True Blood Season Four Coverage: Biting Back

Episode Commentary: “I’m Alive and On Fire”

Sure, this week’s episode of “True Blood” continued to introduce more characters [TV legend Katherine Helmond was casted to play Andy Bellefleur’s grandmother] and develop far too many storylines at once, but there was enough development to satisfy.

With Eric Northman and Jason Stackhouse’s situations radically changing their roles on the show, it’ll be interesting to see where these characters go and what becomes of them. In a way, the same thing can be said of Bill Compton, who aside from adjusting to his new role as King, must real with the fact that his most recent physical partner, Portia Bellefleur [Courtney Ford], shares his bloodline. These three storylines in particular solidified the episode, as Eric’s softer side and the trials and tribulations of Jason provided an infectious viewing experience, while it was nice to see Bill have more time on the show. Overall, to see these three in different roles continued to prove that the cast of “True Blood” is one of the deepest on television today.

Now, if only the writing could slow down a bit and develop more, the show could reclaim its former glory.

Like previous episodes, there’s just so much going on. It’s nearly impossible to get attached to many of the newer characters. Between the return of the werewolves, added focus of panthers and the witches, “True Blood” is a far different than the show it was even last season.

Nevertheless, it would be unfair to say it’s not sexy.

It’s just Victoria’s Secret sexy and not Fredrick’s of Hollywood sexy.

Some will complain of the lack of cleavage and sex scenes that played a role in previous seasons, but it’s the drama that led to those steamy moments that made the show so orgasmic. Through the first two seasons, the core of characters on the show was so closely ingrained into the main storyline that it made the sub-plots stronger and more of a treat when the story drifted away a bit. Now, those same characters are so much more loosely connected that there isn’t that same camaraderie and fluidity. At times, “True Blood” feels like a different show, depending who is on-screen.

Luckily, it never feels like a bad show.

The fact that several storylines from last week were given less time and Sookie, Eric and the Witches were allowed to develop their story, made this episode enjoyable. If the creative team behind the show can continue to use this formula the rest of the season, “True Blood” will have a more than watchable fourth season.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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