True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm (4/9/11)

Posted by The TV Critic on 4 September 2011 | 1 Comments

Tags: True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm

True Blood - 411 - Soul of Fire

I said when I began blogging this season that I would refrain from too much criticism and largely I've been able to. True Blood is still the same flawed show it's always been but this season has been the most bearable I can remember. The clear division between good and evil has made things easier to enjoy and the way all the stories have played into one another has been admirable. So here we finish on a decent cliff hanger as Marny's ghost jumps into Lafayette's body. The earlier story where Lafayette was possessed has now prepared us for what might happen next.

However the major problems with the show remain intractable. There's just no sense that anything will happen that would have actual consequences. I think we all learnt that lesson in Season Two when the whole town was having an orgy for a week and yet no one seemed too bothered by it afterwards. The result is that every time something dramatic happens it generates no tension. Bill and Eric agree to commit suicide. But you know they won't. Jason is horribly burnt. But you know a quick vampire blood fix is right there. Marny tries to drag the vamps into her force field. But Sookie's inexplicable magic is on hand to save the day. And so on.

True Blood looks like a genre drama show but it isn't. In Game of Thrones or Spartacus people die and people suffer loss and it means something. True Blood is actually not that different from CSI or Bones or Castle or House. It's a formula show. Tune in and you will be guaranteed lots of sex, swearing, blood and southern accents. And that will never change.

Curb Your Enthusiasm - 809 - Mister Softee

I thought this was one of the stronger episodes of the season. Final scene as didn't magically pay off in the final scene as they sometimes do but there was strong material throughout.

There are many things I now know about American history and pop culture that the average English person probably shouldn't know. I can't be sure but I think the first reference I heard to Bill Buckner was in an episode of Boy Meets World. Regardless I've known for a long time about a guy who let the ball through his legs and cost his side the World Series. It always suits Larry to take the unpopular side in these things and you couldn't help feeling sorry for Buckner as he soaked up abuse with a smile and then missed Larry's throw when messing about with the Mookie-signed baseball.

At that point it felt like Buckner was being a really good sport but the final scene was even better. This was an episode full of cheesy stuff but most of it worked because the set up was so good. The ridiculous idea of a baby being tossed out of a burning building was made even sillier by repeated shots of the dummy flying through the air. But it was the great (silly) redemption moment for Buckner who got to take the catch and be hoisted on everyone's shoulders in victory.

Similarly cheesy was Larry having to endure Susie riding next to him in the car. The acting on both sides was dreadful but because the moment made perfect sense I think it worked. Larry's distaste for Susie and her aggressive, overbearing behavior made it entirely believable that Larry would not want to hear her orgasm noises.

The other cheesy or should I say implausible idea was Larry's therapist revealing the names of his clients. It was another direct Seinfeld idea (702 - the Rabbi with the big mouth) and really you can't imagine an indiscreet therapist lasting very long. However the performance (Fred Melamed) was so convincing that I felt like I was watching a proper live studio audience sit com as Larry shrugged incredulously and says "you might as well call him George Lucas, that's who directed Star Wars!"

This season has also been full of Larry's strange racial theories and assumptions. Here we got the black man in glasses can win over any white person which like all his theories is ridiculous but has a vague plausibility. The best part is that Larry gets to say "This is better than anything the civil rights movement came up with."