真爱如血：最好的角，最好的台词
《真爱如血》：塔拉.桑顿：图片可转载
爱上这部强大的剧集《真爱如血》有很多的原因，我的同事格蕾丝.邓特(Grace Dent)在这篇文章中已经列举出了其中的一些。当这部描写性感吸血鬼的恐怖剧集的第一季在四频道播出到一半时，我们这些如饥似渴的观众也在福克斯频道上追看它的首映，这也让我们可以借此更新自己的博客，乐在其中。一起重温剧中的经典人物和经典台词会非常有趣。
我第一个想到的就是塔拉(Tara)，她蛮横无理却又感情细腻，在剧中她是英雄般的女主角苏奇.斯塔克豪斯(Sookie Stackhouse)最好的朋友。虽然有些动摇，但我仍然给她投上一票。当然没有任何一个吸血鬼真的想自己冠上这样的名称。比尔.康普顿，总带着着不死族特有的激情和敏感，沉溺在痛苦和折磨中，让他和一个凡人无异，但作为一个吸血鬼，他显得有点无趣，不是吗？苏奇(Sookie)，一个会读心术的女招待，也有她勇敢和充满个性的时刻，但在查琳.哈里斯的书中，她真正的作用仅仅是让所有的故事情节融为一个整体，这也启发了导演艾伦.鲍尔(Alan Ball)对该人物作了调整，在剧中她成了一名讲述者。
爱福克斯萨姆.梅洛(Sam Merlotte)是良辰镇最有人气的夜总会的老板，越接近剧集尾声，这个人物也变得越发有趣。（如果你是第一次在四频道看这个剧集，我不会做过多的剧透以免破坏大家欣赏此剧），但他并不是值得你录下这个剧集的原因。瑞恩.科万腾(Ryan Kwanten)扮演了苏奇的哥哥杰森，他体格健美但脑袋瓜却空空如也，不过却能给观众带来很多欢乐，每周都能牢牢地抓住观众的眼球。而且要扮演一个迷人的傻瓜不是件容易的事。（―我先是给警察抓了，然后我不得不让一个老兄把我那玩意儿抽干。这一天真是太糟糕了。‖）内森.艾利斯(Nelsan El)扮演剧中的拉菲特，一个喜欢男扮女装的厨师，同时也是个贩卖吸血鬼血的商人，他对此津津乐道。在梅洛酒吧里与一个偏执的家伙对峙（―是谁点了这个有艾滋病毒的汉堡包？‖）也许是他最经典的片段了。我特别喜欢他摘下耳环的那一段，就像女演员亚历克西
斯.科尔比(Alexis Colby )在说台词前的那个动作一样, 但随着剧情的继续他似乎就像一顶金属的丝绸浴帽了。他还有很多其他微妙的时刻，比如当听到杰森某些愚蠢的要求时，像‖我看起来很笨吗？‖，他轻
轻翻动眼球的样子。
但我仍要回到由若缇娜.韦斯利(Rutina Wesley)扮演的塔拉.桑顿(Tara Thornton)身上来，有她在的每一个场景，不管是她无缘无故地辱骂攻击对方还是拿种族问题教训别人的时候，她都能把视线转移到自己身上。在哈里斯的第二本书中，这个角是一个住在达拉斯的活死人，她是一个拥有一间时装店的白种人，但鲍尔把她变成了黑人，而且大大增加了她的戏份。就像韦斯利和艾利斯在接受采访时说道，不是所有人都赞同这一改变，但毫无疑问的是这一角的戏剧张力很强。她蛮横无理，尖酸刻薄但却如此感情脆弱，她的戏份相当吸引人。
我们来看一下她在五金店辞职时的第一次炫目登场，她正辱骂一个讨厌的顾客（―为什么你不在网上买了然后让他们送到你家去呢，还是你为你这身难看的衣服个借口？‖）当她的老板回击她的玩笑时，她威胁说她孩子的父亲会把他痛打一顿，虽然这是她自己瞎编的。她说到：―哦，天啊！我是开玩笑的，你这个可悲的种族主义者！‖给了她老板一个下马威。
她在对付那些讨厌的搭讪者时也总有一套，就是先下手为强：―我的丈夫是个雇佣军。他刚从伊拉克执行暗杀任务回来。如果他撞见我和其他男人在一起，他可能会把我两都杀了。他已经用打伤了一个男人的那里，他只不过给我买了张CD。‖
这确实是令人着迷的部分——我们更愿意去扮演一个吸血鬼而不是像这样来欣赏这些台词。
True Blood: best characters, best lines?
True Blood: Tara Thornton Photograph: Public Domain
There are many reasons to love the mighty True Blood and my colleague Grace Dent has already nailed many of them in this brilliant piece. But as the first season of the sexy vampire thriller reaches its midpoint on C4, giving those of us who devoured its premiere on FX and followed our blog another chance to relish it, it's interesting to reassess its best characters – and who gets the best lines.
My first thought was Tara, the stroppy but sensitive best friend of heroine Sookie Stackhouse, and she remains my vote, although I have wavered. Certainly none of the vampires has ever really staked a claim to the title. Bill Compton has revealed an undead-like passion and sensitivity, and is given to moments of torment that are almost human, but he is a bit of a bore for a bloodsucker, isn't he? Sookie, the telepathic waitress, has her feisty moments but she's really just there to hold the whole thing together - in Charlaine Harris's book, which inspired Alan Ball's adaptation, she is the narrator.
Sam Merlotte, the owner of Bon Temps' most jumping nightspot, gets interesting towards the ends of the series (I won't spoil it if you're watching for the first time on Channel 4), but he's not why you're recording the show. Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie's buff but dim-bulb brother Jason, is a joy: he shows a real commitment to providing weekly eye candy, and it's not easy to play stupid so winningly. ("First I get hauled in by the cops. Then I gotta let a dude drain my Johnson. That's a fuck of a day.") Nelsan Ellis plays the part of Lafayette, the swishy chef and V dealer, with gusto. The faceoff with a redneck customer in Merlotte's bar ("Who ordered the hamburger with Aids?") is probably his finest moment. I particularly like that he unclips his earrings like Alexis Colby before delivering the line, but keeps on what appears to a metallic silk showercap. He has more subtle moments too - the gentle eyeroll when an indignant Jason demands: "Do I look stupid?"
But I still come back to Tara Thornton, played by Rutina Wesley, who steals every scene she's in, whether she's handing out gratuitous insults or lessons in race politics. Introduced in Harris's second book, Living Dead in Dallas, she is a white fashion-store owner, but Ball made her black and really ramped up her part. Not everyone has approved of the change, as Wesley and Ellis explain in this interv iew, but there's no doubting her impact. Stroppy, sharp-tongued but vulnerable, she has the part with the most bite.
We see her first spectacularly resigning from her job at a hardware store, by insulting an irritating customer ("Why didn't you just find it online and have it delivered to your house, or were you just looking for an excuse to wear them ugly-ass clothes?) and then by cutting down her boss when he rises to her joking threat that an invented babyfather will beat him up: "Oh my god, I'm not serious, you pathetic racist."
She also has a great tactic for dealing with unwanted chatups - go nuclear early: "My husband is a mercenary. He just got back from assassinating some guys in Iraq. If he caught me with another man, he'd kill us both. He already shot one guy in the nuts just for buying me a CD."
It's surely a part to kill for - who'd want to play a vampire instead of enjoying lines like that?