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True Blood: If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?

Eric: "Would you like to be mine?"
Sookie: "Not really. But thank you for asking."

I love True Blood, but I find myself constantly miffed that episodes don't stand alone in any way, shape or form – it's all arc. But I suppose transformation was the common theme in this one: Eric, Jason, Jessica, Marnie.

And we start with Eric, of course

Eric is certainly not his usual arrogant self: shy smiles, ticklish feet, rambling confusedly in Swedish. I especially loved the way he clapped his hand over his mouth when his fangs popped out, the way Jessica does. Eric the baby vamp. Although he's still vamp enough to make dust out of Claudine. (Quiet sigh of regret that we never got book Claudine, who was a lot more fun than this one was.) Did Claudine have good intentions or evil? Did Eric just save Sookie from being flambeed for dinner in Faerie, or would she have been safe there?

Even though she kept showing sympathy for Eric, Sookie certainly did her level best to offload him on to anyone else. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Fangtasia is too dangerous. And the idiotic Alcide is back with Debbie Pelt. Maybe it's me, but I don't have a lot of confidence in Debbie's capacity for genuine change.

The reveal of Eric's cubby reminded me of Spike's luxurious crypt in the sixth season of Buffy. And we all know why the writers gave Spike that luxurious crypt, now, don't we? (Okay, if you've never seen Buffy, it was because Spike was about to get lucky with a certain blonde. Which gives me hope for Eric and Sookie.)

Panther Magic?

Poor Jason. Is he really turning into a panther as well as an involuntary father, or is he dying? Regurgitated Ghost Mama and Ghost Daddy at the campfire reminded me of the storytelling in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Except much weirder and a lot more gross.

Jessica and the Fortenberrys

So Tommy is planning to con Maxine. What a surprise. Hard to feel bad for her when she tried to kill Jessica. Except that Maxine may have been right about Jessica, whose thirst for blood and adventure just turned her into a manipulative liar. Poor Hoyt.

Except, again, that there's something going on with that weird old doll. What is it? More witch stuff? Is Jessica acting this way because of a spell? And hey, who do we know who has a continually growing doll collection? It would be a pretty big coincidence if Maxine weren't responsible for that doll. And hey, evil doll, Arlene's devil baby, match made in, well, not heaven.

Marnie continues to confuse me

Marnie is trying to transform herself, too. Although I thought she already had. I'm still trying to get a handle on what's going with her. That sacrifice scene was gross. I thought for sure she was about to cut something off. Is Marnie truly in the dark about what she did to Eric? Does that mean she can't reverse it?

And did Bill deliberately put Eric in danger from the witches? That phone message didn't sound like it, but I honestly can't tell.

Bits and pieces:

-- Alcide has a gorgeous new house. That seems to be a theme this season, too, since Sookie and Bill both have much different and improved houses.

-- The vamp that Bill had executed was exposed on Vamps-Kill.com. And yes, it's a real site created by HBO, although it says it can only be viewed in the United States. http://www.vamps-kill.com/

-- Eric apologized for "fang-raping" Sookie.

-- Bill has gotten busy with Portia Bellefleur. I'm usually pretty careful not to mention book spoilers, but I really want to make a book reference here. But I'll restrain myself. Argh!

(Okay, I'll say what's bothering me about Portia, but it's a book spoiler. You've been warned. Highlight here: In the books, Bill is Portia and Andy's great-great-great-grandfather.)

-- Steve Newlin has been missing for six months? Has that been mentioned before? At least we know he's not in the basement at Fangtasia.

-- I don't think Ginger knows what "brujo" means. :)

-- I liked that Jessica went to Bill with her problem. Bill told Jessica to "vamp up" with Hoyt.

-- Andy continues to disappoint me. I used to sort of like Andy.

-- Sookie was reading one of Charlaine Harris' Harper Connolly novels.

-- In this week's hair report, Crystal managed to attain a whole new level of trashcan chic with those ratty homemade curlers.

-- I just noticed that my cat Fox reacts to the theme song, "Bad Things." His ears twitch back and he gets an odd look on his furry face.

-- Halloween is next week? Please tell me we're going to get a True Blood Halloween episode. Pretty please with sugar on it?

Quotes:

Eric: "I know I'm a vampire, Snooki."
Sookie: "It's Sookie!"
Seriously LOL.

Witch: "What does he think this is? Nazi Germany?"
Other Witch: "He did look kind of Aryan."

Jessica: "Bill, I am not stupid. I'm just unfaithful."

Jason's voicemail: "You've reached Officer Jason Stackhouse. If this is an emergency, dial 9-1-1 and ask for me."

Andy: "God grant me the serenity... fuck it."
Yeah, I most certainly agree that addiction is not funny. Except this made me laugh.

Pam: "I will give you twenty-four hours to deliver that witch to me. And if you don't, I will personally eat, fuck and kill all three of you."

Sookie: "You just killed my fairy godmother!"
Eric: (abashed) "Sorry."

Fun episode to watch, with the usual quotient of outrageous. Three out of four nubile female werepanthers,

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

10 comments:

  1. This was so much fun. Innocent Eric reminded me of Angel in "Spin the Bottle."

    "I'm invisible!"

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  2. I know I am going to get heat for this, but I really disliked the dumbed-down Eric. I do not think he is the guy Sookie (or any woman for that matter) should end up with, but he is one of my favorite characters. The "innocent" smirk and constant "I'm sorry" made him look like a male version of the dumb blonde stereotype. I think he can be amnestic without looking stupid. Sorry I'm ranting, I just have a hard time thinking that the psycho-charming, witty Eric can really be that far gone.

    Tara and Jesus were awesome going to Fangtasia to retrieve LaFayette. If I was Tara, I would never go back to that town. But her coming back was worth it for the little flirting scene with Sam.

    Which mother in her right mind allows the nastiest dirtiest doll to be given to her baby?

    Bill is way cooler this season than the previous 3. Has his heart always been old (so he didn't love Sookie) or did it grow old when he lost her?

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  3. I've never read the books, but have seen on the message boards people talking about the Bill/Bellefleur connection. Is that why he wouldn't bite her?

    Never been a Bill fan either, hated the 1860ish hair cut (side burns) from the first seasons, but he is a whole different character now.

    Love Eric - even though he is dumbed down. I feel as though the writers will do like they always do with Eric and Sookie though.. keep us hanging on a string and nothing will ever really happen.

    Who was the woman in the mirror when Marnie cut herself?

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  4. Stepford Debbie was creepy. I don't think it's going to hold, though. She's too good as a savage she-wolf.

    Another BUFFY bit:
    Jess mindwiping Hoyt = Willow mindwiping my beloved Tara.

    I think the woman in the mirror is Luna's mother.

    I am loving this season so far.

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  5. I'm loving this season too! True Blood usually makes me smirk but this episode made me laugh out loud a few times, particularly when Debbie apologised to Sookie for trying to kill her. Although, where was the joker grin Sookie gave her last season?

    When Tara was raped last season I was too busy laughing at Franklin to notice, it didn't have an impact on me until she went to the rape survivors meeting, but when Jason was raped in this episode it really got to me. Scary stuff.

    I also LOVE that we got so much Jessica this week. What Jessica did to Hoyt was awful but she's also just acting like a typical, immature 18 year old. And it was so nice to see her hanging out with Bill again.

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  6. Yeah, this episode was definitely kinda cool.
    The dumbed-down Eric is pretty funny so far, and the way he keeps saying sorry to Sookie about a whole lot of stuff.
    I dont want to spoil it for people who havent looked at the book-Eric but i hope they make him at least semi-book-Eric.
    He's pretty hot in the books.
    I didnt notice Charlaine's book and that Sookie was reading it, that awesome.
    Eric being all shy and "oops" when he killed Claudine was just too funny.
    Hopefully they will bring out the good side of Eric and allowing him a sense of humor in the next few episodes, especially how he is ticklish, etc.

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  7. Not my fave episode and Claudine's death felt like a cop out too.

    Don't really care about Eric having no memories if Sookie isn't careful around him.

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  8. I can't say most of what I want to say coz of book spoilers... there was a 'No no no!' moment and, um, I'm not sure how I feel about Claudine's death... other than that, Amnesiac Eric is the only person I know who say 'sorry' more often than I do!

    Oh, and poor Jason being raped was seriously disturbing. I hope the TV people decide to wrap up this plot quickly and move on, hopefully killing Crystal horribly in the process...

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  9. First off, the vamps-kill link works in Norway at least, not sure why they would say it only works in the US...

    When it comes to Eric being 'dumbed down' I have to say I disagree with that statement. He hasn't lost his intelligence in anyway, he's just lost his life experience. He has become a child again, he's innocent, not dumb. He doesn't know his own strength and what he's capable of, and he can't control his urges. And, as he doesn't have 1000 years of memories that numbed him of remorse, he feels really bad when he does something wrong.

    I Love him <3

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  10. Except for the Crystal/ Jason scene, I liked this episode a lot and I´m actually curious to see more.

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