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True Blood: Sparks Fly Out

Bill: "A vampire would have drained those girls of every last drop. How's your Fresca?"

Poor Gran. Why her? She didn't have sex with a vampire. Not that we know of, anyway. But she was certainly nice to one in front of half the town.

And in an obvious parallel, Bill certainly didn't deserve to die the way he did, either. Bill died, like Gran did, because he was nice to someone. He was a faithful husband and a gentleman who refused to take advantage of a pretty woman. And what did he get for it? He was so close to home when he died, too. Very sad.

I don't think they've really explored the issue of whether or not becoming a vamp is a good thing. Are vampires happy with their lot? Do they enjoy their eternal life? How much of the original Bill is still in there? Is he still the person he was, or is he going through the motions? Bill's blood tears and the way he looked at the ghosts of his family on the porch intimated that he was still much the same man, that he still grieved for them.

I just loved the Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting, even before it began. Tara's expression as they were putting up the Confederate flag was priceless, as was Hoyt and his mother frantically trying to cover up the cross so that it wouldn't fry Bill. Loved the hecklers with the garlic press, too. Bill was obviously a huge hit. Well, what Civil War club wouldn't be thrilled under the circumstances? At least Sookie's Gran had a very special and enjoyable evening on her last night on earth. And Bill's talk certainly softened Sookie's anger toward him. There's more to Bill than danger and sexual mystery and music that sounds like Chinese gargling.

Why did Sam wait until Sookie met Bill before making his move? Very dog in the manger, pun intended. Sookie said that Sam's brain waves weren't like other people's, mostly waves of emotion instead of streams of words, but Sam couldn't have known that. It's unlikely that he has anything whatsoever to hide if he was hoping Sookie would read his mind. So we can be pretty sure that Sam didn't kill those women.

The title of the episode was "Sparks fly out." Sookie didn't seem to feel sparks with Sam. Jason saw sparks coming off magnolias as well as Tara while he was tripping. But I'm sure the title meant death, the sparks of life extinguished. Who killed Maudette, Dawn, and Adelle Stackhouse? If Bill was telling the Sheriff and Andy Bellefleur the truth, that a vampire wouldn't have been able to resist a fresh corpse, then it had to be a human. Although I wouldn't call such a person human.

Bits and pieces:

-- I'm bored with Jason as a sex addict. I'm also bored with him as a V addict. Lafayette was trying to teach Jason moderation. Give it up, Lafayette.

-- Lafayette and the AIDS burger scene was just a bit too preachy for me. I thought the main point, though, was that the hecklers with the garlic press were also intolerant toward gays. Prejudice is prejudice. Message received.

-- Vampires do photograph. And crosses don't bother them a bit.

-- The vampire who turned Bill was named Lorena. Her name wasn't given in the episode, but it was listed in the credits.

Quotes:

Tara: "Giving vampire blood to Jason Stackhouse is like giving HoHos to a diabetic."

Arlene: "Vamp club not all it was made out to be, huh? Lot of freaks, I hear. And people from Arkansas."

Maxine: "What do you think's gonna happen when he comes up and sees a giant cross?"
Hoyt: "I don't know."
Maxine: "Well, I don't, either. But if he sizzles up like fatback bacon in front of everybody, there's not gonna be much of a meeting now, is there?"

So far, every episode has been better than the one before it. And that's good,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

4 comments:

  1. I have to disagree about the AIDs burger. It's one of my favorite scenes in the show, and I show it to everyone I know to get them to watch True Blood. It doesn't spoil anything, and it proves that the show has balls.

    "Tip your waitress."

    Classic.

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  2. I agree with Mike ... loved the burger scene. Jason's reaction to Lafayette afterwards -- the gleeful laugh, and slapping him a five, was probably the only time I ever liked him.

    Love the reviews, Billie! Keep 'em coming! :)

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  3. Loving this series and I loved this episode a lot more on repeated transmissions.

    Bill gave something of a moving speech during the Descendants Of The Glorious Dead meeting and the flashbacks were intriguing.

    It took me a while to realise that Lorena was actually a vampire but the reveal was good. Damn she was one cold hearted bitch to Bill in the end.

    I find it interesting that while Andy loathes Jason so much, he seemed more sympathetic towards Bill. Is there anything to that?

    Sookie seemed to soften towards Bill during the meeting but she did have a right to call Sam out on his crap too.

    Why did Sam wait until Bill showed up to be more expressive in his interest in Sookie? Also the way Sookie reads Sam's thoughts are interesting too.

    Lafayette, you win so much respect for dealing with those homophobic jerks the way you did but don't trying to teach Jason anything about moderation.

    Jason's trippy sequences were fun but shagging that girl after she rejected Hoyt and he was rejected by Tara didn't do him any favours. All Jason seems to do is have sex and get arrested.

    Poor Sookie for finding her grandmother like that. I'm sad to see Gran bite the bullet so early and in such a brutal way.

    Arlene really does have it against vampires, huh? So does Rene though less so. Hoyt sampling True Blood was funny though, 9/10.

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  4. Liked the flashbacks a lot and I felt sorry for Bill now. I´m scared, a bit but now they gave him another complexity to his character.
    And Gran was such a nice character. I was sad to see her go.

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