True Blood Season 3: the good, the bad & the bloody

With the finale looming large I thought I should take some time to dissect what made season 3 such a mess (by adding too many characters all at once), how it came back to life in the middle and then fizzled out at the end when the plot from "Club Dead" wrapped in episode 9. Rather than going into great detail about all the nuances and irritations that this season brought I've compiled an overview of what made this summer uniquely entertaining and a bloody good time.

The Royal treatment:
If there was a Queen in Louisiana there must be vampire royalty in other states, enter the King of Mississippi Russell Edgington the most ancient and gayest of all vampires. From his first appearance riding in on a white horse wearing that elegantly appointed hunting outfit I knew that we would be in for a treat. Denis O Hare's award worthy performance is nothing short of genius as he immersed himself into the role (from a character who had about two paragraphs of source material in 7 books), creating one of the most memorable characters on television ever.

Of course no King could be complete without his consort and Russell's eternal lover was memorable. Theo Alexander's Talbot put the camp in campiness as this conquistador vampire sought perfection in all aspects of his life from the blood flavored delicacies he served at dinner (such as the almond flavored thai boy blood) to his immaculately decorated mansion. Though his time was brief he managed to steal his fair share of scenes on the show including the ultimate coitus interruptus when Eric impaled him a second time.

The Triangle is now a square:
Now that we have reached the end of season 3, I still question why Bill is in the picture? With the events of Club Dead having played out as written in the books with Bill being outed by everyone as the duplicitous bastard that he is, why does Sookie STILL keep coming back for more? While I confess that his character became far more interesting this year by playing vampire politics, I am over his relationship with sookie and that ego complex that only HIS blood can keep her alive has become tiresome.

As for Sookie, I have to agree with other observations that her character has become incredibly cumbersome this year and Anna Paquin's on screen chemistry with Alexander Skarsgard has fizzled from last years hot dream sequences, which makes me question how the events of season four aka "dead to the world" will play out between Eric and her.

On the other hand one tall, dark and sexy werewolf (Joe Mangiello's Alcide) definitely had a spark with Sookie and thankfully with Joe being bumped to series regular next year we will see that relationship develop further.

The backwoods of Hotshot:
After Jason's utterly boring story during season 2 and his shellshock over Eggs death early on this year, Jason returned back to form as the sexed up shirtless dimwit that we have all grown to love. Giving Jason a purpose with his obsession at becoming a cop was genius and although this did not happen in the books it has enabled the show to introduce the town of Hotshot and The Norris brood to the True Blood fans early as these events did not occur in the books until later on.

While TB's Calvin Norris is nothing like his book counterpart ( he wasn't a dirty piece of meth trafficking trash), both Felton and Crystal are kinda dead on. Luckily it is Jason's connection to Hotshot which will keep him on the front burner for the rest of the show as his kindred connection will come to the surface when he marries Crystal.

Dark Sam and the family Mickens:
For some strange reason (well not really AB needed to give Sam a purpose on the show) Sam decided to go find his family after that near death experience with Marryanne discovering that not only were his parents alive but that he had a little brother. I gotta say that I loved every bit of this side story, Sam's parents are the biggest trash on television and Joe Lee's underwear scenes were just vile. However the scene stealer of this crew goes to that pitbull of a brother Tommy who has become one of my favorite characters on the show.

Marshall Allman is just a natural in this role as the jackass irritating little brother that remains a constant thorn in Sam's side and although he seemingly has a dubious past his character is less flawed than we are lead to believe. Unfortunately the same can not be sad for the seemingly upright Sam who we recently discovered is equally as despicable as his father having been a thief,con man and murderer in his former life before bon temps.

Looney Tunes:
Dishrag Tara got a lot more interesting after last years coma inducing time with Eggs when she hooked up with the psycho vamp Franklin Mott. Chillingly executed by James Frain, Franklin's abusive utterly insane character went far beyond the character who briefly terrorized Tara in Club Dead. It was unfortunate that Jason destroyed him but his story had kind of wrapped up, though I suspect that Mickey the vampire that Franklin gave Tara to, will be in the picture next year as he seeks revenge on her for his maker's destruction.

There's a wolf in the chicken coot:
As this was the year werewolf, the show introduced us to a number of memorable wolves though none were more entertaining for me than sexy Grant Bowler's "Coot" the king of one liners and Brit Morgan's uber bitch Debbie Pelt. Although contrary to her alter ego Debbie was not a werewolf but a shifter who turned into a fox but I suspect that the show decided to simplify the supernaturals as they are confusing enough as it is. An interesting twist on the show was the Shreveport werewolves addiction to V and how Russell supplied and kept them under his control for thousands of years. Sadly while Coot is no more, bookies know that we have not heard the last of Debbie as she and Sookie will have a showdown towards the end of season 4.

Tinkerbell:
Well there really was no way around the absurd plot development that Charlaine Harris had created as the source for Sookie's power and season three brought us our first glimpse of Sookie's fairy godmother/cousin Claudine and a glimpse into the world of the fae that has been embellished beyond the source material. While we have yet to see Claude (claudine's twin) or Sookie's great grandfather Niall, we were introduced to Hunter, Hadley's son who also has inherited the family trait. Thinking back to season two, does this mean that bellman Barry (who turns up later on in the books) also has fairy blood since he can read minds?

Something wiccan this way comes:
Arlene who has always been a constant in the novels, got a boost on the show thanks to her demon seed baby (aka Rene's evil spawn) taking over her life and new witchy waitress (original book character) Holly attempting to work some mojo on it. Speaking of mojo the only character who has never betrayed me on the show (Lafayette) finally got a fitting storyline and a hot papi boyfriend. The recent revelation that Lafayette descended from a line of voodoo priests has refreshed his character and given him a storyline arc for next season when the witch war occurs.