海角大神

After years on the air,聽True Blood聽kicks off its final season with one last adventure for Sookie Stackhouse and her impossibly unlucky town of Bon Temps. Unfortunately, while the show is still as drama-filled as its operatic genre will allow, the ever-maturing landscape of television may have outgrown the series鈥� 鈥渦nique鈥� way in which it handles all of its many character stories.

Kicking off the beginning of the end is this week鈥檚 premiere, 鈥淛esus Gonna Be Here,鈥� written by season 5 and 6 writer Angela Robinson, which continues the 5-month time jump that was implemented in the final moments of聽last year鈥檚 finale. As the Hepatitis-V virus continues to infect vampires around the country, the residents of Bon Temps must still pair with healthy vampires for protection. Elsewhere, Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) continues her search for Eric (Alexander Skarsgard); Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) attempt to make amends to Andy (Chris Bauer) and his family; and Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) reaches her breaking point after the shocking death of a close friend.

As of right now,聽True Blood聽season 7 is fueled by characters and story, but at no point is there a purpose thrown in 鈥� at least not yet. Sookie being pushed to the limits by the death of Tara (Rutina Wesley) is understandable, and Jessica wanting to protect Andy鈥檚 remaining daughter is honorable, but there鈥檚 something soulless about the way in which聽True Blood聽structures its over-arching stories and continuously requires audiences to seemingly care more about the characters and story than what鈥檚 being present onscreen.

A time jump in television is a plot device, often included as a way to separate major changes to the overall story without it coming off overtly awkward or out of place. For all the many uses of it over the years,聽True Blood聽seems to be the only television show which takes the opportunity to shift some characters around in order to tell more of the same type of tales. This may have worked in previous seasons, but with shows like聽Orange is the New Black聽and聽Game of Thrones聽masterfully handling the structure and development of as many characters as聽True Blood, the artificial drama that this series exists in often overpowers any attempt to earnestly enjoy what鈥檚 actually occurring.

Exactly one week ago, television viewers were whisked away to the impressively detailed world of Westeros and watched as an entire world of people聽progressed their life journeys. Sure, many character names may still be fuzzy for some viewers, but their intents are largely known. The same cannot be said for聽True Blood, which uses drama and chaos to cover up the general lack of personality and heart that the series has been struggling with for years.

Whatever the key to this season is,聽we have yet to see it. If anything, the聽True Blood聽season 7 premiere feels as if the series is buying time by relying heavily on familiar stories, emotions and complications to justify the story being told, even when it shouldn鈥檛. What鈥檚 even more disconcerting is, at no point throughout this premiere is there even a sign of聽an overall seasonal story聽aside from Hepatitis-V.

狈辞飞听True Blood聽has yet to actually jump in to its series-ending story, and at this point it鈥檚 likely that only those who read the books know what鈥檚 coming next. Even so, with so many characters that hold so much potential, it鈥檚 disheartening to see this series continue to stumble in many of the same ways that it has in recent years. After so many years on the air, and with one final story left to tell, it appears that viewers will have to carry the excitement until the series manages to rise to the occasion.

Those who watched聽True Blood聽from the beginning will have a difficult time finding the series it was in season 1 among this season 7 endeavor, and it鈥檚 been quite some time since you were able to appropriately compare what the series once was to what it is now. No matter what happens,聽True Blood聽is done at the end of this season. So while this may be the most chaotic television show on the air, fans of the series should, if anything, attempt to make use of whatever emotional attachments they have left and see things through to the very end. Maybe.

Anthony Ocasio blogs at Screen Rant.