We are 3 weeks into our True Blood season and it’s my turn to offer my humble opinion on the comings and goings of our favorites Eric and Sookie… and those other characters who tag along. I admit, I have been mulling over my reaction to “You’re No Good” over the past few days and quite a few viewings. And I keep finding myself torn between complete enjoyment and boredom from various aspects of the episode. Let’s see if I can piece myself back together, you ready to take the journey with me?
Here we go.
The Boring:
I’ve said it before, the were/shifter storyline bores the crap out of me, and normally at the same level as the Human story lines. Even with the politics schmolitics of this season, I find the Were storyline ranks lower in my esteem and completely disconnected from the rest of the show. Between the pack crap, the VUS crap, the only thing saving the Sam storyline for me at the moment from this episode was the little bit it had LaLa. The rest of it can just … NEXT.
I give it 2 yawns.
The Cringe Worthy:
Strangely enough, I am enjoying the addition of Rutger Hauer as Niall… but only when he is interacting with Sookie and Jason. It’s when we see him away from the Stackhouse siblings that I find myself cringing. Like his exploration of the vampire ravaged fae club… and the handy dandy reappearance of Ben in the meadow near the hidden club. Somewhere Ben just happened to not find since the day before. I roll my eyes at this, its not believable in a fantasy show! I digress, but not much. The Niall/Ben moment in the meadow felt… forced. It was almost like they were trying to hard with their characters. So I cringed.
Jessica… on her mission to “procure” the scientist… all in an effort to make her maker happy. I don’t know what is worse the fact that the writers wrote those lines, or the bad acting by the professor. Cringe.
Tara, we had made such progress with her that she was gaining my esteem… then this episode happened and she went rogue from her vampire family. There were times where I swore she stopped thinking like a vampire and reacted like a “prude” human. Like Pam called her. All I know is when she ran with the Willa, and if what I think happens next week happens, then those Pam/Tara shippers will need to ship Pam with someone else since Tara will be dead to me.
The cringe worthy section would not be complete without a mention of the camp where Vampires are taken. Yes, they toted this episode as the reunion of Steve and Sarah Newlin on the TB screens. But their reunion was second fiddle to what was happening in these facilities to the vampires by the good doctor in charge. But the most cringe worthy part for me was how fast Steve spilled the beans when asked about Eric.
The Underdogs we root for:
This episode I actually found myself rooting for Andy this episode. Maybe it’s because of his adventures in parenting with raising his 4 daughters. And these girls take the “6 going on 16” saying to a whole new extreme. Fatherhood has given him a patina that his promotion to Sheriff and dating Holly ever did. Yes, we see some of the glimpses of the old Andy we looked to for comedy. But Chris Bauer did a wonderful job balancing between the aspects of Andy this episode. Kudos.
Jason, he is trying so hard to redeem himself in his own eyes. With Sookie hovering over him thanks to his head injury, you can’t help but love the Siblings Stackhouse as they stand up for each other and just talk to each other. You really can tell that Jason regrets how he was acting thanks to his “Ghost Parents” and wants to make up for it. Even by acting old “Sookie” like and rushing into situations without knowing what he is up against and to the detriment of himself for the sake of others. Like rushing to help try capture Warlow… and rushing to help save Sookie from Bill when he visited…. and entered the Stackhouse homestead without permission. So this has me rooting for Jason, who we last saw unconscious on the floor.
The Tease
We were teased.
That is all. For a few brief moments Bill stood in the sunlight and light up faster than a dry Christmas tree, after making proclamations of grandeur that he was immortal (he did survive a staking).
If the burning tease was not enough, we get further teased by the scene in Sookie’s house. There were multiple teases. Here are the highlights
- Bill enters the house. Yeah he was able to enter the house, but Sookie intended for him not to enter.
- Bill only visiting because he wants Sookie’s blood. We knew it, and now the whole world knows it. He wants her blood so he can make sure his fellow vamps were safe from sun burn.
- Sookie throwing plates at Bill and calling him an asshole.
- Bill saying Sookie is dead to him and Sookie saying “I’m good with that”.
And last but not least, the look Bill has on his face at the end of the episode. Evil. Especially when you know he just found the fae blood he needed in the form of Andy’s daughters.
As I said, we were teased. Here is hoping it all sticks.
The Reasons We Really Watch True Blood
Eric and Sookie. Yes they have not shared any screen time together since Eric signed the house back to Sookie in episode one. But we still love to watch them on our screens every Sunday. I feel both actors brought their A games in this episode.
Sookie, we hardly recognize you. I think I like it J Wait, there is no thinking about it. I do like it. Others may disagree but I think this was a great episode for Sookie. Our first view of the Sook this episode showed her practicing her fairy light, just like grandpa taught her. But a Warlow “visit” induced run-through-the-woods and a Jason-passing-out moment later, led us to watching Sookie sass Niall as she stood up for Jason. It was in this verbal skirmish with Niall that Sookie utters “I don’t remember a time when I was not in danger” in response to why she was not showing fear. She then tries to get her grandpappy to explain why her when there are more fae with a closer to hafling status then she is. Niall explains it when drops the words “royal blood” and the “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” quote. I think this was one of those moments you feel it was foreshadowing something big later on this season.
One thing that did not need any foreshadowing this episode is Sookie and Jason having each other’s back. Sookie with her mothering of Jason with his head injury and Jason with his rushing off to try protect Sookie. Like he did when Sookie yelled for him with the Bill visit. I mean, it started off fine with him on the other side of the door and Sookie 2.0 not really trusting him or inviting him in. Not that he needed it. It’s like the one you broke up with and you suddenly found out they had a spare key still. Well, we know what happened next… the Sookie and Bill showdown in the kitchen. I am calling Sook the winner by a nose. I mean she stood firm and did not give him blood and she got him out of the house. The only tiny detail that makes it from being a knock out win on her part is that fact that Jason got “knocked out” well Bill telekinetically dropped him. Intentionally.
Well that is one guest down, though Sookie needed to get right back into “company” mode when Niall comes back after his Warlow hunt from the night before with Ben in tow. And the news that the Fairy Club was destroyed and most of their friends were killed (Hunter and Hadley left previously). Sookie is feeling guilt from her friend’s deaths and gets very annoyed when she feels Ben in her head. Some how they can feel each other when the other is mind reading. Between this news and her earlier visitor, Sookie is a bit over whelmed and channels her emotions into cleaning her kitchen. Ben, trying to make nice, goes in to help and Sookie unwinds a little to “tease” him. Yeah she tried to make it playful, but it was not the easy going tease between friends. I felt it was the I-want-to-mess-with-your-head variety.
But her cleaning binge abruptly comes to end thanks to a visiting (stalking) vampire in the woods and the menfolk rush to try to stop “Warlow”. Sookie is told to stay in the house, while Niall and Ben find out the zapped vampire is instead Nora. Sookie’s night is complete when Jason falls down unconscious in the foyer… after Niall uses the “fairy lasers”. This is just not Sookie’s night, but she took it all in stride and I commend her.
A Vampire’s Vampire
Eric. Viking Vampire God. Who bows down to no one. He’s baaaack. And quite frankly, we did not have enough of him this episode. Like we would ever have enough… even when he is acting like a vampire.
Before I can gush over Eric, I have to defend him. Yes, some people were not happy with his first interaction with Willa Burrell. I was not one of them… because I am not holding him to human standards. It’s war… and it was personal. His baby was hurt, and her progeny. So this was eye for an eye. Daughter for daughter. And I can understand that. I may be one of the few, but I do. Though I admit, at first I was confused when Willa seemingly broke his glamour when he was moving down for the bite. But that was short lived when my analytical brain recalled he only said she could not yell, and she didn’t. Willa was able to catch Eric’s attention with 2 words …”vampire experiments”… and the plan changes to extraction since the governors troops were on their way up to try to arrest him again. Fidiots.
Eric makes his way to Fangtasia with Willa in tow, much to Pam and Tara’s displeasure. Loud displeasure. Before Pam and Tara could descend into full out bickering, Eric orders them to pack up what they find sentimental from Fangtasia while he interrogates the “hostage”. Willa willingly turns on her own father and tells all she knows about the vampire centers to Eric. Misdirecting funds, experimentation, no due process. Yup, smells political… and has me harkening back to Eric’s PSA in season 4 asking us “Who would you rather trust, a politician or a vampire?” Prophetic, if you ask me. Tara and a sad Pam come back in the scene with a small box of what was left of personal value in Fangtasia. And Eric moves to “leave Fangtasia for good”, very calmly. Or so we think. For after Pam makes a comment that even he doesn’t believe “this was just another bar”, Alex has Eric look sentimentally around at his throne for several beats.
After Eric wins the debate with Pam on why they need to keep Willa… and not the other 4 letter “k” word, the 4 some make their way to a safe house. Ginger’s house. Home of some of the best scenes of the season (if not the series). We had humor, with a dash of sass, and oodles of sex appeal. For Eric Northman “came a knocking” on her door and seduces his way in and the revolving door that ensues with the “girls” asking to be invited in as well. Sorry Ginger, there will be no fucking tonight. Plus it was almost daylight, so Eric pulls rank to take the “coffin” bed with Willa (still in her duct tape). The lucky bitch. It seem’s Willa is into pillow talk since she somehow wakes Eric from his death slumber to talk. And with each word, Eric learns more on how “vampire” friendly the Burrell females are. The seduction turns up several notches when Eric wont let her taste his blood… then sucks it off her fingers while gazing into her eyes. And Dead. It was seduction pure and simple. Give a little, gain a lot. Then he breaks eye contact to tell her she needs to put her duct tape back on.
Sadly there is no duct tape strong enough for Ginger, cause maybe she would not have answered his phone… to the governor. Who is tracking the phone signal. Eric trusts Tara to keep Willa under control while he plays head games with his coffin mate’s father. Sadly Tara ends up absconding with the hostage and breaking faith with her vampire family. Tisk, tisk. This now lands ANOTHER problem in his lap that he has to clean up for someone else as Pam and Eric fly off to track her. Poor vampire Maybe duct tape help corral Pam’s progeny?
I mean, it did help me realize that I will ignore the boring parts for a perfectly timed knock on the door. Again and again
Duct tape, the gift that keeps on giving.
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