True Blood, Episode 5.06: “Hopeless”

I’m going to keep my comments on this week’s True Blood brief, for two reasons.  First, I’m way overdue on my thoughts for last night’s show (which is the risk I took when I chose to review Breaking Bad and Black Dynamite first).  Second, and more importantly, let’s be honest: there were only 5 truly good minutes in last nights’ 52-minute episode… and those were the scenes with Russell Edgington, played by Denis O’Hare.  Given what O’Hare brought to the table last night, only five minutes of Russell is a tragedy, because he milked every single second of his screen time for all its worth.  I mean, how about that final scene, huh? It was a tremendous display of scenery-chewing, as Russell states his distaste for Roman’s mainstreaming approach: “I wanna gorge on human blood, because I like it! It’s fun! IT MAKES MY DICK HARD!”  When Nora praised Lilith in the episode’s final shot, I can’t help but think that’s how most of the show’s fans reacted to Russell’s staking of Roman: aside from the episode where he staked the kid, Roman didn’t make a very favorable impression as a villain.  I mean, you can’t have any fun when Roman decides to kill the show’s biggest villain through his iPhone! By his own admission, he’s not one to get dirty… but c’mon, this is True Blood, a show that mandates that its characters swing for the rafters.  Besides, we had to have an out so that Russell could emerge victorious.  I’m very thankful that Russell is now essentially powered up and ready for action… because at this point, the show needs all the life it can get.

The clean-up of last week’s asylum plot was… interesting, for a few reasons: Bill and Eric’s Men-in-Black-esque glamouring of Sookie and Alcide was temporarily engaging… until you realize that the scene served as a cheap reset.  Fortunately, I enjoyed the scene at Sookie’s house the morning after, where Sookie’s mind-reading of Alcide quickly undid Bill and Eric’s work.  I also enjoyed how the show managed to still ultimately kill off Doug. I know, the poor guy… but let’s face it, it was inevitable. :-)

Aside from those two main things, the rest of the episode underwhelmed me.  The Tara/Jessica fight at Fangtasia was unfortunately defused before it could even begin. Fangbangin' Hoyt is still just really, really weird... although at least we'll get to see him hang out with the anti-vampire Obamas. Fairie Moulin Rouge is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for me, and the “Who murdered Sookie’s parents?” thread hasn’t gained enough momentum to engage my interest thus far.  Given that the show’s creator, Alan Ball, wrote tonight’s episode, I had hoped for a major shift in the direction of the season.  Unfortunately, aside from Russell’s return to power (which is significant, don’t get me wrong), he didn’t do very much… which, for a series with eleventy billion subplots in action right now, hurts quite a bit.

We’re officially halfway through the season at this point, and I can’t help but wonder why I’m still hanging on.  Without a doubt, if True Blood wasn’t airing in the summertime, I’d be hard-pressed to keep tuning in… but let’s hope that Russell makes the second half of the season a grand return to the over-the-top fun that True Blood has been capable of in the past.  And if it doesn’t, then, to quote Mr. Edgington: “You might as well be praying to leprechauns, or unicorns, or the motherfuckin’ Kardashians!”