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Blu-Ray : A Rental at Best
Ranking:
Sale Price: $21.98 Last Price: $ Buy now! 3rd Party 15.99 In Stock
Release Date: May 29th, 2012 Movie Release Year: 2011

True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season

Overview -

Another supernatural force has come to light in Bon Temps – witchcraft – and life for its residents will never be the same. Sookie (Anna Paquin, The Piano) finds herself entangled in a love triangle – torn between a vengeful Bill (Stephen Moyer, The Double), the new Vampire King of Mississippi, and Eric (Alexander Skarsgård, Straw Dogs), who's not the former Viking he once was. Led by a charismatic witch named Marnie (Fiona Shaw, The Tree of Life), who threatens to let no one living or dead stand in her way, a powerful coven tempts Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis, The Help), Tara (Rutina Wesley, True Blood: The Complete First Season), and Jesus (Kevin Alejandro, Red State) with otherworldly powers. Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll, True Blood: The Complete Second Season) tries to adjust to a domestic life, while Jason (Ryan Kwanten, Red Hill) finds himself alone in werepanther territory. Arlene (Carrie Preston, Doubt) and Terry (Todd Lowe, True Blood: The Complete Third Season) come to terms with their highly unusual baby, and Alcide (Joe Manganiello, Spider-Man) finds himself caught in the clutches of an old flame.

OVERALL:
A Rental at Best
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
Digital Copy
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p/AVC MPEG-4
Length:
730
Aspect Ratio(s):
1.78:1
Audio Formats:
Spanish DTS 2.0
Subtitles/Captions:
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Special Features:
Post-production roundtable
Release Date:
May 29th, 2012

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

Well, the fairy has been let out of the bag. Season four starts with the storyline that many people were already wary of when it was revealed at the end of season three. Sookie is a fairy, and last we saw of her she was whisked away to fairyland. I'm sad to say, that after the fourth season premiere I've just about given up on the show. It's gone so far downhill it's hard to know where to start.

I've stuck with the show this long. Season one and two enthralled me. Season three started slipping, but still felt pretty taught in places. Season four… well, season four feels like 'The Vampire Diaries' with more swearing and sex.

It's just that the premiere episode is so bad. Awful in fact. Sookie finds herself in fairyland as people surround her and eat glowing fruit. There she sees her long-lost grandfather (Gary Cole) who swears he's only been there a few hours, but he soon realizes that he's lost 20 years of his life eating glowing fruit. Sookie quickly learns that where they are might look good, but it most certainly isn't. She's only spent a few minutes there, or so it seems to her. Sookie grabs her grandfather and they try to escape. The resulting chase from the evil fairies feels like something ripped straight from a bad made-for-SyFy movie. There are times when 'True Blood' becomes pretty self-aware and subtly pokes fun at itself and its vampire subjects, but this is not one of those times. The only thing the fairy bombardment elicits is groans and whispered mutterings of, "What the hell?" The rest of the episode didn't get much better as it had to haphazardly discuss what everyone has been up to since Sookie left. To her it's been a couple minutes; to them it's been a year.

After the cringe-worthy season premiere it was hard to get that taste out of my mouth. I cared little about what was going on with characters like Tara (Rutina Wesley), Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), Hoyt (Jim Parrack), Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), and the new sheriff Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer). I suddenly felt the weight of all these characters who were dragging on a plot that seemed to already be dragged a fair distance in the first place.

Yes, the revelation that Bill (Stephen Moyer) is the vampire king was slightly interesting, but it didn't hold enough of a wow-factor to keep me engaged over the season's long-haul.

The show seemed like it was teetering on the edge of shark territory when the third season ended. With one fell swoop the shark has officially been jumped. I understand that there are still fans of this show out there and I wish you all the best. The fourth season did have a few good episodes peppered in throughout the season, however none of them could wash away the stench of that first episode. I kept reliving it in my mind like a bad dream, hoping that it didn't actually happen, but it did.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

This box set from HBO is huge. It comes as a 5-Disc set in the standard, bulky cardboard fold-out which has an individual hub for each disc. There are 12 episodes in season four. Disc one contains two episodes, discs two through four contain three episodes each, while disc five contains the season finale plus the set's bonus features. It also comes with a separate cardboard folder that has two double-sided DVDs which contain the season, plus a code to get a Digital Copy of all 12 episodes. The cardboard fold-out and the DVD folder fit snugly into an outer cardboard box that matches the other seasons that have been released. The back of the case indicates a Region A release.

Video Review

Ranking:

Like always, HBO has released another stellar looking season of 'True Blood.' Shining and shimmering in 1080p the shadow-cast show features some wonderfully refined detail, inky shadows, and technically proficient visuals.

Colors pop as always whether it is crimson red pouring out of some poor soul's neck or the springtime colors of Sookie's many sun dresses. Blacks are dark and foreboding, but never crushing. That seems to always be the hallmark of this series on Blu-ray. Since much of the show is bathed in darkness it's imperative that the blacks are resolutely resolved and don't appear flat or dimensionless at any time. I'm glad to say that just like the seasons before it, season four features great blacks which produce detail-aiding shadows which add great depth and dimension to the overall picture.

Even though the journey into the land of the fairies is corny, the contrast of the bright whites found there perfectly counteract the rather dark, brooding nature of the rest of the series. It was nice to see a well-lit set during this series and it's presented near perfection in high-def.

I didn't notice any technical anomalies, which for HBO is par for the course. They, like Disney, are stalwarts of remarkable Blu-ray presentations, this one is no exception.

Audio Review

Ranking:

Like the video, the audio presentation also impresses. On down through the seasons, HBO has mixed wonderfully sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. This season is no different. Everything about this mix screams demo quality. The fairy chase in the opening episode may be one of the most cringe-inducing things you've watched in a long time, but the LFE produced by their fairy fireballs (yes, you read that correctly) does indeed give the sub-woofer a lot to do. Surrounds are full of all sorts of sounds, from echoing voices spewing out of a possessed witch's mouth, to the screams and howls of fairies as Sookie runs for her life.

The whoosh sound as vampires appear and disappear after moving at break-neck speed fills the front and center channels. It smoothly transitions from one edge of the soundfield to the other depending on where the fast-moving vampire is traveling relative to the frame they're in.

Dialogue is always clear, and even with some of the thicker Southern accents on the show, everyone's voice is intelligible. Surrounds are full of action. The subtle chirping of crickets and other nighttime bugs fills the rear speakers during some of the more subdued outdoor scenes, while many of the action scenes are riddled with crashing glass and breaking objects as vampires, and other supernatural beasts, struggle and fight. It's just another demo-quality track provided by HBO. Fans of the series will be just as happy this time around as they were with the other seasons.

Special Features

Ranking:
  • Audio Commentaries – There are six commentaries provided. The episodes with commentaries are: "You Smell Like Dinner"; "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?"; "I'm Alive and on Fire"; "I Wish I Was the Moon"; "Let's Get Out of Here"; and "Burning Down the House". The commentaries do a great job at mixing filmmakers and producers with actors providing deep insight from both parties. People included in the commentaries include: creator Alan Ball, writer/co-executive producer Brian Buckner, writer Raelle Tucker, executive producer Gregg Fienberg, actors Anna Paquin (Sookie), Fiona Shaw (Marnie), Stephen Moyer (Bill), and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric). They are usually paired up one actor/one filmmaker per commentary, like in "You Smell Like Dinner" Ball is paired with Paquin as they talk about the series as a whole and the character of Sookie.

  • Inside the Episodes (HD, 56 min.) – Each episode has an "Inside the Episode" featurette that you can play after you've watched the episode that gives and overview of the plot lines, character actions, and what is happening in 'True Blood.'

  • 'True Blood': The Final Touches (HD, 28 min.) – Here Ball sits down with his FX team and they discuss the behind-the-scenes info on how many of the post-production effects were created from mystical magic to the over-the-top gore in the show.

Final Thoughts

I think this is where the residents of Bon Temps and I part ways. It was a fun ride, but this season showed that the storyline seems to be mired, moving at the speed of semi-coagulated blood. Its season premiere was some of the cheesiest television I've ever watched and it affected every bit of the rest of the season. What was once great television has turned into nothing but a silly soap opera with fangs. Its audio and video presentations, as expected, are fantastic. The actual content? Not so much. I truly hope that die-hard fans of the show continue to like it, but it's just gotten too ridiculous and watered down for me. Even though the end score for the set is high, renting it seems like the best option.