True Blood 7.10 Series Finale: Weddings, Exploding Exes, and Faceless Futures

In the realm of TV, there are superb series finales which leave you with the existentialistic question of “what do I do with my life now?” and then there are the “welp, I guess that’s over” endings. After seven years, a dynamic first few seasons, and years’ worth of available literary source material, True Blood unfortunately falls into the latter category. I don’t know what I was expecting for final episode 7.10 "Thank you". Many main characters were already dead, dying, or had hit the road. What I will say is that I thought Sookie's fairy powers, which made a mysterious cameo in the first episode, would ultimately have a greater impact in the show's conclusion.

What Happened: 

Bill is rapidly dying from Hep-V and is so ill that he feels warm to the touch and Sookie can hear his thoughts wishing her a life full of love and babies. He alludes to the fact that this journey to death is making him feel human again. He implores Sookie to give him a true death at the hands of her powerful energy orb, the last speck of her fae essence. They eerily walk to the graveyard where Bill has a burial plot. They hug, smooch, and stare at each other, wasting crucial minutes of the finale. As tears stream down her face, Sookie tells Bill that she realizes that she can't lose that fae part of herself and dissolves her energy orb. That's when things get messy. Bill still asks Sookie to kill him (because that kind of guilt won't weigh on her, right?) Sookie breaks a shovel and painstakingly (no pun intended) stabs Bill through the heart giving way to an explosion of yucky guts and innards all over Sookie, who chooses to stay in the grave and weep in the mess.

What Should Have Happened: 

Bill is rapidly dying from Hep-V and is so ill that he feels warm to the touch and Sookie can hear his thoughts wishing her a life full of love and babies. He alludes to the fact that this journey to death is making him feel human again. He implores Sookie to give him a true death at the hands of her powerful energy ball, the last speck of her fae essence. They eerily walk to the graveyard where Bill has a burial plot. They hug, smooch, and stare at each other and then Sookie creates her energy orb and holds it between them. Something magical begins to happen and the light continues to grow and engulfs them both.

Bill: "Sookie, what's happening?!"
Sookie: "I don't know! I've never done this before"

An explosion of light and sound fills the screen. After all the fast forward scenes of New Blood we see a pregnant Sookie holding a large barbeque for family and friends as a now human Bill turns around at the head of the table and embraces Sookie. Sookie makes mention of their unborn daughter Claudine kicking inside of her implying that Sookie was able to maintain her fairy essence while also turning Bill human.

In Reality:

However, that was not the conclusion we were left with. While there is a barbecue with family and friends, a pregnant Sookie embraces a seemingly human, black haired man whose face we never get to see. A face which for all intents and purposes should have been Alcide's. Considering he could have given her love, marriage, babies, and not to mention numerous, sexy lap dances, there was no reason for writers to kill him off episodes prior. The season had been a rushed jumble of plots and storylines they tried to hastily tie up, and while the finale slowed things down with only three main plots, it didn't do much in the way of redeeming what had already been lost, creatively.

On a positive note, Bill informed Andy that Compton Manor would be his after Bill's death and asked him to rent it out, for one dollar, to Jessica and Hoyt. Jessica and Hoyt then got married at Compton Manor in a beautiful, quaint ceremony officiated by Andy Bellefleur. If you had been following Jessica's blog and vlog (two of the high points of the True Blood universe) then you'll love the adorable photos she posted of the wedding party. They can be found at: http://www.babyvamp-jessica.com/babyvamp-jessica/2014/8/5/jessica-wedding-draft

All in all, I've been disappointed with the creative direction of True Blood for quite some time now. However, I stuck by because I was four years in and was reading every book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Over time, many characters were losing their depth, but I still had my favorites, like Lafayette, Pam, Jessica and Jason, which made it worthwhile to watch. For that reason, I wouldn't mind spin-offs of a few of those characters, but I think for now we'll just go with, Thank you and farewell, True Blood.


What did you think of the True Blood series finale? What is what you expected? What would you have liked to see happen?

Drop Dead Diva: The Final Farewell

After a final season that felt rushed, convoluted, and, at times, over the top, the series finale of Drop Dead Diva left a lot to be desired.

 

I can still hear viewers’ disapproval and disappointment over the left-field storyline of Stacy (Jane’s best friend and roommate) and Owen (Jane’s former fiancé) procreating and eventually getting engaged. The relationship felt forced, unrealistic (considering the serious circumnstances), and a stab in the back to fans who saw Stacy treat Fred like crap but still get a happy ending. Kim’s happy ending romance felt awkwardly shoved down our throats in about a 15 minute span of time. This season also saw too little of Teri, and her series finale return centered around a botched Star Search audition storyline. The explanation was like pulling teeth to get out and didn’t utilize the pizzazz and wittiness of Teri at all.

 

For a shining moment within the season, fans got to see Grayson and Jane embark on what looked to be their destined, happily ever after. However, a cheap shot to the gut from writers would send Grayson to his deathbed, and his soul into a new actor fans had to quickly adjust to; many never made it that far. Some fans were downright irate. I don’t know about you, but after five and a half seasons of heart flutters between Jane and Grayson, to expect instant chemistry between Jane and Ian to close out the final few episodes was asking a lot. Owen was especially upset over Jane's rebound to Ian and voiced his concerns several times. It felt more like a scorned lover fuming rather than a friend looking out for a friend, considering Jane and Owen hadn't really been friends since their tense break-up and his choice to impregnate Stacy. He spent the majority of the series finale acting like a huge d-bag taking out his angry feelings on Jane's client. It was despicable. At that point, the writers had to expect that  no one would really possess any positive emotions when he became a father. Further, there were no details about the twins; just a more than usual loopy Stacy.

During the rush of the finale and the final season in general, I was left with a lot of questions that were never answered:

1. Why wasn’t the series finale two hours? Not all shows need it, but I believe it would have helped alleviate some of rushed feeling.

 

2. What happened to Britney (the real Jane Bingum)? I loved her character and the last we saw, her heart was broken and she angrily called Jane out for failing to tell her about her mother's death before rushing off.

3. Let's be honest. I'm pretty sure fans' top favorite characters were Jane and Fred. So what became of Fred helping send Grayson back to earth in another body? Was he punished? Forced to start guardian angel training all over again? I would have appreciated Fred having a happy ending (and a cameo in the series finale).

4. Why didn’t Ian (the new Grayson) have his own personal guardian angel? That part just felt off as though the guardian angel unemployment rate was too high. Britney had a guardian angel, but viewers had to deal with Paul doing double duty for Jane and Grayson when he's barely been a good guardian angel to Jane. While I realize she was quite self sufficient, the transition from Fred to Luke to Paul was a continuous downward spiral.

5. Why did this show avoid following through with wedding ceremonies like the plague? Viewers never got a wedding but we saw plenty of wedding dresses.

Now that Drop Dead Diva has come to an end, I hope to see more of Brooke Elliott. Her personality, voice and smile are amazing and she shines on the screen. Since she left the firm I wouldn't mind seeing a spin-off show still starring her, but focusing on her own firm and fabulous adventures.  

What did you think of the Drop Dead Diva series finale? What would you have like to see happen differently?