Spoilers below!
This week on True Blood, the season ended with less blood, guts, and sex than we’ve come to expect. See how it all came together and what we think of it.
First things first, your general reactions?
LAUREN: This didn’t feel like our typical True Blood season finale — this felt like a mid-season episode that was meant to introduce new storylines, not wrapping up old ones. I’m a little disappointed, to tell the truth. I did chuckle when Sookie put Talbot’s ambrosia salad down the garbage disposal.
THOMAS: I felt very split. From a plot point of view, I thought it was a mess for the reasons you said. But from a character point of view, it felt like a tour de force in some ways, hitting many but not all of the right notes. This was, for example, the first time I’ve been entirely satisfied with the characterizations of Sookie, Eric and Bill in the same episode all season. And Tara, and Lafayette, and Hoyt, and Jessica, and Terry … Also, I liked CC Adcock’s cover of the Howlin’ Wolf classic Evil.
LAUREN: I can’t deny how much I love a good cover song.
SALLY: I was also torn. I think I liked it, but we got no answers, which I certainly don’t like. Thomas is right, though — they really focused on characters more than any other time this season. Most of the characters had great (surprising) moments.
LAUREN: I think both of you are right, there were some promising character moments, particularly with Sookie and Tara. The actors haven’t been given a whole lot this season, and suddenly getting decent material in the 11th hour makes me sigh in frustration.
After Bill tries to bury Eric alive, his true colors are revealed. Sookie gets confirmation that Bill’s intentions with her aren’t completely pure. Meanwhile Eric makes a break from the ethics of Godric, who advocates forgiveness while Eric carries out his revenge. Have we seen the last of Russell Edgington? What’s in for the rivalry between Eric and Bill? Is Sookie finally done with Bill?
LAUREN: I’m pretty sure Eric broke out of that cement grave using pure sexiness.
SALLY: I agree! Hit hotness made the cement melt again and he just walked on out.
THOMAS: Eric’s break with Godric is good for him. He’s his own vamp, in all his flawed glory, and his philosophy is sometimes bleak but also beautiful. Godric forgives Russell; Eric buries him in silver and concrete because he’s not done getting revenge. Also, Eric’s fanatical devotion to those he loves means they return it. Pam will pull him out of tougher stuff than concrete if she can, and she’ll watch him self-immolate if she has to, because Eric has earned it and would do the same for her. It’s that devotion that will eventually win Sookie over.
Russell is too good to leave buried, I think. Hopefully they resist the urge to bring him back for at least a season or two. But if he comes back, he’s the Authority’s problem, too: a famous terrorist, uncontrollable and half-crazed, threatening the push for civil rights.
SALLY: I was wondering why this didn’t come up more during this episode. Because it was the Authority who got Eric to kill Russell, for some reason, I thought they’d have more of a role in the finale.
LAUREN: Right. This was one of the more problematic parts of this episode. Russell’s death was completely anti-climactic. Basically the guy tore someone’s spinal column out on national television, and instead of ramping up the camp and violence that TB is so good at, everyone angrily exchanged words. Angrily.
THOMAS: Sookie was the woman I always want her to be for a whole episode for once. Bill should be done, though Moyer’s relationship with Paquin will probably keep getting his character another chance.
SALLY: Sookie had a great night, even with the annoying ugly-cry. Something about her usually bothers me, but there was hardly any trace of it in this episode.
LAUREN: I think part of it is that Sookie was finally seeing all the neon warning signs that the audience has been groaning about for the last season, and appears to be doing something about it. Season Three has kept Sookie without agency and without real choices, and this is the first time she’s made choices independent of what some dude wants of her.
Tara finds out that Sam is a shifter, and when she goes to her mom for comfort, she realizes her mom is still as deluded as ever. Tara says her goodbyes, cuts her hair, and drives off into the sunset.
THOMAS: This is one of those perfect-pitch character moments. We’ll see her again, but she was painted into a corner where she was and she was right to go. The real losers in this are Sookie, who will find other support, and Sam, who doesn’t know how. Just like Sam to tell the only person who can help him out of a hole that she should really think about skipping town.
SALLY: Can’t tell you how much I loved this. Everything about this was so great. I liked that she told Sam that he should have said something before, that she realizes she needs some distance between herself and the supernatural drama, that she had one last moment with Sookie before leaving, etc. I also love her hair.
LAUREN: I’m hoping Tara shows back up in, like, episode three of season four all spruced up and feeling good again. The timeline of the story is so deceptively short that it’s hard to remember that Tara’s trauma has occurred within about three months of time. Fan sites keep grumbling about how unlikable Tara is (which I don’t get at all) but to be fair the actress hasn’t had but fear, trauma, and anger to work with. It was nice in this episode to see a shift in the character’s foundation.
Lafayette discovers that Jesus is a brujo. Jesus reveals that Lafayette, too, is sensitive to magic and just needs to be taught how to harness it. What do Lafayette’s visions portend?
THOMAS: Many times, and twice really prominently, we’ve seen Lafayette show everyone he’s fine when he’s totally falling apart. The contrast between him on the phone and him in the hallway was so true to who he is. I feel like Jesus kind of conned Lafayette, though. He got him headed into a magical world on a highway of V without telling him he has a summer house there. This couple will work, I hope, but they’ll mess it up and hurt each other a few times.
LAUREN: I do feel like Jesus really undermined their relationship with this purposeful deception. I’ve got to hope that we will finally have a sweet, sexy, functional relationship between two men of color on TV, but there seems to be a dangerous undercurrent to Jesus’ story. Lafayette is going to find himself knee deep in it.
THOMAS: Lafayette’s new vision is a goldmine for the writers, who will use it to hint and foreshadow all kinds of shit — like Rene’s devil baby. Hopefully they’ll be smart enough to misdirect with it, too. If Lafayette’s visions are seeing things as they really are, and his vision of Jesus last episode was terrifying, they’re in for a bumpy ride.
SALLY: I was a bit… unimpressed with this turn of events. I’ve felt like something was up with Jesus before this, but this seems almost normal for the sorts of things we normally see on the show. Could it be that next season will be a bit more tame, what with Wiccans and brujos rather than shapeshifters and werepanthers?
But I agree that Lafayette’s visions can make for a really entertaining season. I’d love to try to dig through them and figure out what’s really going to come true and what’s not.
While Hoyt’s mama is staging interventions and buying firearms, Jessica and Hoyt are moving in together! With the baby from Trainspotting! Will Mrs. Fortenberry let this union happen? What’s with the creepy doll?
THOMAS: Loved the intervention. I kind of like the show Intervention, and the stilted campy handling of the process was just hilarious. I thought that Hoyt’s contrasted handling of his mother and Summer was great. He’s mostly a class act, and he knows to treat Summer — who is really just in the middle of this — with kid gloves while reserving the telling off for his evil mother. She’ll try to kill Jessica. She’ll fail. I predict that she will mortally wound Hoyt. Either he dies and Jessica goes on a killing spree, or Jessica turns him. I strongly prefer the latter. That should be a major event early next season. Then Jessica will be pregnant with a living Hoyt’s baby, which will be a weird product of her being a very new vamp. Also, it will be literally a virgin pregnancy, because her hymen grows back every time it tears. Just sayin’. Heavy religious imagery coming.
LAUREN: Can the undead get pregnant?
SALLY: That creepy doll was so damn creepy. It’s not every day that True Blood gives us something like that, usually opting for subtle or over-the-top.
LAUREN: I’m intrigued by the creepy doll because it was so subtle for TB, and because it’s such classic horror movie foreshadowing. Are we going to see ghosts next season?
SALLY: The intervention was so funny, I loved Summer’s letter to Hoyt. Hoyt was really sweet about it, which actually surprised me. I can’t wait for them to try to kill Jessica to save Hoyt. I’m hoping blood will be shed and screams will be heard and all that jazz. I really hope Hoyt doesn’t die, but the idea of Jessica turning him is awesome.
While Crystal takes off with her half-brother to save Jason, Jason ruins his career in law enforcement by tipping off the folks in Hot Shot to the impending bust from the DEA. At Crystal’s urging, Jason takes on a leadership role for the impoverished, uneducated people of Hot Shot. Are they screwed or are they screwed?
THOMAS: I can’t even … Jason is so stupid he dumbed down the whole plot line. The only interesting part is Andy’s moment of temptation.
SALLY: I can’t stand this damn dude. I was already mad at where his storyline was (not) headed all season, and then this weird ending? He realizes he’s meant to serve people in Hot Shot instead of becoming a police officer? What? Why?
I think they were going for “He may be somewhat clueless, but he’s a great guy with a big heart who can take care of needy people.” I got more “He’s completely clueless, adds nothing of real value to the show, fails at comedic balance half the time, and now wants to take this on as his latest crackpot idea.” This can’t possibly end well for them. So far, his ideas have been: join anti-vampire cult, become a cop, “save” Crystal, and now this? Either write him out of the show, or figure out how to give him the substance he really needs.
THOMAS: I don’t believe he has a big heart. I believe he’s a self-involved narcissistic little buffoon. Even his “caring” is about his internal narrative.
What did Sam do, and what the hell does he do now?
THOMAS: I don’t think he shot Tommy. I think Tommy was right that Sam wouldn’t shoot him in the back as he walked away. Not because Sam wouldn’t shoot someone in cold blood — would, and has — but because Tommy is his brother. Sam has issues with being betrayed, which ought to have steered him away from throwing Tommy out, but didn’t. Sam has an ocean of self-destruction in him, and only Tara knew how to get past that and make a real connection with him. He’s probably my favorite character, and I have literally not the first idea how he gets to any good place from where he is now.
SALLY: I also don’t think he shot Tommy. I’m pretty sure he shot in his general direction, but wouldn’t want to hurt Tommy. I think he needs to try harder with Tommy in order to push both characters forward at this point. If Sam simply becomes angry and bitter, and if Tommy doesn’t change at all, then they’ll both become a bit pointless. I think right now they have an opportunity to learn and grow from each other.