True Blood: My Final Thoughts On Tara Thornton

In the season 7 premiere of True Blood, everyone was shocked and appalled when one of the main characters Tara was killed within the first 5 minutes. Not only that, but it was done OFF screen. No one could believe that the writers of this once amazing show could do something so irresponsible and so idiotic as to kill one of the shows original characters without showing it on screen for everyone to see and to mourn over. So this led the internet to brainstorm countless theories about how because she “died” off screen that she probably wasn’t dead at all. That it was all just a ploy or a fake-out.

Well, it’s been three episodes now, and it has been confirmed:

Tara Thronton is dead and gone.

Not only has Rutina Wesley (the actress who perfectly portrays her) spoken out and admitted she’s legitimately dead, so has one of the head writers. Finally, we got true confirmation on tonight’s new episode, when Tara’s “maker” Pam (the vampire who turned her into a vampire) admitted that she felt Tara’s “true death”. For those who don’t know the laws of True Blood, when a vampire dies for real and for good, the person who “made” them vampire physically feels it, giving the maker confirmation that their progeny or their “child” is in fact dead.

So yes. Tara is dead. For real. For good. She’s now only going to show up in her mother’s drugged-out visions.

WOW. I don’t even know what to say.

I honestly don’t even have words. It’s not only stupid what the writers have done with Tara, it’s downright offensive and borderline criminal. Let me explain to you what’s been done to this poor character, who was so beautiful and so strong, and just so good.

In Season One, Tara was one of the shows 5 or 6 true main characters, starting from the pilot. She played an integral role in the story telling of the show. But from day one she was beat and battered and abused. You see, Tara came from a broken home: a father who abandoned her, forcing her to live with her alcoholic and physically/emotionally abusive mother. Tara’s storyline that first season centered around her having to deal with her crazy, mentally ill mother who would spit disgusting words at her constantly, hit her in the head with empty Vodka bottles, and generally abuse her in every sense. This (and Tara’s upbringing in general) obviously made her cold and defensive, as she built a wall around herself with an attitude problem and bitchy comments towards others. However, despite these “flaws” (and I use that term loosely because she is completely justified in her ways, in my opinion), she was still a beautiful soul who loved so openly and so deeply. She was Sookie’s best friend, she was in love with Jason Stackhouse, she fell for Sam Merlotte, she had a strong, amazing relationship with her sassy cousin Lafayette. They all loved her so much and she loved them right back. She defended them to her dying day and treated them better than they would ever treat her.

Season Two came along, and she became the victim of the main villain of the season, the maenad Maryann. She fell in love with a man who ended up being shot in the end. She became possessed by Maryann’s evil powers, forcing her to do vile things against her will such as continuously participating in orgies with dozens of other innocent, unwilling people.

Season Three though is where everything went to shit for her character. Despite going through horrible things in her life, she remained strong and moral and good. But what do the writers do with her? Oh yeah, they bring in an older, creepy vampire character named Franklin who enslaves Tara. Uses her, abuses her, ties her up, rapes her constantly. It was horrible, it was offensive (let’s keep in mind that not only is Tara a woman being enslaved and raped, she was a black woman enslaved and raped by a white man). It was nothing short of despicable. All of this caused her to eventually leave town in the season finale.

Bring on Season Four, and Tara returns to town stronger and more resilient, and as protective and loving as always. She realized she was bisexual and she got a girlfriend. Oh but that didn’t matter because they didn’t give the relationship the time of day. Her girlfriend left town and we never saw her again. And once again, Tara spent half the season trapped, this time by a witch. Then in the final moment of the season, she gets shot in the head and dies doing what she does best: protecting her loved ones (Sookie, in this case). Yup. She died.

However, in the Season 5 premiere, Pam turned her into a vampire, the very thing Tara hated most (she was kidnapped and raped by one after all). However, through time and growth she was able to accept her new life as the undead, became as gorgeous and as fierce as ever, and she even fell in love with her Maker, Pam.

(Keep in mind that as each season went on, the writers gave Tara/Rutina less and less screen time).

Season Six was the worst though. They turned Tara into a side character with no depth and no dialogue. No, I’m not being dramatic and no I’m not lying. All of us fans were witness to it. They downgraded this main character into a girl with less than 30 seconds of screen time in most episodes, most times with no more than one or two lines. No word of a lie, there was one episode where she had 10 seconds of screen time and ONE line: “Back off, bitches!” (And what was she doing? Once again, protecting a loved one. Jason). It was so hard to watch this wonderful, layered character become nothing but a punchline. It’s still so offensive to me and I will never be okay with it.

Fast forward all this fucking bullshit, and here we are in season 7, where she was given pretty much the most anti-climactic death in television history. Off screen. No real remorse from any of her loved ones or characters. All it boils down to is bad writing. HORRENDOUS writing, to be exact. Sookie, her best friend and basically her sister, didn’t even cry. Jason, who grew up with Tara and loved her like a sister too didn’t bat an eyelash. Sam, her friend and once lover hasn’t even mentioned her death even though he was there when it happened. It’s honestly the worst writing I have ever seen on a show in all my 24 years. This character got fucked over so many times I can’t even keep count, and LITERALLY DIED TWICE protecting people like Sookie and Jason, and how is she repaid? With a pointless death not even shown on screen. Worst of all, she died protecting her MOTHER, of all people. Her abusive mother who treated her like shit all her life. THAT is who they had Tara die protecting. And not only did they kill off a constantly abused and battered woman, but they did it to a woman of colour, who also happened to be bisexual. It’s abysmal.

She used to have amazing scenes with characters like her cousin Lafeyette. They were wonderful together and had the BEST banter and chemistry. Their stories together had so much rawness and depth. But as soon as they turned her into a vampire, it’s like the writers forgot about everything about Tara’s personal life and her past. And believe it or not, she never had another scene with Lafayette ever again after she went to live with Pam. Not one. How does a writer just throw all of that away? I know this is a show, but how can you not be more responsible with these characters’ lives and with their narratives? It’s beyond lazy and it’s offensive on ALL accounts.

I don’t even know how to feel. I don’t know how to react. I feel betrayed in the worst way that a show could ever make me feel. In all my life, True Blood is the ONLY show that I can say I regret watching. I wish I could go back in time and tell my 19 year old self, “DO NOT watch this fucking show. It is lazy and it will do nothing but fuck you and all of your favourites over”.

It’s a blessing that this show is ending. Seven more episodes left and everyone can finally be rid of it. Go around the internet, go to IMDB, see how everyone is reacting to the show now. It’s horrible. Not just because of Tara. All the storylines are shit. It’s a joke. The show died for me after Season 5, so I feel no loss at all. Only when it comes to my beautiful Tara.

Rutina Wesley who plays Tara was treated so badly that I wish I could meet her and hug her and tell her how sorry I am for what they did to her character. True Blood fucked her over in more ways then one, over and over again and I will forever hate the show-runners for it.

She is a stunning, talented woman who I cannot wait to see shine in future roles. She deserves everything good, and I truly hope she gets it.