Review: True Blood "Let's Get Out Of Here"

Non Spoiler Review:

Picking up on last week's frenetic pace, Run lives up to its name and packs in a ton of stuff right to the very end. Unfortunately we get one of those classic cop out cliffhangers, as the writers seemed to forget what happened at the end of last episode.

Sookie's plight gets resolved very quickly, and the plot continues on to Antonia's next plan (and securing the loyalty of her coven). Bill and Nan start to grate on one another, Hoyt packs up Jessica's stuff, and possessed Lafayette causes a whole lot of trouble. Alcide's path crosses with the Merlottes in an unexpected way.

This was a tough one to judge, as the episode redeemed itself with some crazy character pairings that kept things interesting until the end. The witty barbs were flying between Nan and Bill behaving like a married couple in some terrific scenes. The momentum is building up to a suitable True Blood hot mess. Completely over the top. But all that good was tarnished by the really bad writing of the first scene with Sookie. True Blood is famous for glazing over cliffhangers, but this was one of the worst examples by far. On the other hand, no Star Trek fairyland.

Spoilers Now!

Alcide rushes home with Sookie, but Bill (!), suddenly silverless, arrives at super speed, steals her and gets her home in a flash, trying to get her to feed from him. Alcide catches up, pissed, but Sookie finally opens her eyes after managing to feed (when this happened, I don't know, as I must have momentarily looked away from the screen). She finds Bill and Alcide, but  asks for Eric in typical Sookie selfishness. Bill has his men out looking for him. Alcide is furious she nearly died because of vampires—again. He says he's done and leaves. Sookie thanks Bill for the blood, he smiles awkwardly and leaves her alone, as well. 

Remember last week's tense vampire/witch battle? That seems to have resolved itself off screen as everyone is back at the emporium, including Marnie, who has brought Eric back with them. She commands him to clean himself up, but Tara is pissed she didn't take Bill's offer of peace. She ignores her, and orders them all to cast a protective spell. By the way, it's not Marnie anymore, but ANTONIA! Holly and Tara seem to smarten up, and are not about to blindly follow her, but Marnie isn't home anymore, and Antonia is firmly in control. Just try to leave, she dares.

There's a new plan, thanks to a handy flyer about the Festival of Tolerance between vampires and humans the next night, and she plans on bringing Eric there to show the world their true face. 

Luna suggests Sam leaves so he doesn't get into trouble with Marcus, but Sam gets an idea to take the two of them camping to get away from the werewolf drama. Luna agrees. They all bond over the campfire and Sam even changes into a rabbit for Emma to pet (ick).

Alcide comes home and climbs into bed as Debbie plays asleep. She doesn't appear happy (as her glowing yellow eyes suggest).

Jessica is morose and vents to Nan about her love life at Bill's mansion. Nan confesses that after listening to her all night, she no longer regrets choosing not to be a maker. Bill shows up and Nan compliments him for his interview on the news. The three of them all go to ground together (bound in silver), and he springs it on her that Eric is missing again. Apparently Bill changed his mind about executing Eric all by himself, despite Nan giving him the go ahead. She's not impressed.

Nan isn't willing to cancel the festival because there are other factions involved and thinks he's stupid for letting it come to this. They get into a pissy argument and he tells her she can't see beyond tomorrow's headline. She'll bolster security, but the Festival of Tolerance must go forward and he better be in a festive mood. Given they're all bound in silver, Jessica is forced to listen to their spat.

Hoyt wakes up after a bender, and packs up Jessica's things. Then Lafayette shows up with the baby, telling him to get out of his house and waving a gun on him (apparently Hoyt's house was Mavis'). Meanwhile, Arlene and Terry are frantic at their missing kid and Jason tries to get the story straight. He gets the call from Hoyt explaining Lafayette's appearance. Terry seems to be stressing out more and more at the news, and Andy takes some V in secret.

Sookie has a dream of Eric showing up at her house in the day. Then Bill is there, and tells her he never stopped loving her. Sookie tells them both to shut up. She thinks she's in love with both of them, and proposes the two of them be hers rather than the other way around. She wants to share them both. Then she wakes up.

Tommy writes a good-bye note to Sam when Marcus comes into Merlotte's looking for his brother. He leaves his card and tells him Sam needs to meet him that night. 

Lafayette remains in Hoyt's house as Andy and Jason arrive. Andy isn't taking any resistance from Lafayette and busts inside. That doesn't go well, and Lafayette nearly shoots him, prompting Jason and Andy to run out.

Jesus goes in to talk to him, tells Mavis he's a brujah, and she needs to make peace with whatever killed her. Mavis suddenly realizes she's in the body of a man. They attempt a ritual and Jesus has a vision of Mavis and how her baby had already been buried when she learned he was dead. She wants to know where he is. She remembers the tree outside, so he and Lafayette head out of the house and give back the baby to Arlene. 

Debbie's out on the street scoring some V, then heads to Sookie's. Sookie reluctantly invites her in. Debbie says Alcide came home smelling of her blood. She wants to make things better between them. Sookie reads her mind and sees that Debbie is being genuine, so believes her. Sookie also tells her Alcide really loves her, but does take Debbie's invitation to help.

Alcide and Marcus are hanging out at the motorcycle shop. Alcide wants in on the pack because it's important to Debbie. So Marcus asks him to help him out with a shifter problem he has with his exwife. He asks Alcide to stick around for his meeting with him, promising there won't be trouble, but just wants some backup to make him more inclined to listen. 

As night falls, Andy apologizes to Jason but it doesn't mean anything anymore. Jason's focused on helping Jesus dig by the tree with Hoyt, and they find two skeletons...both the baby and Mavis'. Jesus gives over the dead baby, asking for Lafayette back. Mavis leaves the body in a golden light—witnessed by everyone there, including Arlene, Terry and Hoyt. She thanks them all and disappears with her baby.

Debbie shows up at the emporium to see Antonia. She says she represents the werewolves come to pledge their allegiance. Meanwhile, Sookie sneaks in the back way and finds the coven sleeping, with Eric locked in a room. Eric is cogent enough to tell her she should go, as he's supposed to kill the king. That's when Tara shows up with a gun.

Antonia knows werewolves don't like to make themselves known, so why now? Debbie cracks and tells her she brought Sookie to her. Antonia finds them, and tells Tara not to shoot. Sookie can be of use to them. Tara tells Sookie (via her thoughts) to charge her, and that Bill is at the hotel. Sookie overpowers Tara and runs out. Debbie is waiting in the car and Sookie runs up (unaware of her betrayal). They drive off to the festival. Antonia summons Eric to go with them and commands the rest to stay there. She arcane locks the emporium (Tara gets burned trying to open the door). 

Jason helps Hoyt put his house back in order. Jason reluctantly agrees to deliver the box of belongings back to Jessica at Bill's place. She invites him in, but he doesn't think that's a good idea. But that doesn't last, because two seconds later they're having True Blood sex in the back of his truck. 

Tommy shows up at Marcus' (as Sam), and is greeted by Alcide. There are several other werewolves there as backup. Marcus tells him to stay away from his wife. Tommy says he's never touched his wife, though his brother has. That prompts a beat down from everyone but Alcide, who orders Marcus to call them off. That's when Tommy shifts back and Marcus recognizes him from Merlotte's. Furious with Marcus for breaking his word, Alcide carries Tommy out.

At the hotel, Bill's sheriffs are standing guard as the Festival of Tolerance begins, but aside from the speakers there are no vampires in the audience as per Nan's wishes not to provoke any trouble. Eric shows up outside the hotel, prompting the sheriffs to take off in pursuit. He surrenders, just as Antonia arrives to cast her mind control spell and takes them under her command, as well. 

Sookie runs in as Bill gives his speech. She yells from the audience as vampires appear around the room, disembowel the human guards for everyone to see, and prompt a panic. Jumping into the crowd, they begin killing audience members, while Eric leaps from the gallery to attack the king, and Sookie screams for Bill to run.

The Verdict:

The resolution of last week's cliffhanger was virtually ignored—not only does Bill somehow get free off camera, but we're led to believe everyone must have just decided to go home, as we see Antonia and her crew back at the emporium with Eric. What did they do with their dead? Did security just back off? Did Sookie feed from Bill or not? That bad writing could have set the tone for the whole episode, but luckily things got back on track.

Debbie's questionable loyalties really had me guessing, and now she's got Sookie thinking she's on her side. With Alcide screwing up his role in the pack, there's just enough time left in the season to finally throw the werewolf storyline into high gear. It's going to be pretty obvious to him (or should be) that Debbie's fallen off the wagon.

Nice to see Tara remember her friendship and think smart to get a leg up on Antonia. Equally cool was Antonia's magical warding of the emporium. Aside from her one crazy loyal hippie, the rest seem to have come to their senses.

I'm not clear what purpose Mavis' storyline is going to serve, aside from saying "Hey, here's what Lafayette's powers can do." But at least it seems resolved and out of the way, though that might not necessarily explain Mikey's evilness. It didn't offer anything unique at all, except the usual ghost needs closure story we've all seen too many times.

Special mention goes to Hoyt's box labelling For you, monster, and the subsequent text scribbled out when Jason delivers it to Jessica. Nan and Bill's bickering was hilarious, especially with a distraught Jessica being forced to listen to them while they were all chained in the crypt. Nan's subsequent Jackie Kennedy pink dress and Bill's Southern accent virtually dripping from his festival speech all made for an excessively funny hour.

Now that Nan has to deal with yet another vampire on human massacre it's going to be interesting to see where the public relations angle goes from here. Will they out the witches, as well? Antonia's not going to be able to keep a handle on things too much longer with her coven held prisoner. But now that Lafayette is getting experience with magic, he might be the key to her defeat.

Review: True Blood "Spellbound"

Non Spoiler Review:
The vampire community suffers fallout from Antonia's first strike, leading Bill to set some plans in motion. Sookie and Eric continue their love fest through most of the episode. Lafayette gets some insight into the ghostly visitor hovering around the baby, and Tommy puts his schemes into action.

Spellbound was a great episode, ending on some exciting action bits and jeopardy for several characters. Most interesting, Sookie begins thinking of others aside from herself and Eric! It only took three quarters of the season.

Spoilers Now!

Jason manages to tackle Jessica back inside the house and out of the sun, but she abruptly prepares to kill him. Luckily Antonia ends her spell and Jessica emerges from her fugue, recognizing Jason. They share a passionate kiss as she realizes he saved her life. Below, Bill is distraught, until Jason carries her downstairs and he sees she's alive. She realizes she killed the guard too, but he assures her it wasn't her fault (and it's all part of the job being a human working for the vampire king).

Jason returns her to the cell and binds her with silver again, as the break in the spell could be a ruse to lower their guard. They won't be safe until nightfall. Bill then asks for Jason's discretion on the guard's death, and Jason admits he shot the other man in the shoulder outside. Finally Bill's security arrive en masse, and Jason surrenders to them.

Marcus summons his pack to explain the current vampire/witch dispute. Alcide asks Debbie if she told him what was going on, but she denies it. Marcus thinks it's foolish for the witches to even think they could defeat the vampires, so he's keeping his pack out of it all (Alcide smells a vampire collaborator). 

As night falls, Sookie frees Eric, but he needs to feed so she offers up herself to help him heal. He suggests she silver him should he get out of control. They ultimately share each other's blood, which  gives Sookie her first real taste of V.

Jessica returns home to Hoyt, who's paranoid that he's losing her. She wants to move out. Her human life isn't enough for her anymore. Hoyt's disconsolate and declares he'll die without her. When he persists she tells him to just die and smashes his head in the counter. Covered in blood she goes to meet Jason in his truck and has sex...which is all a dream, of course, and she wakes up in the cell with a human donor sent from Bill to replenish her. 

Bill is dealing with the fallout from the day's events, including Maxine's neighbour who died. Jason and Andy investigate the vampire remains, but Andy is more interested in the leftover blood of the body. Jason tells him to get a grip. Andy thinks he's only good when he's on V, and can't seem to command respect from anyone, least of all Maxine.

Maxine is giving an interview to the local news as Bill arrives. He glamors the newscaster to let him give his statement and comments on the lingering animosity from Russell's legacy which has led to some vampires committing suicide.

A furious Antonia watches the news and sees only one vampire died despite their efforts. That's when Tara realizes the spell wasn't just protecting them, but was drawing out vampires. Antonia wants them snuffed out once and for all, and Tara agrees. 

Bill phones the emporium and Tara answers. He's surprised to hear her voice. He wants to talk to Antonia and apologizes for what was done to her four hundred years before. He believes there can be peace. He wants to meet with her to avoid useless death for both of their peoples. She agrees to meet him at the cemetery at midnight.

Tommy breaks into Maxine's house and steals clothes. Maxine then shows up at Merlotte's to meet with the natural gas guy. Unfortunately her dead vampire neighbour left an unpaid mortgage so the gas company can pick up her property pretty cheaply, so Tommy has to settle for a much smaller amount. Tommy later shifts back in the woods and passes out.

Jessica returns home for real this time and breaks the news to Hoyt. She believes they moved too fast and should spend some time apart. He doesn't take it well at all, and gets nasty telling her he deserves someone normal who can have kids and who isn't a virgin all her life. Bitter, he kicks her out, taking back his invitation. 

Marcus and Alcide seem to have come to terms and the pack leader opens the door for Alcide to move up in the ranks. Debbie is happy to have a second chance and wants Alcide to stay away from Sookie and out of the vampire business. He promises.

While cooking, Lafayette sees the ghost again singing to the baby in the kitchen. Later, Lafayette has a revealing dream about the spirit (who happens to be carrying the doll). Her baby died, apparently at the hands of its white married father. He wouldn't have a funeral, or acknowledge its existence, and refused to let her see the infant one last time. Layayette wakes up to see the ghost, and gets possessed—again. He then shows up at the Bellefleur house where Andy is sleeping (and Terry and Arlene are staying). He takes Andy's gun...and the baby.

After an evening of V sex, Eric wants to leave town to escape the war, but Sookie says they have an obligation to stand by Bill and fight the witches, As Bill makes preparations, they show up to help him fight. She suggests her abilities can be of value, and Bill reluctantly agrees.

Sam goes to see Luna to let her know Tommy is out of his life. He admits Tommy killed his parents, though they may have deserved it. He can forgive him for that, but not for what he did to Luna. She invites him in for dinner. However, Marcus looks in on Luna (his ex) and sees them all having dinner. Luna tells him not to start anything, and goes to tuck in her daughter. Marcus leaves with a few thinly veiled threats to Sam. 

Jessica comes to see Jason and tells him she broke up with Hoyt. He doesn't want her there and takes back his invitation, so she's thrown out of his house, as well. He refuses to betray his friendship with Hoyt.

Bill shows up at the cemetery and meets Antonia. She knows he's not alone, so he admits that he's brought help, summoning out Nan, Jessica, Pam, Sookie and Eric from the woods. Antonia does the same, and has been concealing her coven, including Tara—much to Sookie's surprise.

Bill vows not to harm them again. In return he asks they remove the spells from Eric and Pam. Antonia asks if she has his word, but Sookie reads her mind and hears her casting, alerting Bill, so he summons more vampires (including his sheriffs) and human security, and they train their guns on her. Antonia laughs and summons fog, but Eric super-speeds and rips the heart out of one of the coven. Mayhem ensues, with an all out vampire/witch fight.

Alcide shows up at Sookie's, and hears gunfire in the woods, so rushes to the cemetery, but another wolf (Debbie) follows.

Tara kills a vampire, but Pam takes her gun. Bill forbids Pam from killing Tara, ever, or will personally execute her. He helps Tara up and leaves, leaving her to ponder why he saved her.

Sookie is attacked by one of the coven, and is able to summon her fairy light, but she's shot by a stray bullet. Bill and Eric both try to get to her, but Bill is silvered. Eric confronts Antonia who casts on him again, stopping him in his tracks and putting him under her spell.

Sookie lies down and begins to drift away as Alcide arrives and picks her up. Debbie shifts back to human form and watches them leave.

The Verdict:
After a couple of very nice character episodes, Spellbound picks up the action side of things. With a few episodes remaining, this first salvo in the vampire/witch war has drawn some blood, so it's any guess where it could go next. It was great to see everyone working together—Jessica, Bill, Eric, Pam and Sookie, and actually contributing (yay, mind reading powers). Even Jason can be counted among Bill's posse now.

There were so many great bits—Eric's bloodthirsty organ tearing, Bill's rescue of Tara, and everyone's "I've got allies" reveal—the last fifteen minutes were riveting. That made up for a rather boring Eric/Sookie sequence. In hindsight, it's odd that Sookie never indulged in Bill's blood (or if she had, I've forgotten). As well, I'm wondering if Nan was noting Sookie's involvement at all, and will now question if Bill was telling her the truth about Sookie being nothing special.

Jessica really got the business this week, but I can't see Jason being able to control his urges for too much longer if she's hanging around. As much as it sucked for Hoyt, their storyline was really fizzling. Though that dream sequence (damn you, Alan Ball), was good for a momentary adrenaline rush.

Tommy's portrayal of Maxine provided some comic relief, but this story still seems to be spinning its wheels. Unless Maxine's natural gas rights are just a red herring and Tommy's working towards a major shape shift that will affect the main storylines. Perhaps we'll get a major character's death that will really be Tommy.

I'm not sure what to think of Sookie's latest brush with death (coming on the heels of last season's blood draining). But Alcide's rescue was expected, and Debbie's likely fall off the wagon. Hopefully next week does not turn into another visit to Star Trek fairy land.

Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Non Spoiler Review:
Following Tim Burton's less than successful reimagining of Planet of the Apes,  I had my doubts when news came out for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, charting the ascent of the simians in a prequel. But it turned out to be the best surprise of the summer (or the year, for that matter).

Like the original Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Rise deals with how ape intelligence emerged and toppled humans as dominant species. James Franco is brilliant scientist Will Rodman, working on a virus to repair damage caused by Alzheimer's for Gen-sys, a pharmaceutical company. They've been testing the drug on apes, who begin to display a side benefit—on their healthy brains, it increases intelligence ALOT. Will's father suffers from dementia, prompting him to take some unorthodox risks with the drug. When the ape subjects are exterminated, it's discovered one primate was pregnant, and Will takes him home to raise. The movie charts the infant Caesar's growth and development in a human home, and the inevitable coming of age when he realizes he's not like everyone else.

Rise is directed by Rupert Wyatt, and presents a successful reimagining of the origin story, that requires very little suspension of disbelief (compared to the original Conquest). The genetic enhancement element was enough of a modern day spin to create a believable mythology, and also picked up on threads seen in films such as Splice and I Am Legend. My only quibble is that some of the unenhanced apes maybe exhibited a little too much intelligence to start.

The human characters received little development, but I don't necessarily find that to be a flaw in the story, given this is all about the apes. Franco's Will is the most well-rounded of the bunch, though that isn't saying too much. But he does convey a devotion for Caesar's best interests. Jon Lithgow has a small but pivotal role as Franco's suffering father, Charles. But Franco's girlfriend, and his pharmaceutical boss come off as just a convenient sidekick and two-dimensional bad guy, respectively. The other villains of the piece are none other than Stryker (X2) and Draco Malfoy himself, who play things without even a touch of empathy, and finally Will's airline pilot neighbour is so over the top, it's a bit ridiculous. A little more humanity among the human adversaries would have helped to make the issue less black and white.

But this was Caesar's story, and any future movies in a post-human world can provide an alternatively fleshed out human character as the focus among the ape majority. Caesar and his other CGI creations certainly steal the show. The actions of the humans are just not as compelling as watching the first glimmer of intelligence manifest among the simians. Andy Serkis conveys a great deal of emotion through the motion-capture, making for some eerie moments accomplished with simple eye movements and subtle expressions. There are several other primate CGI characters that have their own personalities, and no doubt these are set up for future sequels. 

There are plenty of call outs to the original Ape films that provide some smirks to those in the know. But Rise not only pays homage to the past, it builds its own successful storyline, and answers important questions about how a small band of intelligent apes could possibly rise to prominence over the humans.

A new Apes franchise opens up exciting possibilities for sequels that aren't just money-grabbers, but a modern template for a new Planet of the Apes continuity, starting from the beginning rather than working in reverse like the originals. I would love to see the next film start several years ahead with a new generation of apes dealing with the human situation established at the end of the movie, accessing technology, developing their new culture and society. Hopefully the creators treat the franchise with some care (like Harry Potter) and not run it off the rails (like Terminator).

So this was an unexpected gem of a summer movie, and a good contender for one of the best science fiction entries for 2011. It provided an ominous but satisfying conclusion with the anticipation of further instalments. I highly recommend it for fans of the original, as well as newbies who want a smart and well-constructed popcorn flick.

Review: The Walking Dead 88

Non Spoiler Review:

Issue 88 deals with the ramifications following Carl's emergence from his coma, as well as further domestic difficulties brewing around the community. Rick decides to organize a scouting party to get to know their neighbourhood and see if they can find any supplies of use, given food stores are running low.

This was the first issue in awhile that felt mediocre. That could mean this calm stretch following No Way Out has probably overstayed its welcome. A lot of the potential troubles seemed to be more of what we've already seen over the years. But on the positive side, Carl's situation managed to avoid some cliche pitfalls.

Spoilers Now!

Carl isn't a total amnesiac. He has a notion of a lot that has happened, though Rick has to tell him his mother is dead, which doesn't illicit that much of a reaction from his son. It's questionable whether Carl remembers the details of the twins' death, as well, but he gets some rest, leaving Rick to mull over his son's condition.

Spencer comes to talk to Andrea, wanting to see where they are at, but Andrea says in no uncertain terms that their brief flirtation is over. He can't understand why she's not giving him a chance to redeem himself, but she tells him to get lost.

Rather than wait, he decides he wants to go on a scouting mission to gather food as soon as possible, and leaves Glen to look after things (as per Maggie's request). His goal is to get to know the neighbourhood, and he and a large group rummage through the nearby blocks, most of which have been picked clean already. However, he comes across an office and goes inside, and is later found crying there by Andrea.

Back at the wall, troublemaker Nicholas is up to more shenanigans, gathering a small group to attempt to convince them of the necessity of ceasing control from Rick and his people before they become too entrenched.

The Verdict:

It was a pleasant surprise that Carl didn't emerge with full blown amnesia, and his condition seems realistic enough given his head trauma (though probably too optimistic given the size of the wound). At least we're not going to get bogged down in Rick debating whether to tell his son about his mother's death, as it was handled and gotten out of the way right off the bat.

Spurned Spencer seems to be set up as a plot point to aid in Nicholas' upcoming rebellion. But Nicholas' discord just doesn't ring as true for me. Had his character been around for longer than a couple of issues (or if he has been, I can't recall where he's appeared) it wouldn't come off as such an abrupt storyline introduction.

So a rather ho-hum month, but now that Rick and company are outside the gates I'm sure they'll find something interesting to liven things up again.