I often see True Blood as a distorted fairy tale anyway, and the ferocious faeries fit in well in this tale.
HBO promoted this season of True Blood as “Something Wicked,” referring to the witches of Macbeth and the ones heading to Bon Temps this season.
And a big to do was made over these witches. Who were they? Will it be like the ones from Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mystery series (on which the show is based)? Was Marnie really Petunia Durlsey (as it turns out, yes!)?
But not much was made out of the faerie aspect of this season, and for me at least that was truly the most shocking aspect of “She’s Not There.” Even though I had watched the eight minute-long preview released by HBO (after the truly amazing season finale of Game of Thrones), I didn’t realize the new season would take place more than a year after the conclusion of Season Three. I suppose I was caught up in the witch buzz and the ever present “will they show the Sookie and Eric shower scene from the book” buzz to be concerned with the faeries. The faeries on the show will still be as vicious as the ones in the book as it turns out, something I was happy to see. I often see True Blood as a distorted fairy tale anyway, and the ferocious faeries fit in well in this tale.
Once we saw Barry the Bellboy again in the faerie world I immediately wondered if they just put him there so they could eventually get rid of his character (so that the story could conveniently leave him there and move on). Only time will tell I suppose.
Other interesting happenings include Lafayette and Jesus included amongst the witches this season, so it seems. And since the witches will clearly be near the center of the story, I’m happy to see them there. Lafayette can deliver a line like no one else on the show, and Jesus is a good balance to this equation. It seems like the producers aren’t sure what to do with Sam’s character and how the shifters can be incorporated into the story. It almost seemed like an aside. I’ve already watched the next episode on HBO GO and not giving anything away, I feel like True Blood is starting to have one of the problems Lost did: too many characters. Each character that inhabits Bon Temps is so well developed, but there must be a limit. I hope the producers have a plan to tie these stories together in future episodes.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.