Why I am not mourning Bill Compton

I am not mourning Bill Compton because I have faith in his character and I think he will still be redeemable in an emotional and heart breaking moment of clarity for the character. I think this is really the only thing Bill could do. I mean, do we really want him to be the character of nonexistance like Charlaine Harris has made him, lurking in Sookie's woods and declaring his eternal love for her while she throws his heart away? I don't. Frankly, Charlaine Harris has turned Bill into just another of Sookie's sycophants. Believe me, I agree with Pam, I am so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina.

I know it is tough to see Bill be something other than the courtly Ashley Wilkes type, Louis, Barnabus, Angel, Vampire with a heart of gold but really, Bill has been working up to this. He has lost everything and now he thinks he has found something to replace and protect him from the hurt and pain and loss he has experienced. Now, we know this is a bad way to experience this sense of grace and being lost and now I am found sort of thing, but dammit, it is the most human thing he has ever done. There are real humans who immerse themselves in all sorts of religions and cults and practices because they think it somehow makes their life better. Like I tell anyone who comes up to me and says: I wanna be a witch! I tell them simply the craft does not solve all your problems and in a way, it may make your problems worse so really think about it. Bill didn't, most don't and he will find a way out in the end.

Now, the thing is, I felt bad for Eric too. When he was looking for Godric and and when he was looking for himself when he was amnesiac, I felt bad for him. And I feel bad for Eric now. Eric has finally come to a conclusion about Bill. Maybe it was because the both of them had tried to kill each other and both of them had saved each other's lives. Maybe it is because Eric knows a little about what it is like to not have control of himself when Marnie was petting his sweet foggy little bean like he was a lap dog (Damn you unhand my Viking, you foul old crone). Whatever the reason, Eric now has a real respect for Bill and he obviously thought Bill was worthy of saving except Bill pulled a trick on them and reconstituted himself as a saber toothed Vampire in terrible need of a good hot shower.

I don't go in for the reverse hating thing and say the Eric Girls have pressured AB and the writers to make Bill's character evil no more than I went for the palaver about AB being a Bill Boy and gonna make it Sookie and Bill forever because Stephen and Anna are married in real life. It's just stupid to think that way. And I think it is a rush to judgement to say Bill is lost for all time and can't be redeemed. I think he still can. Even if it is the last episode of the last season, I believe Bill can be redeemed.

So I am not going to mourn Bill Compton. I am going to go with the flow. If Stephen didn't think he would want to play Bill that way, I would say he could say no and his word would have a lot of sway by now. Stephen likes the direction of his character. He is enjoying the opening up of his character, just as Alex said he enjoyed playing sweet innocent Eric when he was amnesiac. He also said something on one of those behind the scenes things on HBO GO that Eric has discovered he liked Bill and that is something really new for Eric because he is a lot like Pam and really had no respect for Bill but now he does and Bill is actually the closest he has to a best friend. So I say, tear off the black crepe ladies, put away your widows weeds. Admire the wonderful job Stephen does playing this established character in a new and amazing way.

Eric once said Trust me...I say the same thing..Trust Bill....

Well said and I couldnt agree with you more. Bill isnt done yet by a long shot. I still have faith in him. He won't be redemmed, he will redeem himself. I think some remnant is still there and just like a spark can light a fire, I think he will be back yet again. Have faith and until then enjoy it. I think we tend to like some of our characters when they are at their worst anyways. I mean, think of Pam and Tara when they are at their snarkiest. Or how Russell was. Or Freaklin. We may not always like them, but they do have interesting story lines with some of the best quips and quotes. I trust that until Bill returns as we know him, that he will probably have the time of his life.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/True-Blood-Finale-Alan-Ball-1052519.aspx

Ileane Rudolph


After five deliriously bloody seasons, True Blood's creator and showrunner Alan Ball is departing. (He's currently exec producing the "noir" thriller Banshee for Cinemax). But first, Ball answers some finale burning questions — and offers some thoughts on next season.

TV Guide Magazine: Are you satisfied with where you're leaving the characters of Bon Temps as you hand your showrunning duties over to Mark Hudis?
Alan Ball: I am. I was very happy with this season. The last thing you want to do with a show that lives as long as this one is to repeat yourself. I don't think we did. I really liked seeing a secular vampire government being taken over by crazy fundamentalists. I'm not saying that there are parallels in our own human world. [Laughs]

TV Guide Magazine: Much of last year, and particularly the finale, really severed the connection to Charlaine Harris' books.
Ball: It's something organic that happens. You can't just transcribe the books. That said, there's some stuff in the later books that I think later seasons of the show will address. But we did go on our own little path this year.

TV Guide Magazine: Let's answer some burning questions left by the finale. First, what the heck is Bill or "Bilith" as some call him? An evil god? A demon?
Ball: We don't know! Honestly, we didn't know what Lilith was. Just because the fundamentalists called her "God," that doesn't mean she was. On our show, there's room for all kinds of supernatural creatures. We do know that Bill had some kind of major transformation into a deeper supernatural being. The question for me is has he lost his humanity entirely or will it just have to fight harder to come out. That's certainly something that the writers are talking about for next year

TV Guide Magazine: Is Bill still planning to use humans as a food source?
Ball: That will be his story in Season 6. Is he going to come up with his own master plan? What kind of battle will the humans wage against him?

TV Guide Magazine: Bill's been such a monster. Can he really come back?
Ball: My own belief is that people can come back from anything. It doesn't mean that it won't come at a huge cost. But I'm interested in a Bill who is really evil. Because after almost five seasons of a Bill who was "I hate that I'm a vampire, I'm so nice," it was time to make him really go dark and see what that does to everybody else.

TV Guide Magazine: Will Sookie fight to rescue Bill?
Ball: It could be that or it could also be that Sookie is trying to save herself from him.

TV Guide Magazine: Season 5 had a lot more gore than lust. Lots of fans missed the Bill, Sookie and Eric triangle. Will we see that again?
Ball: I don't think that that central triangle has gone away. Anna [Paquin] was like 'I've played three seasons of falling in love with people." I agreed and found her something different to do. But right now we don't know how Sookie feels about vampires. The fairy elder said, "There's a reason you give your heart out to every fangster you meet." That's going to be very interesting to find out why.

TV Guide Magazine: That sounds like it has to do with Warlow, the unseen vampire who killed Sookie and Jason's parents and "owns" Sookie? Jason's off to kill him, so will we meet him soon?
Ball: We will definitely see Warlow. Whether or not we have met him already, I will remain mum. There will also be some other characters maybe who we know and love who are pursuing a less than generous agenda.

TV Guide Magazine: Does all that leave the door open for non-bloodsucker love for Sookie?
Ball: Even though it looks like Alcide and Sookie may have cooled things off, I'm not so sure that he's totally dropped the torch that he carries for her.

TV Guide Magazine: Who and what are the apparitions that Jason sees as his vampire-hating parents who are urging him kill all fangers?
Ball: When he was thrown across the field and hit his head, it shook something loose in his subconscious, which is using his parents as a way to communicate his more violent and vengeful impulses.

TV Guide Magazine: Will Jason be a danger to all the undead in town?
Ball: He might be! In the extra scene on HBO GO when he's in the elevator with [his vampire allies] he's tempted to kill them right there like his "father" tells him.

TV Guide Magazine: Is Sam's love, fellow shape shifter Luna, dead after shifting into vampire Steve Newlin's body?
Ball: I can't tell you that! But Newlin isn't dead. We love him.

TV Guide Magazine: How did Eric manage to kill the much older and strong Russell Edgington?
Ball: Russell was so crazed with fairy blood lust that he wasn't paying attention. That's how Eric could stake him.

TV Guide Magazine: Was it always going to be Eric who killed Russell?
Ball: There was a moment at some point when we were pitching that somebody else would kill Russell, but it just really felt that it should belong to Eric, because Russell killed his mortal family.

TV Guide Magazine: Is Andy Bellefleur really going to raise four little half-fairy babies next season?
Ball: It's definitely going to complicate things for him. But they may go to live with the fairies where it's safer for them. Also, who knows how quickly they age!

TV Guide Magazine: After that sizzling kiss, are Tara and Pam now Bon Temps hot new couple?
Ball: Yeah. [Laughs] We wanted that to happen from the very beginning of the season, but we wanted to really, really, really take our time with it.

TV Guide Magazine: Will Anna be back full time right away after the birth of her twins in November?
Ball: She is. We're moving production to January to accommodate her. And there will only be 10 shows next season partly because of Anna and partly because of the economics

TV Guide Magazine: Do you have a series ending in mind yet?
Ball: We talked about one in the writers' room this season. We definitely have some ideas.

TV Guide Magazine: Even if you're not running the show, will you come back for the series finale?
Ball: I will. I just needed to take some time off just to recharge my batteries.

TV Guide Magazine: Any last thoughts for your fans?
Ball: It's still True Blood. People tend to say, "Alan writes everything," but it's always been a big collaboration. I am personally very excited to see where the show's going to go and I hope fans feel the same way.

Only 10 episodes and not 12 next season? Bummer. They better make them good then and none of this shorting us our 10 minutes if they are going that route. That's all I gotta say about that.