In this week’s episode of True Blood, we saw Eric and Russell come to blows, Jason shoot Jessica in the head, Sookie discover a way to become human, Tara pole-dancing to the beat of her mommy issues, Hoyt fall in with the wrong crowd, Lafayette confront Don Bartolo, and Terry put a gun to his head. All in all it was certainly a plot-heavy episode. Now, I understand plot development is important, but personally there was a little too much plot and not enough longing glances exchanged between attractive men. Of course it’s possible that I was spoiled by the heaping amounts of sexual tension between Eric and Alcide in last week’s episode, but almost all of the romance in this episode was condensed into Arlene’s wedding video. These flashbacks highlighted just how wrong things have gone since then, not just for Terry and Arlene, but for other once-happy couples, namely Jessica and Hoyt, and Lafayette and Jesus.
Poor Lafayette is still dealing with the death of Jesus, and it’s not exactly helping that he keeps being temporarily possessed by the evil brujo spirit that lives in him. After seeing Jesus’ disembodied head, he knew it was time for action, so he went to pay a visit to Jesus’ crazy grandfather. Turns out grandpa brujo wanted to take Lafayette’s magic from him by having his pregnant wife drink Lafayette’s blood so as to imbue his unborn son with Lafayette’s power. Um…rude. Luckily Don Bartolo’s wife seemed as opposed to this plan as Lafayette was, because she totally up and stabbed Don Bartolo. Like, a lot. There was obviously some pent-up aggression happening there. I’m not really sure yet what the point of this whole experience was in terms of Lafayette’s personal journey, but I’m guessing this was a way to put him in a position where he might possibly learn to understand and better control his brujo side. Will Angry Maria put down her knife long enough to show Lafayette how to stop his inner demon from cutting his friends’ brake lines?
The other couple whose happy flashbacks were a stark contrast to where they are now was of course Hoyt and Jessica. Arlene’s wedding video reminded us of just how wonderful they were together, and I have to say I really miss who they were with each other. Both are significantly less likeable now that they’re on their own individual paths of self-discovery or whatever. I was on Team Jessica up until this week, but her comment about humans being like cattle, and then BITING JASON was totally uncalled for. Was that like some kind of weird side effect of Lilith rising? Like a mass vampire hormone shift or something? Or was Jessica just experiencing the unavoidable bratty phase of vampire adolescence? Either way, she sort of deserved to be shot in the head. But I can’t say I’m not disappointed by the current state of her relationship with Jason. I was really enjoying their friendship, especially with Jason having a hard time with the whole my-teacher-took-advantage-of-me-and-my-parents-were-killed-by-vampires stuff he’s been going through. Now Jason and Jess are on the outs, Jason and Hoyt are still not talking, and Jessica and Hoyt are obviously still not friendly since he just told his new hate group buddies that he does in fact hate her.
Hoyt used to be one of my favorite characters, so it’s really hard for me to see him become a member of the hate group that’s been killing vampires and shifters. I know he couldn’t stay the adorable, loyal puppy dog forever, and characters have to grow and evolve and blah blah, but did he have to evolve into a douchebag? I felt sorry for him when he was talking about never having felt more love and acceptance anywhere than he did in this hate group (how ridiculous is that?), because I know it’s been really hard on him losing his girlfriend and his best friend, but joining a hate group is never the answer. (Unless the question is: “How can I make the worst decision possible?”) Hoyt, why can’t you just get addicted to Call of Duty or something? There are better ways to deal with losing sight of who you are than by blindly attacking others because of what they are.
Speaking of brutal, pointless violence, Russell Edgington is back and better than ever. I was a little confused at first because of the whole “born again” thing. Is Russell really sincere in his conversion to the pious pursuit of Lilith’s will? I’m guessing no. Russell could never love another being or deity more than himself (unless it was his beloved Talbot, RIP), but it’s convenient that Lilith’s plan involves him relishing in the slaughter of innocent humans. His karaoke entrance was probably the best Russell scene ever. He just eased his way onstage before the vamps descended on the wedding party (all of them under the influence of Lilith’s blood). It might be tied with his reporter-spine-ripping news appearance. Denis O’Hare is so perfect as Russell, and this episode really proved that he can still be the entertaining villain that we saw in Season Three.
As hilarious as it was, the scene quickly devolved into a gory feeding frenzy, which was all the more disturbing because Bill and Eric were partaking in it. Granted, they were fun to watch as they wandered drunkenly down the street lecturing angry drivers, but once the reality of their inebriated state sunk in, I was mostly just dreading Sookie’s reaction to their blood bacchanalia. Fortunately Eric’s romp was interrupted by a welcome appearance from an old favorite: GODRIC!!! I freaking love Godric, you guys. Who doesn’t? He’s fantastic. And I absolutely love his relationship with Eric, which is why it was so meaningful that he showed up to remind Eric that what he was doing was wrong. Deep down, Eric knows that, but his sister doesn’t. Godric told Eric to save Nora, who was fully in the thrall of Lilith. (Oh, P.S. Lilith totally rose from the undead, by the way. I kind of skipped over that part but, WTF?!)
Meanwhile, Sookie was off trying to decide if it was worth it to keep her fairy powers, or if she should just drain all of her magic and become a lowly human. This was kind of a huge moment and a major decision for Sookie, which is why I was surprised (and impressed) that she basically made it by herself (by which I mean, without consulting or even telling any of the men in her life). She did sort of ask Sam for his opinion, and he told her that if he were normal, the people he loved would be much safer. That made me feel a little better about her choice to give up her powers, because it seemed like she might be doing to protect the people she loves, especially now that we know her parents already died because of her fae blood. Still, with Russell back and a large number of her loved ones being vampires, it seems like kind of a bad call. But when has Sookie ever made good decisions? I can’t fault her for wanting to be normal. I do have to wonder if her life would cease to be a non-stop crazy train of death and destruction if she was no longer part fairy. My gut says she would still get pulled into all sorts of supernatural chaos, but she wouldn’t be able to defend herself anymore. No matter what Sookie decides, I think we all know there’s no way she’s going to live a normal life. At least not until True Blood finally comes to an end.
Other favorite moments from this episode included Alcide’s shirtless “training session” (AKA foreplay) with his new lady wolf friend; Steve Newlin’s comment when asked if he would partake in the ritual of Lilith’s blood: “I’m like a tree in the wind—I’m just so happy to be included”; Pam’s face as she let Tara hug her (aww…she does care); Martha saving Emma from drinking V; and Holly’s tough love speech to Arlene about not giving up on Terry. What does next week have in store? Probably a whole lot of bats**t crazy stuff, seeing as LILITH IS HERE. Yeah, this is definitely the time to panic, Bon Temps.
Photo Courtesy of HBO
Lelia is a Level 5 Laser Lotus who specializes in TV shows that either have been or are about to be canceled. She is the co-creator of 
