TV Guide Article: "Sookie's Choice" *Contains Spoilers*

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Sookie's Choice:

Will "True Blood's" Mind-Reading Waitress Choose Bad-Boy Vamp Eric or Boyfriend Bill?


by Kate Hahn
TV Guide - Aug. 2-15, 2010 Double Issue







She can read minds, sling beers, and toss back shots with werewolves. Not to mention work with a pair of short-shorts across two states.

No wonder "True Blood's" Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is the dream girl for three guys who put super in supernatural.



So Far, she's been loyal to her first love, Civil War-era vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), but a heartrending breach of trust will soon tear the two apart, leaving an opening for calculating Viking bloodsucker Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) and sensitive werewolf bodyguard Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello).



"It will shake the very core of their relationship," says executive producer Alan Ball of the shocking incident that wounds the couple in Season Three.

"Bill and Sookie's love for each other is authentic and they want to make it work. But it might get harder and harder."













Sookie's love life is a huge reason why viewers are sucking up "True Blood" by the gallon.

The Emmy-nominated drama, based on the best-selling book series by Charlaine Harris, is HBO's biggest hit since "The Sopranos".


Set in the backwater Bon Temps, Louisiana and surrounds, it's a Southern Gothic gumbo of hot sex, deep love, and vampire politics with enough storylines to choke a gator.




But underneath it all is the battle for Sookie's heart and that's been raging since Season One.

Fans have chosen sides and it's on for Team Bill vs. Team Eric with rival Alcide running in the mix.





Team Bill die-hards held their breath in the Season Two finale when Bill was kidnapped just after proposing to Sookie.

This season kicked off with Bill being hauled away by werewolves working for vampire King of the Mississippi Russell Edgington (Dennis O'Hare). Sookie's search for her intended landed her in Russell's clutches, and she might have died along the way if not for Alcide's protection.



Add to that: the conniving Eric and Bill's ex Lorena (Mariana Kleveno) who said she'd like to wear Sookie's rib-cage as a hat, the dangerous Vampire Queen Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood) and you've got one bloody mess.







Still, Moyer (Paquin's real-life fiancé) believes that, when it comes to true love, all the mayhem is manageable.

"I can't get into slinging matches about who's better for Sookie because it's ridiculous," he laughs. "Bill is for Sookie, the love of her life."














Moyer makes a good case for why on a moonless night in an outdoor scene that will air on August 8th's episode. We won't reveal too much, but we can say that he is ready to fight Russell, who has put Bill's prodigy teenage vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) in danger.

Bill's all passion and protectiveness, and definitely someone you want in your corner - or any room of the house. Score one for Team Bill.






But during the escape from Russell's mansion that eventually leads to this moment, Moyer hints, "Sookie does something we haven't seen her do yet for Bill. It being a roller-coaster ride that their relationship is, something happens immediately that makes things go awry."









Enter Eric.

Sure, the sexy sheriff of Area Five and owner of fang-banger bar Fangtasia was so smitten with Sookie he tricked her into drinking his blood last season, bonding them for life.

Yet when he saw her captive at Russell's earlier this season, he refused to help? WHAT GIVES?




Fear not Team Eric. It's all part of a bigger plan reveals Skarsgård:

"He pretends he is not, but he is definitely concerned for her. And that's tough for him to admit - that she means a lot to him."



"Sookie's not exactly impartial," says Paquin. "With Eric there are a lot of feelings. Under all of that anger towards him there is also a lot of passion."








Maddeningly for Eric fans, that lust has only been consumed in dream sequences.

Ball promises that it will soon change, "We'll see Eric and Sookie together and it will be real. It's nobody's dream and it's nobody's fantasy.

But I'm not saying on how the both of them will react."














A tie-breaking opportunity for the rival vamps could come soon when Sookie learns a secret about herself.

It's the answer to 'What are you?' which is the question that Bill asked Sookie on the day they first met.


"It's complicated issues," says Alan Ball adding that the discovery will have a major impact on all her romantic relationships.

"It makes Sookie question a lot. She has moments where she's like 'I've had it with vampires.'"








Does that mean Alcide will have his chance? Yep!

"When you're fighting for your life and everything you've taken for granted is revealed as something else than what you thought, and there's an insanely hot person next to you, there is definitely going to be energy," says Ball.


Paquin adds, "They find comfort in each other. Plus he's big, he's strong, and he's warm."



















None of Sookie's supernatural admirers are a totally safe choice.

Besides the incident with Bill, her relationship with someone else could lead to big trouble. "It's not Sookie getting her ass kicked, it's pretty evenly matched," hints Paquin of the upcoming battle.

"Both people really throw down."










But in matters of the heart, the winner isn't always clear.

As Season Three winds down expect more twists than a backcountry road. The biggest may come from Sookie when she discovers just how dark passion can be.

"Sookie started off the show as a virgin," Ball says. "But we'll see a whole new side of her. Had she seen that back side, she herself would have been shocked."









And that's not the only thing that will shake Sookie up.

"Toward the end of the season, she's not really concerned about 'Who am I going to pick?' She's more concerned about evading forces that want her for reasons I can't disclose," Ball says.



So put on your team t-shirts and grab a cold one cause it looks like the rest of the summer is going to be hot!