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True Blood: Hard-Hearted Hannah

Daphne: "What? You don't like drums?"
Sam: "It's just that in my experience, no good can come from drum music."

Whoa. All of a sudden, everything changed from sexy and funny, to creepy and scary.

I wasn't a bit surprised when Daphne turned on Sam. Her being Maryann's pet pig made perfect sense. Sam is a cutie, and deserves a lot better. Well, he certainly deserves not to get sacrificed with a great big old knife. Maryann has horns now. Sam is in deep crap.

What happened to Eggs? What did he see, and why can't he remember? Was it the sacrifice of Miss Jeanette, perhaps? Poor Eggs isn't a minion at all; he's a victim, isn't he? Did he start remembering stuff because he wasn't near Maryann any more?

I just realized that the Fellowship and Maryann may be doing the same thing: sacrifices. The Fellowship does have Godric prisoner in their basement. And they're planning a great big vampire sunshine cook-out, with a pseudo-crucifixion, no less. Why Godric? Because he's two thousand years old, corresponding to the crucifixion of Jesus?

How did Steve and Sarah know that Sookie and Hugo were spies? Sarah Newlin felt sorry for Sookie, although I'm sure she didn't know Sookie was Jason's sister. And Sarah just succumbed to sin with Jason right there on the church balcony. I find Sarah rather creepy, but she doesn't seem to be the complete psycho that her husband is. Although if Sarah thinks that Jason is the great man she was destined for, she's got a surprise coming her way.

That flashback to Lorena and Bill was an eye opener. They were crazy about each other, and they were vicious, unrepentant killers. (Sort of like Natural Born Killers, but with vampires.) The scene with that couple was really gruesome; it was almost like mud wrestling, but with blood. Bleah. I didn't think Bill was capable of being so cruel. I also don't think he's been faking goodness with Sookie; it's possible that Bill has changed a lot. But he was a very bad boy in the past, and not in the funny or cute sense of the word "bad."

Speaking of Eric, did he summon Lorena just to get Bill out of the way, or did he also hope Sookie would learn about Bill's evil past? That might make Eric look pretty good to Sookie by comparison, wouldn't it?

As usual, there wasn't enough Eric in this episode to suit me. There was a brief scene with him and a woman he was biting; apparently, Eric prefers an unwilling victim, or at least one that's faking some reluctance. I found it odd that he bit her, and paid her for it, right there in the hotel lobby, though; I had gotten the impression, possibly from the books, that that was like having sex in public. And we can't have that. No, wait, we're getting a lot of that, aren't we?

Bits and pieces:

-- Was that Stephen Moyer doing his own singing of "Hard-Hearted Hannah" in the flashback? He's good, but it was certainly a strange new side of him.

-- Bill and Lorena back in Chicago of 1926 were pretending to be from France, which always makes me think of the Coneheads.

-- Lorena hasn't seen Bill in over seventy years. Eric hasn't seen Godric in even longer.

-- Hugo wanted his vampire lover Isabel to turn him; they fight about it constantly. Hugo seemed surprised that Sookie didn't feel the same way.

-- Terry fending off his cousin Andy and helping Lafayette with his fear was very sweet. I also thought that seeing Eric as Andy in Lafayette's imagination was quite funny. Eric just doesn't come off as a redneck, even in Andy's clothes. :)

-- I can't even guess why Eric would want Lafayette to deal V again. No, wait. To track down bad guys dealing V. Okay, that was easier than I thought. I just had to ponder for a moment.

-- Maxine went too far, and Hoyt rebelled. It's about freaking time. Jessica has actually been good for Hoyt. What a surprise. Loved her pouring the $45 Tru Blood down the drain.

Quotes:

Eric: "Tell your manager you were magnificent. I'll back up your story if he calls."
Was Eric actually being sweet to that... what do you call someone you pay for blood? Blood hooker? Blooker?

Steve: "Ding ding ding ding ding!"
Jason: "Jesus Christ!"
Steve: "Well, yes, him, but the sun, too."

Jason: "Adultery's bad."
Luke: "One of the worst. Right up there with incest and bestiality. But all of them put together ain't half as bad as if you do it to a vampire. Or to a dude. Or a vampire dude. That's like the cream de la cream of sin. There's no repentance for that. Straight to Hell, baby."

Hugo: "That's Sarah Newlin. She's the reverend's wife."
Sookie: "Right. You know, in person, she looks like vanilla pudding."
There's definitely a pudding vibe about Sarah.

Andy: "I know that pig!"

Steve:"It's the rock that our church was built on. Much like Saint Peter's tomb in the Catholic Church, only without being polluted by evil. Did you know that there was actually a vampire pope back in the Middle Ages?"

Sarah: "He's vicious and he's cruel and he uses the C word."

Another engrossing episode. Or maybe it was just gross. I can't decide,

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

6 comments:

  1. Was it just me or was this episode just Spectacular?

    We saw so many new sides to everybody. If this was a desperate housewives episode it would be called Ah, But Underneath.

    Pretty much the only character we didn't see new traits of, is Jason. Presumably because there is no Underneath to Jason. It's all on the surface.

    However, I was pretty stricken with all the acting new acting turns from the rest of the cast.

    Eric showed a rare moment of kindness, Bill was really Bad, as you say Billie. He was truly scary for the first time in this ep. Sookie started off with Really convincing vampire hate. Eggs started to discover some real big Issues, and it was heartbreaking to watch. Same with Lafayette. I never realised he was so F'd up regarding his imprisonment. Terry and Andy's fight was a revelation - we saw them as brothers for the first time, Andy was practically transported back to his childhood with the line "But he's a suspect!"
    Terry was fantastic comforting Lafayette. Hoyt finally stood up to mama, and surprisingly, out of all the coupling scenes in the ep, theirs was the only one that was played without any Un-romantic undertones! I am starting to really root for them as a couple. Shame about Daphne. Sam was starting to fall in love I think. Sam the seducer was new to watch and extremely Fun.
    I think that's pretty much all the new character facets we got. But I am loving the way that previously minor characters like Terry and Hoyt are getting Awesome scenes this season. It makes the tapestry so much richer, a bit like the beginnining of Lost - its a great show that can have so many characters and make them all integral to the story.
    Oh lastly, I forgot Pam! She also got something new to do this ep. Normally the least scary and most funny of the vamps, she was downright chilling wielding Lafayette's fear against him. Think you're right about Eric's purpose for him Billie.

    I can hardly wait for the next one. I'm addicted.

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  2. I didn't see Eric being sweet to the blooker (nice new word, Billie!), just practical. There's no point in making enemies when you're out of your territory, among people and places you're not familiar with. Kindness costs nothing and it can occasionally pay off.

    Otherwise this was another great episode, although quite a bit darker than the previous ones. It seems like the fun is officially over :-(.

    Pity about Daphne, it would have been nice for Sam if she was for real. Although I suppose it's still possible Maryann is fogging her mind or something. Probably not, though.

    Pretty much the only non-dark stuff was Jessica and Hoyt. I'm not usually much into romance but I'm surprised how much I love them together.
    Hoyt: "You're not mad?"
    Jessica: "I'm so happy, I could cry, but I don't want to because it's really gross when I do."
    Probably my favorite line :-)

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  3. I wonder who is the vampire that is feeding info to the FOS church. The driver that tried to kidnap Sookie did not know she was a woman, so the FOS has received new information. The "Bill-of-the-past" scenes were shocking, but gave us good insight on who Bill was before he went mainstream. I guess there are many secrets we'll learn about in future eps. Eric summoning Lorena to reclaim Bill was unexpected. Is he trying to get Sookie to be "his human"?

    I think the Hugo-Sookie conversation was one of the most profound moments of the ep (despite the fact that Hugo is the blandest character we've had this season). It appeared like Sookie had never thought about the fact that she'll age but Bill won't. That's gotta give you a migraine.

    The Newlins are freakish. The he-Newlin is insane, and I think the she-Newlin will turn on Jason eventually (she seems too skilled at the seducing game to be as innocent as she wants to look). There's got to be a role for Jason in Sookie's release; otherwise there's no reason for both of them to be in Dallas.

    And I never thought I would say this, but I've had enough of the orgy scenes in this show. The Maryanne storyline is starting to get boring.

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  4. Really good episode. I started to see Sarah in a different way. She doesn´t seem so fanatic like her husband who I feel is way one-dimensional. And the whole Maryann turned scary, except for Andy yelling out for the pig which I thought hilarious. I also liked the flashbacks a lot.

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  5. Blooker? - LOL! I spilled my coffee all over the keyboard...

    Lorena and Bill kinda reminded me of Angel and Darla minus tons of blood. Yak!

    I am sure that Stan the vampire is the mole since before that nobody knew that 'human' was a woman.

    So sorry for Sam, am sure he will survive, so I am mainly sorry for his broken heart.

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  6. Blooker? I love it! LOL

    I grow more infatuated with Eric with every episode. His 'good' side keeps creeping into his actions.

    As opposed to Bill, whose dark side was icky beyond the telling of it. The sight of Lorena and Bill rolling around in all that blood was too much for me. I had to turn away.

    Like Cecilia, I am now bored with the Maryann story. It is obvious that she's some kind of Greek sex thing. The Pan painting and Daphne (a Greek name) are the give aways. I'm bored with the orgys and Tara and Arlene with black eyes is too sad. It would be nice to see either of these characters as less of a victim. I am sorry for Sam -- he deserves a good woman who will love him back.

    Hugo is bland, which is my radar went off watching him. Could he be the one feeding information to the church? I also thought it was brilliant that while Sookie is sitting in Steve's office, she could have seen her brother if she had just looked out the window.

    Lafayette's PTSD was difficult to watch -- especially when one remembers what a badass he was last season. The scene where Terry comforts him moved me to tears. But the next scene, Hoyt standing up to his horror of a mother, had me cheering. It's this juxtaposition of emotions that makes this show so good.

    ReplyDelete

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