SPOILERS BELOW.
This week on True Blood, it was violence galore. Bill breaks up with Sookie, Eric’s club gets raided, blood (vampire and human) is all over the place, everyone’s basically miserable.
The episode starts with Sookie getting a call from Bill to let her know that it’s over. He tells her he had sex with Lorena and says they were doomed from the start anyway, blah blah. Do we still care? Did we ever?
SALLY: Sookie boohoohooing about Bill was one of the funniest things ever. Topped only by Alcide pretty much mocking Sookie the next morning for still wanting to find Bill.
LAUREN: There were indeed a lot of good one-liners this Sunday. I liked the formality of Bill breaking up with Sookie, and Sookie’s, “Shut the fuck up.” Also, crying, “I don’t have a nutsack!”
SALLY: Also, when Alcide is comforting Sookie and she’s all “you’re warm,” it was much funnier but also less hot than when they do that in Eclipse. (Which I saw. Don’t judge me.)
LAUREN: Not a Twilight fan, I have to say. Apparently I prefer my vampires EXTRA VIOLENT??? Was this episode not the most violent one we’ve seen yet (forgetting the one where Sookie chops off someone’s head with a shovel)? Or maybe I should just say that this is the episode in which we are meant to be reminded that OUR vampires and werewolves are not sparkly, love-obsessed teenage ancients, OUR vampires and werewolves are fucking animals.
SALLY: It really was quite violent! What is up with this dark turn we’ve taken into vampire-dom?! Calm down, True Blood, calm down.
LAUREN: WE ARE TRUE BLOOD. WE ARE NOT TWILIGHT. OR THAT ONE SHOW ON WB.
Tara is being held captive by Franklin. He uses her to try to find out exactly where Sookie is and what she’s up to, but doesn’t get enough information. He kidnaps Tara and brings her to Russell’s mansion. What is Franklin up to and how will Tara get away?
SALLY: Sooooo, this storyline is starting to make me really uncomfortable. He keeps getting increasingly violent with Tara and at this point she’s just a vehicle for him to get what he wants, presumably Sookie.
LAUREN: I’m also made a little uncomfortable with these scenes, and I feel like to talk about them on a feminist blog is to first issue a serious trigger warning. We talk about this show because we like the show, but to watch it is to jump in knowing the show walks the edge of sex and violence, something that can be deeply disturbing to trauma survivors. This particular storyline is very creepy, very disturbing, and will be very triggering for people who have been in claustrophobic, manipulative, abusive relationships.
I don’t really know what to say about this storyline, but so far the tone it’s setting is uncomfortable and not in a good-television kind of way. Rutina Wesley is a friggin’ scream queen (in the good-television kind of way) but the storyline is still edging around some bad territory. I need to see where it goes to comment further.
SALLY: My hope is that she’ll escape soon. That must be what’s coming, right? Please let that be so, because I don’t want it to keep going down this road.
Sam’s family is still around. He has a heart to heart with his brother who feels responsible for his parents and can’t get away to live his own life until they’re dead. Sam confronts his parents and says he’ll give them a place to stay if they stop stealing and drinking. Where’s this storyline going?
LAUREN: Sam has to choose whether to be tied down by his history or whether to set down his baggage. I think he sees his baby brother as a way not only to connect with his history, but to redeem himself, but the bad, drunken parents, unfortunately, come with the brother. I’m still willing to bet Sam’s going to come out with the shit end of the stick on this one.
SALLY: Yeah, I can’t help but feel like he’s getting set up in a major way. Mostly because I still find the brother weird as all heck. Oh, and the fact that his parents are clearly untrustworthy.
LAUREN: There’s something going on there, but this thread is just inching along. In due time?
Jessica becomes the new hostess at Merlotte’s, where somebody recognizes her from bible study. She takes him outside to glamour him so that he forgets seeing her or stopping there. Is this a sign that Jessica’s finally maturing and taking care of herself?
SALLY: I was really happy to see how Jessica handled this. Considering that the whole killing a man and then hiding him thing only happened, like, two days ago or something like that in t.v. time, I wasn’t sure what she’d do. To see her trying a more rational approach this time around was nice.
LAUREN: Yes, it was definitely a coming of age moment for Jessica, where she problem-solved without flailing around and causing a scene first.
SALLY: But, of course, we can’t really talk about this scene without mentioning Hoyt. Was I the only one slightly bothered by him creeping around spying on her? I get that they’re basically the young love on this show, but still.
LAUREN: No! I had a similar thought. Yes, their missed connections are bittersweet drama, but it’s ironic to me that it’s Jessica’s evolution of maturity that Hoyt sees as a betrayal. Yeah, for all he knows she is sweet-talking another dude. Sure. But in this moment Jessica is also becoming more self-reliant and that is part of Hoyt’s personal tragedy.
SALLY: Exactly, and I think it’s also interesting to consider Hoyt’s resistance to taking Jason’s “sleep with another woman and you’ll forget it” attitude. Is it possible that Hoyt might end up bordering on Nice Guy TM? I hope not, cuz he’s cute as a button with Jessica and I still want them to end up together.
Eric’s off having fantasies about Sookie, but soon he’s got other things to worry about. Bill tells Russell about Eric selling vampire blood for the Queen and the Magister raids the club. Eric tells the Magister that Bill’s setting them up and Eric’s looking for him. Will Eric really look for Bill or do you think he has another plan in mind? And do we have more Eric/Sookie fantasies to look forward to?
LAUREN: Nooooooooooo. I don’t want them to actually do it and ruin my badass Eric Northman (Eric Northman doesn’t have feelings for HUMANS), I want them to have witty banter about doing it or not doing it for another three seasons, thank you.
SALLY: Does the actual touching ruin it? I can see that…
LAUREN: Let’s just say I like the running theme of pining for a rejecting humanity in the vampire community, and Pam and Eric have been so compelling in part because they love being blood-drinking, speed-fucking vampires. And speaking of which, was it just me or was this episode heavy on porn-like music?
SALLY: Particularly at strange moments, from what I remember (except, of course, I deleted the episode from my DVR already so can’t check).
LAUREN: Basically whenever there was a musical score it was all Bow Bum Bum Chicka Bow Bowm interspersed with buckets of blood, hair and/or clever dialogue.
SALLY: Basically!
Sookie distracts herself by playing Ms. Fix-It with Alcide and his ex, Debbie. She learns that Debbie is being initiated into the vampire blood-drinking gang and go to save her. There, they discover that Debbie’s fiance was one of Bill’s kidnappers and Russell is feeding them blood. Will Alcide and Sookie turn to Eric with what they’ve learned? What will he do now that he’s got other problems of his own?
LAUREN: Vampire politics, who knew? It’s interesting that the warring king and queen are corrupt drug dealers — of a drug considered sacrilegious to sell by an even greater moral-political power. One side is depending on Bill, and the other side is framing him, and this can only be resolved by whomever can manipulate his or her power and influence the best. Seeing that the queen is erratic and unreliable, it’s going to fall back on Eric and company. This season is going to be all about nepotism and corruption. And it’s going to be awesome.
SALLY: The moral of the story is basically “most people in power are equally corrupt and more alike than you realize.” Or perhaps that was just me thinking about the general “Democrats & Republicans are basically the same” argument… Either way, I’m confident that Eric will take the lead in this situation and hopefully work closely with Bill in one of those moments where they put aside all the other problems to get rid of the baddies.
LAUREN: Indeed! They will have to Put-Aside-Their-Problems-And-Work-Together, and then Sookie will have to Make-A-Choice between her moral/life saviors, but there will be another Powerful-But-Sensitive-Dangerous-Man-Character with whom she will have Very-Marketable-Sexual-Tension. Wherever will this go?
SALLY: This is starting to sound like an episode of Lost…
LAUREN: Then on the flip side there is another corruption tale taking place on the human side of Bon Temps, where one of the deputies points out that all Andy Bellefleur had to do to make Sheriff is to “drink like a fish, hallucinate farm animals, and kill a black man.” Notable, too, that Jason is going to blackmail Andy into making him a police officer.
SALLY: I completely forgot about this scene! And yet I remember watching it and thinking “ohhhhh snap.” This is one storyline I do want to see continue. The others are letting me down on multiple fronts.
LAUREN: Yeah, I just realized there isn’t one relationship on the show that is up-front and honest. Not one! And it’s bittersweeet that Sookie believes that her relationship with Bill isn’t colored by underhandedness and manipulation.
SALLY: On a final note, dude, can Sookie just mind her own business for once?
LAUREN: No.