Original Air Date: 11 September 2011
Hoyt: Yeah...
Jason: I ain't jokin'. I wish I was, but I ain't.
Hoyt: How?
Jason: Kind of a weird question to ask, man. But if you really want to know, uh... Missionary, then doggy, then her on top. I mean, it was nothin' too kinky.
Hoyt: No, how could you do that to me! Not, how did you fuck my girl.
Pam's Best: I am so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina and her unbelievably stupid name. Fuck Sookie!The Review: The first sign summer is over? True Blood comes to an end. Season 4 - the season of the witches - started strong and brought us a memorable villain, an amazing love story and important developments for all the characters, but turned less exciting in the last couple of episodes. The finale gave us closure on some of the storylines, but - in true TB fashion - opened up new questions for season 5.
Since the beginning, I have gotten used to the fact that the finale is not necessarily the best episode of the season. Nevertheless, "And When I Die" was more disappointing than I had expected. It had some highlights, though, and I will talk about those when the time comes.The plot lacked coherence and a lot of the events that happened seemed random. I had some trouble following the story as it jumped from one thing to another without any actual logic. I will try to break this review into plotlines so that it will make a little bit more sense.
Marnie. As depicted in the last episode, after her death, she possessed Lafayette's body. The reason behind that? Get Jesus to give her his blood magic. Naturally, the Latino hunk had to die in the process, as it seems that every season there simply has to be some major character that bites the dust. While I don't have any problems with this, the follow-up was the lamest excuse for an ending there ever was. First of all, there was no buildup to how Eric and Bill got tied up to a pole. Secondly, a character that had absolutely nothing interesting to say for 11 episodes - waitress what's her name - has now been promoted to hero as she magically came up with the spell that kept a powerful witch like Marnie (who also took possession of Jesus' magic) outside the circle and brought the phantoms of the past out to play.
At this point, the story turned out into a veritable rip-off of Ghost Whisperer. I have been complaining about this for a while, but it never got so boring as it did now. The most important arc of the season ended with Adele Stackhouse literally pulling Marnie out of Lafayette's body and then with a cheesy speech from Antonia, who somehow managed to convince the witch that being dead is better.
The love triangle(s). I was saying before that the best thing Sookie could do is take a break from both Eric and Bill and figure out what she wants to do with her life. Apparently, that is having grandchildren and spending her senescence years on the porch with Tara. Ain't that sweet? Figuring that out, we had to go through ten minutes that would have been better used in classic True Blood style (that is, sex and violence) listening to her break up with both of them. Is this arc over? I doubt it, not with what's coming into play in season 5, but she finally took her life into her own hands and I seriously hope this lasts beyond next year's first episode.
As for the other triangle, things went just a little bit better. After Jason gathered enough courage to tell Hoyt about his "missionary, then doggy, then her on top" sex with Jess, he found out that his new woman doesn't really want a serious relationship with him and he's basically just a sex toy. This part was actually entertaining and Jessica was very sexy in her Red Riding-hood outfit.
The vampires. I wish there would be something good to tell about this. Oh, no, wait, actually there is: Eric punching the heads of Nan's three gay stormtroopers off was bad-ass and I loved Bill staking Nan (though she was one of the few entertaining characters out there) with a "We are not fucking puppy dogs!" (oh yes you are!). Bill and Eric now working together against the AVL might be interesting, especially since the next season they will have to protect Sookie not only from the authority, but also from an old enemy who knows what she is.
Other completely random stuff: Sam and Mrs. Fortenberry buried Tommy and she asked Sam to call her "mama" from now on; talk about issues... Luna forgave Sam to easily for getting her daughter's father killed. Pam had a breakdown after being chased away by her maker and ended up hugging Ginger. Well, at least she gave us yet another classic one-liner, this one involving Sookie's vagina. An ex army buddy of Hoyt's came into town and Arlene received a warning from Rene about her new hubby's past (really, is this what the whole evil baby buildup led to? Rene simply coming with some good advice for Arlene?). Debbie came into Sookie's house with a shotgun in a scene that ended up with two blown heads; the death count got up to three as Tara got herself shot while saving Sookie's life, and then Sookie scattering Debbie's brains on her newly painted wall. Steve Newlin knocked on a naked Jason's door, revealing the reason why he had been missing this entire time - he's now a vampire. Talk about the perfect vengeance. Alcide made an interesting discovery at his building site; remember a certain someone whom Bill and Eric had buried in concrete? Yes, Russell Edgington will be back next summer.
After this disastrous finale, which had very few good moments and almost all of them are cliffhangers for next season - I clapped with excitement at the thought of seeing the ex king of Mississippi back - here are my thoughts and questions for the future:
Will we see the fairies again, or was Andy's magical and not at all believable sex in the woods just a random thing? I wouldn't be surprised if it were.
Is Tara really dead? What I mean is, pretty please let her be dead. She was the most annoying static character on this show since the beginning and I've been not so secretly hoping for her to die for a long time now. If she'll somehow be magically revived by ways of magic or vampire blood, I'll be seriously pissed. But then again, maybe Bill will give her his blood and she'll fall for him and they'll ride in the sunset together, leaving Sookie free to do the nasty with my favorite guy on TV nowadays.
Sookie blowing Debbie's head off? I get that Tara was her best friend (though, really?), but that was extreme. Alan Ball just has a way of screwing with what used to be one of my favorite series. I might just stick to the books in the future.
On the plus side, Marnie was a compelling character up until the last two episodes and I have to give props to Fiona Shaw for her breathtaking performance.
Season 5 will bring back two of the show's best villains - Russell Edgington and Steve Newlin. Also, how cool would it be if a heartbroken Pam would align with Russell against her new enemy - Sookie?
I have high hopes from season 5, but that is mostly because we will get Denis O'Hare back. This show needs to pick it up and give us good writing and less chaotic storytelling, because the gorgeous Alexander Skarsgård is just not enough to keep me truly entertained.
True Blood 4x11: Soul of Fire
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