TV Show Review

TV Review: TRUE BLOOD: Season 7, Episode 1: Jesus Gonna Be Here [HBO]

Anna Paquin True Blood Jesus Gonna Be Here

HBO‘s True Blood Jesus Gonna Be Here TV Show Review. True Blood: Season 7, Episode 1: Jesus Gonna Be Here is the beginning of the show’s seventh and final season. There was a time when True Blood was considered “original, innovative”…but those days are long past. True Blood went “off the rails” several years back. It would be a kind “thank you” to the loyal fans that have stuck it out all these years, if the writers could tie up the storylines of Bon Temps with some coherency, honor and esteem to the original ideas and characters they created.

Season 6 ended with a vampire and human “get together” at Bellefleur’s (once Merlotte’s). Hep-V infected vampires were roaming around, and the remaining uninfected vampires and humans needed one another. Humans needed protection…and vampires needed uninfected blood. The “get together” allowed vamps and humans to choose their partners for this mutually beneficial situation.

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We pick up Season 7 back at Bellefleur’s with an exhaustive battle between a band of gnarly Hep-V infected vampires and nearly every other main character in Bon Temps. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin)’s best friend, Tara (Rutina Wesley), who has gone through being turned in to a vampire, and a host of other ordeals, was killed off before you had time to blink. We are simply informed of Tara’s death by her mother Lettie Mae (Adina Porter).

Throughout the episode, characters mourned Tara, but we never actually saw her die. Certainly in this world, Tara could always return…we’ll have to see. (In interviews that followed the season opener, Rutina Wesley has said that her character is indeed dead.) If this is true, the fact that Tara’s demise was not presented in any visually dramatic and creative way was a poor choice. Ridiculous even.

Humans Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston), Holly Cleary (Lauren Bowles) and Sam’s (Sam Trammell) pregnant girlfriend Nicole Wright (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) are all kidnapped by a gang of vicious Hep-V infected vampires.

Sheriff Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) paired up to look for the missing women. Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) volunteered to protect Andy and his half-fairy daughter Adilyn Bellefleur (Bailey Noble) as reparation for having accidentally killed Adilyn’s three sisters the previous season.

In another part of Bon Temps, Andy and Jessica warn Adilyn not to trust Jessica (or allow her inside)… Adilyn did anyway. Jessica did battle with a Hep-V vampire on the lawn and Adilyn invited her protector inside before the sun rose.

Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis) found himself being protected by Jessica’s boyfriend James (Nathan Parsons). Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) and his vamp girlfriend Violet (Karolina Wydra) got it on outdoors, despite the fact that there were Hep-V vamps everywhere.

Sookie read minds at a church gathering, where Lettie Mae’ Thornton’s thoughts told Sookie she was not welcome. She heard similar thoughts in the minds of many of the congregation. Incensed, Sookie went off for a walk, in the night, by herself. She read Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello)’s mind as well back at the church. He went after her, they argued about his thoughts, and eventually made up.

In another part of the world, Pam De Beaufort (Kristin Bauer van Straten) was playing vampire Russian roulette as she continued to search for her missing maker Eric. And Jessica continued to struggle with her own instincts.

This episode was directed by Stephen Moyer (his third directing turn).

This is TB’s “swan song,” I hope they give us something, anything to get genuinely excited about. A return to the original concept of True Blood would be an astute choice for the writers and creators.

Leave us wanting more…not happy that you’ve finally gone.

Leave your thoughts on True Blood and this review below in the comments section. For more True Blood articles, photos, videos, and information, visit our True Blood Page, subscribe to us by Email, follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, or ‘Like Us’ on Facebook.

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