True Blood as a seven season series has not always been a great road to be on. At first it was a great show but some middle seasons were very poor and it was fairly clear that were the show not so popular and so important to HBO, then it may have pulled the plug sooner. The sixth season was not particularly good, but it at last had lots going on and it entertained consistently even if it was all very superficial. If I really correctly I even wrote at the time that I would be fine if it managed to maintain that same approach of having a decent plot with lots of events.
Sadly the seventh season doesn't manage this and, although there are some elements running through the season, the narrative is generally all over the place. Hoards of vampires roaming the country, midnight house parties, lots of sex, flashbacks to Bill's pre-vampire days, and many other things all produce a sense of it not really knowing what it is doing apart from having an idea that it needs to bring everything to an end whether it makes sense or not. This is evident by the middle of the season, where the initial messy plotting has fizzled out and the season starts pulling on different threads to see what works. Along the way there are bits that are good and bits that aren't; bits that are funny and whole sequences that are tough to get through – occasionally it reminds you of the show you started watching, but not often.
In the end it tries to give as many characters as possible a decent ending; it is brave in some regards but unfortunately scenes such as Sookie and Bill's final one, is lessened by it occurring surrounded by so much mess in the rest of the series. Finally it throws characters together rapidly, jumping years in the future at the end to have a cheap final scene showing everyone totally fine and doing great together before fading to black. It is a nice ending for sure, but it doesn't work as well because it has been many years since it was that kind of show where it was about the characters and how we felt for them. It isn't awful, but it lacks focus and cohesion – with good bits almost certain to be followed by not so good bits; and with plotting that rarely has enough of a flow to keep you interested.
It is a shame that it goes out with a pretty messy and generally weak season, but to be fair it is befitting the previous 3 or 4 seasons, which didn't keep the standard from the first few. Not terrible, but certainly not very good – in many ways it is a welcome season primarily because it is the last one, and I watched it for this reason, enjoyed it for the good aspects, and tried not to let the messy and negative aspects push me away too much.
Sadly the seventh season doesn't manage this and, although there are some elements running through the season, the narrative is generally all over the place. Hoards of vampires roaming the country, midnight house parties, lots of sex, flashbacks to Bill's pre-vampire days, and many other things all produce a sense of it not really knowing what it is doing apart from having an idea that it needs to bring everything to an end whether it makes sense or not. This is evident by the middle of the season, where the initial messy plotting has fizzled out and the season starts pulling on different threads to see what works. Along the way there are bits that are good and bits that aren't; bits that are funny and whole sequences that are tough to get through – occasionally it reminds you of the show you started watching, but not often.
In the end it tries to give as many characters as possible a decent ending; it is brave in some regards but unfortunately scenes such as Sookie and Bill's final one, is lessened by it occurring surrounded by so much mess in the rest of the series. Finally it throws characters together rapidly, jumping years in the future at the end to have a cheap final scene showing everyone totally fine and doing great together before fading to black. It is a nice ending for sure, but it doesn't work as well because it has been many years since it was that kind of show where it was about the characters and how we felt for them. It isn't awful, but it lacks focus and cohesion – with good bits almost certain to be followed by not so good bits; and with plotting that rarely has enough of a flow to keep you interested.
It is a shame that it goes out with a pretty messy and generally weak season, but to be fair it is befitting the previous 3 or 4 seasons, which didn't keep the standard from the first few. Not terrible, but certainly not very good – in many ways it is a welcome season primarily because it is the last one, and I watched it for this reason, enjoyed it for the good aspects, and tried not to let the messy and negative aspects push me away too much.