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True Blood: Hopeless

Bill: "I love a good execution."

Did I think Russell would be executed? Nope. Did I want him to be? Nope.

But the Authority stuff now has me completely confused. Authority is so corrupt; they killed all those poor people who were waiting for Russell to eat them. (And Doug.) Salome clearly didn't want Russell executed, but she also shed a blood tear when Russell staked Roman. Are Salome and Nora on the same side? Is Molly in on it? Do they all believe that Lilith is coming? Was Russell lying when he said Lilith didn't exist? (And does she?)

At least Bill and Eric are okay and no longer have iStakes attached to their hearts. I'm not a big Bill fan, but how cool was he in this episode? Loved how he pretended to glamour Sookie while telling her how he felt about her; it was heartbreaking and sweet, and I'm not even into them as a couple. (Eric glamoring Alcide was hilarious, though, and absolutely teeming with homoerotic subtext. Not that I think they're about to get involved.)

Things at Fangtasia heated up with a Tara versus Jessica cat fight, so I guess that friendship is permanently on hold. (Did Tara actually say "Yessum, missy Pam"?) Hoyt thought the fight meant that Jessica still cares about him, and frankly, I'm a bit confused about whether she does or not. At any rate, Hoyt was so reckless he was ready to die. And now he's been "rescued" by the shifter murderers, one of whom recognized him. I don't know where they're going with this one.

At least Luna is still alive and her little werewolf puppy hasn't been orphaned. So cute that she went to scary wolf grandma. Martha was acting all rational and everything about taking care of Emma and how Luna was her mother and had the control. Do I believe her? Nope. Don't trust her, Luna! She ate her son's intestines!

The fairy strip club plot is getting even weirder, although I loved Sookie and Jason looking for it in the middle of a field. There never seem to be enough Sookie/Jason scene and for some reason, I always enjoy them together. And I think this was the first time we've ever seen Sookie, Jason and Hadley together, isn't it? And we finally really met Claude, who said that fairies adjust to the standard of beauty of whatever reality they're in. (He also complained about Maab making them dress like Disney characters, which was funny.)

Claude said that the vampires killed the Stackhouses because they smelled little Sookie's blood on a bandaid in the back seat. Come onnnn! I just don't buy it. (And hey, Sookie doesn't need to feel that level of guilt, either.) I'm betting that the fairies did something to Jason to make him believe that vampires killed his parents. Is this some sort of fairy extermination spell to get vamps out of the way? Maybe I'm just more into vamps than fairies and don't want them to be guilty. Whatever.

Way too many plot bits, recapped:

-- Turned out Sookie and her microwave hands really were valuable in subduing Russell. Except he apparently wanted to be captured.

-- Sam's bid to help Andy by going undercover and using his nose actually worked at the Stake House. He saved Andy's life. I'm liking Andy this season, which is nice.

-- Alcide has challenged Marcus's stoned father for leadership of the Pack, and Rikki, the pretty one with the long brown and strategically placed hair, was the only one smart enough to support his bid.

-- Jason's latest dream was about his father saying, "The only thing you have to fear is..." and Jason woke up. Maybe there's more to the dreams than fairy hijinks?

-- Lafayette dropped in on Ruby, who said that Jesus's current after-death problems are because of his grandfather, and that Jesus needs Lafayette's help.

-- Terry decided to leave Arlene and the kids in order to protect them, and Arlene came to the logical conclusion that he was off his meds. Actually, if all this fire monster stuff turned out to be a delusion of Terry's, I'd probably be more on board.

Bits and pieces:

-- Claude mentioned Claudette and a bunch of other fairies with Claud- prefix names. He also said there was no light fruit at the club. Clearly, no quick time passage, either.

-- Roman mentioned that eighteenth century Austrian hemophiliac blood is expensive. That reminded me of an Eric short story about Dracula and the "royalty" bottled blood.

-- Loved the defaced Steve Newlin cardboard cut out at the Stake House. And the Russell Edgington tee shirt.

-- I seem to have a bunch of wardrobe comments. Roman was wearing a blue Nike polo shirt, not something you would ordinarily think of a vampire wearing. Sam really can't pull off the hospital gown look. And Joe Manganiello shirtless? I'm starting to feel like there's no point to a True Blood episode if it doesn't include Joe Manganiello semi-nude.

Quotes:

Authority guy: "Who is Doug?"
Doug: "Oh, god."
Poor Doug. I knew he'd end up dead.

Eric: (glamouring Alcide) "And you will always protect Sookie with your life."
Alcide: "Yes."
Eric: "And you will keep your hands off her, romantically speaking. She kind of disgusts you."
Alcide: "Okay."

Jessica: "What are you doing?"
Hoyt: "I'm exercising my constitutional right to be a dirty fangbanger."

Alcide: "Anything you need?"
Sookie: "A fucking normal life?"

Sookie: (to Alcide) "Did you just recoil from me? Why? (pause) Fucking Eric."

Ruby: "You got to go. Jesus is in trouble. Save Jesus!"
Lafayette: "I will."
Ruby: "Jesus loves you. Even if you are an abomination."

Arlene: "Every man I've ever dated... or married... has had some sort of secret big ball of pain."

Eric: "Boy scout."
Bill: "Delinquent."

Jason: "That's my sister, you fairy fuckers!"

Russell: "Peace is for pussies!"
Gad, I love him. What a guy.

What would you rate this one? I thought it was fast and fun and quite possibly four out of four iStakes,

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

15 comments:

  1. I always look forward to your TB reviews, Billie :)

    Really sad to see Christopher Meloni go. I liked Roman and got a kick out of the Russell/Roman exchange.
    And I'm thankful that Peter Mensah finally got something to do other than look smart and knowing.

    I am now confused about Nora in that very last moment; has she just gone crazy due to being tortured or was she possessed? I did like that they gave us an Eric/Nora scene.

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  2. I still think Salome was sired (I sometimes prefer BUFFY terminology) by Russell, which makes Salome the "traitor" in the Authority. I don't think she gave Russell the silver IV.

    I'm sticking with Salome being at least 2,000 years old. She's sort of TRUE BLOOD'S Maharet. Kind of....

    Because the oh so sexy Roman didn't burst into a fountain o' blood when Russell staked him, I wonder if maybe Roman survived? Maybe the stake wasn't all wood? Doesn't it have to be all wood to "true death" a vampire?

    Alcide just gets hotter and sexier every episode. I need to keep a cold glass of lemonade by my side when I watch this show now.

    Puppy Emma is adorable. I'm torn on whether Martha is evil or good. She looks so shady and has a shifty (pun intended) look, but I actually want her to be a good gram and a good person – buck the trend of her stern demeanor and be a big ol' softy at heart. I want Martha to back Alcide as pack leader and be there to help Luna and Sam raise Emma to be a good, productive citizen.

    I love Alfre Woodard. I've loved her since ST. ELSEWHERE. I want more Ruby Jean!!!

    I don't love the Terry story, but I don't dislike it the way so many do. I like that they branched out and brought in some Arabic mythology. It's rare (as far as I know) for a US genre TV series to bring Middle Eastern mythology into its A, B or C storylines.

    The Fairy Bar is quite odd, but very disconcerting. I don't trust them at all. But I do think it will ed up being revealed that a vampire did kill Sookie and Jason's parents, I just hope it's NOT Bill, Pam or Eric that did the deed. (Maybe it was Queen Sophie-Ann or Nan Flanagan?)

    Book/TV show issue and question:
    Why was Tara able to toss Jess around so easily?

    I haven't read the books, so I can only go by what's been shown on screen. Doesn't the age of the vamp determine how strong the vamp is? Jess is older so she should have been able to toss Tara around like a ragdoll. In the past, we've been shown that older vamps can't even be moved by the younger vamps and the older vamps stop the younger vamps dead (no pun intended) in their tracks.

    Does vampire/sire work in the books the way it does in Anne Rice's books – the older and stronger the vampire sire, the stronger the new vamp is?

    Eric sired Pam. Pam sired Tara.
    Lorena sired Bill. Bill sired Jess.

    I assume Eric is older than Lorena.

    So that would mean Tara trumps Jess with power if it follows Anne Rice's template.
    If it doesn't follow the Anne Rice model, then Jess should have tossed Tara all around Fangtasia without breaking a sweat.

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  3. The scene between Lafayette and his mother and the shirtless Alcide was worth the price of admission, being three lame episodes to get to the good stuff. I hate it when the show fizzles, and it seems to fizzle a lot lately.

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  4. Nora is such a dumbass... i can't stand her... and i dont really know why... maybe because of the catatonic prayers... not very atractive, and this is ALL she's been doing this season.

    And What is up with Hoyt??. of course Jess doesn't want him, who would?...
    and wasn't Jess supposed to smack the shit out of Tara?... her being older and everything...?...

    anyways this episode was pretty cool :) (not enough Pam though) they need to keep the Terry-Ifrit-Sam-Luna-shifter-killer thingy to a min' and they're golden :)

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  5. HellBlazerRaiser, the Jess/Tara fight has been bugging me too. Jessica was able to beat Steve Newlin, stating that was older and therefore stronger than him, but she got tossed around by Tara who is only a few days old. It really doesn't make much sense for Jessica, and older and more experienced vampire, to lose to Tara, even if she did used to be a lesbian cage fighter,

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  6. I didn´t expect Roman´s death. I´m not so sure that it´s the last we´ve seen from him because it was so weired. Why did nobody in this room help him? And I don´t like that they made him look so foolish. It was so obvious that Salome was playing him. Sometimes I thought that he knew, but obviously he didn´t.

    Salome and Nora are on the same side, but Molly seemed to truely shocked when the trigger didn´t work.

    I think Russel (he had great lines) is similar to Eric. They don´t care for religion, they care for themselves. Eric looked like he wanted to stake himself everytime someone brought up religion and the way he smiled when Russel cursed or how confused he looked when Nora chanted were great moments. It was a really good episode for Eric.

    Bill was cool in this episode. I like it when he plays the game of tactics and politics. I can see him being part of the authority at the end of the season. The Eric/Bill team is great.

    I think Martha is the one who rat the shifters out. She is the one who knows about them and who would benefit from Luna´s death.

    Lafayette and his mother were awesome, although she confuses me which Jesus she means sometimes. I think the Lafayette stoyline will link with Terry´s story at some point and Patrick goes on my nerves.

    I still believe that the faries killed the parents. They are just strange and I had the feeling that Claude tried hard to let Sookie believe his story.

    The Tara/Jessica fight thing bugs me too. And Hoyt just makes my eyes roll. But if he gets involved with the shooters and Jason joins because of his parent´s death, maybe they can rebuild their friendship.

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  7. Godric is Tara's great grandfather, so she would be hella strong. I think that's why she beat Jess. So that means that Pam is not Steve's sire. Right? They need to be consistent with this rather than just wanting a fun girl fight. So, Steve's sire has to be younger than Godric. (Not Salome.)

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  8. Does anyone else think "Salome" might actually BE Lilith? Although I'm not sure what her game is, if so...

    As far as Tara and Jessica go, they're not that different in age. It's not like Jessica is a thousand years old. (I know there isn't that much age difference between Jessica and Steve Newlin either, but I don't think her beating him was necessarily an age thing; I think he's just a wimp.) So I could see a Jessica/Tara fight going either way.

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  9. Urgh, fairies.

    Urgh, werewolves.

    Urgh, Luna is still alive.

    But yay! Russell Edgington! He got all the best lines and is by far the most fun character. In RL I'm religious but for some reason I really hate fake vampire religions, I find them stuffy and boring. Russell (and Eric to an extent) is the closest thing this show has to Spike right now. Eric was being weird this episode, but I did like his conversation with Bill in the truck.

    I think Salome is Salome, they like the Biblical allusion and I suspect Russell's her maker. Not sure about Lilith, all I can think of is The White Witch from Narnia anytime anyone says the name. Hey, maybe that's why the Witch was really pale and kept the weather eternally cloudy... ;)

    Alan Ball's last script I think - he was determined to get as much mileage as possible out of the Jesus/Jesus joke, wasn't he?!

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  10. Ever since they mentioned a woman as having released Russell my money was on Salome... and I'm expecting them to confirm that in the next episode!
    I was so sure of it that I was not at all surprised by Russell's not being killed (I was sure she hadn't silvered him) nor by Roman's death. And I figured the guards who arrested Russell were in on it with her and they killed the humans so they couldn't identify Salomé.

    Wasn't Lilith Adam's second wife in the Bible? The one supposed to be Djinn? I think I remember that legend from somewhere... And would be definitely something True Blood would play with (they already confirmed Salomé was the one from the Bible, she who had John the Baptist's head delivered to her on a platter)

    Loved Bill keeping his cool in this one, and very moved by his "glamouring" of Sookie. good laughs with Eric!

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  11. CrazyCris: Yes to Lilith. In some traditions, she is the mother of vampires, not to be confused with the mother of dragons.

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  12. Oh, and Lilith was Adam's first wife.

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  13. This episode had some least interesting stuff like Terry´s plot or even the fairies, but the rest of it I liked it a lot and time just flew by again.
    My favourite part: Jess, Tara and Pam.

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  14. I'm really hoping Roman's not dead..I really like him..ah well maybe flasbacks?
    Emma's grandmom seems really shady, and is a cannibal..yuck.
    Where are they going with this fairy stuff? Guess we'll find out soon enough.
    I'm sure other vampire storires have used Lilith as the mother of all vamps..
    Anna

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  15. The scene with Lafayette's mama was hilarious.

    Could Tara be stronger because she's been turned so recently?

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