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'True Blood': What are critics and fans saying about the series finale?

'True Blood' aired its final episode on Aug. 24, but many critics and fans feel the finale was less than satisfying. 'True Blood' stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer.

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Tony Rivetti/HBO
'True Blood' stars Stephen Moyer (l.), Anna Paquin (center), and Nelsan Ellis (r.).

The HBO series 鈥True Blood,鈥 based on the supernatural novels by Charlaine Harris, aired its series finale on Aug. 24 after seven seasons and the critical and fan reaction to the last episode of the show was decidedly mixed.

鈥淭rue鈥 centers on waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who has telepathic powers, among others (she discovers later in the series that she has fairy blood). The show takes place in a world where vampires have recently revealed their existence to society, and Sookie becomes acquainted with vampires Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) as well as werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and other otherworldly creatures.聽

In the finale, vampire Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) married her boyfriend Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Bill, who turned her into a vampire, was able to participate. However, he then asked Sookie to help him die and she did so. In a flash-forward, we saw many of Sookie鈥檚 friends and family, like her brother Jason and his romantic partner Brigette, gather at her house for Thanksgiving, except for Eric and his progeny Pam, who are still working at their club Fangtasia. Sookie was pregnant in the flash-forward, but the show did not reveal who the father is.

Some were receptive to certain aspects of this finale, including writer Mike Hale, who called Bill's death scene "genuinely moving," and聽 writer Price Peterson, who said one of the best parts of it was that Bill was finally gone. 鈥淭rue Blood聽should not have ended any other way,鈥 Peterson wrote. 鈥淭his seven-year saga was always Sookie Stackhouse's story, and Bill's entrance鈥 ushered in聽years聽of trauma that Sookie probably could have done without.鈥 However, Peterson called the finale 鈥渙therwise highly disappointing鈥 One reason [the episode] 鈥楾hank You鈥櫬燿oesn't聽deserve the benefit of the doubt was because of how badly it miscalculated our interest in Jessica and Hoyt's relationship.鈥

critic Brian Lowry found the finale to be, 鈥渄espite some poignant moments鈥 聽simply too little, too late to redeem a show that frequently聽managed to feel聽absurd,鈥 though Lowry wrote that 鈥渃oming back to [Sookie and Bill] felt right, in a way the series hadn鈥檛 in quite some time.鈥

writer Melissa Maerz did not mince words about her take on the series finale, calling it "terrible."

"True Blood's last聽episode聽was the most disappointing series finale I鈥檝e seen in a long time," she wrote. "But something about the blandness of聽True Blood鈥榮 finale felt almost聽offensive鈥 the biggest problem? It just wasn鈥檛 any fun." She also felt that "True" expressed some fairly limited gender views, writing that "all the focus on marriage and children during the final season also felt like a cop-out...聽Worse yet, Bill suggested that his life literally wouldn鈥檛 be worth leading if he couldn鈥檛 give Sookie children...聽Aren鈥檛 there other ways to define a meaningful existence?...聽Once upon a time,聽True Blood聽played with gender roles in pretty subversive ways."

Meanwhile, some fans took to Twitter to express their thoughts. User Sameed Qureshi tweeted his approval, writing,

However, user John DeVore agreed with Maerz, tweeting,聽

And user John Arnold referenced another poorly-received series finale, writing,

The book series on which "True" also had a controversial ending, which some fans disapproved of. According to the , some fans threatened author Harris after the conclusion was revealed online.

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