Close To The End: The Racialicious Roundtable For True Blood 5.7

July 27th, 2012 by Latoya Peterson

Alea: For better or worse, it plays nicely into the parallels between vampires–all supes, really–and the LGBT communities. It seems like Sookie’s going to try to “cure” her faerieness. I’m sure we can all guess how well that’s going to work out [see But I’m A Cheerleader for spoilers].

Pack Problems

Joe: JD, you crazy son of a bitch, giving drugs to a little girl. Some characters are so easy to hate. Add him to the list!

Latoya: I guess that’s what it took to get grandma on Sam/Alcide’s side.

Alea: Even though I knew it wasn’t going to happen, I kinda wanted to see Emma on V. She’s so damn squeaky clean.

Latoya: That’s so wrong. Considering what happens to Bon Tempers post puberty, I say let her enjoy her puphood.

And then…Joe: Sargent Felicity: Every ounce of pity the universe felt for you flew right away when you said, “Suicide is for muslims.” I don’t even know where to go with that line.

Latoya: At that line, boyfriend goes “I think Racialicious is going to have stop covering this show if they keep this shit up.” Did it get racist near the end of Heroes too? Or is this just a slow, slow, jump of the shark?

Alea: Long, sloooooooow jump of the shark. I was over this effing episode from the appearance of the multiculti hate group at the beginning. Hell, I might just be over this whole damn season.

Tami: I think True Blood is dripping with a kind of white, liberal privilege–the kind that says a line like “Suicide is for Muslims” is okay because that’s the sort of thing poor, uneducated, Southern folk say and viewers will know that we (i.e. the show) don’t mean it really, because obviously we are smart, liberal, Hollywood writers. It’s related to the thinking that props up Sarah Silverman, et. al.

OMG GOD–Wait, It’s Too Late to Get ExcitedLatoya: Of course, they whip out Godric at the end of the episode. Wait, is Godric supposed to be Jesus? Was there someone else in opposition to Lilith? Can someone more familiar with the Bible diagram where this plot is going?

Alea: Jeez. Way to kill Eric’s buzz, Godric. Do we have to watch him try to save Nora for the rest of the season now? The character isn’t even that compelling. Also, Angel Godric popping down for a visit from on high? Hallucination Godric giving voice to Eric’s nagging conscience? Do the writers even know? Does it even really matter? Oh, look, a shark.

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  • P. Cherry

    I knew Lillith was going to be a woman of color!

  • mickinickharp

    Thanks for continuing to do these. I adore the True Blood roundtables. I’ve watched TB since Season One, y’all are a hoot, and I think your analyses are generally spot on. I’m continually having a hard time watching the way “regular” Southerners are portrayed on this show. As a white, Southern woman who was raised working-class, it’s infuriating to listen to some of the garbage the writers put in Arlene’s mouth because she is clearly supposed to represent everything that is white and Southern, sans supernatural. And the SGT’s comment about Muslims was too disgusting to quote in its entirety. It reeks of classism because so many “special” white characters have had paternalistic, institutionalized or outright overtly-racist moments on this show. Not all poor, regular white folk are bigots, but no one’s told Alan Ball despite the fact that this show is filmed on location in rural Louisiana. Makes me wonder if he or his staff ever actually visit down there or leave their trailers if they do>>rant finished! :) AND yes, Lord–the Sanguanista story line is zzzzzzzz. The best thing about that arc was the jaunt through Bourbon Street, and Russell looking like the lost member of the Velvet Underground.

  • Mickey

    I thought so, too, but I’ve got a funny feeling that she is going to be coded as white.

  • EH

    If Season 5 was a person it would be having non-stop seizures. it’s just all over the place. At this point none of the story lines interest me anymore. The most exciting thing for me was Tara turning but her relationship with Pam turned me off quick. Although hopefully it improves somewhat but I don’t keep my hopes up when it comes to the writing for this show. I also can’t stand how quickly plot lines pull a 180. The sanguinista storyline, which I find somewhat boring, to me seems somewhat ridiculous. So the only thing holding the authority in line and keeping them mainstreaming was the Guardian? He was dead for 7 seconds before the other vampires switched loyalty. It would also be nice to see more sanguinista’s seeing how they’re supposedly such a threat. And one minute Hoyt is getting drained in alleys and toilet stalls and a few hours later he feels “love and acceptance” with a bunch of supe hating murderers whose line of thinking makes no sense whatsoever (I loled at the token Black guy too)? I also don’t understand why they even brought back Steve Newlin although I’m hoping he has more of a role either this season or the next if he survives. 7 episodes in and I think he’s only had like 4 or 5 appearances. Terry storyline? Snore. Fae storyline? Snore. Sam storyline? While I wasn’t that into it at the start, at this point it’s one of the more interesting compared to the others. Even Lafayette’s storyline feels like a season 4 leftover.

    I do agree that these actors have great character. It would be nice to see them interact more like they did in the first season but everyone is over the map and dealing with their own thing you don’t get to see it much. Outside of Bill and Eric’s new bromance anyway.

  • keeks

    I’m more worried about if she’ll be portrayed as “savage” and “primitive.” She hasn’t spoken a word since she first appeared.

  • P. Cherry

    Yeah I though the Authority, as a whole, would be more in charge than that. I was somewhat off-putting when they stood around and watched Roman be killed.

  • Lyonside

    A la’ The First Slayer? Yeah… me too.

    Thanks, Racialicious, for making it bearable – you and TWOP (and really, not even TWOP as much anymore) are the only reason I’m still watching this season.

  • Anonymous

    Strains of the “first slayer” on Buffy?

  • Anonymous

    I’m a black Southerner and very liberal but I get very annoyed how “liberal” whites in other parts of the country portray white Southerners as being racist and backwards.
    A lot of privileged, liberal white people are quite racist but don’t recognize themselves as such b/c they vote for Democrats, sleep with POC, and live don’t have accents.
    It’s a big problem in a lot of ways, mainly b/c they let themselves off the hook for a myriad of transgressions b/c they think racism means cross burning and hoods.

  • Anonymous

    Christopher Meloni is gone. My man is goooooooooooooonnnne! ::whips out guitar, sings the blues::

    I didn’t think Lillith was going to be a woman of color, considering how they cast Salome and how they’re characterizing Tara post-turning. I’m with Mickey and keeks on being concerned about how the creative team is going to play Lillith. I’m hoping for some Queen of the Damned Aaliyah levels of fabulous, but Alan Ball’s DNA is all over this show, and we know how he plays PoCs.

  • Anonymous

    thank you guys for keeping this up. I’ve been waiting for the roundtable’s perspective on the Islamaphobia mess since last week. Couldn’t agree more with privileged white liberal concept. I agree with Lyonside-you guys are the only thing making this season bearable.

  • http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/ RachelW

    “That’s a marked increase from the books of about 30%.” – Pedantic Book-Based Nitpicking: in the books, Sookie has a single grandparent who is 1/2 fairy, so by the usual math her father was 1/4 fairy and she is 1/8 – quite a bit less than 30%. (crawls back in nerd-hole…)