It’s kind of refreshing that a good chunk of tonight’s
episode revolved around how sick and tired Sookie Stackhouse is of all this
show’s craziness. Maybe, just maybe, I
can’t help but think that this is the show’s recognition of how
long-in-the-tooth True Blood has
gotten… but then again, I seriously doubt they’ll stop the madness anytime soon.. especially when we've got a possessed car, a fairie nightclub, and a nice and juicy True Death scene to indulge in tonight.
As the episode starts, Sookie’s frustration stems from the
cover-up of Debbie’s death, and how she can’t bear to have it on her conscience
anymore. Having just told Alcide about
it at the end of last week’s episode, Sookie receives some stern words from Lafayette,
that she’s “the f***ing Angel of Death.” Nonetheless, Sookie’s guilt forces
herself to get her involvement in Debbie’s death out in the open, which is why
she turns herself into Jason. At that
time, Sookie also informs him (and Jessica, who’s also present) that Tara has
been turned into a vampire, which freaks Jason out. In fact, pretty much everyone else finds out
about Tara’s shiny new vampire status tonight, including Bill and Eric. Having
been released by the Authority to hunt down Russell, they head down to
Fangtasia, where Pam shows up with Tara – Pam having just rescued her new
progeny from the tanning booth in tonight’s cold open. As much as Tara wants to knock herself off,
Pam pulls out the “As your maker, I command you” trick – “a card I’m surprised
y’all don’t play more often”, comments Tara. (Again, it's nice to know that the show's willing to get all meta on us.)
Continuing from last week, the maker/makee threads still
come into play, on both fronts. On the Tara/Pam side, Pam gives Tara her first
human to feed from… and although Tara refuses, Pam again commands Tara to do as
she says. As for Pam and her maker,
Eric, they’re initially at odds tonight, as Eric tries to determine if Pam is
responsible for revealing that Russell is still alive. Of course, she’s not… but at that time, Pam
argues that Eric should release her as his maker, given their various
issues. Later on, Eric is apt to tell Pam
that things aren’t going to end well for him and Bill – either they’ll die trying
to capture Russell, and even if they succeed, they’ll be executed by the
Authority for treason. So, Eric releases
Pam… primarily to ensure that he is able to leave something resembling a
legacy.
On the housekeeping front tonight, the episode was very
aggressive in wrapping up the Debbie plot.
First, there was Alcide telling Debbie’s parents that Marcus killed her
(and that Alcide’s killing of Marcus was motivated as revenged for her death),
which is enough to get them scurrying out of town. Debbie’s dad’s freak-out was
a nice touch, but still, you get the idea that this needed to be wrapped
up. Even more along those lines was the
following scene of Jessica glamouring Andy into forgetting the Debbie case… to
the extent where Andy can’t even remember her name anymore. Perhaps this was a wee bit too tidy, but it
gets the job done. Heck, the show’s got
more than enough story material to tackle as is… why not get one loose thread
off the books?
Speaking of Andy, let’s discuss the episode’s wackiest
subplot, in which Andy and Jason are invited by the judge for a night out on
the town, as a thank-you for absolving the judge’s son’s ticket. Where they end up is a fairie nightclub (a
set that surely must have broken the episode’s budget), where Jason and Andy meet
some familiar faces... including Hadley, Jason’s cousin, who ominously warns
Jason that Sookie needs to be taken in and hidden from the vampires
immediately, or else she’ll suffer the same fate that Sookie and Jason’s
parents did. Problem is, Jason had no
idea that vampires killed his folks… and before he can learn more, Andy and
Jason are kicked out. Are we due for an
exciting Stackhouse flashback later on this season? We’ll just have to see…
And to be honest, this season’s been pretty gracious with
the flashbacks so far: first, two weeks of Eric and Pam turn-of-the-20th-century
goodness, and now tonight provided us with a Terry/Patrick flashback to Iraq,
where we finally get some sort of idea as what their plotline is about. Turns out the man they’re visiting, Eller, initiated
an accidental Iraqi civilian massacre on the Fourth of July (nice timing, HBO!)…
which still haunts Terry to this day.
And so, Terry and Patrick head to this man’s ranch in west-river South
Dakota, where they find an underground bunker with a freaky, fiery mural, plenty
of fire-starting materials… and Eller’s shotgun pointed at their faces.
Cliffhanger!!!
Meanwhile, on the Authority front, Nora’s still stuck in the
interrogation room, and Nora’s willing to die for her cause. However, Roman
forces Nora’s hand by threatening to activate Bill and Eric’s iStakes. (No iStake app in the App Store as of yet…
just so you know.) She ultimately reveals that Alexander, the kid vampire, is
the traitor within the Authority’s midst.
As amusing (aibeit unsettling) as it was to see a hundreds-year-old
vampire in a little boy’s body, it was a heck of a lot of fun to see Roman deploy
the Sacred Vampire Judas Tree Stake on him, creating a nice, splattery mess of
blood. (Yes, you can kill a kid on HBO... as long as he’s a vampire!) It’s a
nice enough twist on one of our most hallowed villain clichés: the early moment
where the big villain demonstrates just how villainous he is – but it’s a
moment that the show needed, and not a moment later, in my opinion… and it
doesn’t hurt that Christopher Meloni gets to deliver it while drenched in
blood.
Finally, let’s circle back to Sookie, who spends the second half of the episode in a
drunken stupor. Why’s that? Well, Lafayette went all demon-y on Sookie’s
car, levitating it and ultimately cursing it.
It doesn’t pay off well for Sookie later on, when she loses control of her
rapid accelerating car. Fortunately, she
leaps out before it crashes into a tree… but the accident pushes Sookie to
drink at home like crazy, resulting in Anna Paquin singing along to “The Pina
Colada Song” and making out at the end of the episode with Alcide… while Bill
and Eric watch. As it turns out, Eric
and Bill are contemplating enlisting Sookie in their pursuit of Russell…
whether she wants to or not. Given how
Sookie wants nothing to do with them at this point of time, hopefully this will
make for some nice post-Fourth-of-July fireworks next week.
Random notes:
- Boy, the Authority sure is obsessed with their Apple technology, aren’t they? They must have a stockpile of Macbooks in the back…
- …just like Fangtasia has an inexhaustible supply of complimentary T-shirts: Just like Sookie before her, Tara sheds her bloody clothes in exchange for a Fangtasia T-shirt.
- I didn't touch on Sam's plot in the main review, but certainly the murder of his old shapeshifter buddies will lead into something bigger. You know, it would be nice if Sam could be brought into a relevant plotline again... but I digress.
- Some of you True Blood fans may have noticed that Joe Manganiello, who plays Alcide, is in this weekend’s new Steven Soderbergh film, Magic Mike (aka “The Channing Tatum Stripper Movie”). Manganiello plays one of Tatum’s fellow strippers, named… wait for it… Big Dick Richie. (And if you see the movie, you'll find out just why he's named that.)
- Just a heads-up, scheduling-wise: Starting July 15th, True Blood reviews may not go up late Sunday night, as they have been so far. The reason for this is because we have two additional shows starting up that night that we’ll be covering: Breaking Bad, which will begin the first half of its fifth and final season, and the brand-new [adult swim] series Black Dynamite, based on the 2009 cult comedy classic. I’m still not sure what will be posted on Sunday night, but I can assure you that whatever isn’t posted on Sunday night will be posted on Monday night… so bear with us, and bask in the goodness of quality summer television. :-)
- Next week: “A 3,000-year-old vampire wants to suck my blood! Must be Thursday!” Or, for us, Sunday. ;-)
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