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

True Blood: Season 7, Episode 1 “Jesus Gonna Be Here” (B-)

It’s not entirely fair to describe this show as a complete mess, but it’s certainly not well put-together at the moment. Some of its elements are intriguing, but there isn’t much of a sense of cohesion among the various plotlines. Skipping ahead a year at the end of last season means that we missed all the run-up to the explosion and instead just start right in the middle of the chaos, literally in the middle of a battle with the Hep V-infected vampires. Sookie hasn’t been the protagonist of the show for a long time, and her difficulty dealing with all the thoughts she was hearing in this episode felt like little more than more whining. Jason finally getting to sleep with his vampire girlfriend was a lighter if unsettling plotline, and Tara’s death felt awfully sudden, especially considering she should have – and did – die before when fans actually wanted her gone. What impressed me much more was Andy Bellefleur, who really has changed into a respectable lawman, one deeply committed to finding the doomed Arlene and Holly, who I’m sure will survive but likely not unscathed. Jessica defending Adilyn had a very gothic feel to it, and that’s definitely one of the strongest threads this show has going for it right now. Seeing how the vampires try to fit in with the humans in their newly defined roles is what should prove most interesting over the course of this show’s final season. And let’s hope it doesn’t take Pam too long to find Eric halfway across the world.