Title: True Blood Season 3
Directed by: Daniel Minahan, Scott Winant, Michael Lehmann, John Dahl, Lesli Linka Glatter and Anthony Hemingway
Starring: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Alexander Skarsgard, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Deborah Ann Woll and Kristen Bauer van Straten.
Running time: 720 minutes, Rated TV-MA, Available on Blu-ray
Sookie and the rest of the residents of Bon Temps are back to fight off werewolves, werepanthers, and new vampire villains.
Werewolves hooked on V (vampire blood which acts as a narcotic), kidnap vampire Bill and take him to Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare), the vampire “King of Missisippi” where he once again comes face to face with his sadistic maker Lorena (Mariana Klaveno).
Jason (Kwanten) & Andy (Chris Bauer) have to deal with their involvement in Eggs’ death, as well as deal with the drugs and violence in the seemingly inbred town of Hotshot where Jason falls for one of its residents.
The vampire magister threatens to torture and execute Pam (Bauer van Straten) if Eric (Skarsgard) doesn’t deliver Bill Compton (Moyer) who knows about the vampire “Queen of Louisiana” (Evan Rachel Wood) selling V for profit, which is highly illegal in the vampire community.
Sam (Trammell) tries to rescue his younger half brother Tommy (Marshall Allman) from their negligent mother and her abusive husband.
Terry (Todd Lowe) professes his love to Arlene (Carrie Preston), before she realizes her dead serial-killer boyfriend Rene is maybe not so dead and far away.
Lafayette (Ellis) meets his mother’s male nurse Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) and they have an instant magnetic attraction.
Tara (Wesley) must overcome her grief from her dead boyfriend and evade her obsessed vampire stalker Franklin (James Frain).
Baby-vamp Jessica (Woll) has to juggle the consequences of her first accidental kill by draining, dealing with her breakup with Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and landing her first job as a waitress at Merlotte’s.
Newcomer werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) needs to get over his trashy ultra-violent ex-girlfriend Debbie (Brit Morgan) who is determined to exterminate Sookie, and Sookie finally finds out where she gets her powers and why the vampires find her so irresistible.
Confused? Without giving the whole multi-arc storylines away, it’s full of sex, nudity, violence and even more blood, as well as plenty of great one-liners and laughs.
The DVD special features include the “Post Mortem” behind the scenes segments that were originally aired on HBO as well as mock-talk shows and promos for fake shows that have something to do with the various characters background, and aftermath of show episodes. The Praise His Light with Reverend Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian whose character reoccurred mostly in Season 2) bit was a laugh a minute. Various cast and crew are heard on the commentary, and it was nice to hear from especially Anna Paquin that she familiarized herself with some of the books and could actually bring up storylines as they were retold in the show and why some were omitted altogether. The hilarious Snoop Dogg music video for “Oh Sookie” is the cherry on top of the 5 disc box set.
I’m a fan of the Charlaine Harris books, and am still a big fan of the show. The cast and writing are great and the end of the season leaves you wanting more.
Total Rating: A
Reviewed by JM Willis
