True Blood Episode 1 Season 2

Watched the niece and nephew today, and other than Benji slide-tackling Jonny (his feet went over his head, it was awesome) there was not too much to report on the Whoot front. However, once we put them to bed I was able to do something I thought I would not be able to do for quite a while. The wife and I were able to check out the first episode of True Blood season two.

There is something surreal about seeing Erik with foil in his hair rip a man in half, other than the graphic violence I thought that was a very Buffy type moment (which bodes well for this series). Erik, by the way, is a real vampire, unlike Bill who continues to be a waste of space and more importantly Sookie's time.

I wish they would kill Bill off. Bill's excuse for killing Sookie's uncle was paper thin, "I killed him because I love you", and to prove Sookie's lunacy she bought the excuse and slept with him, again. I was happy to see Sookie dealing with the death of her grandmother in a meaningful way, even if it does break the viewers bargain (see a previous post).

Jason Stackhouse remains an idiot. I wish they would simply kill him off. Speaking of killing characters off, I am thrilled that they did not kill off Layfyette, and Ms. Janette bit the big one in his place. Though I wonder how much longer for the world Layfyette will be as this series progresses, he does like to live very dangerously in a far too dangerous environment. Let us hope that Erik does right by Layfyette and makes him a vampire.

While I do still like Tara, the whole new mom relationship she is forming with Maryann is very weird and I am hoping they kill Maryann off soon or I may start to dislike Tara. I think it is the weird thing she has going on with Tara and Benedict that is really getting under my skin. What she did to Sam continues to raise questions about her character and makes me want to see her die quick.

It is odd that I really do feel like I enjoy this show as I’m watching it, even though I want to see a significant portion of the characters die.

John Adams Episode 7

I loved this episode. I find it odd that I loved this episode, but I loved it none the less. This was the first episode of the entire series that I did not feel the need to pause and stretch during. A series can be forgiven many sins with an awesome finale and I would say this one almost manages absolution.

I was moved by the death of Adams’ daughter and brought to the verge of tears when Abigail passed away. More than anything though I loved Adams desire to fight for his reputation. It was great that by the end of his life Adams had the luxury of worry about his place in history rather than the success or failure of the republic as a whole.

I loved Jefferson and Adams reconnecting as well. When the creators depicted their time in France I was anticipating the Jefferson, Adams schism with glee. Ironically when it actually happened I, as a viewer was as hurt over it as I believe Adams was about the falling out. It was sweeter than I expected to see Adams and Jefferson open up their lines of communication so late in life.

Though they did attempt to paint John as being without blame for all his presidential blunders as no mention of “Midnight Judges” were uttered anywhere in this mini-series. Even the Alien and Sedition Acts were pinned on his cabinet and Abigail as if to say no taint should be thrown upon Saint John.

Overall John Adams is worth checking out for the history (even if it is a cliff notes version) and the window into this mans mind that it provides (even if the window is sometimes in extreme close up and other times far too blurry to get a clear look).