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Midnight, Texas: Lemuel, Unchained

Review by An Honest Fangirl

"Midnight's safe! It's just that you might have to fight to keep it that way."

Um, Xylda? With the body count that this show has so far, I think that it's safe to say that Midnight is definitely not safe.

As you may have guessed from the episode title, this episode focused on Midnight's resident vampire. There were a lot of little things about him, like the ability to drain energy as opposed to blood or his electric blue eyes, that I just wrote off as being normal for vampires in this universe. But they're not. Lem is special. He's truly a kind soul, one that seeks freedom and the ability to live with others in peace. It made me like him a lot more than I already did.

There were a lot of flashbacks this week. While they were all interesting and I loved being able to see Lem's history, I'm not sure how necessary they were. More often than not, it felt like they disrupted the flow of the episode as a whole. With so much time devoted to the past, the events of the present felt more like an afterthought.

I'm talking specifically about the final confrontation with all of the vampires. It was more than a little weak. It was just so incredibly easy to end the vampire threat, including Zach. It was anticlimactic and a little disappointing, especially since Midnight, Texas did such a good job with the fight scenes beforehand. Both Manfred and Olivia had moments to shine in ways that felt in character. I mean, Olivia had a stake in her heel! That's so cool!

For all of the history that we got about Lem, none of it included how he met Olivia. She's still a very large question mark. I had always assumed that she was human, but she was able to fight hand-to-hand with that vampire very easily, even when he was using super speed. Is she special in some way?

Besides the newly arrived vampires, a lot of focus was placed on two developing romantic relationships. Creek and Manfred were a little better this week than they had been in the past. Creek received some depth from her interactions with her brother and father. She kept both of them relatively calm while she did what needed to be done in order to protect her family.

The only thing that I don't understand is why her father hates Manfred so much. What has Manfred done? For as long as he's been in town, he's only ever been courageous and a general good guy. Like Creek pointed out, this week he saved the whole town. So why is her father so insistent that Manfred is going to lead her down a bad path? Badly manufactured tension? Or maybe, hopefully, a hint about an interesting backstory for Creek?

The other relationship isn't really a romantic relationship yet, but let's not kid ourselves. I would bet ten bucks that Bobo and Fiji hook up in the next three episodes, even if Bobo did seemingly squash any hope of a relationship. I'm really uneasy about this one. I feel like it should be cute and adorable, but the specter of Aubrey is just hanging over their every interaction. The poor guy just lost his fiancee what feels like only a few days ago in show time. The whole thing just feels a little off to me.

Random Thoughts


Interesting how Zach said that they would party like it's 1959, presumably the year when Lem met Xylda. That probably should have been an early hint that Zach was up to no good.

We got more info on vampires as a whole. They can be killed by either a stake or by sunlight. Or by Lem. Garlic, crosses, and having to ask permission before they can enter are false. And they have groupies. More knowledgable people than me: is this consistent with the rest of Harris' works?

I really, really wish that my cat could talk. Even if she would probably just insult me.

I liked how quickly everyone ran out when they heard Creek screaming. It's a nice way of showing just how much the town protects one another.

Joe is a fallen angel. Do people in the town not know that he's an angel in general? He was pretty vague about how he got up in that tower.

Good continuity with Manfred's house being inhospitable to the dead following Fiji's exorcism last episode.

Quotes:


Lem: Still a slave. This time to blood. I can't do this anymore.

Olivia: Wow. Well, you guys got a lot of catching up to do. I feel a migraine coming on.
Lem: You don't have a migraine, do you?

Fiji: I just feel so comfortable around you.
Bobo: That's why I'm here. I want you to know that I do too.
*Long, romantic pause*
Bobo: You're my closest friend!
Fiji's Talking Cat: *annoyed, disgusted growl*

Fiji: What like a supernatural weapon?
Bobo: You're a witch. In a witchcraft store. We need to get creative.
Fiji. Creative. I can do that.

Vampire: A pencil? You got to pierce the heart, pretty boy.


"Lemuel, Unchained" had some very interesting character moments. It was just let down by a lackluster finale.

An Honest Fangirl loves superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, and really bad horror movies. 

3 comments:

  1. I haven't see the episode yet, but here's a wiki page that has info on the vampires in the Sookie-verse.

    http://sookiestackhouse.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Billie!

    There seems to be a lot of differences between them. A few crossovers, like basic super speed and strength, but otherwise there seems to be a whole new set of rules.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Finally saw this one, and yes, a whole new set of vampire rules. I had been getting the impression that Midnight was in the same universe as True Blood, only earlier -- before the invention of Tru Blood. But no. No invitation rules.

    While Peter Mensah's Lem is so physically imposing and gorgeous that I could just look at him for a long time, and his character is quite sympathetic and I am definitely interested in what's going on with Olivia, (there has to be something special about her, like you said, Fangirl), this show still isn't quite grabbing me yet. It feels supernaturally formulaic, if there is such a thing. But I'm interested enough that I'm willing to give it a few more episodes. Maybe because of the gay angel and the talking cat. :)

    ReplyDelete

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