Holy plot resolution, Batman! True Blood is tying up loose ends like crazy now that we’re nearing the season finale. Last week we saw Terry’s Ifrit storyline meet its somewhat unsatisfying end. (I can’t say I was sorry to see it go.) Who knows if that will factor into the finale, but knowing this show, I’m guessing that the aftereffects of Terry’s experience will be addressed. As will, I’m sure, Lafayette’s brujo possession, which has been dormant since he escaped from Don Bartolo with Jesus’ spirit riding shotgun.
This episode involved the wrap-up (and I use the term loosely, because nothing is ever really “wrapped up” on True Blood) of the Hoyt-Jessica-Jason love triangle/best friend betrayal storyline in a thoroughly heartbreaking fashion. Hoyt told his former best friend and girlfriend that he was going to Alaska, and that he wanted Jess to make him forget them both so that Hoyt would stop feeling miserable. My heart broke for all three of them, because it was clear how despondent Jess and Jason were knowing that they caused Hoyt so much hurt. I’m sure Jessica felt she owed it to Hoyt to grant him that peace of mind, since she was the one who caused it in the first place. But at the same time I feel like it wasn’t her place to glamour his memories away, especially the decades of friendship between him and Jason. I know it’s hard to move on, and Hoyt does deserve a fresh start, but it’s not fair to skip the normal human process of emotional healing and just wipe the bad memories away. Or maybe it is. Maybe that’s the point. If there was a way to fix what’s broken in us with just the blink of an eye, maybe we’d all be better off. I tend to lean towards the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind end of the spectrum in believing that in forgetting, we lose a part of who we are.
Even though it’s partially their fault, I felt so much sympathy for Jason and Jess. What a burden it must be to be the only one left who remembers. I had to break out the tissues for that last scene when Jason pulled Hoyt over just to talk to him one last time. At first he was enjoying joking around with his best friend again, something he hadn’t been able to do in months, but his face fell as soon as he tried to bring up a childhood memory of the two of them playing together. That’s when he realized Hoyt was—as they say in the title of the episode—“Gone, Gone, Gone.” Jason broke down in Sookie’s arms when he got back to his car. I’m hoping the upside of this will be that Jason and Jess can be together now that Hoyt doesn’t remember them. Jess and Jason could both use some comfort right now, and if they’re not feeling too guilty or angry, maybe they can find it with each other.
Speaking of being really far gone, let’s talk about Elijah. Because, you know, he’s dead. He was superbly annoying during his brief stint as sheriff of Area 5, but actor Keram Malicki-Sánchez does get nostalgia points for having been in a 90s teen rom-com (Drive Me Crazy) and an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also, he had an awesome death scene. Tara and Crystal (unlikely super-duo alert!) managed to trick him into the awkward position of being decapitated, only to find Pam standing in the doorway, looking halfway between outraged and downright impressed. Tara told her they were not running from the Authority. Pam looked like she might actually be proud of her progeny for the first time. They really are the perfect mother-daughter team: they’re both angry, strong, and they don’t take crap from anybody. Maybe they can learn to be a semi-functional family after all.
Eric would have been proud, if he wasn’t too busy dealing with his own problems, which included being torn between his Maker and the very persuasive hallucination of Lilith induced by her blood, which Bill and Nora force-fed him. Really, Bill? It’s almost like you took it seriously when I asked if you could be any more of a douchebag. IT WAS RHETORICAL, YOU ASSCLOWN.
This scene really put the “God” in Godric, since he was clearly representing the father figure deity that Eric was clinging to instead of worshipping at the altar of Lilith. Godric mentioned something about having “evolved,” but he didn’t really elaborate before Lilith dramatically ripped his throat out, leaving Eric a whimpering mess. From that point, he claimed to be converted to the religion of Lilith, denouncing the “false god” that he had found in Godric. In asking for the forgiveness of Russell and the rest of Team Lilith, Eric even went so far as to kiss Russell’s ring and forgive him for slaughtering his family. At this point, I became legitimately worried that Eric wasn’t faking his newfound devotion to the word of Lilith, because I feel certain that Eric would not be able to say those words without gagging (or at least snarling) unless he was actually brainwashed. But I’m hoping he’s just a really good actor and he’s pretending to conform in order to get himself out of this sticky situation.
Is anyone else a little tired of the overbearing religion theme this season? And that’s coming from someone who minored in Religious Studies in college. I like the symbolism and the supernatural spin on it, but at this point I’m pretty fed up with the whole Church of Lilith evangelism/brainwashing thing. I definitely shared some of Molly’s frustration in her final speech, in which she told her captors that they were basically ready to destroy the world based on a book that was written thousands of years ago. Despite the fact that it seemed to border on a condemnation of religion in general, I think her observation was a necessary antidote to the homicidal zealots who were about to kill her—with her own invention no less. (We’ll miss you, Tina Majorino!)
Probably the most appalling part of this episode was when Bill summoned Jess to their HQ and tried to sell her on the whole Lilith-is-God thing. She has been Bill’s one redeeming quality throughout the series (at least in my eyes), and now he’s officially putting her in danger and trying to brainwash her. She recognized the signs, since she was a preacher’s daughter in her human life. But what’s a girl to do when her Maker tells her to worship Lilith? It’s not like she has anywhere else to turn.
In a seemingly random scene with no discernible relevance to the rest of the episode, we saw Andy and Holly being adorable while having dinner at Merlotte’s, courtesy of Chef Lafayette (who was in a surprisingly good mood). I can only assume that the purpose of this scene was to give us one last glimpse of the happy couple before everything hits the fan next week and Holly finds out about Andy’s unborn fairy child with Maurella, whom we saw looking mighty pregnant in this episode. She helped Sookie and Jason decode the manuscript found under the floorboards in Sookie’s bedroom. Sadly, it was not a winning fairy lottery ticket. It was a contract between Sookie’s great-great-great(…?)-grandfather giving the mysterious Warlow possession of his first female fae-bearing heir (AKA Sookie). Whoops! Those Stackhouse men really don’t have the best decision-making skills, do they?
Unfortunately for Sookie, Warlow isn’t the only one interested in having her for himself: Russell is intent on finding Sookie and using her to manufacture synthetic fairy blood so he can walk in the daylight. Salome, being the Debbie Downer that she is, was all, “We are of the night,” so Russell pitched a hissy fit and stormed out after making a characteristically dramatic speech (in his real accent) about being a real vampire or something. Bill and Eric both looked slightly concerned, though neither seemed like he was about to jump up and immediately rush to protect Sookie. Will their love for her be what breaks them out of this blood-induced trance? I would hope at least Eric would find enough sanity left to go help Sookie. I wouldn’t mind if Bill’s transition to cult follower became permanent, so long as it meant he was killed off. It seems fitting now that Sookie has (or, had, I guess) two men fighting for her affection, since she seems to always have at least two trying to kill her. Maybe she’ll get lucky and Warlow and Russell will kill each other while they fight over her. Then again, knowing Sookie’s luck, that seems about as likely as Bill winning “Best Hair” at the Teen Choice Awards.
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 
