Hey fellow Truebies! I just now had time to rewatch (most of) True Blood Episode 3, 'If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'? on HBOGo, and I was wondering if y'all were left pondering like me:
Why kill off Sookie's faery Godmother NOW?
If you are not a 'bookie' (a reader of the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novels upon which HBO's True Blood is based) then it may have only been a surprise not a shock when Claudine (played by Lara Pulver) was murdered by Amnesia!Eric right before Sookie's and our eyes.
Claudine had returned to 'our side' to implore, then demand that Sookie return to 'Faery' with her. When Sookie declined her faery godmother's invitation, then stated firmly that she wished Claudine to take a flying leap...she couldn't have known that Eric was listening and would, with his hypervamp-speed snatch Claudine up and proceed to feed on her--fatally. (Scroll down for more HBO copyright screenshots that I clipped---plus the official promo photo stills from this episode.)
In the book series, which I'll gingerly tred around as best I can (some people may interpret this as SPOILERS so be forewarned), Claudine is one of a trio of faery triplets---2 girls and a guy. We've met Claude in the True Blood Faery as a rebel fae who helped save Sookie from Queen Mab. In the books there existed a 2nd female triplet who is dead when Sookie's world and the Fae's 'collide.'
However (and I hope this is making sense) in Alan Ball's True Blood, so far we know of only twin faeries who are related to Sookie, which would leave one with the impression that Claudine is indeed gone forever dead.
But, the HBO True Blood 'Fae' storyline has not yet been fully written (if it ever is to be) with Ball switching up and adapting the story, as he explained to EW.com (scroll down for link to full story).
Just off the top of my head, he and/or the True Blood writers could very well bring back 'Claudine,' if they so chose by simply switching her up with Claudette, her 'dead' faery-sister.
It would be fun to bring faeries back as they were very well-integrated with the Sookie storyline in the novels. OTOH, it costs nothing to imagine the land of the Fae when reading a Harris novel and True Blood as we all know, is 'only' television. Given that season 4 True Blood is featuring witches , werepanthers, werewolfs, (shape)shifters and vampires, there just may be no more room in the FX budget this season for faeries.
Still, I thought that episode 4 was very entertaining. Of course, anything with the memory-wiped Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) is incredibly fun to take in but his competition for Sookie's attention, the new King of Louisiana, William Compton (Stephen Moyer) is pretty darn awesome, too.
Anticipating Season 4 Vampire Bill, most of us it seemed, were lamenting the likelihood of watching him mope due to his breakup with Sookie but he's changed so much--outwardly, anyway. Some Truebies thought Bill Compton 'abandoned' his only sire, Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) despite her choice to move in with boyfriend (toy?) Hoyt, but a nice little scene in this episode showcased their continuing mutual affection and support--while also giving us a glimpse of super-cautious, sort-of-uptight Bill that we've come to know and love from previous True Blood seasons.
There was lots more--notably where my girl-crush, Pam (Kristen Bauer van Straten) got tossed by her maker Eric, across Sookie's living room after verbally threatening Sookie (sense a pattern, here?). When Pam stood up and began to approach Sookie again, Amnesia!Eric cautioned her to 'be nice' to Sookie.
The Death Of Sookie's Faery Godmother [PHOTOS]:
Click to enlarge
Sookie: 'You just killed my faery Godmother!'
Amnesia!Eric: 'Sorry.'
EW EXCLUSIVE: 'True Blood': Alan Ball and Charlaine Harris discuss Sunday's shocking death of [SPOILER] --
Entertainment Weekly’s EW.com has spoken exclusively to True Blood executive producer Alan Ball and author Charlaine Harris about the death of Claudine in this past Sunday’s episode. Many fans of Harris’ original novels were surprised by the death scene, which doesn’t occur until much later in the book series. But there’s more left to see in Sookie’s fairy world: "After everything that was going on with the fairies in the first episode, I think we wanted to sort of put a pin in that, but obviously it’s not over," says Ball. "I felt it would have more impact if it was someone we knew as opposed to just a random fairy."
And Harris is okay with the change. "If [Ball] can be gracious to me, I can certainly be gracious enough to wait and see where he’s going."
Full story on EW.com
Photos: HBOGo
After the jump: HBO Official Promo Photo Stills and more screencaps from this episode
@Imani:
I completely understand your disappointment. The Claudine of the book series was amazing. It seems like we'll never know 'that' Claudine but perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised. Eric's maker, 'Godric' is a good example (though not 'book' example) of a dead character that continues to be featured in True Blood.
Posted by: Cyn_mccrackan | July 21, 2011 at 03:07 AM
I have read all of the Southern Vampires books and I was completely destroyed when Claudine died so soon and so quickly. She played a major part in the books and in the books her death caused a lot of murder and revenge. I love the show but I am completely disappointed at the decision to kill her off.
Posted by: Imani | July 17, 2011 at 10:43 PM