“If You Throw a Punch, You’re One of Us”: The True Blood Round Table for Episode 2

Joe: Way to make me come out in round table already, Andrea. Joking. But as a gay man of color, it seems to me Lafayette seems to portray how a lot of gays would act in the face of such latent and sometimes not so latent bigotry. Remember the burger incident from season 1? I think I applauded. I don’t think I’d be able to come up with a great response so quickly, but at the very least I would wish I had said it. Jesus Velasquez (portrayed by Kevin Alejandro) is long rumored to be a love interest for Laffy, and it appears his sassy is a little bit more subdued. It will be interesting to see how they treat his character in that regard.

Andrea: I apologize for that, Joe.

Joe: No harm, no foul

Sam’s family is an interesting exploration of class dynamics that is one of the underlying themes in the series. While some things are played for jokes (Miken’s chicken and chiltlins?) What are your thoughts on what his fam is supposed to represent?

Joe: I do appreciate that his mother seems to have the most sense (however minuscule) in Sam’s new family. His father seems a whole big pile o’ mess. And not to bring up the most horrifying moment so far in True Blood (and maybe television) history, but I want so badly for Sam to twist his little brother’s head around in much the same way that Bill did Lorena’s. Real talk: Can someone, anyone, give little Tommy Pickens the comeuppance he so richly deserves? Seemingly every sentence out of that boy’s mouth is in defiance to his brother. We get it, Tommy, you don’t like him. I’d love to be shown why. Is he jealous of Sam’s independence? Perhaps. I think on another level he’s scared that Sam is taking away some of the attention. It’s kind of like baby sibling syndrome, in a way.

Tami: I’m not sure that I see the Mickens as that different from the rest of Bon Temps in terms of class. True Blood does take place in a generally working class/poor town–from the looks of it–which is interesting, because you don’t often see main characters on TV living in trailers and dilapidated old country houses. The difference between Sam and his bio family is that they appear to be grifters.

In fact, now that I think about it, it is actually interesting that True Blood shows some complexity in the way they portray the working class/poor. I mean, many a show has used folks like the Mickens as stand ins for (trashy) poor, backwoods folk. But I imagine most of the human characters on this show are working poor (You don’t get rich as a part-time short order cook and seasonal road crew guy with no health insurance and a mother in an institution) and they are given portrayals generally reserved for the middle and upper classes.

Also re: the Mickens–I’m gonna need Pa Mickens to purchase some clean undies, or, better yet, wear some trousers. Out of all the shit that happens every week on True Blood, it is the sight of Joe Lee in his dingy draws that makes me turn away in disgust.

Andrea: Oh snap, Tami! Truuuuuuuuuuuuuue! I about died with Sam when he walked through the door and had to behold that scene. Racialicizens may want to argue with me that Joe Mickens was in the privacy of his home and Sam barged in and he’s got his constitutional rights to lounge in his dirty draws and thangs, but I’m going to say that the man, out of social courtesy, could have gotten his behind up and put on some pants. We know that, considering the subsequent scene of the fam visiting Sam at Merlotte’s, the man owns a pair.

Joe: I just wanted Sam and Tommy to shapeshift and get into a dog-fight and have Sam whup Tommy’s whiny, whippersnapper ass but good just to shut him up.

Tami: Andrea, don’t forget the gratuitous penis tug, Joe Lee does as he rouses himself from the couch to greet Sam. I was too through after that.

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