I feel like True Blood has hit its stride and found it’s true identity. This week’s episode was full of hookups with the vampires and the humans, just as it should be. Salome gets the prize for having sex the most times with all three of the hottest vampires there are. Jason did it with a school teacher from his past which made him realize something quite profound. It was a great episode with every story line moving along nicely and this week it will be hard to get the quotations list down to 10 because there were so many good ones.
Sympathy for the Vamp, Tara
Sookie and Lafayette start out the episode desperately searching for Tara in the night. Sookie goes to Fangtasia to beg Pam to help, but Pam is much more worried about the whereabouts of Eric than the new vampire she made the night before. She pushes Sookie away and when she does Sookie uses her magic fingers and blows Pam into the back of the stage at Fangtasia.Tara still is struggling with what she is and she goes to Sam for help. He takes her in and feeds her bottle after bottle of True Blood until she passes out from exhaustion. He then hides her in the freezer for the day, but Sookie finds out when she reads his mind.
Debbie Pelt’s parents are looking for her which prompts Alcide to come to Sookie asking again if she knows anything about it. Andy Bellefleur is also on the lookout for her. When Alcide comes to Merlotte’s to confront Sookie about it, he and everyone else sees Tara and the “vampire is out of the bag,” shall we say. Then, Sookie tells Alcide everything hoping he won’t giver away, but he gets really angry and leaves in disgust. Meanwhile, Arlene is criticizing Lafayette for turning his own flesh and blood into a vampire, but Lafayette is more concerned about what is happening to him when he is possessed once again causing him to pour bleach into his gumbo. Luckily, he comes out of it and throws it away before anyone eats it.
The Authority’s Sexy Salome
Roman decides, even over the protestations of his council, to let Bill and Eric go out and try to kill Russell Edgington. The boys are fixed up with these weird contraptions that will immediately stake them if they disobey. Salome is Roman’s closest confident and lover, but she also does further “research” on Bill and Eric to be absolutely sure that they can be trusted. I guess the best way to find out is by having sex with each of them. She tells Roman that she finds them to be trustworthy, but she also tries to reason with him saying that maybe he needs to modify his mission. I wonder if this was a glimpse that there might be more to Salome than meets the eye. When she was with Bill, we learned from her about her history and what happened when she danced the dance of the seven veils and got the head of John the Baptist brought to her on a silver platter. Salome refutes her historical reputation as nothing more than a cautionary tale about teenage female sexuality. And, at the time, she was involved in politics beyond her understanding and was manipulated, leaving us to believe that what really happened wasn’t quite like it’s described in the Bible. Salome obviously knows how to use her sexuality as a tool to achieve her goals.
While all this sex activity is going on, Nora confesses under torture, via Authority member, Rosalyn Harris, that she is a Sanguanista so, now Roman knows that The Authority is vulnerable. Salome certainly has the men in her life in her control, including Roman to an extent. I wonder if she is also questioning the mainstream agenda and might even have Nora working on it for her. Could she have sent Nora to save Eric and Bill?
The New Nan Flanagan
The new representative replacing Nan Flanagan is none other than Steve Newlin (the New Newlin). The transformation of Steve Newlin into a vampire seemed at first, odd to me. Now, I think it was a stroke of genius and I wonder which of the writers came up with it.
Steve has been recruited by the Authority to help them to continue to promote the mainstreaming objective and he seems ready to take on the task. Roman doesn’t seem as sure about his skills as Steve is, so Roman makes his point to the new recruit that under estimating humans is not the way to go. I’m not sure if Steve’s down home and play to the lowest common denominator philosophy is going to work in Roman’s high powered world. Whatever happens, Steve Newlin is an interesting addition to the vampire culture and adding his newly announced sexual orientation, should just add flavor to the brew.
Jason discovers what he’s been missing
Like Tara, both Jason and Hoyt seem to be going through an inner crisis. Jason runs into a teacher who he had sex with when he was in school and goes to her home, presumably for tea. This time he is the one who instigates sex with her, only to realize after the act, that it is no longer fulfilling for him. He seems to have had an epiphany about his sex life and tells Jessica later that he has a giant hole in him that he has been trying to fill all his life by having sex. Is Jason growing up?
Pam is Made
This episode included another flashback into Pam’s past showing us how she became a vampire. During the flashback, we also get to see the first meeting between Bill and Eric.
Eric arrives at the bordello and Pam offers one the ladies to him. Eric is not interested, except for Pam herself. The duo walk into a room catching Lorena and Bill feasting on one of the women. Bill, being a very young vampire is fool enough to try and start something with Eric. He soon finds out that he is not strong enough. It was great to see Mariana Klaveno once again as Lorena who quickly begs Eric to understand that Bill is new and she will learn to keep him under control. Bill stomps out in disgust and Lorena asks for Eric’s forgiveness before leaving.
We next see Pam and Eric in bed presumably after having had sex. Oddly, I liked the fact that they didn’t show the two performing the act, but instead chose to show only the moments after. Pam is obviously very unhappy and begs Eric to turn her. She explains that she has no future in life and she will gladly follow him as one of the undead. He tells her that obviously she doesn’t know that it is a huge responsibility making someone vampire. Pam argues telling Eric that he can make her and then leave her; she will be able to take care of herself; she always has. He continues to refuse saying it’s like leaving a baby in the street. She gets up, puts on her silk robe and sadly slits both of her forearms. Eric see this and quickly decides what he must do. His fangs appear and instantly we know that he has decided to turn her.
I can’t express how much all the flashback scenes in each season have enhanced the story for me in ever case. Learning how Bill was made, then Eric and now Pam, is fascinating and I hope that the writers continue to show us these glimpses. I’d be interested, for example in knowing Russell’s history or how Lorena became so bloodthirsty and cruel. It would fascinate me and be great stories, worth telling.
The Rest of Bon Temps
Hoyt, like Jason and Tara seems lost right now. He has been hurt by everyone he is close to and his desperate attempt to find something, when he enters Fangtasia dressed in such a way, is witness to this. Poor Andy has his butt plastered by Holly’s sons all over Facebook. However, when he confronts Holly about it, the discussion turns to their relationship and Andy asks Holly to go steady. Terry is about to leave with Patrick but refuses to tell Arlene anything about where he is going or what he is doing. While in Tracy’s Togs, trying on dresses, Jessica smells something very tasty indeed, and it’s none other than the fairy, Claude. This is our first glimpse of him and I look forward to more.
As the episode ends, we find Tara distraught breaking into a tanning salon. She decides to get into the tanning bed; presumably to commit suicide by meeting the “artificial sun”, but Pam realizes this and although she may not be happy about it, I know she will save her and this is not the end for poor Tara.
