Sunday's revealing episode of True Blood confirmed for us that the bull-headed monster who is stalking Bon Temps' ladies and Maryann are one and the same! How does the very pleasant Michelle Forbes reconcile her sunny portrayal of Maryann, "that Ibiza party girl," with the clawed she-beast who ripped out Miss Jeannette's heart? "Maryann lives in a different moral construct than the rest of us," she says, emphasizing that Maryann doesn't think of herself as a villain. Earlier, Forbes hinted that True Blood might look like Animal Farm by the season's end. Here, she talks about becoming the monster, why Maryann does what she does and, gulp, bestiality?
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Michelle Forbes likes that her True Blood character, Maryann Forrester, is such an enigma. It reminds her of how she got the acting gig. "I was told a lot, yet very little, and that is the riddle of Maryann," she says, quizzically. "I was so lost initially." Join the club. You may have heard that Maryann is a maenad, and that's technically accurate — but it's certainly not the whole story. Forbes was gracious enough to help us understand Maryann's maybe-not-so-evil-after-all ways in this two-part interview. (After you watch Sunday's episode, come back Monday morning for the juicy bits of Part 2.)
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Battlestar Galactica's TV-movie gives the show's rabid fans a hint of what's to come.
Tired of waiting for Battlestar Galactica to frakking return already? The fourth and final season of Sci Fi Channel's space opera won't start until April, but a special two-hour extended episode — Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Saturday, Nov. 24 at 9 pm/ET on Sci Fi) — arrives Nov. 24 to bring relief to the show's hard-core addicts.
It's also a chance to raise the dead. Razor flashes back to the eve of the first devastating attack on humans by the robotic Cylons, when Helena Cain — the deliciously maniacal admiral played by Michelle Forbes — was helming the battlestar Pegasus. Cain, or "Saddam Hussein i
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Question: Is Michelle Forbes amazing or what? As much as I hated to see her go, her death scene (as Commander Cain) on Battlestar Galactica was as interesting and unexpected as all her other work. I'm not sure how she pulled it off, but her face seemed to register anger, fear, defiance and resolution all in the space of about 20 seconds, and she suddenly made this detestable character sympathetic without having to say a word. As always, after watching Forbes, I thought, "Why hasn't someone made this woman a permanent presence on a major ensemble show?" After strong performances on everything from Star Trek: The Next Generation to Homicide: Life on the Street, from 24 to Prison Break, it feels like Forbes is long overdue for success at the level of Allison Janney or Felicity Huffman. But it always seems like she's around for a short time and then — bang — she's gone again! What do you think, Matt? Any chance we'll see her land a regular series and a long-term role she can really dig ...
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Question: What did you think of Battlestar Galactica's season finale last Friday? Though the subject matter was difficult and dark, I thought it was brilliantly done and proved to be both disturbing and powerful. The strong emotional reaction it elicited from me and many other fans is a testament to the power of well-crafted storytelling.
Answer: The show is, pure and simple, a knockout. It was a completely gripping hour, unsettling in its depiction of inhumanity (toward the humanoid Cylons) and wonderfully intense as it built the conflict between Adama and the ice-cold admiral (always good to see Michelle Forbes). It's going to be a long wait for new episodes this winter. Right now, Galactica has dibs on a coveted place in my year-end Top 10 list ...
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