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shadowkatI'm back from the Lake, miss me? Probably not, only gone two days. I'm doing it all over again next week, except different Lake, different mountains, different state, different direction, different mode of transport, and different family members - yet, oddly, same distance and amount of time.
True Blood S4 rocks, it's hilarious. Plus none of the Bill/Sookie stuff that sucked the air out of the room, to the point that I wandered off to do other things during it or fast-forwarded.
This week's best line contest:
a) Sookie - You're not Ghandi, but you're not evil either.
b) Bill: Vampires have always been in areas of power, back then it was the Catholic Church, now it is Google and Fox News.
c) Sam: Gators like marshmellows.
d)Jason:It's like I'm being punished for having lots of great sex.
I swear...I think Alan Ball is having a blast making fun of the Soap Opera Genre, the Southern Gothic Genre, and just about everything else in between.
Well, Sookie finally remembered that Jason and Tara exist. Good for Sookie. Even though Eric is at the moment the center of Sookie's universe. Poor Bill, I doubt she's thought of him at all...well not until Tara brought him up. Bad Tara.
Jason's storyline has finally gotten interesting again. Have to say I much prefer Jason/Jessica/Hoyt to Jason/Crystal/Feldon. Jessica and Hoyt are more sympathetic, far less creepy, and easier on the eyes. Not to mention a lot less annoying.
Loved Gran's advice to Sookie, which being Sookie, she only partially listened to. Sookie decides to do some detective work this episode - and goes to check out Marnie. As does Bill. But they do it differently. Sookie's nicer about it - granted Sookie has a bit more information. She asks Marnie to give her a reading, and Marnie channel's Sookie's grandmother.
Gran - Sookie, please look after your brother Jason, he needs your help. Also this new man in your life, don't give your heart to him...it won't last, it's temporary. And this woman you're with? She's bad news, dangerous to you, get away from her. RUN!
Sookie: Bye Marnie. This was great. I'm leaving.
Marnie: Huh? What? I'm not dangerous to anyone!
Sookie: Sorry, when my Gran tells me to run, I run!
Marnie gives her a very bewildered and somewhat resigned look. Fiona Shaw (not to be confused with Fiona Hughes (British, but different soap opera), not that you would, but I almost did name wise) ) is brilliant in this role. She's hilarious.
Yet, Sookie, being Sookie, completely ignores the other piece of advice and let's herself fall for wide-eyed and innocent Eric. Can't say I blame her, wide-eyed and innocent Amensia!Eric is adorable.
Tara: Eric Northman is living in your house?? The same Eric Northman who tricked you into drinking his blood, sold you out to King Russell so they could both drink your blood and walk in the sunlight, wants to kill me, and tortured Lafayette?? Are you insane?
(Well, considering Sookie forgave and allowed Bill back in her life after he did all sorts of nasty things, does this really come as a shock to you, Tara? Also you did ask Sookie if she'd forgive Bill for doing all that crap. Granted, I don't think you about the fact that Bill hired the psychos to beat Sookie up so she'd have no choice but to drink Bill's blood and let Bill drink her's - which was actually worse...in a way. But other than that? I completely agree with you.)
Eric who has heard all of this - confronts Sookie and asks if he really did all these things, and why on earth would she let him stay with her? Is she crazy? When she tries to tell him that's not him anywmore, that he's changed, and can be saved and redeemed, that she's always seen decency in him.
He runs out worried that he will hurt her. He says - I could never live with myself if I were the one to (put out) your light. Tears in her eyes, she calls him back and they kiss passionately.
Jumping backwards, the only other piece of advice the Sookester follows is about Jason, but she does it half-heartedly. She asks him when she runs into him at Merlott's where he's been and why hasn't he answered her messages? Jason stalks out unable to answer. Can understand why. How exactly does a guy tell his sister that he's been tied up in a shack for three days, gnawed on by werepanthers, and raped by a series of werepanther women in an attempt to get pregnant? Heck I watched it and I could do without knowing about it let alone watching it, Sookie's better off than I am.
Jason to Hoyt: I think I'm being punished for having sex. Or enjoying sex with lots of hot babes. Everything that has gone wrong with me is due to sex. Everything. Someone up there doesn't want me to like or have sex.
(Gee, I wonder why poor Jason would think that?)
Hoyt tries to commiserate by whining about his problems with Jessica.
Jason: Jessica raped you?
Hoyt: No, she just gets tense when I touch her.
Jason: No offense or anything, but how exactly does this equate with me getting repeatedly raped?
Later, as if to prove his point, Jason has a horrible nightmare about Jessica coming on to him much like Crystal did, while Hoyt hovers, much like Feldon did. Poor Jason - he's traumatized. Maybe Sookie can get Marnie to erase Jason's memory of the events in Hotshot, and while she's at it - can she erase mine as well?
A possible side-effect? The full moon coming on is making Jason antsy...wonder if Jason will morph into a werepanther?
As if we don't have enough weird disconnected subplots to follow, enter Alcide, Debbie, and the werepack leader of Shreveport, who has popped up on Alcide's doorstep demanding he register with his pack. Marcus Brody. Who I'm guessing is Luna (Sam's current squeeze's) ex. Which would link at least the shifter story lines.
Tommy has managed to kill off the annoying Minkes...and show a bit of back-bone. Not knowing what to do with the bodies - which he admittedly killed in self-defense (they were trying to force him to dog-fight again), he goes to Sam to ask for help. Sam's not that upset about them being dead.
Neither am I. Actually rather relieved - was a bit worried we'd have a rehash of the whole dog-fighting story arc from S3, which I could really do without. So good riddance. Two down, one to go. Also, now that Tommy has killed his parents, does this mean Tommy can become a skin-walker, and take on his parents forms? Because that would tie in with what Luna told Sam in Episode 1. It would also tie in with the witch story line and the Lafayette/Jesus storyline (which I'm willing to bet goes down the skinwalker route - I think Jesus's grandfather is a skinwalker or knows how to become one.)
Tommy to Sam: What do we do?
Me - what do you mean "WE"? When did this become Sam's problem exactly?
Sam dumps the bodies in the back of his van, almost gets pulled over by Andy Bellfleur. (By the way the Bellefleur's all have that holier-than-thou annoying attitude in common. Except maybe for Terry, who is sweet, but also has a bit of the whole I'll protect you, me he-man, approach. They are also a bit lacking in the brains department. Says a lot for Bill's gene-pool, don't it?) But Tommy scares Andy and Sam for that matter, by shifting into a gator.
Sam inspired by Tommy's choice. (For a minute I wondered if Tommy the Gator had eaten his parents too, yes, ew, and thank you god, he didn't, because ew.) Takes the bodies to the swamp.
Tommy: They aren't sinking!
Sam: No worries. (he tosses marshmellows into the swamp and the gators jump up and devour the bodies and the marshmellows). Gators love marshmellows, but you should know that, right? (I'll never look at marshmellow's the same way again.)
Off to subplot four - Arlene and Terry Bellfleur and demon baby voodoo doll or demon baby, not quite sure which to be honest. Could go either way. Convinced their home is possessed by the evil Renee, they ask the Preacher and Tara's mother who is currently residing with the Preacher, to exorcise their home.
Tara's Mom: Don't worry I was possessed by a demon, I know how to exorcise them. (Actually it was alcohol, which I guess can be considered the same thing - it's a metaphor at any rate.)
Arlene and Terry: Not a demon, a ghost.
Tara's Mom: I can deal with those too.
Apparently not, since the ghost decides to burn Arlene, Terry and the baby in their house. I'd say it was demon baby doll or demon baby - but the matches were set to burn without anything touching them.
Confusing sub-plot. Each week it appears to be something different. First week demon baby. Second week - demon baby doll. Third week - poltergiest/ghost.
Back to Sub-plot 1 and 2. Bill and Pam are now working together. Pam's fed up and understandably so, since she appears to be rotting, or rather one side of her face is. Her ear falls off. Poor Pam.
Bill suggests makeup. Pam explains why this won't work. Bill tells her to take up the veil again.
And explains patiently why they can't kill the witches, the witches are mortal and the authority will kick their asses. Pam persuades Bill to at least question Marnie. So they kidnap her and question her. Marnie has another flashback to Antonia's past. (the spirit who keeps taking over Marnie - which upon telling Jesus, Tara and Lafayette this - caused Jesus and Lafayette to high-tail it to Mexico to seek out Jesus's grand-daddy, a powerful and somewhat amoral shaman. I'd say evil, but that's always up in the air in this type of show.) Apparently Antonia was terrorized by vampire catholic priests and nuns during the 17th or 16th centuries, or maybe 18th? I don't know - sometime back when they burned witches at the stake. It's a bit hard to see Antonia or Marnie as villains here - as Marnie states, they were attacked for doing little more than resurrecting a dead bird. This is all Bill's fault. I'd suggest staking Bill for it - except Bill is hilarious and rather entertaining as the new King of Lousiana.
Bill meanwhile has other problems - Portia keeps throwing herself at him. But Bill, being the old-fashioned and somewhat traditional stick up his ass guy that he is, he can't quite handle the idea of having sex with his great great great great great granddaughter. Even if he's a vampire and the possibility of procreation is well, impossible (this isn't Twilight or Angel for that matter, so as far as we know, yes, it is impossible.) Portia is right - this shouldn't be an issue. But it bugs Bill. So he compells/glamour's Portia to be terrified of him. Every time you see me - you will scream and run away. Which she promptly does. So now, poor Bill, is without a fuck-buddy or romantic love interest, which is bound to make him cranky.
Back to Eric and Sookie - pre-hot kissing scene (well Eric in a hoodie, a couple sizes too small for him, is more laughable than hot, but whatever). Eric has a bad dream about Godric telling him he is damned and evil and can never be redeemed and will destroy Sookie. Also to do that now. Eric goes to Sookie's room and appears to consider it, fangs out and everything, but Sookie wakes up and asks what's going on. He says that he's had a bad dream and tells her about it, crying. She comforts him.
Eric: Am I evil? I've done horrible things.
Sookie: Well, I wouldn't say you were exactly Ghandi, but you aren't evil either. (Sookie, no one is Ghandie. Actually even Ghandie wasn't all that great - he was a bit of a racist and sexist, actually, perfect? Far from it. I read this recently, can't remember where, but it stuck in my brain. Too lazy to google it. Do with it what you will.)
Eric: Well that's okay then. (He then proceeds to stroke her ego, telling her how beautiful she is and what a shining light, etc. Sigh. Sookie is a sucker for flattery, that's how Bill got her into the sack.)
Will state, I'm adoring these scenes. They are hilarious. Ball makes fun of half a dozen romance tropes in one fell swoop. Also those two have chemistry. And Alexander Skarsgard has the sexiest blue eyes on the planet. While you can't even see Stephen Moyer's eyes - which look like the beady eyes of crow - when you actually do. His face is pinched and lined, he looks older than Skarsgard. But! I find King Bill hilarious, not to mention a lot of fun and I want to keep him around. He's so out of his depth.
King Bill eventually does find out from Rotting!Pam what happened to Eric. Mostly because Rotting!Pam is getting desperate. Either reverse the spell Marnie did on me, or let me torture Marnie for doing it. One or the other. Or let me kill her! The remaining sheriff's agree. Bill cautions that they not treat the witches lightly...which one does, and gets smacked upside the head for doing. Actually it's not witches plural, it's one witch and she's from the past...actually she's Antonia - the gal who make all these vampires walk into the daylight when they were burning her alive - which I don't know, they sort of deserved, considering. Antonia is supposed to be evil and the bad guy...but from whose perspective exactly? The vampires?
LAdy Sheriff Vamp with no-name to Bill: Wait, Vampires were priests and nuns???
PaM: Don't you know anything about our history?
Bill: Yes, vampires were always involved in places of power, hiding inside it and controlling things.
Back then it was the Catholic Church, now it is Google and Fox News.
I rest my case. Methinks we are rooting for the wrong people here? Granted the vampires are a heck of a lot more entertaining (make that amusing) than some of the human characters are.
This show is hilarious. I laughed my head off during it tonight. Much funnier season than last season.
Also, dare I hope that we are finally rid of the Hotshot storyline? I think we are. I spoiled myself just enough to determine that much. But I'm afraid...to jinx it. Now, if we can just do something about Tommy...all will be well. Maybe we can send Marnie after him? Or Sam can kill him and become a skin-walker?
True Blood S4 rocks, it's hilarious. Plus none of the Bill/Sookie stuff that sucked the air out of the room, to the point that I wandered off to do other things during it or fast-forwarded.
This week's best line contest:
a) Sookie - You're not Ghandi, but you're not evil either.
b) Bill: Vampires have always been in areas of power, back then it was the Catholic Church, now it is Google and Fox News.
c) Sam: Gators like marshmellows.
d)Jason:It's like I'm being punished for having lots of great sex.
I swear...I think Alan Ball is having a blast making fun of the Soap Opera Genre, the Southern Gothic Genre, and just about everything else in between.
Well, Sookie finally remembered that Jason and Tara exist. Good for Sookie. Even though Eric is at the moment the center of Sookie's universe. Poor Bill, I doubt she's thought of him at all...well not until Tara brought him up. Bad Tara.
Jason's storyline has finally gotten interesting again. Have to say I much prefer Jason/Jessica/Hoyt to Jason/Crystal/Feldon. Jessica and Hoyt are more sympathetic, far less creepy, and easier on the eyes. Not to mention a lot less annoying.
Loved Gran's advice to Sookie, which being Sookie, she only partially listened to. Sookie decides to do some detective work this episode - and goes to check out Marnie. As does Bill. But they do it differently. Sookie's nicer about it - granted Sookie has a bit more information. She asks Marnie to give her a reading, and Marnie channel's Sookie's grandmother.
Gran - Sookie, please look after your brother Jason, he needs your help. Also this new man in your life, don't give your heart to him...it won't last, it's temporary. And this woman you're with? She's bad news, dangerous to you, get away from her. RUN!
Sookie: Bye Marnie. This was great. I'm leaving.
Marnie: Huh? What? I'm not dangerous to anyone!
Sookie: Sorry, when my Gran tells me to run, I run!
Marnie gives her a very bewildered and somewhat resigned look. Fiona Shaw (not to be confused with Fiona Hughes (British, but different soap opera), not that you would, but I almost did name wise) ) is brilliant in this role. She's hilarious.
Yet, Sookie, being Sookie, completely ignores the other piece of advice and let's herself fall for wide-eyed and innocent Eric. Can't say I blame her, wide-eyed and innocent Amensia!Eric is adorable.
Tara: Eric Northman is living in your house?? The same Eric Northman who tricked you into drinking his blood, sold you out to King Russell so they could both drink your blood and walk in the sunlight, wants to kill me, and tortured Lafayette?? Are you insane?
(Well, considering Sookie forgave and allowed Bill back in her life after he did all sorts of nasty things, does this really come as a shock to you, Tara? Also you did ask Sookie if she'd forgive Bill for doing all that crap. Granted, I don't think you about the fact that Bill hired the psychos to beat Sookie up so she'd have no choice but to drink Bill's blood and let Bill drink her's - which was actually worse...in a way. But other than that? I completely agree with you.)
Eric who has heard all of this - confronts Sookie and asks if he really did all these things, and why on earth would she let him stay with her? Is she crazy? When she tries to tell him that's not him anywmore, that he's changed, and can be saved and redeemed, that she's always seen decency in him.
He runs out worried that he will hurt her. He says - I could never live with myself if I were the one to (put out) your light. Tears in her eyes, she calls him back and they kiss passionately.
Jumping backwards, the only other piece of advice the Sookester follows is about Jason, but she does it half-heartedly. She asks him when she runs into him at Merlott's where he's been and why hasn't he answered her messages? Jason stalks out unable to answer. Can understand why. How exactly does a guy tell his sister that he's been tied up in a shack for three days, gnawed on by werepanthers, and raped by a series of werepanther women in an attempt to get pregnant? Heck I watched it and I could do without knowing about it let alone watching it, Sookie's better off than I am.
Jason to Hoyt: I think I'm being punished for having sex. Or enjoying sex with lots of hot babes. Everything that has gone wrong with me is due to sex. Everything. Someone up there doesn't want me to like or have sex.
(Gee, I wonder why poor Jason would think that?)
Hoyt tries to commiserate by whining about his problems with Jessica.
Jason: Jessica raped you?
Hoyt: No, she just gets tense when I touch her.
Jason: No offense or anything, but how exactly does this equate with me getting repeatedly raped?
Later, as if to prove his point, Jason has a horrible nightmare about Jessica coming on to him much like Crystal did, while Hoyt hovers, much like Feldon did. Poor Jason - he's traumatized. Maybe Sookie can get Marnie to erase Jason's memory of the events in Hotshot, and while she's at it - can she erase mine as well?
A possible side-effect? The full moon coming on is making Jason antsy...wonder if Jason will morph into a werepanther?
As if we don't have enough weird disconnected subplots to follow, enter Alcide, Debbie, and the werepack leader of Shreveport, who has popped up on Alcide's doorstep demanding he register with his pack. Marcus Brody. Who I'm guessing is Luna (Sam's current squeeze's) ex. Which would link at least the shifter story lines.
Tommy has managed to kill off the annoying Minkes...and show a bit of back-bone. Not knowing what to do with the bodies - which he admittedly killed in self-defense (they were trying to force him to dog-fight again), he goes to Sam to ask for help. Sam's not that upset about them being dead.
Neither am I. Actually rather relieved - was a bit worried we'd have a rehash of the whole dog-fighting story arc from S3, which I could really do without. So good riddance. Two down, one to go. Also, now that Tommy has killed his parents, does this mean Tommy can become a skin-walker, and take on his parents forms? Because that would tie in with what Luna told Sam in Episode 1. It would also tie in with the witch story line and the Lafayette/Jesus storyline (which I'm willing to bet goes down the skinwalker route - I think Jesus's grandfather is a skinwalker or knows how to become one.)
Tommy to Sam: What do we do?
Me - what do you mean "WE"? When did this become Sam's problem exactly?
Sam dumps the bodies in the back of his van, almost gets pulled over by Andy Bellfleur. (By the way the Bellefleur's all have that holier-than-thou annoying attitude in common. Except maybe for Terry, who is sweet, but also has a bit of the whole I'll protect you, me he-man, approach. They are also a bit lacking in the brains department. Says a lot for Bill's gene-pool, don't it?) But Tommy scares Andy and Sam for that matter, by shifting into a gator.
Sam inspired by Tommy's choice. (For a minute I wondered if Tommy the Gator had eaten his parents too, yes, ew, and thank you god, he didn't, because ew.) Takes the bodies to the swamp.
Tommy: They aren't sinking!
Sam: No worries. (he tosses marshmellows into the swamp and the gators jump up and devour the bodies and the marshmellows). Gators love marshmellows, but you should know that, right? (I'll never look at marshmellow's the same way again.)
Off to subplot four - Arlene and Terry Bellfleur and demon baby voodoo doll or demon baby, not quite sure which to be honest. Could go either way. Convinced their home is possessed by the evil Renee, they ask the Preacher and Tara's mother who is currently residing with the Preacher, to exorcise their home.
Tara's Mom: Don't worry I was possessed by a demon, I know how to exorcise them. (Actually it was alcohol, which I guess can be considered the same thing - it's a metaphor at any rate.)
Arlene and Terry: Not a demon, a ghost.
Tara's Mom: I can deal with those too.
Apparently not, since the ghost decides to burn Arlene, Terry and the baby in their house. I'd say it was demon baby doll or demon baby - but the matches were set to burn without anything touching them.
Confusing sub-plot. Each week it appears to be something different. First week demon baby. Second week - demon baby doll. Third week - poltergiest/ghost.
Back to Sub-plot 1 and 2. Bill and Pam are now working together. Pam's fed up and understandably so, since she appears to be rotting, or rather one side of her face is. Her ear falls off. Poor Pam.
Bill suggests makeup. Pam explains why this won't work. Bill tells her to take up the veil again.
And explains patiently why they can't kill the witches, the witches are mortal and the authority will kick their asses. Pam persuades Bill to at least question Marnie. So they kidnap her and question her. Marnie has another flashback to Antonia's past. (the spirit who keeps taking over Marnie - which upon telling Jesus, Tara and Lafayette this - caused Jesus and Lafayette to high-tail it to Mexico to seek out Jesus's grand-daddy, a powerful and somewhat amoral shaman. I'd say evil, but that's always up in the air in this type of show.) Apparently Antonia was terrorized by vampire catholic priests and nuns during the 17th or 16th centuries, or maybe 18th? I don't know - sometime back when they burned witches at the stake. It's a bit hard to see Antonia or Marnie as villains here - as Marnie states, they were attacked for doing little more than resurrecting a dead bird. This is all Bill's fault. I'd suggest staking Bill for it - except Bill is hilarious and rather entertaining as the new King of Lousiana.
Bill meanwhile has other problems - Portia keeps throwing herself at him. But Bill, being the old-fashioned and somewhat traditional stick up his ass guy that he is, he can't quite handle the idea of having sex with his great great great great great granddaughter. Even if he's a vampire and the possibility of procreation is well, impossible (this isn't Twilight or Angel for that matter, so as far as we know, yes, it is impossible.) Portia is right - this shouldn't be an issue. But it bugs Bill. So he compells/glamour's Portia to be terrified of him. Every time you see me - you will scream and run away. Which she promptly does. So now, poor Bill, is without a fuck-buddy or romantic love interest, which is bound to make him cranky.
Back to Eric and Sookie - pre-hot kissing scene (well Eric in a hoodie, a couple sizes too small for him, is more laughable than hot, but whatever). Eric has a bad dream about Godric telling him he is damned and evil and can never be redeemed and will destroy Sookie. Also to do that now. Eric goes to Sookie's room and appears to consider it, fangs out and everything, but Sookie wakes up and asks what's going on. He says that he's had a bad dream and tells her about it, crying. She comforts him.
Eric: Am I evil? I've done horrible things.
Sookie: Well, I wouldn't say you were exactly Ghandi, but you aren't evil either. (Sookie, no one is Ghandie. Actually even Ghandie wasn't all that great - he was a bit of a racist and sexist, actually, perfect? Far from it. I read this recently, can't remember where, but it stuck in my brain. Too lazy to google it. Do with it what you will.)
Eric: Well that's okay then. (He then proceeds to stroke her ego, telling her how beautiful she is and what a shining light, etc. Sigh. Sookie is a sucker for flattery, that's how Bill got her into the sack.)
Will state, I'm adoring these scenes. They are hilarious. Ball makes fun of half a dozen romance tropes in one fell swoop. Also those two have chemistry. And Alexander Skarsgard has the sexiest blue eyes on the planet. While you can't even see Stephen Moyer's eyes - which look like the beady eyes of crow - when you actually do. His face is pinched and lined, he looks older than Skarsgard. But! I find King Bill hilarious, not to mention a lot of fun and I want to keep him around. He's so out of his depth.
King Bill eventually does find out from Rotting!Pam what happened to Eric. Mostly because Rotting!Pam is getting desperate. Either reverse the spell Marnie did on me, or let me torture Marnie for doing it. One or the other. Or let me kill her! The remaining sheriff's agree. Bill cautions that they not treat the witches lightly...which one does, and gets smacked upside the head for doing. Actually it's not witches plural, it's one witch and she's from the past...actually she's Antonia - the gal who make all these vampires walk into the daylight when they were burning her alive - which I don't know, they sort of deserved, considering. Antonia is supposed to be evil and the bad guy...but from whose perspective exactly? The vampires?
LAdy Sheriff Vamp with no-name to Bill: Wait, Vampires were priests and nuns???
PaM: Don't you know anything about our history?
Bill: Yes, vampires were always involved in places of power, hiding inside it and controlling things.
Back then it was the Catholic Church, now it is Google and Fox News.
I rest my case. Methinks we are rooting for the wrong people here? Granted the vampires are a heck of a lot more entertaining (make that amusing) than some of the human characters are.
This show is hilarious. I laughed my head off during it tonight. Much funnier season than last season.
Also, dare I hope that we are finally rid of the Hotshot storyline? I think we are. I spoiled myself just enough to determine that much. But I'm afraid...to jinx it. Now, if we can just do something about Tommy...all will be well. Maybe we can send Marnie after him? Or Sam can kill him and become a skin-walker?
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Date: 2011-07-25 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-26 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-26 11:39 pm (UTC)Go here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/books/david-bowie-starman-by-paul-trynka-review.html?pagewanted=all
I’ve since caught up, a bit, with Mr. Bowie’s earlier and best music, and I looked forward to “David Bowie: Starman” to hit the reset button on my sense of the man and his work. On that level this book works. It pursues a number of galvanizing themes. It argues for Mr. Bowie less as an instinctive rocker than as a shape-shifting cabaret singer and composer writ large, a performer working in the tradition of Harold Arlen, Frank Sinatra, Hoagy Carmichael and Bertolt Brecht as well as the blues. Mr. Bowie was an outsider. Before him, the author writes, “pop music had been mainly about belonging.” His music meant so much to so many because it presented “a spectacle of not-belonging.”
The book depicts Mr. Bowie as charming but calculating and ruthless — a man who made few close friends and cared mostly about tending to what the author calls “Brand Bowie.” The singer Morrissey said about him: “He’s a business, you know. He’s not really a person.”
Mr. Bowie was not a natural singer or songwriter and toiled for his success. He has a good ear, so good that some of his best material, the author argues, pickpocketed the work of others. Mr. Trynka notes how closely Mr. Bowie’s song “Starman” resembles “Over the Rainbow.” Mr. Bowie’s hit “The Jean Genie” pilfered a riff from Muddy Waters’s “I’m a Man.” The song “Life on Mars” borrowed a chord sequence from a French song called “Comme d’Habitude,” later reworked into English by Paul Anka as “My Way.”