Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [45]
Gran’s stove. Can’t you just smell the sausage and biscuits? Hands off, Jason Stackhouse! (Jodi Ross, courtesy of The Vault www.trueblood-online.com)
This episode succeeds in introducing us to most of the main players, giving us a solid idea of each character’s personality: where they work, how they connect to one another, and, most important, where they stand on vampires, which is also a thinly veiled indication as to where they stand on anything that’s different from them.
Perhaps because she’s a telepath, we shouldn’t be surprised that Sookie Stackhouse is gleeful when Bill Compton, a vampire, enters Merlotte’s. We’re shown her pure joy at being around someone who is magical, even supernatural. What makes Bill different isn’t something he was born with, it’s something he was turned into, something that forever — in his case, forever and ever — sets him apart and makes him misunderstood as untrustworthy, something Sookie can relate to because people worry she’ll penetrate their most intimate thoughts. However, she cannot hear or see Bill’s thoughts, a stunning new development in the romantic life of a young virgin who has been unable to date, often knowing her suitors’ next thoughts before they do.
On its simplest level, this is the main story of the episode and it is universal. Two outsiders meet, connect, and — because people typically can’t will others to do things or read their minds — they engage in small talk. Since the beginning of time, and ’til the end, this is how it will go. It’s only when we see them as telepath and vampire that it seems absurd.
Ball doesn’t shy away from injustices, interweaving themes of race, gender, sexuality, and class throughout most of the characters. Tara and Lafayette are visible minorities, African American, at Merlotte’s as employees, not as patrons. While Lafayette is probably “getting” as much as Jason Stackhouse, his play is for pay, while Jason is making more to do less as the foreman of the town’s road crew. Sookie and her female co-workers doll themselves up for bigger tips, while most of the men command authority via strength and prowess, resulting either in getting what they want or what they need.
The notable exception among the men is Sam, the bar’s owner. We’re led to think that he’s as solid as they come, self-made, but also protective of Sookie and not without his edge. It works in nice contrast to his scruffy, puppy dog face, but something bubbles under his passivity in this world where nothing is as it seems.
The booth where it all began. Just think, Stephen Moyer warmed that seat. That’s okay . . . take all the time you need. (Jodi Ross, courtesy of The Vault www.trueblood-online.com)
Our introduction to Tara is priceless. Everything about her screams anti-consumerism, yet here she is working at the Super Save-A-Bunch. We just know the minute her shift ends, she rips that work vest off. She’s indignant toward customers and authority figures, but equally heroic for speaking her mind, cutting that customer down into bite-sized pieces with the deadly accuracy of a sniper. We love Tara because she gets to make all the mistakes we would if we could. Yet as much as she puts up her walls, we know people like her: a little too smart for her own good, a bit bratty, always testing authority. She is introduced to us in the brilliant image of a young