What I’m Watching: True Blood (Season Finale)

True Blood: Season 3, Episode 12 “Evil is Going On” (C+)

This finale is frustrating to me for a number of reasons, and it’s even more of a shame since last year’s finale wasn’t great either and the first season finale is, in my opinion, the best episode yet of this show. Mainly, this season doesn’t feel as if it’s accomplished much, as compared with the previous two seasons, where that’s certainly not the case. What have our characters achieved this season? Tara got a haircut. Lafayette met a guy and went nuts. Sam found his family members and then left them feeling even more incomplete. Sookie is mad at Bill for lying to her for the umpteenth time. Bill and the Queen are in the middle of a midair kung fu duel. And the major villain of the season had his life spared due to an apparition that Eric didn’t even really listen to, or did he? It’s all so confusing, and honestly not too interesting. Not killing Russell just opens up the possibility for him to return at some point in the future – and look at how quickly Eric managed to get himself un-encased in carbonite (which, for the record, wasn’t explained or addressed at all). Eric’s decision to keep Russell alive and suffering is puzzling, especially because Ghost Godric told him to choose peace and he did everything that guy said back when he was still a not-quite-living, not-quite-breathing vampire. Speaking of annoying things Eric did, why does he have to ruin the reunion of Bill and Sookie? Bill really is a good guy, and anything he did at the behest of the Queen shouldn’t be held against him. It doesn’t matter too much anyway since Sookie just up and disappeared along with all of the other fairies just like a Death Eater, so now this show is headed to a whole different plane. This season has been extremely uneven, and the best episodes were the ones that seemed to indicate there would be further answers in future installments rather than more questions having to do with the limits and possibilities of the supernatural. Russell was a fascinating character who became much less interesting way before he lost his face to the sun. This show needs to be fiercer about actually killing off its characters, something it had no problem doing in the excellent first season and even last year. I finish this season feeling utterly unfulfilled, and while Alan Ball is excited about season four, I’m not so sure I am. Maybe this finale has just soured my perspective on the whole season – how do you feel?

Season grade: B-
Season MVP: Kevin Alejandro as Jesus