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True Blood: In the Beginning

Bill: "You can't play the grieving widow and the leader of a coup at the same time."

Lots to enjoy in this one. Lots that made me unhappy, too.

We now know (at least I think we know) that Nora and Salome were always accomplices, that Salome was indeed the one who freed Russell, and that Lilith is a naked, growling hallucination that can only be seen by those who have drunk her magical blood and chowed down on innocent bystanders.

(Did Lilith actually come out of the punchbowl at the wedding? I'm confused!)

At least Eric and Bill were again standing together for sanity and mainstreaming (before they went Lilith-nuts, at any rate) and Eric even turned on Nora and called her names. (And Godric-vision! I always enjoy seeing Godric.) And a huge crowd of completely stoned vampires was new and different. Or maybe sort of funny, in a rampage-of-death kind of way.

I've been forgetting lately that Sookie is supposed to be the main character, because we seem to be getting about five minutes of her per episode. This season's Sookie plot thread is still confusing, because I keep thinking the fairies must be lying to Sookie for some reason -- but why? Can Sookie truly zap away her "luminescence" powers and eventually become normal? (I doubt it.) Is Claude an ally or a threat? (I'm going with threat.) At least Jason was good to her about that ridiculous band-aid theory, which was sweet of him.

Can I say how incredibly disappointed I am with Hoyt? Or more accurately, how the writers are assassinating Hoyt as a character? Yes, he's needy and immature, but he's always been a sweetheart, a good guy. And now we're supposed to believe he's capable of putting on a mask and shooting Jessica? Never.

And here's the other bit I didn't like one bit. Lafayette is a favorite of mine, and I absolutely hated what they did to him in this episode. I hated seeing what remained of Jesus on a blue chair shaped like a hand, too. Little Mama had some rage going on, though, fortunately. I just wish she'd gotten in touch with her inner Amazon a bit sooner. That is, if she doesn't have something even worse planned for Lafayette than Grandpa did.

The wedding video made me go aww, and it wasn't because we saw Terry kissing Arlene's pregnant wedding dress belly. It was seeing Lafayette and Jesus together again, joking and teasing each other. Damn.

Way too many plot bits, recapped:

-- Interesting how the truck assassin hate group is a mixed race group. That doesn't seem likely to me, but okay.

-- Sam is turning into a shifter rights activist. Him rolling on the floor like a dog smelling out bad guys was very like an early scene in the first season.

-- Alcide and the very pretty Rikki were also rolling on the floor like dogs, but I think they were having a bit more fun.

-- Martha called Alcide "Rambo." I totally get it, because he looked like Rambo at the time. Martha protected Emma from J.D. Maybe Martha isn't so bad, after all. Okay, the jury's still out; we shall see.

-- Tara has a new and exciting job at Fangtasia involving an uncomfortable-looking black leather and buckles outfit that looked pretty uncomfortable. Lettie Mae certainly wasn't pleased. It's funny, but Pam is a MUCH better mother already, and consider the circumstances.

-- J.D. has a vampire friend who tells him the end of days is coming. I am assuming it's an accomplice of Russell's, and Russell is again building up a werewolf army?

-- Terry nearly killed himself. Sad.

-- Jason has become too mature for Jessica. Who knew?

Other bits and pieces:

-- Roman is definitely dead. Some people thought he wasn't. I thought he was.

-- Weird liaisons. Coroner Mike Spencer was going on about his lady friend, and Sheriff Dearborn was about to hit the hot tub when Andy stopped by for advice.

-- Was that Denis O'Hare doing his own singing? :)

-- So sorry to see the last of Dieter, but not a surprise.

-- New hairdo for Pam. It was crimp fest. Which sounds obscene, somehow.

Quotes:

Bill: (looking around) "Eric?"
Eric: (pinned up on the wall) "The view from up here is spectacular."

Jason: "Listen, I ain't been to med school or fairy school or nothing, so if you could put it in terms a laid man could understand, I'd appreciate it."
Not quite as good as parrot-phrasing, but still, a good Jason-ism.

Sookie: "Would I be normal? Would I be human?"

Hater: "Do you hate Jessica Hamby?"
Hoyt: "I do."
Hater: "Then we're here to hate her with you."
Echoes of a wedding ceremony there. Well, in reverse.

Nora: "Join us. Please."
Eric: "Never, you Bible-banging cunts."
Is it me, or has Eric been swearing more than usual lately?

Dearborn: "I get that the job's stressful. I did it for forty-three years. But I'm retired now. The wife's out of town and the hot tub's just right, and I've got an experimental male enhancement ointment I'm anxious to try out. So go on, get out of here, and let a man relax."

Steve: "I'm like a tree in the wind. I'm just so happy to be included."

Pam: "So your mom's a real bitch." Not that funny written down. It's Kristen Bauer's delivery that makes it funny.

I'm having trouble assigning stars to episodes these days, so – what did you guys think? How many uncomfortable dance costumes out of four?

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

16 comments:

  1. I'm thinking either Bud or the coroner is in charge of the hate group. One or both. I think that's why we had Bud's appearance this episode.

    Since Eric didn't see Lilith after Godric appeared, I don't think she was really there.

    The vamps seemed to be on an acid trip of some kind or ecstasy maybe? I've never done drugs, so I can only go by what I've witnessed when I used to go clubbing and from what I've read.

    This seemed liked a collective acid trip – we know vamp blood has odd properties when ingested by a human. The blood in that vial could have really been Lilith's or maybe it was the blood of some other, ancient (older than even Russell and Salome) vampire and that ancient blood would have affected the contemporary vamps the their blood affects humans (and weres).

    -- Roman is definitely dead. Some people thought he wasn't. I thought he was.

    I was one of those who thought he lived. I love Chris Meloni. I can't help it! I wanted more of him!

    -- Interesting how the truck assassin hate group is a mixed race group. That doesn't seem likely to me, but okay.

    Why couldn't a mixed race hate group form when the object of their hate is also racially diverse?

    Vamps come in all races, genders and sexualities. So to, would their haters.


    Too little Sookie and the ending of her trying to flush herself of her fairy powers was too forced. I'd give it three.

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  2. I was a little upset that Pam blew Tara off, but it's understandable. She has never shown love for anybody but Eric, so it's logical that she would have trouble showing compassion for someone different.

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  3. I can't believe you didn't mention the fact that Jason has now confirmed: he ain't never fucked a cow.

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  4. I forgot to mention my favorite part: Bill riding piggy back on Eric's back while going down Bourbon Street. I'm still not sure the logistics of the Louisiana in True Blood. (I live in Louisiana.) I'm not sure where the authority was, but I assumed it was close to Shreveport. Guess it was closer to New Orleans since they were on Bourbon.

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  5. Hey, Amy -- they definitely said Authority headquarters was in New Orleans, so I think they were okay there.

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  6. Another great review Billie, on which I agree somewhat.

    The biggest "YES!" that I virtually screamed at the screen was Sookie's pathetic airtime. I think that might be the reason why this season is disappointing to me, I love the character and I want to see more of her. I get a smile on my face whenever she opens her mouth.

    The whole Terry thing is boring, Hoyt could've been less stretched and that massacre at the wedding could've come 3 episodes ago.

    And Jason, always brilliant.

    In short I hope that the next few episodes (though unlikely) will shift the focus back to Sookie/Jason and ditch the whole authority thing, not to mention Hoyt and Terry.

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  7. Nora is really going on my nerves. I didn´t expect that when they first introduced the character.

    Could it be that the blood wasn´t actually Lilith´s but fairy blood? They way they behaved reminded me of drunk Eric. And I hope that Lilith remains just an illusion. How should they defeat her, if they have already problems with Russel?

    Speaking of Russel. It´s interesting to see how the writers handle the different characters. They can write such amazing stuff for Russel (I see the romance with Steve happening) or Eric and Bill this season but on the same time they have no clue what to do with the fairies or Hoyt.

    The fairies can´t be trusted but I´m not sure if Claude really knows the truth himself. I hope the Sookie-can-be-normal theory is nonsense. Being a fairy is in her DNA, how can you change that? Jason was great with Sookie.

    I think we´re not supposed to believe that Hoyt is going to shoot Jessica. He is hurt, rejected and kind of lonely. And I got the impression that out of this emotion he feels drawn to the hate group (the sheriff and/or the coroner have something to do with them). But in the end Hoyt won´t do anything stupid. Maybe he sacrifices himseld for Jessica? Her banter with Jason was awesome. I couldn´t believe he shot her.

    Lala and the grandpa were really creepy and a little disgusting. But seeing Lala with Jesus in the video was so nice. The video was the only good thing about the Terry (poor guy) storyline, which is kind of dispensable since the 3 minutes per episode don´t do anything for the story (please get rid of Patrick soon).

    Sam is awesome this season. But when did Sookie meet Luna? I´m glad that Martha protected Emma. J.D. is a lunatic and deserves to lose against Alcide, although I don´t think J.D. will be impressed with Alcide´s Rambo style. And Alcide moves on fast, doesn´t he? But I don´t think Russel has something to do with the V. When should he´ve done that?

    The Pam/Tara hug was sweet. The heading in the right direction I think. And finally: Godric. I love it when they bring Godric back to guide Eric.

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  8. For me True Blood suffers badly from Will & Grace syndrome: the supposed leads (Sookie and Bill) are much less interesting than the secondary/supporting cast (Eric and Pam/Jason and Jess) and this episode really showed it. I'd happily watch an entire episode of Pam but I struggle with 5 minutes of Bill. The mother/daughter bonds between Pam and Tara are a nice reflection of the father/son bond between Godric and Eric (also - yay for Allan Hyde!)

    I thought some of the stuff with the hate groups was horrifying and hilarious at the same time: the comment about how hate groups are also about love was pretty hilarious. Hoyt's just hurting at the moment, he'll come good in the end.

    Apart from the Lala and Terry parts, I thought this kept up the run of excellent episodes. For my money, this has been a strong season so far.

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  9. I've never known Bill show so much affection for Eric as he does at the beginning of this episode. He sounded positively panicked. They really should just forget about Sookie and get it together.

    I liked the wedding video as a reminder of how happy everyone was while Sookie was in fairyland. I'm hoping for some kind of peace-making between Jessica and Hoyt (though not necessarily getting back together) and another visit from Ghost Jesus.

    I'm thinking the blood is some kind of extra special fairy blood. I'm hoping Eric, Bill and Russell twig to this by realising the taste reminds them of Sookie.

    I'm really enjoying this season but I'm getting whiplash from there being just too many plot threads, so 3 dance costumes out of 4.

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  10. I feel like Sookie's storyline is raping the books. Parents killed by vampires, right, to me, THIS is blasphemy. (And boo-hoo, I want Dieter back!)

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  11. This was really a disappointment. I don´t have words to say how much. I´m sorry but after this season, I´m done with the show.

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  12. I find all the different plots to be distracting. They are giving us such tiny bits of everything. I find it more annoying than suspenseful.
    I am enjoying Jason this season.

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  13. I hoped Roman wasn't gone..ah well. Wisful thinking. Dieter will be missed too.
    Anna

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  14. Did anybody else catch Bill saying "You! Be my donkey!" to Eric?

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  15. Colin - I have not read the books but I have to agree. Since when is this an ensemble cast?!

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  16. I miss Sookie too this season ! I agree with all it's Bud! Why bring him back for such a silly interaction between him and Andy! Also did anyone see a black hand wrapping around Terry's head at the end of the video or did I imagine this? I did miss the donkey comment but thought Eric giving Bill a ride on his back was hilarious!

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