to Kristin's blog so you can read the whole thing. Oh, and while you're there, wish her congratulations because she's getting married today!

Okay, Kristin, let’s get ‘er done. ;)

LR: You’ve watched all four seasons of True Blood and I’ve read all of the Southern Vampire mysteries. Now it’s time to compare notes. Your recent blog posts suggest that you’re a mite bit tired of ol’ Sookie and her friends. What’s your favorite thing about the show, and what’s not working so well for you now?

KM: My biggest problem with the series sprang to mind first, so I’ll start there! (Sprang… what a weird word.) I’m bothered by the constant escalation of violence: the show has upped the ante so many times that it’s become harder and harder to shock the audience. It’s forced the producers to show really graphic violence, from a vampire king ripping someone’s spine out on national television, to a main character getting shot in the head in horrifying detail....

Okay, this is where you gotta jump. Go HERE to Kristin's blog where you can read the rest of her answer, and then her question to me.

And if you're interested, you can check out my review of Deadlocked HERE. Have a great weekend, and happy wedding, Kristin!
Peace,
Liv

Photo credits: 

Deadlocked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Southern_Vampire_Mysteries

True Blood  http://store.hbo.com/detail.php?p=105736&ecid=AFF-7973318&PID=3545983&pa=affcj

Friday Fun: Vampires Inc.

A week or so ago I joined a new Triberr Tribe, one that's focused on science fiction and fantasy. For those of you who aren't familiar with Triberr, it's a blog networking and promotion site. It's been a lot of fun getting to know a bunch of new bloggers, but today I realized something. Since joining this new tribe, I've done posts about my kids and romance blogs and salted caramel. Not much sci-fi going on, unless you count my kids. They are teenagers, after all.

**waves at members of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books and Writing Tribe**

In order to prove that my paranormal cred is intact, I decided to do a post featuring a couple of my favorite vampires - Bill and Eric - along with Sookie, and, well, the whole True Blood gang.

I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of the show (except for the pix of a certain blond viking vampire) but I love the books the series is based on, and last weekend I read Deadlocked, book 13 in the Southern Vampire Mysteries. I don't really do book reviews, so I'm making an exception for this one. The hard part will be avoiding spoilers, and maybe this won't be so much a book review as just a collection of my impressions. I have a feeling that if you've made it this far in the series, you'll read Deadlocked regardless of what I say. And if you've given up on the series, this probably won't make you want to jump back in.

Impression 1:  Deadlocked unwinds at a leisurely pace, as if Ms Charlaine and I were sitting down with a couple glasses of sweet tea while she told me the story. There's some action over here and then some banter over there. There's time for Sookie to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make dinner for some friends who just had new baby twins. There were times when I wondered if we were ever going to get where we were going. On the whole, though, I liked that aspect of it.

Impression 2: Towards the end she dropped in a couple of surprising details that left me feeling like I didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle. Either I've missed a short story or she's fired her continuity editor. It wasn't a deal-breaker, by any means, but I ended up with the same sense of dislocation I felt while reading Definitely Dead, when I came to the place that refers to events that happened in the short story One Word Answer. I've read all the Southern Vampire Mysteries - some of them multiple times - and there were things in this one that I thought came out of left field. Or perhaps another short story. Or maybe I'm just getting forgetful in my old age.

Impression 3:It was like going out for cocktails with a guy you used to have a huge crush on and maybe dated for a while, but now think of as a friend. It was fun to catch up and hear the news, but there was a sense of sadness too because so much of the excitement was gone.

Impression 4: She sure is wrapping things up! By the end, so many story lines had bows on them I could barely see the words on the page.

I cannot even imagine how hard it is to create thirteen books about the same bunch of characters, and I have a great deal of respect for what Charlaine Harris has done. I liked Deadlocked, and if you're a Sookie fan, I encourage you to read it. But you probably already have.
;)
Couple more things...Noni couldn't be here this week, because she has a new job where they expect her to be in an office from 9 - 5 Monday through Friday. Sadly, there'll be no more working from home in her slouchy slacks and Rocket Dog sandals. It's seriously cut into our white-wine-and-salad lunches, let me tell you. So, since I was left to my own devices, I picked the video trailer for True Blood Season One - the only season I really paid attention to. Oh, and then there's the gratuitous SPIKE pic. Because, um, you know. It's Spike.
Peace,
Liv

Photo credits:  http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/true-blood/photos.php