I think that one of the reasons that she likes Bill is that she can't "hear" him.

I got that this was part of it, but it seemed like she could control the telepathy at times. Thus the extreme concentrate-y face, no? Plus, the bartender is just prettier. I would put up with some voices for him, I think. Most decidedly so.

Maybe for people (audience members) who haven't been raised with Joss and Tim, the ending wasn't so obvious?

Ha! You mean not every show follows up a happy moment with torture for its main characters? Say what?

I'm just saying, I got the naivete with the whole "Don't say the 'J' word" and Treat Her Like a Lady moments. It seems like if she grew up working class enough to know the type of trashy folks that those fools seemed to be, and since it also seemed that she had some kind of history with them, she should have been expecting they'd try to retaliate somehow. How long is she supposed to have been working in that bar anyway? And how old is she supposed to be? I definitely was getting a late teens/early twenties vibe (19/20ish). Is that about right?

I got that this was part of it, but it seemed like she could control the telepathy at times. Thus the extreme concentrate-y face, no?

but with Bill, she didn't have to concentrate.

Maybe so, but I don't know. I guess I would just fall on the side of concentrating a little bit and getting down with the hottie bartender who loves me like crazy over not concentrating but having a boyfriend who might try to suck my blood one night and/or whose friends and acquaintances would probably try to hurt and/or kill me one day. And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

Also, and somewhat less tongue in cheek-y, when she's with Bill is it just that she can't read him? Or is it that with him the voices in the head stop entirely from everyone? Also, also, does it always require intense concentration for Sookie to block out the voices? Because it seemed like sometimes she wasn't picking up people's thoughts and she wasn't really trying very hard - with her grandmother and her brother in the kitchen, for example, or during the initial scene with Lafayette in the kitchen before all the dirty talk happened. In fact, it seemed like there were only a couple of points where she really had to concentrate to shut the voices out - when she was in the bar surrounded by all the customers walking over to Bill's table the first and second time, for example. So how does her telepathy actually work? Hmm, I guess we may find out more about this as the show progresses.

And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

I agree. Plus his accent kept doing a wierd thing.

She probably picks up thoughts from people that she knows well, and if people's thoughts are particularly strong. I'm sure that there will be a scene where she explains it to Bill. Exposition, yay!

Ok, I'm trying not to be all, "Well, in the book...", all the time. Let's see, when she was with Bill, she couldn't hear his thoughts at all, and he seemed to help her block others. The rest of the time it seems like she always has background noise. Some people think loudly at her, some not so loudly and not at her, but all the time. She looked like she could concentrate to try to pick up stuff, but did it seem like she could block it out?

I feel like I need to wait another couple of episodes to see what they give us before trying to fill in any blanks in info.

Although, in defense of her taste in fellas, did anybody actually hear Sam ask her out? He thinks things about her and Tara was teasing her about him, but other than acting protective, Sam didn't actually make a move that I saw.

And did I mention about just in general finding the bartender much, much hotter than the vamp?

He is a very attractive guy. I think the guy playing Bill gets a little bit of extra credit from me because I already liked him from "The Starter Wife". And the British accent in all the interviews. Yummy.

Although, in defense of her taste in fellas, did anybody actually hear Sam ask her out? He thinks things about her and Tara was teasing her about him, but other than acting protective, Sam didn't actually make a move that I saw.

I think that it's supposed to be a desperate "love from afar" thing.

Ok, I am glad to finally see some chatter on this! I don't have cable, much less HBO, so I am trying desperately to find the first ep somewhere (profile addy is good, ahem, ahem).

I've read the books, so there won't be any surprises (I think) but I do want to see how it translates to the screen. Sookie (it helps to know a lot of times this name is spelled "Sukie" -- see the Witches of Eastwick) is supposed to be a naive, but practial in lots of other ways, outcast. She can't really control her telepathy, so this is why she is so drawn to Bill. He's a wall of silence, and she's so intrigued by vampires.

Damn it, I want to see this!

The accents had me bouncing all over the place but I'm definitely interested. It has a great atmosphere and I'm a sucker for Anna Paquin in any form.

Rewatched True Blood last night with DH. His words: "It's compelling, but not that great."

I'll probably end up purchasing the premier whenever the iTunes store gets it.