S07.E10: Thank You

[phoenix780]

I agree that the person who Sookie wound up with was irrelevant.  I also think it might have been more powerful and interesting to end it without knowing for sure whether she had anyone, because her weakness as a character, imho, was her strange dependency on these men.  It might have been nice if they followed through on Sookie's awesomeness in leading the charge to rescue Arlene and others and had her simply wind up accepting herself as a fairy queen.  

 

I mean, if they didn't care enough to actually write the story of her falling in love, which they totally could have by shifting around this boring season's stories a bit, there's no need to tack it on at the end.  

 

Also, they added Jason's love interest with 5 minutes to go.  And Hoyt came back for Jessica all issues resolved.  And Lafayette got James, who was barely a character.  So I don't fully buy the idea that they wanted to avoid the rush and that's why they found a stunt guy.  I mean, maybe adding one more would have been problematic, but the last second save is a key part of their storytelling (see also: the Yakuza's demise).  

[Pogojoco]

I also enjoyed the last shot of Eric, which mirrored (minus the long hair) the first shot of him ever- him on his throne, above it all. 

[Insomnia]

For me, it was that Bill's request seemed condescending and paternalistic.  Telling Sookie that he thought it was a good idea that she get rid of her fae abilities to protect herself?  OK.  But asking her to use them on him to 1) make his death her responsibility and 2) confirm she does what he thinks best immediately and at the exact moment he might be gone was a bit much.

 

It is Sookie's power and decision.  And Bill was acting like she was his child he had to make sure was secured before he left.  I'm glad she declined to let him make that call for her, if nothing else.

 

Oh yeah, Bill's a dick. I'm not arguing that.  I'm just saying it didn't have to be a supe Sookie ended up with because she might have listened-in away all her powers and met a real boy!

 

And no, Producer Guy: When you make the show all about Sookie, and her magical fairy vagina that everyone loves and wants to get into - yes, it actually does matter who she ends up with. If the show had been a true ensemble then maybe it might not have mattered much, but given how you got to the ending for Sookie, you might as well have just filmed someone standing there flipping off the camera. You would have gotten the point across a whole lot better, and saved the fans a lot of time.

[Gudzilla]

A thought from the shallow end of things:

 

I want to thank Anna Paquin, for playing the lead character in a popular show and still gettin' nekkid every season.

 

 

I still think the Dexter finale is the worst, it's the only one mentioned that i've never seen anyone defend.

[DigitalCount]

Yeah, that happened.

 

Well, I can say I wasn't particularly disappointed, mainly because I watched about half of it before reading the forums to get through the second half. I can't imagine watching this fully the whole way through.

 

Eric and Pam: better than this, they didn't have to go there. At the same time, Sarah Newlin is probably the worst character on this show in every possible way and made her own bed, and she got off super easy. All she has to do is charm some older vampire into setting her free, which shouldn't be difficult. Bonus points to Eric, though, for the best scene in a long time: the Roxbury's head bob in the car with the dead bodies. Easily the best scene of the episode, even if it hadn't been so boring. And hey, they suddenly remembered that they have superpowers.

 

Sookie: whatever.

 

Lafayette: ...

 

Bill: seriously?

 

Jason: always entertaining, and still has a truckload of heart. Ryan Kwanten needs a leading role immediately.

 

Jessica and Hoyt: see Sookie

 

Everyone else: see Sookie

[LisaBLingLing]

They did. His name was Alcide Herveaux*. See what good that love interest did.

 

*I know that Alcide was not exactly human, but he was much more human than Bill was. He could stay in the sun, he ate human food and he could have children with her.

Oops.  Forgot about Alcide!  Thanks for the reminder.  

[Amethyst]

It was a huge cop out to the whole Bill/Sookie true love thing that they've played up for all 7 seasons (love it or hate it, it's always been a main part of the show) And then they talk about miracles and all that bullshit just for him to die? ugh... it's making me angry all over again.

 

IA that it felt like a copout.  Even though the possibility of Bill turning human was lame, everything in the finale was clearly leading up to that.  Bill turning warm, Sookie hearing his thoughts, etc.  Him dying after all that makes no sense.  It's like the writers changed their minds at the very last minute.

 

And Bill and Sookie have discussed kids maybe twice in the series.  If anything, I've heard Bill go on more about his children with his Caroline than with Sookie.  It's never been a focal point with her because they barely fleshed her out beyond who she was dating.  Sookie had no interest in school, work, a family...yet they were hammering "Sookie must have a baby!" all throughout the finale, as if not being a mother was keeping her from living her life.  

[roctavia]

IA that it felt like a copout.  Even though the possibility of Bill turning human was lame, everything in the finale was clearly leading up to that.  Bill turning warm, Sookie hearing his thoughts, etc.  Him dying after all that makes no sense.  It's like the writers changed their minds at the very last minute.

 

And Bill and Sookie have discussed kids maybe twice in the series.  If anything, I've heard Bill go on more about his children with his Caroline than with Sookie.  It's never been a focal point with her because they barely fleshed her out beyond who she was dating.  Sookie had no interest in school, work, a family...yet they were hammering "Sookie must have a baby!" all throughout the finale, as if not being a mother was keeping her from living her life.  

 

 

It made more sense back in S3 when they broke up in the hospital- that he wanted her to have a life in the sunlight, with children... that she could grow old with someone.... this is like a rehash of that, but more final, since there's no coming back from the true death...

 

But that  sort of thing makes me then wonder what the point of the seasons after that really was- nobody has changed- or they did change, but now have almost reverted back to who they were in the beginning of the series... Except now, Sookie must have found that beard dude doesn't have as many nasty thoughts as the men she used to meet before Bill and Eric.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Jjrmt

[aussieinsydney]

I havent read the rest of the replies, so in case somebody hasn't mentioned it, I think while the writers titled the episode "Thank You" I think what they really wanted to title it was "Fuck You" to the fans. That was hands down, worse than the Dexter finale.

[kieyra]

I havent read the rest of the replies, so in case somebody hasn't mentioned it, I think while the writers titled the episode "Thank You" I think what they really wanted to title it was "Fuck You" to the fans. That was hands down, worse than the Dexter finale.

Oh shit. Two Bianca Del Rios in one thread equals reads for everyone.

[RachelKM]

Far be it from me to defend this crap; but as to Sookie and hearing thoughts of mortals, did Bill help her learn some control so she didn't have to here everything all the time? That could have been the books, but I thought she had gotten to the point that she only heard thoughts she didn't want to hear when she was overwhelmed or caught off guard or if the person was "shouted" their thoughts. If I'm correct about that, it would make dating a nonvamp less problematic at least.

[ShadowHunter]

I also wanted to offer congratulations to Eric because he slept with Sookie and survived the same cannot be said for Bill. Alcide, and Warlow. 

[jbrecken]

I'll just assume that the guy Sookie settled for since she couldn't be with Bill was Ted Mosby.

[darkestboy]

I actually really enjoyed that. It wasn't perfect but it was a lot better than expected. I do think that if Sookie had to end up with someone, it probably should've been Alcide instead of a complete stranger but it's nice that she got her normal life in the end.

Bill's death was well done. I was a little sad to see him go but in the end, I think the writers made the right decision to pernamently end things with both him and Sookie.

Loved Eric slaughtering the Yakuza, him and Pam becoming rich with the New Blood. As for Sarah - being haunted by Steve and locked in Fangtasia is probably a kinder fate than she deserves. Not feeling sorry for her.

Jessica and Hoyt's wedding was rushed but still nice, even if Andy's 'love is love' message during the cerenomy.

Everything else was neat though - Sookie/mystery man, Jason/Bridget, Jessica/Hoyt, Lafayette/James, Andy/Holly, Arlene/Keith, Sam/Nicole, Adilyn/Wade etc. Only Willa seemed to be still single.

Nice flashback with Sookie and Tara as kids (shame we didn't get Rutina Wesley one last time) and Gran of course as well.

Beautiful scene in the church with Sookie and Rev Daniels as well.

This show had it's flaws and recent seasons were not as great as it's early days but this is probably the only show that comes close to having the same type of impact that Buffy did a few years ago. It's right for it to go, but I will miss it a little, 9/10

[Bouffe]

I thought it was a good, not great, finale. We did get closure for all the characters, which was nice. And I like that everyone seems to get along and live together harmoniously.

 

I was SO happy that Pam and Eric FINALLY reverted to their badass selves. Eric dancing in the car, covered in blood, was just too awesome for words.

 

I am one of the few who liked Bill as a character. I didn't really want him to die. When Sookie started being able to read his thoughts, I was really hoping he was going to turn human again and live a human life with Sookie. But I was still ok with him dying, and I thought it was a nice twist that Sookie decided to keep her faerie light and use a stake instead.

 

I didn't mind the faith that Sarah got. It's right in line with Pam's and Eric's characters to do something like that.

 

Hoyt's and Jessica's wedding was cute but it left me a tad cold. I mean, Hoyt only came back 2 episodes ago? I understand they wanted to give Bill something he never had with his human daughter, and that was touching, but it was one of the cheesiest things that True Blood has ever done. And they LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE cheese (so do I but that was too much).

 

I liked that we didn't get to see Sookie's husband/boyfriend/partner. I thought it was a good idea. I wish Jason had ended up with an unknown, too. With babies and all, but with someone other than Bridget.

 

All in all, I enjoyed it and will miss True Blood!

[Shriekingeel]

I'm kind of stunned that they presented the graphic chaining, torture and blood-rape of a woman to the point where she goes insane as something we're supposed to cheer.

What the hell is wrong with people who could produce that, or accept that as "entertainment"?

Next on HBO, Ariel's Angels, the wacky hijinks of a hardworking Cleveland entrepreneur and his female associates in the basement.

[A Beaverhausen]

I think that horrible finale was the perfect capstone to a horrible season.  Fuck You indeed.

[Chicken Wing]

Objectively, the life Eric and Pam have condemned Sarah Newlin to is truly terrible and gross. But Sarah is such a terrible person, so abhorrently awful that it's almost pathetic, that it's really, really hard for me to feel sorry for her. If anything, she got off easy. She deserves much worse. And, as what she did get was indeed terrible and gross, that's saying something.

 

I do wonder, though, how Eric and Pam keep the secret of Sarah being the ultimate cure when they let other vamps in on it for a fee? Presumably there's a nondisclosure clause in there or something, but really, someone will blab anyway. Oh well. Show's over, doesn't matter anymore anyway.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Chicken Wing

[revbfc]

I'm kind of stunned that they presented the graphic chaining, torture and blood-rape of a woman to the point where she goes insane as something we're supposed to cheer.

What the hell is wrong with people who could produce that, or accept that as "entertainment"?

Next on HBO, Ariel's Angels, the wacky hijinks of a hardworking Cleveland entrepreneur and his female associates in the basement.

Yeah, I found it hard to cheer for someone being raped for the rest her life. And when I say "found it hard," I actually meant "impossible."

[revbfc]

Oh well. Show's over, doesn't matter anymore anyway.

Yup.

What makes me mad about this show is how lazy the whole endeavor has been for the last few seasons. I expect this kind of thing from the CW or Showtime, but Not HBO.

[penelope79]

According to producer Brian Buckner:

We felt like it was irrelevant, honestly, who Sookie wound up with. What we wanted to know was that she was happy and living the life that she wanted to lead, and to introduce some other stranger in the last five minutes of the finale wouldn’t have made a lot of sense. So we made a choice it’s everyman, it doesn’t matter. So we didn’t have a version where we revealed him. I mean, we basically cast the man with the best arms from our stunt crew.

Amethyst - And Bill and Sookie have discussed kids maybe twice in the series. If anything, I've heard Bill go on more about his children with his Caroline than with Sookie. It's never been a focal point with her because they barely fleshed her out beyond who she was dating. Sookie had no interest in school, work, a family...yet they were hammering "Sookie must have a baby!" all throughout the finale, as if not being a mother was keeping her from living her life.

ITA Amethyst.

Sorry Mr. Buckner but I think it WAS relevant. And it was only yours and Alan Ball's fault.

Considering how much Sookie's love life has been prominent throughout the whole series (starting from the triangle Sookie-Bill-Eric and the fact that basically every straight man in Bon Temps had the the hots for her), considering how much Sookie's character itself has been defined but her love/sex decisions, IMHO this is an hypocritical statement to give, which completely contradict what we've seen about Sookie until the end.

Had Sookie been able to think about anything else BESIDES who was the guy to sleep with, then I would've agreed with the above statement. But this is not the case.

and to introduce some other stranger in the last five minutes of the finale wouldn’t have made a lot of sense

You might find it hard to believe it Mr. Buckner, but this would not have been the only thing in the finale to make 0 sense.

Edited August 27, 2014 by penelope79

[henripootel]

Yeah, I found it hard to cheer for someone being raped for the rest her life. And when I say "found it hard," I actually meant "impossible."

A spectacular miscalculation by team of shite writers.  One of many in the finale.

According to producer Brian Buckner:

    We felt like it was irrelevant, honestly, who Sookie wound up with.

 

Running this through Google Translate (from Douche): "We can't be bothered with details nor to think this through, and we've nothing but contempt for anyone who thinks the show would have been better if we had'.

Fuck You indeed.

Boy howdy.

Edited August 26, 2014 by henripootel

[Demig]

I finally saw the ending last night, and I was scared shitless when I saw Sam and his daughter at the end! I thought his wife was a gonner (prolly died in childbirth) and Suckie somehow got her claws in him and she was carrying his child.  I was so devasted and felt horrified for Sam and his future in that moment, then I saw his wife!! And relief hit me.  Some other sucker was now stuck with her!!

[Yogi Nomad]

I thought for a moment that Sookie would use her magical fairy light on herself and die curing Bill and all infected vampires with her specialness. That or turning Bill human. Nope Bill just die being an asshole and I also thought when Sookie covering in blood walking out the cemetery, she would go into the fairy dimension and never return. nope nope. Sookie lives y'all.

The finale was so underwhelmed, I'm so glad it's over.

[Whimsy]

I'm kind of stunned that they presented the graphic chaining, torture and blood-rape of a woman to the point where she goes insane as something we're supposed to cheer.

 

I also didn't like what happened to Sarah BUT we saw that she had already gone crazy and had hallucinations so that was not caused by the chaining, torture and blood-rape. 

[henripootel]

I also didn't like what happened to Sarah BUT we saw that she had already gone crazy and had hallucinations so that was not caused by the chaining, torture and blood-rape.

If she really has gone crazy then she probably doesn't have the cognitive hardware left to consider that her own bad acts led her to this unending hell.  All she knows of existence is horror and madness.  I'm still agog at the writers thinking that we might agree that Sarah 'had this coming', to say nothing of finding this 'entertaining'.  Tip for any script writers out there: please don't try to make me cheer for rapists or child molesters, just not gonna happen.

 

Beyond being reprehensible, how's the whole scam with Sarah supposed to work anyway?  For 100 grand, you get to violate a criminal and get cured of HEP-V forever, right?  Does anybody think they'll be able to keep this a secret for more than 10 seconds?  So they keep her in a cellar with no guards and is super-easy to escape from?  

 

And why are the now super-rich Eric and Pam still hanging out at Fangtasia?  We found out earlier that they were forced to be there and never particularly liked the place, yet they go back voluntarily?  It'd be like finding out that Bill Gates spends his off hours bagging groceries at the first place he worked, just for old time's sake.  

 

Gah, this fucking show, it flabbers my gast.  Thank god it's over so I too can start making better decisions about how to spend my time.

Edited August 26, 2014 by henripootel

[CletusMusashi]

My feelings are pretty much the same as others.

Eric and Pam are able to easily demolish the Yakuza with super-speed, but they didn't before, because they... forgot?

Bill should have died weeks ago. They could still have had Sookie dream about him a few times in order to come to terms with it, but this was way more than one long-ass scene too many about him acting all... Billy. 

Andy and Holly are not millionaires. Making them pay taxes on the mansion while Hoyt lives off of his inheritance and whatever money he sells his mom's house for (and will Jessica be getting a job at all?) is just cruel. And how does Bill have so much trouble with financial planning anyway? I give up. I don't even understand why he was never arrested for murder.

I never really cared about Sookie's fairy light. But if she does, then that means Bill was wrong about her needing a normal life. I doubt that her husband or whatever is a human, since new characters almost never are. The were-panthers never got any closure. Maybe Sookie hooked up one of them.

And Bridget gets the honor of squeezing out a new baby Stackhouse every two weeks or so from the look of it. Yeah, that's a happy ending. Poor girl doesn't look like she could give birth to a parakeet. Hey, maybe she's a were-panther too, and she just never told Hoyt. That would explain having litters.

I just wish watching this boring-ass episode had been half as much fun as complaining about it a few days later.

[Avaleigh]

And no, Producer Guy: When you make the show all about Sookie, and her magical fairy vagina that everyone loves and wants to get into - yes, it actually does matter who she ends up with. If the show had been a true ensemble then maybe it might not have mattered much, but given how you got to the ending for Sookie, you might as well have just filmed someone standing there flipping off the camera. You would have gotten the point across a whole lot better, and saved the fans a lot of time.

 

 

Thank you for this. I guess I'm having some cognitive dissonance right now because while Sookie's love life was the least interesting thing to me about the show I think it's total bullshit when a producer actually says that the love life that they've focused on every damn season is now conveniently irrelevant when it comes to the finale. Seriously, what in the ever loving fuck when it comes to the lame ass justifications showrunners try to get the audience to buy once they realize how many people hate what they've done. It reminds me of all the stupid shit that was said after the end of Dexter and The Sopranos. With Dexter the showrunners acted shocked that people didn't understand Dexter giving up his son; with The Sopranos David Chase got all pissed off that people actually wanted to know for sure whether the lead character died or not (for the record I think he did die but the refusal to confirm makes it a never ending debate for certain people; with True Blood I feel like they're basically saying that viewers were wrong to think that Sookie's love life was a huge and relevant part of the show. I wish they hadn't put so much emphasis on it, but since they did, and they know they fucking did, what the hell?

 

It was so stupid of them to kill off Alcide when he could have been the perfect stand in guy for her to have the happy ending that they so obviously wanted her to have. Instead it's some nameless guy and we'll never know how she was able to come to terms with all of her relationship issues and bullshit.

 

Ugh, I concede that even Bill living and us getting the horribly cheesy ending of him  turning human and he and Sookie having their own family would have been better than this. Not much better mind you, I still would have been complaining, I admit, but I don't think I would have been frustrated.

 

I wonder what made them ultimately think it would be better to kill Bill than to have he and Sookie end up together? Why kill Alcide if they wanted Sookie to end up with a human? I don't get any of these choices. 

[roctavia]

More interviews from BB, which have not helped, IMO... talked about how he wanted to satisfy all of the different writers or something like that, in not ending the Bill/Eric/Sookie triangle by putting Sookie with one of those guys...   Which, sorry, that's just stupid, and left us with a stupid ending. I get that the books got a lot of backlash, and I get that Eric is a fan favorite (and really, I like Eric a lot too... but him settling into life in Bon Temps with Sookie? Just doesn't work for me, he needs to be off being badass somewhere.) but all of the seasons came back to Bill/Sookie in some way, every single one, even when Bill was Billith or going crazy, someone mentioned how much they had meant to each other or how special their love was etc. They made it look like part of this story was supposed to be about 'true love' and how you overcome obstacles... Sookie never really moved on to anybody else like she did in the books, her feelings for Bill always lingered.

 

Bucky even said in an interview before the show started "At the end of the day, this is a love story"

 

But now he's saying (parrotphrasing) "It's been clear through all 7 seasons that Bill and Sookie weren't going to be some sort of forever true love"  

 

Those two comments don't make sense to me... Especially in a show about miracles and magic and all kinds of supernatural creatures.

 

Sookie did still love Bill at the end of the day, and Bill still loved her... but they contrived some dumb reasons why they couldn't be together, since this has to be all tragic. It wouldn't have made it less tragic, but I think it would have made it better if they had a better reason for Bill's death... they tried to make it a good reason, but using actual logic, it's a bonehead "Sookie can't have babies with Bill" even though there is a lot more to happiness than just having babies...

[Chicken Wing]

Sookie's future was satisfying in the sense that she did move on with her life and have all the things that Bill wanted her to have ... as of this episode. Indeed, Sookie would not have had a life of babies and sunlight if she had committed herself to Bill, but since when did she want that anyway? It felt a lot like Bill was projecting his own ideas about What Makes A Life Worth Living onto her. Yes, marrying Caroline and having Thomas and Sarah were arguably the greatest achievements in his human life. Children and family are wonderful. Who's to say that Sookie had that same opinion, and since when did she ever say it was? Basically, I would have appreciated Bill's sacrifice in order for Sookie to have these things, and Sookie's fulfillment of this, if it had ever been established as something that mattered to her.

[terrymct]

The good - FINALLY Eric acts like the badass he is.  Eric killing all the guys and then jamming out in the car was awesome.

 

The bad - Weak, Punk Ass, Pussy Bill Compton.  You want to die, you want to do it because you love Sookie, then you basically put a stake in her hands and ask her to do it for you?  How horrible can you be?  I love you, now drive this piece of wood through me and I'll turn into a puddle.  It won't hurt at all!  And that scene took way too damn long.  I just couldn't wait for him to goo out.

 

The rest - meh.  Expected.  Glad Jason lived.

All Bill had to do is walk out in the damn sun on any day. No, he mopes around watching the disease advance (then conveniently stall) then asks Sookie to kill him. Melodrama, thy name is Compton. I used to like Bill when he was away from Sookie, then grew to dislike both characters immensely. I wish the finale had had about 10 minutes of them total, then dealt with the more interesting minor characters.

[terrymct]

 

What was the point of Sookie suddenly being able to hear Bill's thoughts?

She can read human minds, but not vampire minds. The disease was making him more human. Someone (Jessica?) noticed he was getting warmer, too. They should have done more with this or drop it entirely.

[GaT]

Has anybody figured out what the point of all the Bill flashbacks were?

Edited August 26, 2014 by GaT

[thuganomics85]

 

Has anybody figured out what the point of all the Bill flashbacks were?

I guess since he died in the end, it was suppose to show how much Bill enjoyed his life as a human and with a family, and that being a vampire ruined it for him?  That, as much as he loved Sookie, he would never have a child with her and their relationship won't be like the one he had with Caroline?  That's the only reason I can think of: to show another reason why he might have wanted to go ahead and finally end it, other then his "Sookie reasons."  Honestly, I'm really not sure.  The flashbacks really were the worst of it, and I wish I could have gotten a sense of why they felt they were needed.

 

While I don't think it would have saved everything in the slightest, I do agree that Bill dying by walking into the sunlight, probably would have worked better.  Also, while I wasn't a huge fan of him, if the show was dead-set against Sookie ending up with either Bill or Eric, Alcide would have made sense, compared to some random dude.  Especially considering how ridiculous and random Alcide's death was (still can't beat Tara in that department!)

 

Oh, and I'm still pissed over how they shafted Lafayette.  I honestly find it inexcusable because, by all accounts, he seemed to be a pretty big fan favorite.  Hell, even if they didn't want to give him a damn story for this episode, find some silly reason to be at Jessica/Hoyt's wedding, so he could provide amusing commentary to it.

[vibeology]

 I give up. I don't even understand why he was never arrested for murder.

 

I'd forgotten about Bill brushing off the time he killed the lawyer and the security vamp at her office in his conversation with Andy until I saw this comment. Like, what was the point of that? Why have Bill allude to this awful thing he did? Was that supposed to be funny?

[phoenix780]

I'm kind of stunned that they presented the graphic chaining, torture and blood-rape of a woman to the point where she goes insane as something we're supposed to cheer.

What the hell is wrong with people who could produce that, or accept that as "entertainment"?

Next on HBO, Ariel's Angels, the wacky hijinks of a hardworking Cleveland entrepreneur and his female associates in the basement.

It's a show with horror elements, and I just took Sarah's fate as representing that.  I didn't feel like I was supposed to applaud at seeing her chained and insane, or like Pam/Eric for doing that to her.  I accept it as entertainment because it's well within what I expect from the horror genre, though I don't think it was particularly well-done.  

 

I just read the rest of the Brian Buckner interview linked above and I wish I hadn't.  But at least I know his name so I can avoid his future work.  So many bad choices...it's a miracle the finale wasn't worse.

Edited August 27, 2014 by phoenix780

[blanchowens]

Finale, was a huge disappointment for me.  The Bill "Please Kill Me" segment ran way too long, so boring.  He could have just let the Hep-V finish him instead they wrote 10 precious minutes of pure drivel.

 

Not enough of my Eric (for me the entire finale could have been focused on him lol).  Good bye my Norse god!  You will be missed.

 

So disappointed there was no Lafayette except for the nano-second at the end.  That really pissed me off.  One of the best characters on the show and they gave him absolutely no time.

 

Eight seasons of watching and this is the only thing they could come up with?

 

I would have preferred a "Wizard of Oz" ending which would have been much more entertaining than what they did.  The writers shouldn't have even gotten paid for this episode.

[kieyra]

I'm rewatching season 7 with the significant other, and I've added another chapter to the alternate season 7 fanfic building itself in my head:

 

In my version, Amber Newlin (who kicks so much ass, and I give the actress a lot of credit for that), doesn't die, and instead becomes both Pam and Eric's girlfriend.

 

Two birds with one stone, because then we also remove the scene where Eric is unable to control his impulses and stakes her despite her value and obvious badassery. 

Edited August 27, 2014 by kieyra

[redapplecigs]

Objectively, the life Eric and Pam have condemned Sarah Newlin to is truly terrible and gross. But Sarah is such a terrible person, so abhorrently awful that it's almost pathetic, that it's really, really hard for me to feel sorry for her. If anything, she got off easy. She deserves much worse. And, as what she did get was indeed terrible and gross, that's saying something.

The thing is, I don't actually feel bad for Sarah Newlin. Hell, I would have cheered if she was killed outright.

Having said that, I can't get behind a lifetime of torture, assault and rape for *any* character, no matter how atrocious their behavior. Sarah's fate wasn't unpalatable and unnecessarily cruel because it was done to Sarah-it was those things because it was done at all.

Totally random question: How/why did Sarah know that Tara had met the true death?

[roctavia]

The thing is, I don't actually feel bad for Sarah Newlin. Hell, I would have cheered if she was killed outright.

Having said that, I can't get behind a lifetime of torture, assault and rape for *any* character, no matter how atrocious their behavior. Sarah's fate wasn't unpalatable and unnecessarily cruel because it was done to Sarah-it was those things because it was done at all.

Totally random question: How/why did Sarah know that Tara had met the true death?

 

That is a very good question!!! Unless she overheard something in Fangtasia??? We know she read Bill's book and got info from that, but Tara's death hadn't happened yet... and it's not like she was loitering around Bon Temps.

 

Maybe we can assume Pam was raging at her after she was caught about how the infected killed Tara? But that doesn't seem like a very pam thing to do... or it's just one more thing that shows us how not well the writers know their own show.

[CletusMusashi]

I put Newmie's fate in the same category where I put the villain who, at the end of the film "Trading Places," was bound and gagged inside a gorilla suit, being shipped long distance with an actual gorilla, who had apparently found enough of a hole going through all relevant layers of clothing to sodomize him. If I actually think about it, the guy probably died of either asphyxiation or dehydration, while being continuously raped. A little bit over the top for a "funny punishment" ending in a rated PG comedy. But, ultimately, I don't really care enough to let it change my overall opinion of the movie. "Trading Places" is, for the most part, hilarious, and so I still end up liking it. "True Blood, Season 7," is, for the most part, abysmal, and no alternative resolution for Sarah was going to fix that.

The stupidest aspect of it is that I can't see how she is kept... not only kept secret, but... kept, period. Security still looks to be nonexistent. Best guess I can offer is that the reason Eric kept all the Yakuza bodies was that he and/or Pam turned them into vampire minions. But... the Yakuza are a bunch of idiots! If they couldn't guard their investment during the day when they were human, why the hell would they be better it now?

"Hey, I hear someone downstairs stealing her!"

"Quick! Let's start shopping online for a place that has overnight delivery on giant stake machines!"

"Right now?"

"Well, obviously not right now. We still have to finish Shirtless Poker Day, right?"

The most intelligent voice of reason on the staff is probably Ginger, chain-slapping them all and saying "Quiet, ya mooks! The boss hired you guys to be Yakuzas. So start Yakuzing!"

Edited August 27, 2014 by CletusMusashi

[pootlus]

It was so stupid of them to kill off Alcide when he could have been the perfect stand in guy for her to have the happy ending that they so obviously wanted her to have. Instead it's some nameless guy and we'll never know how she was able to come to terms with all of her relationship issues and bullshit.

 

ITA with you and everyone else who mentioned this. Why get rid of Alcide when they had the 'perfect' (in quotes because Alcide was far from perfect as a boyfriend or person) resolution relationship for Sookie?

 

It would have been better if he'd have left broken-hearted when he realised she was never going to get over Beel, then the flash forward could have shown them as reconciled.

 

Also, why does Beel get to decide Sookie's future should be with a human to have the babies she's never really exhibited that much of an interest in having, whereas Lala (criminally underused as always), Arlene, and Hoyt are judged to be able to make up their own minds and live out their human lives as partner to a vampire?

 

Also thought Beel was going to end up human, which cheesy as it would have been is a better resolution than him making her stake him and getting covered in death-ejaculate. Sookie: still cleaning up Beel's shit after all these years.

 

Anyway as people seem to be comparing it to the sucktitude that was the Dexter finale, I'll add my 2c and say that it wasn't in any way close to being as monumentally awful as the Dexter finale, which as far as I'm concerned hit so many sucky notes that they might just as well have replaced the entire 45 minutes with the sound of a vacuum cleaner hoovering up dogshit.

[CletusMusashi]

Well, you know... it's very possible Bill was going to end up human. He was getting warmer, he was sending out humanlike brain waves, and quite honestly the virus wasn't really doing anything to him any more. He was in pain, sure, but losing your superhuman healing abiities means that every day aches and pains are going to build up. And it's not like he was in the habit of keeping aspirin or anything around.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if Bill really was turning into Suckeh's perfect human Prince Charming, and he screwed it all up by being a whiny narcissistic emobitch?

Edited August 27, 2014 by CletusMusashi

[Anna Yolei]

As someone who got sick of the shipper wars around Sookie, I'm loving the fact that she just ended up with some rando!

I think this is the best thing to come out of this finale. I'm beyond glad that Sookie ended up with neither Bill nor especially Eric, and that Sam was out of her orbit, too. Wish that Alcide had made it out alive, but hey. Bill hit it, however self serving it was, and I was genuinely surprised by that.

Welp, that's the end of that. When does that Tarzan movie with ASkars come out?

[Chicken Wing]

I had seen the "foiler"  going around about Bill becoming human again, and when the story in this episode seemed to go in this direction I was a little annoyed that this reveal may end up being true and I went and got myself spoiled. I was quite relieved when Bill ended up dying after all. However, it seemed to take longer than usual for him to go goo after Sookie staked him, and for a moment I entertained myself with the hilarious possibility that he was in fact turning human and and now he was going to die not because he was staked but because he just got stabbed in the heart. That would have been funny.

[hardy har]

Really?

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

 

I felt like Elanie Benes when she was watching The English Patient during that goddamn goodbye scene. Fuck, that took forever.

 

I know this show was (loosely) based on The Sookie Stackhouse books, but every time this show had a Bill/Jessica scene I found my self wishing the show was about their relationship. Don't get me wrong, Bill annoyed the ever-loving fuck out of me, but the dynamic between Bill/Jessica was much more interesting and (at times) moving in comparison to Bill and Sookie's eternally boring love.

 

Anyway ....... Farewell, True Blood. You turned into one hot mess of a show. May your actors move on to better things.

Edited August 27, 2014 by hardy har

[Automne]

This entire season was a giant clusterfuck. It started with the idiot writers killing a major character who was the best friend of the female protagonist and cousin of the fan favorite OFFSCREEN. The only confirmation we get at first is from the drunkard mother whose word has never meant much and then final confirmation by what was basically a throwaway line from Pam. The writers on this show really fucked Tara over the entire run. She was basically the chew toy who has had every little bit of happiness she found ripped away, ends up DYING for her best friend (who then forces her to be turned in a vampire, something she hated), has her mother reject her AGAIN, and then meets the true death off-screen. And the best friend who is alive right now thanks to Tara barely even mentions her and the cousin just says that he mourned enough when she died the first time. Seriously, WHAT. THE. FUCK.

 

And then that weird storyline of Lettie Mae trying to find out what Tara was telling her that ended up being a total non-starter. If you're going to set it up like Tara dealing with the guilt and other emotional fallout from killing her father (I assume that's who that was), then go through with it. I wish Tara got a far better resolution between her and her mother because that was her love story, the mother-daughter love story of a daughter who wanted nothing more than a sober, nonabusive mother that loved her. Half the trouble Tara ended up in was due to trying to find something to fill that void in her life.

 

Arlene was the other chew-toy. Rene was a serial killer and then Terry, a very sweet guy who genuinely loved Arlene, commits suicide. At least she got some sort of happy ending.

 

Alcide's death was completely unnecessary. It was unnecessary when it was expected that Sookie/Bill was the endgame, but now even more so when it turns out that Bill meets the true death. Most fans wouldn't have minded Alcide/Sookie. Honestly, they made Alcide an unnecessary character. His storylines always happened separately from the main one and barely interacted with the main characters. He was just there to be eye candy. I'm glad Joe Manganiello pretty much said as much in an interview after his death-isode aired and how disappointed he was that they didn't do much with Alcide. They set him up to be the good-guy character that was in love with Sookie (like every other male character) who was warm-blooded and human.

 

Sam, they did a whole lot of nothing with. I wish they had really developed a Sookie/Sam friendship. Who else would truly understand being alone and so different from everybody else and rarely getting to meet members of your own kind?

 

And yes, the backtracking to say that it doesn't actually matter who Sookie ends up with is bullshit. They spent so much focus each season on who she's fucking and all this relationship bullshit and then want to say it doesn't matter? I felt we got robbed of seeing her deal with relationship issues and have that growth to accept being with a human. She took up with Bill because she couldn't read his mind and now marries some human stranger bitch without showing how she reconciled her mind-reading capabilities to get close enough to a human to marry?

 

They had ten episodes this season to wrap up all the storylines presented in the series and spent most of them with filler. What they should have done was spend each episode focusing on one character, kind of like what Skins did.

 

Then there's Bill. I wish they had Sookie fall out of love with him after it was revealed that he contrived everything to get her to trust him and end that "love" story. Dude just was not a good guy from day one. If he had such a rapid form of Hep-V, he should have died episodes ago. Him asking Sookie to literally give up a part of herself to kill him is beyond the pale. Walk into the sun or let the Hep-V take its course. Don't make somebody you profess to love KILL you.

 

I was reading ONTD after the finale and it was pointed out how funny it was that Bon Temps is all happy idyll small Southern town after Bill dies. Well, that's actually a good point. Bill was the catalyst for all the shit happening in Bon Temps. As soon as he appeared in the first episode, everything went to hell. Everybody wanted to blame Sookie, no blame Bill. Had he never come to town, Sookie wouldn't have taken up with him, and the dominoes from that point would not have fallen. So yeah, it's fitting that once Bill is gone, things start becoming okay again.

 

Ugh. We deserved better than this. Hollywood needs to understand that a series finale is the last impression we get from a show and a bad one can taint an entire series (see: Roseanne, The Sopranos, Dexter, HIMYM). Whereas an excellent one can make one overlook the missteps a series took (see: Six Feet Under).

[DollEyes]

Amethyst: Word to your previous post. If Sarah had expressed even a shred of remorse for her actions/crimes, I might've felt sorry for her, but her trying to get Pam to turn her was just another example of her willingness to say/do anything just to save her worthless ass.  When Sarah mentioned Tara, it was a wonder that Pam didn't rip her throat out. Pam was a shitty maker where Tara was concerned, but Sarah couldn't replace her, even on her best day. Bill and other vamps have done just as bad or worse things than Sarah, but that didn't mean that Sarah shouldn't have gotten called on them or punished for them-which, fortunately, she was, thanks to Eric and Pam.

 

 

 

If they knew they were going to Kill Bill, perhaps they could have spent some time this last season adding a human love interest for Sookie.

 

They did. His name was Alcide Herveaux*. See what good that love interest did.

 

I know that Alcide wasn't exactly human, but he was much more human than Bill was. He could stay in the sun, he ate human food and could have children with her.

 

  Plus there was the whole "not being a mass murderer" thing.

 

Eh, at this point in the game, I would have rather they just said "Fuck it" , and give a shout-out to Anna Paquin's other franchise, and called in Shawn Ashmore for that cameo. Rogue and Iceman reunion!

 

  That would have actually been clever, something these writers were, alas, incapable of, for the most part.

 

  Speaking of that final scene, besides Tara, I think it should have also included ghost cameos from Grandma Adele, Jesus, Alcide, Godric, Luna, Terry, Roman Zimojic (the founder of The Authority), Sam's brother Tommy, Claude (my fave Fae) Deputy Kevin, Rosie and Eddie, the gay vamp from Season one.

 

  On the bright side, Thank Heaven they didn't make Bill human. That would've been a complete copout and a lame one, at that.

Edited August 27, 2014 by DollEyes

[CletusMusashi]

It could have ended with Bill turning human and then getting life imprisonment for murder.
Willa gets the hell out of Bon Temps. Since not everyone is looking for true love, right now, right the this second, for ever and ever and ever, she goes back to college and adopts a pug to keep her company.
Bridget decides to hold off on having eight million babies and helps Jason through school instead.
Hoyt and Jessica also enroll, but there is no more couple swapping.
Wade is so traumatized by the Violet incident that he turns gay. Stepcest problem solved.
And Sookie hooks up with... whatever the hell kind of monster they haven't used yet. Like a mummy or a Bigfoot or something.

Edited August 27, 2014 by CletusMusashi

[Avaleigh]

After reading everyone else's thoughts I feel like Bill should either have walked into the sun or allowed the Hep-V to run its course. Alternatively, I think I also would have been fine with him drinking from Sarah only to have it not work on him. 

 

And yes, the backtracking to say that it doesn't actually matter who Sookie ends up with is bullshit. They spent so much focus each season on who she's fucking and all this relationship bullshit and then want to say it doesn't matter? I felt we got robbed of seeing her deal with relationship issues and have that growth to accept being with a human. She took up with Bill because she couldn't read his mind and now marries some human stranger bitch without showing how she reconciled her mind-reading capabilities to get close enough to a human to marry?

 

 

This. It really can't be said enough.

 

After reading the quotes Jjrmt posted, I'm just wondering how that producer can't see that he's basically talking out of both sides of his mouth? 

 

Nicole and Sam move back to Bon Temps and we're supposed to assume it's safe? Crazy shit happened in Bon Temps well before Hep-V but I guess Nicole thinks everything is okay now because of the Sarah Newlin beverage? What about her claim that Bon Temps attracted more craziness and weird drama than the average town? Vampire, werewolves, shifters, faeries--they're all still a presence so what else has changed for her to think it's good enough for her family now? 

 

I still have no idea why we spent so much time with Adilyn and her stepbrother. They really didn't make too many interesting choices when it came to dealing with faeries on the show. 

 

It's also hard to believe that Andy ended up being so cool with Jessica considering what all ended up happening there. No way would I think that Jessica had killed three of Andy's daughters the way he was all ready and happy to marry her to Hoyt.