True Blood to the End – Thank You

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Barry Quinn is an English Language and Literature graduate and a Creative Writer MA studier. He is an aspiring creative and professional writer and is currently in the process of writing his first novel. His writing blog can be viewed here: https://barrygjquinn.wordpress.com You can follow him on Twitter at: @mrbarryquinn

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BEWARE: SPOILERS

A series finale is always going to be divisive amongst the fan base. I’ve already seen people declaring ‘Thank You’, the final EVER episode of True Blood to be the worst finale ever – but that’s only because they love Eric and Pam so much and weren’t happy that Sookie ended up with Eric. Yawn.

As a final episode, ‘Thank You’ worked. Whilst I may not be entirely happy about some of what went down, I’m glad I stuck with True Blood to the end.

Kill Bill

So Bill actually went and met the true death with the help of Sookie. Part of me is glad this happened – for Bill to have a last minute reprieve at the eleventh hour would, to me, have been a cop-out. But of course Bill and Sookie are endgame. They should have ended up together. That said, this season has been all about family, and with Bill out of the picture Sookie can finally begin a family. More on that later. The Bill and Sookie romance was tragic and doomed from its inception, so perhaps it’s fitting that it ended with the death of one of them. I’m just thankful Sookie remained fae, rather than turning vampire. I sure am going to miss Bill saying “Sookeh!” though.

New Blood

And this is where the angry fans step in. If you think about it though, Eric’s ending stays true to his character. He’s over 1,000 years old and in that time we’ve only ever seen him care deeply about two humans – Sookie and Sylvie. If one of those humans doesn’t want to end up with Eric, then Eric surely needs to end up alone. To do otherwise would have probably pissed off the fan base even more. In Eric’s final moments he is happily brooding over his domain as Fangtasia is booming with customers. This is where we first saw Eric, and it’s a touching moment to see Eric end here also. He and Pam are both still alive – surely the fans should be thankful for that much?

Thank[you]sgiving

A gorgeous sweeping shot of a thanksgiving table shows the core characters (sans Eric, Pam, Bill and Tara) of True Blood since its inception come together to be thankful. What are they thankful for? The family community that is Bon Temps. Whilst a lot of these characters were rendered cameos, it was nice to see them nevertheless. The entire final season has been about wrapping up these stories, and whilst I would have liked one final sassy comment from Lala, I’m thankful that they all made it to the true end. To see the characters end up happy surely should be enough for the fans.

Gran’s back!

You just knew Gran would appear, didn’t you? In a beautiful flashback scene we see a younger Sookie and Tara discussing boys, during which Gran intervenes to tell Sookie that she can have any life she wants. This works twofold: first, due to Gran’s words of advice it becomes apparent why Tara disapproved of Sookie’s relationship with Bill all along, as this would mean Sookie could realistically have no family. Tara was simply looking out for Sookie. And secondly, due to Tara’s demise, Sookie fundamentally chose her own life. She didn’t have Tara there to step in and tell her otherwise. Sookie chose to remain fae, to kill Bill, and to move on and have a family. Sookie has really come a long way.

Vampire wedding

Yes, this entire segment was rushed and cheesy, but it was touching nevertheless. It’s a finale, so it can be forgiven. It had to be rushed. It was nice, however, to see Hoyt and Jessica end up happy. Their being together left Jason free to develop his own family urges, and it showed the journey in which all of these characters have gone through. They’ve all grown up. Its been touted time and time again that True Blood can be read as a metaphor for gay rights, and this was very explicit in this scene.

Sarah the whore

I knew Sarah would survive, but perhaps dying would have been better for her after all… Forevermore, Sarah is a whore, sold for a small fortune. Pam’s loving it, of course, but Sarah is slowly going insane and she glimpsed Steve one last time. I love Sarah as a character, but this ending was fitting for her. She truly was despicable.

Sookie and Pam remember Tara

Sookie and Pam actually remembered Tara in this episode, which was nice. Sookie remembered past times with her, and Pam nearly ripped Sarah’s throat out just for mentioning her name. Tara and Rutina’s exit was poorly executed, but showing that she hasn’t entirely been forgotten made up for it. But only slightly…

Happily ever after

The majority of the characters ended up happy. Sookie is pregnant (it was a smart move not to show her husband’s face – he isn’t important to the show. What is important is Sookie’s choice at a family), Jason has three children with Bridgett, Sam and Nicole have two children, Lala and James are still going strong, as are Adilyn and Wade, Hoyt and Jessica, and Arlene and Keith. Their happiness has created a family, and it’s that which the viewers are thankful for.