True Blood: The Final Season – “The Leftovers”

I realize that the above title might feel misleading, due to the recent release of HBO’s new series from Damon Lendilof, but I couldn’t help naming this episode “The Leftovers”. Why? Because that is exactly what it was about: what remains when everything else is lost.

We start by coping with the huge loss of the third episode: Alcide. The hottest werewolf in town (and quite possibly the world) has just been brutally killed and Sookie has the job of bringing his father the news. Jason has a similar task: making sure everyone knows that their loved ones are gone.

The reason I loved this episode of True Blood more than most I’ve seen in a long time was the fact that it had an incredible sense of realism, even in a story full of vampires, shapeshifters and lycanthropes. Honestly, just go down the list of events and you’ll see what I mean: Sookie has to keep her sh*t together in order to save those who are still miraculously alive, Sam and Jason have to keep everyone focused and organize the attack, Jessica has to deal with the downside of her nature in order to gain redemption, and Eric and his progeny have to face a heavy past.

Digging deeper into the fourth episode, I began to understand why it felt so real. This wasn’t simply an examination of death, as I had thought before, but of something far more powerful: life. A life that goes on no matter how hard you try to convince yourself it won’t, a life that demands you to stay alive against your will because you must, a life that always gives you a reason to keep on hoping that things are going to get better somehow. Our protagonists have to face this ugly truth and, in doing so, they must finally gather the strength necessary to endure their devastating pain.

Throughout the episode, we watch as the characters reconnect with one another, finding each other and learning to cooperate for a grater purpose. The climax arrives in a final confrontation between opposing vampires, a definitive conflict, all for the sake of just two humans.

The only moment that made me a little nervous was the “Where is Eric?” part. I am talking to you, writers of True Blood. You literally just took away my Alcide. Don’t you even think about taking someone else from me, especially…

Also, even though Sookie was starting to pissing me off with her victim-bitchy attitude, she won me back this episode. She really is one of the most tormented characters of in television. Her reaction to Alcide’s death and, moreover, her strength in saving Arleen, are the clear proof of the fact that, among vampires and werewolfs, she is the most powerful creature of all: a survivor.

If you enjoyed Alice’s review, you can find the rest of her work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow her on Twitter @AliceRosso10.

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