I Miss Lafayette

I cannot wait for June to get here! What's the occasion? Perhaps a June wedding, you ask? Nope, it's the return of the Awesome True Blood! Whoohoo!

When season 2 ended I went into some serious True Blood withdrawal on Sunday nights. I would wander around my house muttering 'Needs more True Blood' in a creepy Gollum voice. Yes, I am a total dork, don't you dare judge me!

As someone who has read all 9 of the books in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series (the series upon which True Blood is based) I knew that Lafayette gets killed off in Book 2; he was actually supposed to be the body that was found in Andy Bellefleur's car (not Ms. Jeanette). However, because Lafayette turned out to be such a popular and favorite character of the fans and the critics, series creator Alan Ball decided to change and prolong his storyline.

Hands down, the actor who plays him, Nelsan Ellis is one of the most talented actors on the show, able to showcase a wide range of emotions - fear, anger, disappointment, vulnerability, compassion - you name it this man can do it and do it well. He emotes so well that you as the viewer have an almost visceral reaction to whatever scene he is playing. When he gets angry about being disrespected, he makes you feel his anger at the situation. When he's feeling frisky while doing a dance for his website, it makes you feel a little risque and mischievous too. When he feels compassion for Tara, you feel it too. When he feels the fear for Eric you definitely feel it and moreso you are reminded of what a vicious creature Eric is capable of being. When Lafayette was chained in the basement at Fangtasia, he made you feel everything that he was feeling; fear, despair, hopelessness, resolve...everything was so palpable. This is the mark of a truly gifted actor and I hope that Nelsan gets the chance to continue to showcase that talent even after his tenure on True Blood comes to an end.

So, he has some memorable scenes from the 2 seasons, but the below scene is when we were first introduced to the sheer awesomeness of Lafayette Reynolds; Merlottes' resident cook and no nonsense, take no shit, flamboyant, sexy-assed, buffed, gay man.




Seriously, how powerful was he in this scene?? I tell you Nelsan kills it every single time with Lafayette!

So, after this particular episode aired, I was saying the phrase 'tip your waitress' as a response to practically everything, LOL. This is one of the reasons that they kept Lafayette around, the man can take a relatively short scene and make it so memorable that that's all you will remember all week when you're doing your True Blood recaps with friends. He became a breakout star of the show and it is well deserved.

I'm feeling the Lafayette Love people!

'Tip Your Waitress!'

Dazz