HOLLYWOOD—Sunday night's "True Blood" was titled "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," but was far from nothing. The season two finale was jammed packed with drama, deception, intrigue, poignant moments and true love. The series that Alan Ball and HBO have created and made a Sunday night staple ended by wrapping up some important storylines for the season and opened many more doors and questions for season three. Fans could barely contain themselves during the hours leading up to an episode that left few viewers unhappy or feeling cheated. I felt a payoff at the end of the season while also feeling excitement for the future of the series.
Maryann, Courtesy: HBO One of the show's loyal viewers was ready to start the show on time. Claudine Lombardo said on Facebook "Laundry in washer, check! PJ's on, check! Snacks, check! HBO on, check! 'True Blood' in 13 minutes, check! I'm ready to go!" While Vinny Sanrocco stated, "Let's get rid of Maryann tonight! Devour her!"
Fans got what they wanted. The episode started out with Maryann in control of everyone in the Stackhouse residence, all gathered at her orders in order to witness her wedding to Dionysus, the Greek god long dispatched. Maryann fought to control Sookie but realized Sookie is more than a mere mortal. She is a supernatural being who cannot be controlled by the inner demonic forces Maryann possesses.
Sookie and Bill Courtesy: HBO While worrying about Tara and Lafayette who were both deep under Maryann's spell, Sookie became highly upset when she realized her brother Jason had also been taken under Maryann's spell. As Maryann was dressed in Sookie's late grandmother's wedding gown, she prepared for "the god who comes." She had been building an altar for days and expected the sacrifice would arrive in the form of Sam Merlotte, played by Sam Trammel. Maryann calmly and chillingly explained to Sookie that she was simply the bait in a trap for Sam. Maryann, knowing Sam is a shape shifter, believed that by killing him and removing his heart, the god Dionysus would return and become her wedded husband. Sookie, played by Oscar winner Anna Paquin, cried in horror as she watched her friends and neighbors doing evil deeds under the possession of Maryann, a maenad, and was horrified to see Sam brought by her boyfriend Bill Compton, who is played by Stephen Moyer. "Maenad, I brought your sacrifice," said Bill, who handed Sam over to Maryann's minions, who immediately tied him and placed him at the altar for Maryann. 
Sam, Courtesy: Link 81 Collection She ordered Eggs to kill Sam, as Eggs shoved the knife into Sam's chest, using his mind to talk to mind reader Sookie, Sam told her, "Destroy it, all of it." She ran over to the altar and with superhuman strength she managed to topple it. Maryann was furious and was about to attack Sookie and the others when Sookie ran through the woods away from the carnage that was occurring at the hands of evil Maryann. Just then, Maryann buried her hands into the ground in a rage and when she brought them out of the dirt, her hands were claws. Maryann chased Sookie until Sookie fell to the ground. Just as she was about to murder Sookie, there was a bellow and loud sound coming out of the dark woods. Maryann forgot about Sookie and walked quickly towards the bellowing sounds. Just in the night came a beautiful white Brahma bull with horns. Happy to see it, Maryann started talking about "the horned god, the god who comes." She begged the bull to come to her, destroy her body and the vessel she is and come into the world. The bull gored Maryann in the heart and within seconds she was almost dead, when amazingly and to viewers' joy, it was Sam who was not dead, but had shifted into the bull. Maryann's last words were, "Was there no god?" Questioning what she's believed for centuries living as an ancient demon or maenad. Bill arrived barely alive. He'd given much of his blood to shape shifter Sam in order to be able to heal from the stabbing and almost murder he endured. The next morning came with no one but Sookie, Sam and Bill aware of what had transpired the night before. Hoyt was sorry for leaving Jessica, who later killed a truck driver at a truck stop, who was trying to have sex with her. Hoyt waited at Jessica's door with roses in hopes she's arrive to accept his apology, but Jessica's turned to the dark side. Queen Sophie was revealed to fans and viewers as the one who was behind Eric's decision to sell "V," which is an illegal substance known as vampire's blood. Fans don't know why the Queen would do such a thing and Eric only promised her that he'd be taking care of Bill Compton, so that he would not reveal to anyone what Eric was up to. While many were trying to get back to their lives with amnesia of the past few weeks, Eggs was still devastated. He couldn't figure out how he had blood on his hands and with Sookie's help, Eggs remembered the lost memories of killing the voodoo woman for Maryann and then Daphne, played by beautiful and talented Ashley Jones, who is also Bridget Forrester Marone on CBS's "The Bold and the Beautiful." Not being able to live with his deeds, he later begged Deputy Andy to arrest him. Jason, played by Aussie star Ryan Kwanten saw Eggs standing over Andy with a knife, so he shot and killed Eggs. Andy was stunned, he told Jason to give him the gun and leave. Jason left sobbing, "I've never killed anyone before." While employees and patrons of Merlotte's Bar and Grill ran out to find Eggs dead. Tara played by Rutina Wesley was devastated. By the end of the evening viewers witnessed Sam going to the home of his former foster parents who ran him away nineteen years ago as a child upon witnessing his shape shifting abilities. Sam demanded to know who his real parents were. His former foster mother warned him, "You don't want to know. They are very bad people." While his invalid former foster dad gave him a piece of paper, which is a clue to how he can find his biological parents. Why did they give Sam up? That's what viewers were left wondering about. Then Bill asked Sookie to marry him. She was too emotional to give him an answer right away. She ran into the ladies room and wiped away her tears. She was very emotional because she didn't really understand her supernatural powers and therefore doesn't know what she is—surely a lot more than just human. Within a short time she composed herself and realized how lucky she was to be the one Bill loved. Before she could come out of the lady's room someone very strong and powerful had attacked Bill, had a silver chain around his neck and dragged him out of the door. Sookie came out and said, "Bill, the answer is yes, I'll marry you." Then she looked around in horror as the man she loved was gone. Fans were split on who kidnapped Bill. "True Blood" Facebook devotees Peter and Debbie Blomert said, "We think it was Lorena, [Bill's maker] she's stronger than Bill, even though Eric had told the Queen he would deal with Bill personally. Season three will have Eric in a bigger role, we're sure." While Bobby Head's assessment was the following, "Just sensational. It tied up a lot of loose ends, but left you praying that it wouldn't end. So glad Maryann got the big horn that she wanted so badly. I was really panicked when Eggs drove the knife into poor Sam. Don't want him to leave and seeing the deer was heartbreaking. Poor Sam. Too bad about Eggs. I didn't want him to die, but I knew he had to go. Now we have to worry about Bill. I just know Eric and the Valley Girl Queen are behind this madness about him disappearing." Finally, Krista Lou said, "Seeing Maryann's demise was SO gratifying. Yeeehawwwww! [sic]" Fans are ready for the season to become available on DVD. You can check the status by going to the "True Blood" official Web sites. The season finale was an absolute must-see. Incredible acting, brilliant writing and top notch special effects. Maryann may have died by the bull's attack, but the series is still very much alive and pop culture shall never be the same. The "True Blood" official Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/TrueBlood. Join us in discussing the pros and cons of the series. "True Blood" is an unholy alliance between Alan Ball and the viewers, much like that of Bill, Sam and Sookie during the finale, which brought an end to Maryann's reign of terror. Or did it? http://truebloodnet.com http://truebloodnet.com/community http://truebloodnet.com/forums
The 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, entitled Dead in the Family, is scheduled for release in May 2010. On her Web site, author Charlaine Harris shared a bit about her writing process and all the work that goes into bringing the next part of Sookie's story into the eager hands of the fans. Charlaine praises the value of her first readers for making suggestions on how to improve the books before they are published: 
Wearing a Sam Merlotte style flannel shirt with a leather jacket and skinny jeans, True Blood's Sam Trammell attended the Los Angeles premiere of Drew Barrymore's directorial debut film, Whip It!, held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on September 29, 2009 in Hollywood, California. Cast members attending the premiere included: Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis, Eve, Zoe Bell, Landon Pigg, Alia Shawkat, Andrew Wilson, and Daniel Stern, as well as executive producer Nancy Juvonen. Other celebrities at the premiere included Drew's boyfriend Justin Long, Amber Heard, Kate Beckinsale and her director husband Len Wiseman, Ashley Roberts, Serena Williams, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Shenae Grimes, and Olivia Munn. Whip It! is based on Shauna Cross' novel Derby Girl which tells the story of Bliss, a young woman whose mother believes she should center her life around local beauty pageants. Bliss feels that her life has no direction until she discovers an underworld roller derby league and decides to try out for a spot on a team named the Hurl Scouts, calling herself "Babe Ruthless." Whip It! opens in U.S. theaters this Friday, October 2. You can see 
True Blood heartthrobs Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) and Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte) attended The Calvin Klein Collection's Spring 2010 show, followed by dinner and an after party hosted by Francisco Costa, Calvin Klein's creative director at New York's Standard Hotel. The evening was attended by a large number of models, celebrities and New York socialites. In addition to hanging with his fellow castmate, Ryan also posed for a photo (shown below) with fellow Aussie, model Miranda Kerr, and Calvin Klein's Senior Vice President of Global Communications, Malcolm Carfrae. 
