It's the same old story. Boy vampire meets girl, girl and boy have tumultuous affair, boy goes away, girl falls for boy werewolf. The vampire-human-werewolf triangle has become almost cliché. When will these darn kids learn the term "threesome"?
Now that the whole world has seen the New Moon trailer, tweens everywhere are holding their breath is anticipation of the film's November release. In the new film, a perpetually petulant Bella becomes distraught when Edward leaves town, and starts running with a pack of werecubs, including buff and brooding Jacob Black.
Does this sound a little familiar to anyone else?
It should, since Stephanie Meyer's supernatural love triangle follows the same lines as Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series, now better known as HBO's True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse, in season one, falls for tall, dark and undead Bill, and when he disappears she is left to be comforted by the shaggy werecollie Sam. At least Sookie has a superpower all her own, and Bon Temps vampires certainly do not sparkle in the sunlight like the vegan vamps in Twilight.
The Underworld series, despite its other faults, at least gave us a few twists on the vampire/human/werewolf triangle. Kate Beckinsale's Selene hooked up with a hybrid vampire-Lycan, thereby having her cake and eating it too. And the Lycan leader Lucian, as a well-oiled slave boy, had a doomed dark-ages romance with his vampire mistress in Rise of The Lycans, the third installment of the steadily declining series.
True Blood season two premieres tonight, and is steering away from what, thanks to New Moon, has become tween territory and instead is giving us a fresh new love story in the sultry southern swampland. Boy falls for girl, boy is a glowering moody vampire, girl has supernatural abilities and perky personality, and girl falls for terrifyingly blond bad-boy vampire. Joss Whedon must be proud that his influence has continued to affect vampire television.
There is a lot to look forward to with season two, especially the storyline exploring how Sam Merlotte became a shapeshifter (a family of werebeings to which Jacob Black also technically belongs). In Harris's later novels, Sookie falls for yet another wolfboy... let's hope HBO gives us more puppy love in the seasons to follow.