'True Blood': A vampire's conscience

TV series don’t get more wonderfully lurid than True Blood, in which vampires and humans coexist thanks to a new synthetic blood. This mass-produced product lets people off the hook as a nutritional source — at least in theory. So far, Season 5 has had no shortage of the old fangs-in-the-neck maneuver, including a spectacular example this week.

Tara (Rutina Wesley), newly turned into a vampire, is presented with a young maiden whom she resists at first. “Don’t you realize I was human three days ago?” she asks her “maker,” Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten). “I can’t look at another person like she’s dinner!” In True Blood, however, “humanity” comes and goes. In this instance, it goes.

Meanwhile, hapless heroine Sookie (Anna Paquin), the Louisiana waitress and faerie, is wrestling with her conscience. She has committed murder and, unlike many of the other characters, can’t just shrug it off. “I’m sick of lying and covering and ruining people’s lives!” she sobs to brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten).

She may be sick of it, but I’m sure not. I hope to watch Sookie lie, cover, and ruin people’s lives for many seasons to come.