Sneak PeekA Taste of Season Two
Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
One of the thrills of the True Blood panel at the Paley Center April 13 had to be seeing a sneak peek of Season 2’s first episode (Thanks to E!online for the link!).
The scene is set in Bill’s car traveling down a dark Southern road. It looks as if a few weeks have passed since the S1 ender, because Sookie still has a bit of a black eye, but she has a slightly different hairstyle (curly).
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Part I of our True Blood Panel coverage: Cracking the Coffin
Part II of our True Blood Panel coverage: Vampires and the People who Love Them
[photo: Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media]
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One of the thrills of the True Blood panel at the Paley Center April 13 had to be seeing a sneak peek of Season 2’s first episode (the cast is currently filming episode 7).
ReplyDeleteThe scene is set in Bill’s car traveling down a dark Southern road. It looks as if a few weeks have passed since the S1 ender, because Sookie still has a bit of a black eye, but she has a slightly different hairstyle (curly).
Sadly, Bill and Sookie are arguing while Jessica (the vampire teenager that Bill had to “make” to pay for his crime of staking another vampire) is in the back seat crying blood tears. It seems that Sookie had taken Jessica back to see her parents, although she didn’t let Jessica’s parents see them. It’s an emotional thing for Sookie, who has lost her parents and, more recently, her grandmother.
But Bill accuses her of undermining his authority with Jessica. He’s really mad and harsh and finally Sookie has had it. She opens the door and walks out of the car — into the dark and spooky woods.
Jessica tells Bill that Sookie wants him to follow her, and kiss her, and tell her he loves her (imagine a whiny teenager voice doing that line and you get the idea). But Bill says Sookie will come back when she’s calmed down and so he waits.
Meanwhile, Sookie is hearing sounds that are kinda creepy. She calls Bill’s name, thinking it might be him — but no answer. Then, framed by a bright light, we see the shadow of a monster with huge horns on its head. And it runs toward the fleeing Sookie (smart girl) but slashes her back. Bill hears Sookie’s scream and jumps out of the car…
Interestingly enough, this is in many ways a replay of a scene that starts the second book, “Living Dead in Dallas,” the second in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries, which creator Alan Ball says will be the blueprint for the TV show’s second season.
But in the book, there’s no Jessica (a character that only exists in the show) and the creature who mauls Sookie is a naked maenad with a leashed wild pig. But the maenad creature was introduced in S1 — Tara’s mysterious beneficiary Maryann. This monster looks more like a Minotaur (male body, bull head).
In the book, the maenad expects financial tribute from the vampire and uses Sookie to send her message to Eric. But meanwhile, the cuts on Sookie’s back are poisonous and the vampires all have to drink from her to keep her from dying. Hmmm…
So from this clip it’s obvious that Ball is going to stay true to some parts of the book and add a few new things as well. Speaking of that, the actor (Neilsan Ellis) who plays short order cook Lafayette appeared at the panel. In the books, his character dies and at the end of S1, we see a body with toenails painted in the same blood red polish color Lafayette had applied. But Ellis’ fun, over-the-top performance has make him a fan favorite, so perhaps Ball will made a few changes there as well.
At the panel, Ellis wouldn’t divulge his character’s fate…
True Blood starts up again June 14 on HBO.