Vampires, Drugs, and Cancer

This week 3 big shows had their season premieres: True Blood, Weeds, and The Big C.


The Big C EASILY wins best premiere. 

True Blood is lucky two episodes were premiered on Sunday, because that first episode was the most boring, predictable episode I have ever seen, with the exception of the first 10 minutes, which they had already released before the premiere anyway taking away from the novelty. Also, the time jumping gimmick is such a cheesy way to continue a story. Seriously though, if you remember anything from last year's finale nothing was that much of a surprise. Lafayette's a witch with his boy toy, Bill's still alive meaning the Queen is obviously dead and thus he is now the King of Louisiana. As soon as I saw Tara was a fighter I called the whole lezzie thing (maybe my gaydar just works through the TV, or maybe it was the fact that she was pretty much emotionally destroyed by a man in the last season, even if he was a vampire). And the ending. Wow. Usually True Blood gets you with the last 2 seconds of the show with their set up of "OMGWTF JUST HAPPENED IN THAT FIRST 5 MINUTES THAT WAS AWESOME!" followed by "That was the most boring 40 minutes of television I've ever watched," and culminating with "OMGWTF CLIFFHANGER." Who honestly thought Eric was going to bite Sookie and real harm would come to her? No one, that's who.


Luckily the second episode set up the season more with the witches, and the power plays. I'm at least looking forward to being slightly more entertained this season than last. Unfortunately Alex Skarsgaard said the sex scenes this year are tamer than usual, so we probably won't get the pleasure of seeing Eric bone some guy again.

Now, this will probably be Weeds' final season (I HOPE this is the final season), so while the first episode wasn't the most exciting episode ever, most of Weeds is like that where it starts small and just snowballs from there. Weeds jumped 3 years into the future, however I think this works better than True Blood's supernatural world time flow difference bs, because did we really want to see a show where Nancy was separated from the boys the entire time while she sits in jail? Regardless, Silas is still smokin, and now the world realizes it too, Nancy is still great to watch, aaaaaaaaaand we'll see what happens with the other characters. Personally though I'm waiting for a few more episodes down the line for shit to hit the fan. (Also, Michelle Trachtenberg is guest starring in a couple episodes, which, well, that just sucks.)

THIS show, THIS show is unbelievably amazing. Everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer giving it a universal appeal, but what makes this show last is Laura Linney. Somehow she manages to strike the perfect balance of cynicism, fear, joy, and hope for her character dealing with stage four melanoma. I've also never cried so hard than the finale of season one (except of course the series finale of Six Feet Under... and BtVS). This season picks up with her deciding to fight the cancer rather than let it take her willingly. There is such a nice dichotomy between last season where no one knew she had cancer besides she and her doctor, and this season where we get to see how it affects those around the one with cancer. Honestly, I could go into the plot, but just know this: This is easily one of the top two most beautiful and raw stories/shows I've ever seen. You MUST watch this, even if it seems a little off at first. You won't regret it.

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is simply epic, and I've only watched the first episode. Without being excessively dramatic the show gives a fresh take on the sci-fi/fantasy by placing us into the age of dynasties, swords, and warriors on horses rather than flying spaceships and laser guns making killing more intimate and deaths more gruesome. So right off the bat (sports)  the show brings something different from your Battlestar Galactica and Stargate universes. Another refreshing attribute is the dialogue. It isn't overly Olde English, and yet the characters speak with the accent we would expect from something set in medieval times. On top of that, while there are plenty of characters to get to know right away, the show doesn't play dumb to the audience by showcasing every character individually by spewing a bunch of information at us, but instead gradually and intrinsically building each character through interaction with others. Basically it doesn't just say, "This is the king, he has done this and this and is married to this woman and she has these family ties" - through some long overdrawn monologue at the beginning. The audience is expected to be able to pick up on what's happening without overloading us with information that would most likely soon be forgotten after the first couple scenes. These choices could have easily been different to cater to a broader audience.

I was worried that the show would just be a boring tale about kings fighting with other kings over wenches and petty gold coins, which I'm sure is great for some people. However I'm a fan of characters and character development, and this show, keep in mind I've only watched the first episode now so that I can watch all ten pretty much back to back, appears to have everything from strong females (I'm a sucker for strong females in television hence my obsession with Joss Whedon) refusing to marry in vain to a bastard child who seems more worthy to take the throne than any of the king's real children. There are many overlapping story arcs already created within the first hour with set ups to the overlapping story of two kingdoms about to be at war, to the individual stories within those opposing kingdoms. There's ideological differences between the selfless king of Winterfell taking responsibility for his judgments as he tells his child that he must be the one who sentences someone should carry out that sentence in order to stay connected to his people while the creepy, selfish, white-haired man tells his sister that he doesn't care how many men screw her just as long as he gets his kingdom back.

On top of the more humanizing aspects of the show, there is a taste of the supernatural right at the beginning to show the audience this isn't going to be a dull political showing of power struggles, but that there may be a force out there that is greater and more dangerous than just scorned men and women, leaving something to be wanted.

Ultimately, I cannot wait to get through the season, even though I already know the finale is going to be unbearable knowing that I won't get to see next season until next year.