Finally! After months of blood-thirsty anticipation, we were treated to the first episode of the fourth season of HBO‘s True Blood – “She’s Not There.”
*Spoilers* if you haven’t watched the episode yet.
So… you spend a few minutes in the Faerie World, catching up with Granddaddy Earl (Gary Cole) and you get back to Earth to find a whole year has gone by. A whole year. Wha???
Up until now, True Blood’s timeline has been difficult to keep up with. While we’ve been watching the series for three years, in Bon Temps it’s only been three months (give or take.) Remember – Rene was killed at the end of season 1, but Arlene just found out she was pregnant with his baby in the middle of season 3. So to pick up a whole year after last season makes for some interesting discoveries. And as we learned, a whole lot can happen in a year.
To me, I think the biggest surprise (at first) was Jason. Now officially a cop and helping out the kids that Crystal left behind, Jason seems to be on the straight and narrow. Bill and Eric both arrive at nightfall to check on Sookie, though neither of them stay long enough to explain their current whereabouts. Jessica and Hoyt are dealing with domestic life, while Sam is meeting with a group of shifters. Jesus convinced Lafayette to check out his witches’ hangout – “It’s not a coven” – where we meet Marnie and fellow witches. Arlene’s baby, named Mikey, is having a blast decapitating Barbies and Andy Bellefleur is hooked on V.
Tara‘s story was the biggest change from where we left her last season, I think. Now a cage fighter in New Orleans, Tara has taken on a romantic relationship with her fighting partner. And we see the tangled web of lies Tara’s been weaving, probably in a desperate attempt to completely demolish any memory of her former life.
And how about Tommy? Taking Hoyt’s place, he seems to like the life of a Momma’s boy. His testy exchange with his brother appears to show thier relationship isn’t in a great place right now.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the faerie opening on its own. It wasn’t until the time lapse was revealed that it all made sense. It makes for a convenient plot device, making the audience figure out what’s going on and not boring us to bloody tears with exposition.
When Eric reveals that his “company” bought Sookie’s house, I felt I should have known. I already had some suspicions when Portia revealed the real estate company didn’t have an actual office, but I didn’t think about it leading back to Eric. Very clever.
My favorite part of the whole thing was the last few minutes. Seeing Bill in his new position of authority and Eric craftily figure out a way to make Sookie his, I was in True Blood heaven.
Season 4 – you have my attention.
What did you guys think?
PS – I haven’t read all of the books, so I can’t say how well the story is following the novels. If anybody can help me out, I’d be happy to hear about it.
