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True Blood: I'm Alive and On Fire

Sookie: "You drank the whole fairy, and you're going to your room."

There was definitely a family theme in this episode. Surprise family (Luna's daughter). Really lousy family (the Mickens and the Hotshot clan). Incestuous family (Bill and the Bellefleurs, and, of course, the Hotshot clan).

Do we have a new love triangle?

I felt quite a twinge for Eric, who seems to be mourning the loss of his humanity anew, and hates the thought of returning to the dark. He was reluctant to go to bed, much like a child. And his drunk scene on fairy blood was adorable. We almost got a love scene. Sookie was surprisingly tender and protective toward him and actually lied right to Bill's face to protect Eric. Good thing, too, because it really does look like the new vampire monarch deliberately put Eric in harm's way by siccing him on the coven.

So much for Bill, because we apparently have a fairy-vampire-werewolf love triangle. Loved Alcide eavesdropping on Sookie and Eric, and then immediately afterward, Eric eavesdropping on Sookie and Alcide. Hilarious, and definitely my favorite part of the episode.

Joe Manganiello doesn't do much for me personally, but I'll be the first to admit that he is utterly spectacular naked. I thought Alcide was about to full frontal in front of Sookie. Unfortunately, the director was just teasing us.

I don't think Debbie is taking all this as well as Alcide thinks she is.

Revolving imprisonment

Poor Jason! He's never been my favorite character, but I've never felt more sympathy for the guy. I did like that doing the right thing was what got him free. (Someone needs to get those poor panther kids out of Hotshot.) So much for his undying love for Crystal, huh? Here's hoping she's wrong about the next full moon. Or maybe not. Being able to turn in to a panther might be fun – as long as he doesn't have to live in Hotshot.

As Jason was freed, Tommy was imprisoned. I knew Melinda Mickens was lying as soon as she opened her mouth, but it's difficult to accept that any set of parents could be so incredibly evil. It's too bad Tommy has alienated the man who rescued him last time. Will Sam even bother to look for Tommy? Does he even care any more?

Marnie still continues to confuse me

Meanwhile, back at the Buffy-like Magic Shop, someone really has to stop Marnie before she accidentally curses the rest of the cast. Truthfully, though, Marnie herself doesn't seem evil. But she's opening the door to evil, which is always a bad idea. I even thought for a moment that Marnie and her "spirit" were going to switch places or something. That flashback to the Inquisition was just horrible. Seriously, I find that whole part of the history of women upsetting.

Nan mentioned a Spanish Massacre four hundred years ago, witches versus vamps. Does this have anything to do with what happened to what-her-name, Marnie's spirit buddy? She certainly does seem to hate the vamps. Could they please give her a name already?

Bits and pieces:

-- Luna's ex is not only a werewolf, he's a stalker. This can't be good for Sam.

-- Andy and Portia, very much adults, are living with their grandmother? Great great great great granddaughter. So much for that little liaison. I assume that means Bill is Terry Bellefleur's ancestor, too? There's something delightful about Bill and Terry being related.

-- Poor Pam. Let's hope that isn't permanent. It looks painful. And horrible.

-- "Uncle daddy" Felton is toast. Hallelujah.

-- Loved the joyous pinching of bottoms. Irritating when it's happening to you, but very cute to watch.

-- "In this case, milder only meaner. It will take less time to RECOVER" said an ad for Tabasco Jalapeno sauce behind Maxine Fortenberry. I wonder if it was a comment on her character? She did teach Tommy to read and it meant a lot to him, so good for her. Hard to believe that she's actually a better parent than the ones he has.

-- Lafayette has power. Does Tara? It runs in families, doesn't it?

-- Will Jason start having sex dreams about Jessica now?

-- Eric has a farm (did they say where?), an apartment in Paris, and a plantation in Barbados.

-- I'm not even going to address the devil baby using magic markers. Do we really have to endure this subplot? I promise I won't complain if it just goes away.

Quotes:

Nan: "Don't fuck this up. How many retired kings do you know?"

Lafayette: "You get her ass on the goddam goddess line and you tell her to turn this curse a fucking round."

Eric: "I'll just lull all the sea monsters. Gators! Krokodiler! Show yourselves!"
I looked it up. 'Krokodiler" is Swedish for 'crocodiles,' of course.

Eric: "I'll never swim in the sun again." Aww.

Marnie: "Stop saying fuck. I can't concentrate."

This episode felt a bit more focused on more important stories, and focus is good. Three out of four bottles of Tabasco jalapeno sauce,

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

21 comments:

  1. I like Debbie. I think Stepford-Debbie isn't going to last long though and when she blows and goes after Sookie, it should be fierce.

    Bill with the Bellefleur's was like a parody of when Bill met Gran, Jason and Tara. It was awesome to see Jessica Tara as the Bellefleur's gram!!! I hope we see ore of her.

    I think Renee is haunting Arlene and Terry and there isn't anything sinister going on with the baby himself.

    I think Alcide's pack leader is Luna's werewolf ex-BF. I don't think the werewolf is the baby daddy, though. Luna only mentioned him as her ex.

    With the exception of Jason possibly becoming a were-jaguar, I really didn't care for the whole Hotshot storyline. But if the men are sterile, doesn't it stand to reason that the women could be sterile too? I've never studied the genetics of inbreeding (a touch of sarcasm there), so I don't know for sure, but I would think it's logical that Jason wouldn't be able to impregnate the females.

    I love Nan.

    I thought Melinda killed Joe-Lee. I felt so bad for Tommy. But can't he just change into a bird a fly away once he gets his breath back?

    I hope we get a witches versus vamps versus werewolves war.

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  2. Shucks!!!
    Jessica TATE was the Bellefleur's gram. I hope we see more of her.

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  3. Jessica Tate was a character in 70s American sitcom Soap, played by Katherine Helmond. She also plays Caroline Bellefleur in True Blood.

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  4. I also think that is not the baby that wrote that but the evil doll (Renee?) and gave the baby the marker (so I hope). I agree with Bille, I don't like evil baby plots... and evil dolls freak me out too..

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  5. still dont get the dinamics between weres and shivters....seems being able to change into anything > changing just into a panther or one animal. but weres are always talked about like they are superior in a way. are they just naturaly stronger than sams kind?

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  6. Anonymous, that's a good question. In the books, and I'm assuming also in the series, pure shifters like Sam and Luna are superior because they can change into anything. And then there are specific were-animals, like the were-panthers from Hotshot and werewolves like Alcide and Debbie. Werewolves aren't superior -- they just act like they are.

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  7. Marnie's spirit pal is named Antonia (watched Inside the Episode on hbo.com). So much to like in this episode: Eric and Sookie are getting closer, Alcide's wolf (and body) were beautiful, Sam suits the family life and Jason escaped! The look on Jason's face when he looked up at Jessica made me smile, it was so inncoent and thankful. A few things not so good: the baby and creepy doll. I agree with some of the previous posts that Renee is possessing/haunting the doll and blaming the baby (if it needs to be a story, I like that one). I don't think Debbie is as good as she tries to be.

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  8. I have a horrible, horrible feeling that Jason is now going to fall for Jessica (and will definitely be having sex dreams about her). Urgh. Only thing worse than the evil baby storyline!

    Bill and Portia were not freaked out enough about what they were up to last week.

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  9. I don't get why Bill's and Portia's relationship is portrayed as incestuous. Ok, they are related but it's very distant, if my maths is correct Portia has 1/128th of Bill's blood(!) / DNA in her. In some villages it's like - do not date your neighbor:) Plus, sexual relations within family are tabooed because of risks involved with inbreeding - aren't vamps sterile?

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  10. I don't think Bill and Portia are related closely enough for it to be a genetic issue, especially since vampires can't have children, anyway. It's obviously more of an emotional thing. Portia is descended from Bill's daughter, after all.

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  11. Katherine Helmond also played Mona on Who's the Boss. It was exciting to see her again. (I've only recently heard her voice in the Cars movies.)

    I'm hoping Jessica's blood cured Jason of the Panther-curse. I don't like the thought of him being turned into something against his will.

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  12. @Billie - That's what I was thinking, that it may only be emotional, BUT, I don't buy it. Not as an emotional turmoil for Portia anyway. We are talking about her long deceased great... grandmother, I cannot imagine relating to sb who lived a hundred or so years ago as a family member. It may be more emotional for Bill, after all he remembers his children, hell, he probably spent decades mourning the fact that he is not with them. However, how does it fit in with the theory that Mr Compton is just a heartless bastard? A theory that I personally do not subscribe to, but maybe it's because I haven't read the books.
    BTW, I really enjoy your reviews, though I sense that you are a bit biased against Bill - at least the AB version of him. Regards from Poland

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  13. Thanks, Marta. Actually, I like the AB version of Bill better than book Bill! I don't think he's evil, but I'm just not much of a Bill fan.

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  14. True Blood is different than the books, but it does follow them to a degree. You would think that as much as Terry loves that little boy, he wouldn't let him play with that filthy doll. What Bill and Portia did was far less than the Hotshot scene, all that Uncle Daddy, Brother Cousin, Sister Mother crap.....poor Jason, he is about as dumb as a box of rocks but he didn't deserve that, and he still doesn't realize what Crystal was telling him. Just the look in Debbie's eyes when he told her he'd been eith Sookie all day says it all, she is just biding her time. After reading the books all I can say is Pam & Erik aren't as evil as they seem & Bill isn't as good as he seems......HE proved that in the last episode in Season 3. LOVE the books and show. LOVE all the reviews of my favorite shows Billie!!!!

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  15. Oh.....and another thing; as far as Tommy not turning into something and getting away, I don't think he could. In werewolf lore, silver bullits were used to kill them. And silver can bind vampires, as we have seen on True Blood......I am thinking silver can bind shifters & all variety of were--animals too.

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  16. Stacey, I was thinking the same thing about a silver chain. But if the Mickens' had a chain that big made out of silver, they wouldn't need Tommy for money. :)

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  17. The Mickens and Hotshot were very underwhelming last season, but both storylines were improved in this episode. Joe Lee treating Tommy like a dog at the end of the episode was very upsetting and Jason's rape was even worse. I really wanted Jason to kill Crystal. I like that I'm finally feeling something towards these storylines.

    I've been waiting for an Andy/Portia scene for a while, but now that it's happened I found it a bit underwhelming. I don't think the casting was particularly good, I like both actors but they aren't believable as brother and sister. I'm really glad they did the Bill/Portia incest story, I was hoping they would.

    AND I really enjoyed drunk Eric, I usually hate the guy.

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  18. Not as good as episode two but this is still my favourite season to date, and I have a strong feeling it's only going to get better :)

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  19. For a second I thought Marnie was going to kill Pam at the end! I don't think I could deal with that, I dream of the day they announce a Pam/Jessica spin-off!

    I found the Jason rape scenes really quite disturbing, and I hope he doesn't turn into a were-panther, although I am looking forward to the way his character will interact with Jessica


    Tara needs more screentime! Tommy is getting more than her, and I find him really quite a dull character

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  20. I liked this episode, except once again for Jason and Crystal. It would be fun if he started dreaming about Jessica. I have a bad feeling about Marnie, I don´t think she´s so gullible like she´s being, I think she´s faking not knowing.
    So far, I´m liking this season and I´m looking forward for more episodes.

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