I think it’s safe to say that, right now, “True Blood” is moving along nicely and has more or less recovered from the ridiculousness of the third season. To be fair, that simply means that the show has returned to its usual level of ridiculousness. The difference, perhaps, being that the plot threads are moving right along and actually seem to be going somewhere. (Though it’s certainly possible that the show will slip back into bad habits.)
Sookie has now firmly fallen on Eric’s side of the vampiric equation, protecting him from everyone from Bill to himself. It’s an interesting thing, because it’s pretty clear that Sookie is reacting to Eric’s utter lack of arrogant superiority complex. And it must be a nice thing for Sookie to finally be in a position where she’s actually in control of her situation. A restored Eric would pretty much result in Sookie being backed in a corner again.
On the other hand, Eric’s current situation allows for Sookie to get herself connected enough to him as he is to accept things when he is restored. And if he remembers his experiences when he is restored, then he may change his tune a bit with Sookie and their interactions. And considering that Bill is now firmly ensconced in his own subplot, the path to Sookie/Eric is unencumbered.
I’m not sure what the point of Bill’s little sexual tryst subplot might have been, but I liked how he discovered that she was one of his descendents. One has to figure that things like that are a distinct possibility for vampires. The connection to Sheriff Andy has certain possibilities. All that said, his activities as the Infiltrator King need to start gearing up, before he becomes irrelevant.
I also hope that Jason’s subplot will now lead into something meaningful. This entire situation has been a nice subversion of the character, and it’s hard to imagine that the combination of proto-werepanther and vampire blood infection won’t result in something deeply disturbing. If nothing else, it should force Jason to grow up a bit more, which has been a long time coming.
Sam’s subplot takes a turn for the worse in this episode, since Luna’s little secret is a bit mundane. I really didn’t care about that, and it made her status as a skinwalker seem a bit less edgy and dangerous. But it’s still far, far better than the idiotic Tommy subplot. I really want Sam to kill Tommy to become a skinwalker, because it would probably bring the entire fandom into a state of mutual celebration.
Tara, Jesus, and Lafayette gets much less to do in this episode, but now that we know that Marnie is messing with a hot but justifiably angry spirit of a former witch, none of this is likely to end well. Pam certainly discovered this the hard way. What I suspect is that all the various subplots are going to develop the characters to a point where they can band together against the threat that Marnie represents. Not unlike the second season, I suppose, which wouldn’t be a bad model to follow. It was the lack of a common threat that left the third season too wide open in the end.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10