Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

True Blood: At Last

Willa: "Is it gonna hurt?"
Eric: "Not the way I do it."

The Sookie developments were probably the most important part of the episode. But my favorite part was... Eric turning someone, for only the second time in his extremely long life.

It's no secret that I'm a vampire fancier, and that Eric is so my kind of bloodsucker. I loved everything about Eric turning Willa. She was in white like a bride, he was in black like Dracula, it was sexy and fun and he didn't do it against her will or I would have hated it. Taking her back to Daddy was sad though, because I can just feel that Burrell won't be overcoming his vampire bigotry any time soon, baby girl vamp or no baby girl vamp.

Willa told Eric she was a virgin. Or sort of a virgin. All I could think of was what happened to Jessica when she realized she was going to be a virgin again every time she had sex. Of course, Willa probably won't live long enough for it to be a problem for her. Although maybe they'll just take Willa to Camp Truman, where they just took Nora, Pam and Ginger. They'll all be okay because Pam cannot be written out. So there. I have spoken.

Points to Sookie, and I don't say that often enough. It was very cool that she figured out who and what Ben slash Warlow was, and that she set a trap for him. Of course, the audience was five steps ahead of her. Thank you, True Blood Powers That Be, for not expecting us to swallow Sookie instantly falling for Ben when we already have leading men like Eric, Bill, Alcide and Sam.

That said, I'm still not feeling Warlow as an effective villain. An ancient fairy vampire who can walk in the sunlight and defeat Niall should be scarier. Ben looks like a distant cousin you met and blew off at a family reunion. Where's the menace? At least this episode made me realize that I would be absolutely furious if they killed Niall off already. I love Rutger Hauer as Niall. I love just looking at him in that costume, and with that hair. I hope that wasn't the last we see of Niall this season.

I'm ready to say goodbye to Bill, though. Does anyone realize that Bill was victimizing his own great-great-great-granddaughters? I was not happy that Jessica lost control and drank the fairies Bellefleur, too. They can't be dead. Andy may not have given them names, but he obviously cares about them. They've got to stop growing sometime, don't they?

As usual with True Blood, there are too many separate storylines. Although, since Warlow can kill Lilith, I bet they'll start intersecting soon.

Bits and pieces:

-- I have practically nothing to say about the weres, except that it's sad that they're the bad guys now. Please tell me that Alcide won't really turn against Sam. Please.

-- Sam as a horse. That was fun. And I saw that Sam/Nicole thing coming.

-- We also got Ginger screaming, not once but eight or nine times. Also fun.

-- So was Pam and Eric sparring about who was the boss of Tara. Laugh out loud.

-- Ben/Warlow can't drink fairy blood. That's interesting. Sort of makes sense. He's clearly not susceptible to silver, either. Weren't fairies in the books susceptible to iron?

-- The fairies Bellefleur were so cute in Arlene's trashy clothes.

-- What happened to Steve Newlin? Inquiring minds want to know.

Quotes:

Nora: (to Niall) "Omifuck, you smell amazing."

Burrell: "Watch the sky! That peckerwood's gonna try to fly out."
Eric is pretty far from anyone I'd imagine as a peckerwood. What's a peckerwood?

Andy: "Come on, it's time for bed anyhow, you ain't slept since you were three."

Jason: "That was my best Dirty Harry."
Jason was fun in this one. Dreaming about Ben, doing amazing pull-ups, and also Dirty Harry.

I didn't think I'd enjoy this season, but I'm still on board and this was a fun episode. What did y'all think?

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

27 comments:

  1. I have to say, I'm on the Governor's side, and not just because Arliss Howard is doing such a wonderful job. Vampires are at best impulsive enough to kill children and feel bad about it afterward like Jessica, and at worst are mass murderers.

    Eric may not have forced Willa into anything, but he still changed a naive young girl into a vampire, giving her a sudden blood-lust and then sent her back to her father despite knowing full-well that baby vamps are unlikely to survive because of their own uncontrollable instincts. So what? Is he hoping she'll sway Truman, because that's very stupid of him. Or is he hoping she'll kill him, and thus turn him into a martyr?

    Frankly, I can't find vamps sympathetic. I like watching Eric and Pam and Jess, but I understand completely how neccesary it is to wipe them the hell out. Truman doesn't need speeches and he's no bigot, and the vamps are constantly proving him right. It really is time for humans to bite back.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous, you're on the side of the transparently obvious Nazis? Really?

    What Eric is doing is wrong, of course. But he's trying to survive and he did what he did in an attempt to save his kind. It might even work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Billie, love your reviews, as always. And I'm loving Sookie more and more each season. I think the writers are doing a great job of showing how much all of these supernatural forces are taking control of her life and how she's getting tired of it.

    Kind of agree with anonymous though. And comparing his point of view with the Nazis...umm...no. That's a tad extreme. I believe the only good vampire we've seen on this show is Tara (has she killed anyone?). The rest are sociopathic killers who seem to only show remorse or empathy when they're trying to make a connection with someone they're trying to seduce (i.e. Sookie) or feed on.

    I'm not saying that all of them are evil or deserve to die, but let's face it, most vampires are evil killers. Including Eric. No matter how hot he is (extremely hot), he's still pretty evil.

    Oh dang. I forgot about Eddie from season one. He was pretty nice. Well there went some of my argument =P

    ReplyDelete
  4. What about Jessica? Does she deserve to be rounded up and killed, too?

    I think the point is that until they came out of the coffin, the vampires in the True Blood universe were doing what they had to to survive. And that Eric is still doing what he thinks he has to do so that vampires will survive. They're being rounded up and exterminated and their only "cruelty-free" food source has been eliminated. People try desperately to survive and it's okay, even if they have to fight or kill to do so. You're saying it's *not* okay for vampires to fight for their un-lives?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eric is also my kind of vampire... he is not goody-goody guy but is quite a fine one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Vampires today need discipline. That's an unpopular word these days, discipline. I know what Principal Flutie would have said, 'Vampires need understanding. Vampires used to be human beings.' That's the kind of woolly-headed, liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."

    In those immortal words of Principal Snyder, down with the vamps.

    To be serious though, if at all possible on a show that is as absurd as True Blood, the number of parallels to Nazi's in what Governor Burrell is doing is far large to not see. Sure the vampires can be evil, but Jessica and Tara and Willa embody the innocence of them. No all vampires are evil. So to round them up arbitrarily and kill them is the worst kind of bigotry, it's genocide.

    The humans should be working with the vampires to figure out which ones are evil, and stop them. Create some strict laws about feeding maybe if they have to. Considering how right wing the government is in states are right now, it should be easy for them to pass anti-vampire legislation. Especially since they have the weaponry that can take down millenia old vampires like that, they would have to listen, right. Of course creating those kind of second class laws will eventually lead to a civil rights protests about Vampire liberties. Bill when he gets over his Lilith phase will become the new speaker of the vampire civil rights movement. It'll be historic television.

    Okay... sorry. Got a little carried away. The point is, what Burrell is doing is wrong. No matter how violent a group of people are, no one deserves to be systematically exterminated.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Billie, I like your reviews, but I have to respectfully disagree. Eric didn't even try to open any kind of discussion with humans. He tried to glamour Truman.

    It's called 'rooting for the Empire', when the creators of the show intend for the villains to come across as evil, but a fan or fans end up agreeing with their motives. I like Eric; he's a complex, fun character but if I saw him in real life? I would run the other way. He'd kill me in a second and forget about me just as fast. And vampires haven't just been doing what they need to survive: they're capable of draining humans without killing them, but most of the time they don't bother. Roman, Jessica, Eddie, Godric...good vampires, and Godric spent a century or two murdering the hell out of people. I'd be fine with locking them up if it meant taking Russell, Franklin, Kibwe, Rosalyn, Steve, Warlow, Salome, Longshadow, Stan, Luis, Lorena, Sophie-Anne, Talbot, Nigel...

    Even 'good' vampires like Eric, Pam and Jess (I'm not touching Bill because that cat is crazier than a barrel of otters, one minute he's running a charity and the next he'll be breaking into people's houses and mixing up the DVD cases) are threats to mankind.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If that'd been a direct quote, Snyder pretty much speaks the truth. Before he was eaten, that is =P

    I'm not saying that every vampire should be wiped off the face of the earth. However, let's face it people, most vampires are evil. It's in their nature to feed and kill humans. I don't believe we have actually met a vampire who survives solely on the synthetic True Blood. It's also been pointed out how True Blood was a front in order for vampires to "come out" of the coffin and start getting equal rights which was probably going to lead to vampires taking over.

    Remember what Sam said the first season? "You willing to pass up all your favorite foods and spend the rest of your life drinking slim-fast?" And the answer is no. Most vampires will continue to feed and kill humans in order to eat.

    It'd be nice if this synthetic fairy blood led to actually tasty synthetic blood but most vamps will probably always feed on humans. And yes, they should be jailed or appropriately punished for doing so.

    I believe most people are sympathetic and have a lot of empathy for the characters we've seen on the show. If we were in their world, however, and you came across Pam or Eric, you'd be afraid for your life (and possibly turned on...what? Eric's pretty cute.). Anyone remember the dungeon Lafayette was in?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Troy,

    Should all sharks be wiped off the face of the earth? How about wasps? Pumas? Hyenas? Yes, they're fictional, but vampires are beings, and they're living in the Sookie-verse. What about the shifters and weres? Should they be destroyed to the last person, too? Okay, let the shifters live, but the weres kill people. So let's kill all the weres! What about little Emma?

    I'm sorry, but it's impossible for me to ever go, Nazis and genocide, yay!

    ReplyDelete
  10. When humans, vampire and werewolves are all reacting with violence to handle threats to their community I have a huge problem deciding who's good or bad - because I think it's a shortsighted way. And let's not forget that most vampires still consider humans being cattle and that werewolves are not cute pets, but wild and untame creatures of the night and the moon. So maybe it's not only the vampires and werewolves will have to adept, but the humans too. I agree with J.D. that the solution lies in cooperation - and it's interesting to see that the existence of True Blood just glossed over the problem but didn't solved it. Good message too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I find it amusing that you're comparing animals with no free will to (fictional) vampires who have the full mental capacity to choose whether or not they want to kill. While it is in both parties nature to kill prey, vampires are still semi-humans and have the choice not to kill. The fact that most vampires just drain and kill their victims is not really boding well for this argument.

    As I said before "I'm not saying that all of them are evil or deserve to die" and "'they' should be jailed or appropriately punished for doing so." (for killing humans). I have never supported a systematic wipe-out or genocide Billie. So I'm not getting where all of these comments are coming from.

    As I also said before, vampires such as Eddie prove that vampires can truly co-exist with people. The only downside is that we've only seen two vampires who haven't killed people on this show (Eddie and Tara). So yeah, I believe that most (again, most, not all) vampires are killers and at worst, evil.

    Like I also said, I would love for that synthetic fairy-blood to work so that vampires can have some yummy food so they won't feel the need to kill people.

    So...yeah. Troy's not for genocide or Nazis. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree, CyberYork -- good comment. This isn't a good/bad situation.

    Troy, I'm sorry I bummed you out, but you said you kinda agreed with Anonymous. And Anonymous said, and I quote, "I like watching Eric and Pam and Jess, but I understand completely how neccesary it is to wipe them the hell out." Anonymous also praised the transparently Nazi Governor Burrell. It seems obvious to me that the writers are parodying present day Red State politics, as J.D. said. It's not about vampire rights. It's about gay rights, the rights of minorities, the rights of women. Isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am really, really starting to think that perhaps it IS Nora who is going to wind up dying. Maybe I just want o see Eric cry. I don't know.

    I'm actually glad that Eric and Pam's relationship is rather frayed at the moment. Not because I don't like Pam, I do, but it's nice seeing Pam doing something other than relying on Eric.

    Also Willa looks a lot like Nora.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nah, it's cool Billie. I enjoy debating sometimes. And I hope I never sounded rude in my posts :)

    And being a gay man living in North Carolina (the state that recently passed the awful Amendment One), I can understand the parallels that True Blood is making, but it isn't exactly the same thing.

    I really agreed with CyberYork's comment. The cynical side of me, however, just can't see how these two sides (vampires and humans) can ever peacefully coexist.

    On a less serious note, I'm loving Ben/Warlow. I think he's even hotter than Eric. I wish I was Sookie =P

    ReplyDelete
  15. Now see, Ben does nothing for me. That supports my theory that straight women and gay men rarely find the same guys attractive. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ben does nothing for me, but I love Warlow. Does that make sense?
    Might be the British accent.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think you're right about that Billie! My friends and I have discussed that in relation to Supernatural. My female friends prefer Dean and I prefer Sam =P

    And keep on doing your reviews Billie. I've loved visiting your site over the years!

    ReplyDelete
  18. And yes Morgan, the accent just adds to the sexiness that is Ben/Warlow. To everyone else, I promise not to mention sexy men anymore during my posts. I think I've reached my quota for now haha

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have to say that, although it got a little heated up there, I kind of like the discussion going on here in the comments. It's one of the things that keeps coming back when I'm watching it with my husband: we love the shows vampire heroes (especially Eric, Pam, Jessica...), but yes, they have all killed, sometimes even killed innocents.

    Obviously, I'm totally against the nazi-approach. But I'm wondering - and I truly have no answer - how I would want things to go if this were 'the real world'. The difference with other minorities is that vampires are indeed very often very dangerous. Would simply adapting some of the laws (without singling out vampires - because that would be discrimination, once again) be enough of an answer to that danger?

    Concretely: Should Jessica be tried and go to jail for killing the trucker, back in season 3? Is 'newbie vampire-hunger' a mitigating circumstance? (That would be very weird, from the human point of view...) And how long would you send murdering vampires to jail - what with them being immortal and all? How sure can you be they won't kill again, if 'killing' is part of their DNA and they have killed out of hunger once before? And what about turning someone - is that a crime? If it's a crime, how is the vampire race supposed to survive? Because, even if they're immortal, most of them do die at one point or another. So actually, if turning someone is a crime, you're building a very slow genocide into the law...

    It's a part of what makes this show interesting, for me :-)

    And to add to the gays-like-other-boys-than-girls-discussion: as a gay man, I can say that I totally have the hots for Ben. Although both my husband and I would both go for Eric, if we'd have to choose between those two...

    ReplyDelete
  20. I wasn't that thrilled with last season (especially the Sookie storyline) but this season's been better and the fact that it can spark a debate about the merits of genocide is pretty damn impressive. And here I've always considered the show to be just shy of supernatural soft-core porn.

    That being said, the Ben/Jason scenes were damn hot! Too bad they'll be fleeting like the Bill/Sam scene from the beginning of season 3.

    ReplyDelete
  21. My first post here, avid reader but usually I never post. This time though, reading the comments, I just had to post.

    I have never been able to understand rooting for vampires. Why would you ever want to be turned? Why would you ever want them to be exempt from the justice system (assuming the punishment for a crime is equal no matter the perpetrator)?

    Granted, the nazi reference is obvious. Doesn't still make Eric right. No more than your average Joe the murderer or Joe the rapist who couldn't just control his urge.

    What he committed here was a murder and a borderline rape.

    Should we accept a justice system like one in Texas, capital punishment would probably be on the table for Eric. After all, complex person or not, he's just a killer.

    If memory serves, only vampire thus far able to keep her act straight (more or less) has been Tara.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Billie you're right about gay men and straight women not fancying the same bloke. Eric does nothing for me either but Ben is pretty hot as is Jason and Alcide (in spite of his douchey behaviour this season).

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is the first time I comment here, I wasn't going to (I just like to read) but seeing all these pro-vampire extermination comments (in a show about...vampires), I had to.

    The reason people agree with Burrell's vampire extermination plan is because everyone here is human. Humans can't relate to other species very well...or at all. Everyone here is talking about how vamps are rational creatures and how they have killed lots of people and they need to be contained or exterminated. There are humans doing the same things every day, not because they need to survive or eat, they do it "just because". Do you guys want to exterminate the human race too, even if there are just some humans (a lot of them, but not all) killing people? Of course not, right?

    So why don't we all just relax a little, enjoy the great review and remember that this is a TV show based in a fictional world where vamps are the main characters, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks, T. Well said. I'm pretty much done with saying the Nazi approach is wrong because duh.

    Comments on the relative aspects of guy hotness are a lot more fun. I'm definitely a Dean girl, and much prefer Eric and Spike to Bill and Angel, etc.

    And I think if people don't dig the interesting fiction of vampire existence, why watch vampire shows?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great, thought provoking epi, although I gathered that Ben was Warlow a little before he gave Jason his blood. Loved all the plot points and also that Sookie wasn't fooled by him. I really enjoyed it and am not watching it to debate which team is right or wrong, because both are. Can't wait for the next one.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I think I get why they're fighting back. But the way they're fighting back is all wrong, and backwards thinking. They're saying that the vamps are killing and hurting their kind, and acting like animals, but now they're turning around and doing the same.

    They should be trying to repair the situation by helping rebuild the Tru Blood factories and all that, not terrorizing their whole community, regardless of the few who really are awful creatures.

    But the vamps have been abusing humans for a while now. Feeding on those who aren't willingly offering themselves, and killing left and right.

    Such a strange situation, and the show seems to be tackling it well. I just wish the humans weren't so disgusting.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I really didn't see it coming that Ben would be Warlow, maybe it was a little too obvious. I am also a little confused as to why Ben was trying to woo Sookie when he could have just snatched her and taken her to fairie or wherever he came from. Was he wanting her to go willingly?

    I am really enjoying the fairy daughters storyline, probably more than the vamp storyline. It will be interesting to see how that progresses (I really do think they will live to get into more and more comical scenarios with Andy running after them the whole way.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.