Original Air Date: 4 September 2011
Pam's Best: Can we blow up these Wiccan dipshits already? I got a mani-pedi at 4.
The Review: Let me just start by saying that Pam probably had her best line yet. The mani-pedi one was just wicked, and there was another great moment with her just ripping a vintage Cartier necklace off of a vampire's neck before letting Bill kill her. You gotta love a fashionista!
And on another note, dead on a sci-fi series almost never means dead, so watch out, Bill & co, cause Marnie has a backup plan involving our favorite medium.The episode revolved around the Fantastic Four trying to kill off Marnie from the outside, while Sookie and the others were trying to lower her vamp-killing spell that surrounded Moongoddess Emporium. As predicted, Jason stopped Bill and Eric from blowing up the place and stood up for his sister when both her love interests went off with a well-deserved "Fucking Sookie!". No offence, Jace, but I kind of get their anger at Sookie always putting herself in the way.
Sensing that Marnie just wants to get revenge for being bullied her whole life, Sookie and the waitress whose name I will never remember manage to convince her to negotiate, but the witch's price is a high one to pay: both Bill and Eric must die in exchange for Sookie's freedom. Wicked? You bet. They both agreed, though Bill was faster than Eric in making the decision and he was also willing to kill Eric first and then rely on Pam to shoot him. They were saved by Pam, though, when she tried to blow the place up, wanting to save her maker, but ending up only receiving his anger. I have a couple of issues with this: since we already knew they wouldn't kill themselves, I saw this only as a way to fit in a couple of extra minutes into the episode. Also, two vampires killing themselves over a human - no matter who that human is - is lame, especially since Sookie was not in life-threatening danger, she was merely held captive.
So after Pam destroyed the chances for a negotiation (thank God, at least one of the vamps is still awesome!), the Moongoddess Emporium became a dangerous place for everyone inside, as one of them received the pointy end of a knife in her chest and died. In the dead girl's blood, Marnie saw herself being shot in the head, and somehow convinced the others that the vampires are planning to kill everyone inside and had them form a circle in order to "do something". Question: why would anyone other than that hippie dude believe her, after all she has done, and actually join hands with her? And why would Sookie participate?
The spell Marnie did was not for the protection of the people inside, but rather to draw the vampires into the wall she raised around the store and have them killed. Jason saved the day once more, by warning Sookie telepathically, and she broke the circle by using her special powers.
In the meantime, Jesus, assisted by Lafayette, worked on a spell to separate Antonia from Marnie, thus giving them the possibility of escaping. The spell worked and the vampires saved the day by killing the witch. Eric made the best scene of the episode when he ripped the heart out of hippie-boy and drank directly from it. Way to screw up your chances with Sookie, dude! But awesome nevertheless. On the other hand, he did refer to Bill as "your majesty", which was weird giving the fact that he is now back to his old self. Unfortunately for everyone - and not unpredictable - was Marnie taking possession of Lafayette's body after her death. I'm guessing the finale will bring forth another confrontation.
Elsewhere, Sam, accompanied by Alcide, sought revenge on Marcus, finally finding him with Debbie after he had also kidnapped Luna's daughter. The fight between them was fun to watch and I thought for a moment that Sam would revert to his old ways and kill the pack leader, but the final strike was Alcide's. While all this didn't do much for me, I loved the way Alcide abjured Debbie. The guy managed to grow a spine in the meantime, I guess being cheated on for a second time would do that to you.
We also had a smaller subplot involving Andy Bellefleur, who got left in the woods by Terry and ran into a fairy, who used him for sex. This whole thing was so stretched out that I just ended up laughing. Will the fairy drop a baby at Andy's doorstep later on, and will that baby be Sookie no. 2? I'm guessing it wasn't a random event, so we'll just have to see how it plays out.
What did I leave out? Jess saving Jason's life again, and him finally admitting that she's all he thinks about. New hot couple alert, but I don't see things going so well with Jason's bromance.
Things I hated: Sam going all psycho on Marcus and getting him killed was definitely not the best way of winning Luna's heart. The triangle leaves me more annoyed than ever. While there was no development, the scenes with Sookie looking at both Bill and Eric undecided were just irritating, as was the stupid decision the guys took to kill themselves. Plus, now that Eric has his memories back, he's actually boring. I loved him bad-ass persona before and I equally loved his childish innocent self, but the way he is now is just not sexy. Except for that heart-ripping moment. I have a theory: being unable to decide between the two, she will hook up with Alcide, who is now free to pursue her again.
Highlights: the Pam moments, at least she's consistent. Jessica going all progeny on Bill after he agreed to kill himself ("Don't you ever do that to me again."). Eric's only awesome moment, when drinking blood directly from the hippie guy's heart.
While the episode was not awful and it delivered some good action, I felt that the writing was all over the place and there were things that just didn't make sense. This season started off so well and now, when we're actually getting to the war, the episodes are just shy of disappointing. I'm still hoping that the finale will save this for me
True Blood 4x10: Burning Down the House
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