Q: As much as I loved Michelle Forbes’ portrayal of Maryann, the story felt like it dragged on a little long. Why did it take her so long to get to the endgame?
BALL: That’s part of what the queen talks about. They’re always improvising. She really can’t conjure up a God. But she’s so fervent in her belief; she keeps trying this sacrifice and that sacrifice. She’s completely delusional. She killed Miss Jeanette and I think she thought that was going to work. She always thinks it’s going to work. It never does because the God who comes never actually comes. But she so fervently believes that he will, and she’s been believing it for thousands of years. That’s how they were able to outsmart her.
Q: Have we seen the last of her?
BALL: Yes, she’s gone. They destroyed her. She will never rise — which I hate because I love [Michelle], and she was so much fun to work with. She’s really delightful and everyone loves her and we hated to kill her but we had to.
Source: ausiellofiles.ew.com
"True Blood fans have been rooting for evil Maryann, the mythical maenad creature played by Michelle Forbes, to bite the dust in Sunday's finale. But the actress didn't expect to wind up playing her swan song scene with a 3,000-pound Brahman bull as her co-star.
"I wasn't that scared," Forbes told Lifeline Live last week in a top-secret pre-finale interview. "I'm a massive animal lover." But she says, "It is intimating when you're standing directly in front of him -- when you see those horns! One quick movement of his head and you're on the ground."
There were two Brahmans hired for the job -- just in case. "Belle and Luke," says Forbes. "Belle got a little funny and aggressive so they decided to bring Luke instead. Ii didn't hear that until I went to shoot and thought, 'Oh boy.'"
There were animal wranglers on the set. "I wasn't concerned until I realized there were 10,000 people on set looking at each other oddly and they were making me nervous." In the end, she says, the "glorious, gory love scene" turned into a death scene. "It was just so much fun to do. I really hope people are satisfied and sated."
Source: usatoday.com
"God with Horns - worship him, bitches!" -- Lafayette
I'm sad that Maryann is gone, mainly because Michelle Forbes is so wonderfully compelling in everything she does. But dragging out that arc any further would have been a disservice to the character and to the audience, so I'm presuming the maenad and her nutty parties are gone for good.
Source: The Watcher by Maureen Ryan
I still find it a profoundly dumb show, and a donut show at that (Bill and Sookie make it empty at the center), but I have to admit that, on a purely pulp fiction level, there was some fun stuff going on this season. Now, most of it involved either Michelle Forbes or Alexander Skarsgard, but still - it's gone from a show I hated to one I... don't hate.
Source: What's Alan Watching
R.I.P. - Di-Meat-Tree
“You mess with the bull, you get the horns.” And so it was on last night’s “True Blood” Season 2 finale.
The big day’s finally arrived for Maryann and the God Who Comes and she has just about everything she needs for her holy union: Mothball-infested old lady wedding dress? Check. Bloody ostrich egg? Check. Slighted, contrary maid of honor? Check. Human sacrifice? Ch—dammit! Sometimes you can do all the planning in the world and still end up waiting til the last minute for everything to fall into place."
Source: creativeloafing.com
The cliffhanger egg from two weeks ago was an ostrich egg, a fertility symbol, that completed what Andy would later refer to as the “giant statue of meat” that Maryann had built on Sookie’s lawn. Sam, as many of you thought, was indeed meant to be sacrificed (”the perfect wedding gift”) to Maryann’s god, Dionysus, who was to take the form of a white bull.
Instead of a white wedding, however, Maryann got her black heart gored and pulled out of her by a shape-shifted Sam. I was sorry to see Michelle Forbes go, but what a great performance she gave: her Maryann was scary, funny, and creepy, and the actress was able to go over-the-top and pull her performance back to human-scale. Her character’s death closed out the first half-hour with such finality (”It’s all over now,” said Sookie as Maryann lay in a heap and the townspeople came to their senses) that I thought, “Where do we go from here?”
Source: ivillage.com
'Electricity - do it again!' -- Maryann
[...] the Maryann character made this season thrilling; but she had served her demon-of-the-year purpose. If Alan Ball, aware that Michelle Forbes was making Maryann into a camp classic, found a way to keep her around for another season, the result would have been forced and disappointing. Maryann left us wanting more, always the better choice. Did anyone else think Maryann seemed almost touchingly pathetic as she stood expectantly waiting for her god, ready with her egg and her meat statue, deluded into thinking she was about to wed? A little supernatural Miss Havisham, with her “old, borrowed, and blue” zombie bridesmaids?!
Source: buzzonthetube.com
And while I absolutely loved how Sam dealt with Ms. Maenad, I was bummed to see it go down so early in the hour -- and even more upset that nothing really happened in the aftermath. Everything that led to Maryann finding herself on the business end of Sam's bull horn was perfection -- Maryann forcing Sookie to search within herself, the whole sacrifice scene, Michelle Forbes gleefully enduring her character's goring ... amazing.
Source: nypost.com
"You're marrying Sam?" Sookie asks Maryann. Nope, Sam is just the ideal wedding gift, she reports. Michelle Forbes hilariously shifts between Dionysian zealot and Ibiza party girl in this scene. She recites an austere oration of the virginal vessel that perfectly segues into her concerns that her crying will smudge her mascara. She explains coldly that Sookie is the bait, that once Sam finds out that she is being held captive, "he'll come running like a dog — maybe as a dog," she says with a cackle. [...]
Maryann is not pleased, and turns her wrath on her followers. "Allow me to sacrifice all of them for you!" she tells her god, as they all cringe and writhe. She plunges her hands into the earth and out pop those gnarly claws. In a flash, a chase ensues that echoes an earlier episode. Just as Maryann is about to bury her claws into Sookie again, a giant white bull appears in a clearing. Dionysus has arrived... maybe?
Her claws retract, and suddenly she's all moony-eyed and in lurve with her bull-headed suitor. "My lord, my husband," she says. "Oh, come, I'm here, my love. We're together at last." I wish I could see the blooper reel from this episode. They must have laughed their asses off between takes with all this ridiculous dialogue.
Source: tvguide.com
* ebassi: and true blood is done for this season; climatic finale (michelle forbes is above and beyond fantastic)
* itsjoewelch: Michelle Forbes should win an Emmy for her role on True Blood... Spectacular performance every episode!
* MewNeko: I'll miss Michelle Forbes. She was divine in that role. Sooo good.
* bananacylon: Soon, so soon, true blood season finale! MICHELLE FORBES!!!!!
* jimstoic: Michelle Forbes deserves a 2010 Emmy for her maenad Maryann on True Blood.
* RoushTVGuideMag: Michelle Forbes nailed that role to the last creepy moment.
* Megalicious09: Michelle Forbes deserves an award. Someone damn well better give her one!
* benelie: Not sure what to think about last ep of #trueblood Michelle Forbes was soooooooo beautiful and classy!!
* thecoldgun: True Blood finale: Michelle Forbes may be the greatest player of villains breathing. Admiral Cain and now MaryAnn Forrester. BEAST.
Source: Twitter
Instead of a white wedding, however, Maryann got her black heart gored and pulled out of her by a shape-shifted Sam. I was sorry to see Michelle Forbes go, but what a great performance she gave: her Maryann was scary, funny, and creepy, and the actress was able to go over-the-top and pull her performance back to human-scale. Her character’s death closed out the first half-hour with such finality (”It’s all over now,” said Sookie as Maryann lay in a heap and the townspeople came to their senses) that I thought, “Where do we go from here?”
Source: ew.com
'Never say never when there's the Internet.' --Sam
