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True Blood: Radioactive

Warlow: "In a thousand, two thousand years, you'll learn to love me."
Sookie: "I don't think so!"

Can I say, I told you so?

I knew Warlow was evil. I mean, really. That blood wreath wedding maypole? Tacky. And there was something very mustache-twirling old school villain about Warlow forcing Sookie to marry him. He practically tied her to the train tracks.

So Bill to the rescue! There was a bit of re-set in this episode, and the biggest re-set was that Bill is now Lilith-free and very much himself again. I loved Jessica giving Bill a "save Sookie" pep talk. Jessica has always been the keeper of Bill's humanity, and I'm glad their relationship survived the season. And I loved Niall coming in through the portal in the bathroom and saving the day. I wanted Niall back, so that was very cool.

I'm sort of disappointed that there won't be a permanent cadre of daywalking vampires, though. Although the blood vanishing did confirm that Warlow is really most sincerely dead, which is good. Even if it was only temporary, it was so much fun to see "our" vampires drunk on sunshine, in beach clothes and playing volleyball, running around naked, Pam sinking down on the grass with a huge smile.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ERIC?

I do like our new vamp characters. Violet is too funny; loved her scaring the light out of Adilyn, and her fidelity to Jason is sort of sweet as well as strange. The way she macked on Sookie was a big honking hint that she's gay, but if she's hooked on Jason, that's sort of bizarre. Willa made it through the season, too, and that made me happy. Pam went after Eric. Hopefully, she found him. Because he can't be dead.

The episode began and ended with Sookie and Alcide. I guess it's his turn, huh? They make a cute couple (now that he's pack-less and sane again) but have I never seen the two of them walking side by side? He's two feet taller than she is!

The six-months-later ending made it clear that the writers are bringing the story back to Bon Temps, and that's good. Sam's the mayor, and still with pregnant Nicole. Arlene bought Merlotte's and turned it into Arlene's? (I'm sorry, but True Blood without Merlotte's just feels wrong.) The human vampire church match-up to defend Bon Temps from the sick vampires was quite lovely. I especially liked Jessica doing penance for what she did by protecting the Bellefleurs, gratis.

Interestingly, the best scene in the episode was Tara and her mother. Lettie Mae baring her soul (and her throat) to Tara was way overdue and it actually made me cry. I would forget to feed you, and it was my job. Let me nourish my baby girl. Fine performances from both of them. And okay, some people are saying Lettie Mae is infected with Hep V and did it deliberately, but I am choosing not to believe she could be that evil.

Except for that last scene with the sick vamps descending on Arlene's, this would have made a good series ending. This season was… okay. I love grandpa Niall, but didn't care for the Warlow plot at all; the vampire genocide stuff was an interesting way to go and Bill saved his people, but I wanted it to be Eric. Eric is my favorite character on this show, and he was in this episode for two freaking minutes.

And DEAD? Is Eric dead? Are they really doing that to us? Seriously? Did they think a fleeting second of full frontal would console me?

Bits and pieces:

-- Pam can fly, too! What about the rest of the family? Can Tara and Willa fly?

-- Bill wrote a tell-all book called And God Bled and appeared on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. That was fun.

-- Bill let Takahashi go, and gave him a bag full of money. That was sweet, too. Plus it reinforced the 'the real Bill is truly back" thing.

-- Bill called Alcide "Bright Eyes." What a great way of calling your romantic rival a dog.

-- In this week's hair report, Alcide began the episode with long hair and ended it looking like a Marine.

Quotes:

Jason: "Sook, meet Violet. She's European."

Pam: "Sookie! I'm actually fucking happy to see you!"

Tara: "Bill gave us his magical blood, and now there's light." Sigh.

Good season finale. What did you all think? Three out of four flying vampires?

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

19 comments:

  1. I loved it!!! A terrific episode and a fantastic season finale. Everything was covered (or uncovered [see Eric]) for me and all the right beats were hit.

    I'm a Bill guy, but full frontal Eric -- WHOOSH!!! I think Pam got there in time to cover Eric and save him, though.

    I like Violet so far.

    Tara's scene with Lettie Mae was beautiful and I do hope it's not undermined by the buzz that Lettie Mae is infected with Hep V.

    The "Zompires" rolling swarming Merlotte's was awesome.

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  2. What an insult this episode was. Totally ruined True Blood in epic fashion.

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  3. I honestly don't think that Eric will wind up being dead. I think it's open ended in case Alex decides to leave or stay on the show.

    The six-months thing threw me a bit, but I think I'll still watch season seven. I think they did a good job of getting rid of a fair chunk of the characters and bringing it back to Bon Temps.

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  4. Eric is not dead. We didn't see goop, and Pam was going after him.

    If Skarsgard doesn't want to be in every episode next season, they've left themselves a neat way to have him turn up every now and again through Jason's dreams. When Eric told Jason to dream nice things, to me it played exactly like Spock telling McCoy to 'remember' in Star Trek II, seeding something for next year. Eric may even have performed some vampire trick to allow limited communication with Jason through dreams or something, you never know. Then he can come back in full force towards the end of the season.

    Plus, since Violet still won't have sex with Jason, dreaming about Eric is presumably the only way, other than doing it for himself, that Jason is getting any loving, which might be interesting!

    Jason totally has the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome ever seen, by the way. Violet is kind of funny and entertaining, but what she's doing is seriously creepy and not much above Warlow, really - taking Jason when he was vulnerable and forcing him to be hers, even if he is enjoying it.

    I thought Lettie May was probably going to be revealed to be infected, so will be sad but not surprised if they go down that route. OTOH, it was a nice (if incesty squicky) scene and if this had been the series end, it would have been a nice ending for Tara and her mother.

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  5. Sudden thought occurs - is Bill king again now? If not, who IS the Monarch of Louisiana? Or is that what Eric and Pam are off doing?

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  6. I honestly thought Jason's decision to let Sarah go would be back to bite him this episode. Maybe next season then.

    I also thought that the one to bite the dust (so to speak) would be Jason (maybe by Sarah's hand) or Tara. I was also thinking of Bill, but he's rather high profile cast member to kill off, even though he has little meaningful plotlines left.

    So, Eric it was. Although I don't think we're completely through Eric, he's rather high profile as well. If Pam doesn't get to him in time, he will be dream filler for Jason and/or Sookie.

    Better than previous episodes, but still have a lot of issues with this one. The season seven setup doesn't seem to bring anything new to table, either. Except for Tara's fate, I'm pretty sure Lettie Mae is (will be?) carrier for Hep-V.

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  7. This season really cleaned up the show, and I actually think season 7 could potentially be great.

    As for Eric, I honestly wouldn't mind if he bit the dust, so long as Pam doesn't go anywhere.

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  8. For me, this season was slightly better than the previous one. However, most of the storylines were way too fractured til about 2 episodes before the finale.

    The one thing that really didn't work for me in this particular episode was the Warlow arc. I'd expected a much more epic showdown than getting held back by Niall and staked by Jason. That was...v.,v. anti-climatic, really.

    The jump forward worked for me. Mostly because it did bring the narrative back to Bon Temps (which, IIRC, was something that TPTB had "promised" for the finale.) I...have no opinion of the (sudden) Sookie/Alcide thing, really. They do have a low-level kind of chemistry but (probably due to the fact that we didn't get to see the relationship happen from the beginning), it doesn't quite add up either.

    It was neat to see Jessica and Bill bonding. The temporarily sunwalker vampires were a hoot. Especially in all the super bright clothes. *g*

    As for Eric, I'm thinking that Pam got there in time to dig a hole in the snow where the two of them can hide. We only saw Eric burn but we didn't see him become goo.

    Overall, I thin the season finale did a semi-good job (I truly eyerolled all the Warlow scenes) of closing S6 and setting up the next one.

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  9. I think the finale episode could have been better. Eric is always 6 steps ahead oh his adversaries and to,get caught out in the open in the sun reading a book was a lame send off in an unviking warrior way. As for Sookie I guess she asked around Bon Temps until someone accepted her proposal. I've been watching True Blood since episode 1 and then began reading the books around season 4. I didn't read the last book because of the whole arranged marriage thing and it didn't bode well for me. The way Sookie and Bill made goo goo eyes at one another is just crazy after 6 seasons of let down. The writers, producers, show front runners all want to keep that possibility open. There were and are Eric and Sookie fans waiting for her to give him an honest try at a relationship and have been waiting for 6 seasons. I guess we are the majority that would be mocked every season while she chooses Bill, Alcide, Bill, Warlow, Bill and so on always leading up to Bill while nobody is none the wiser that Eric fans pay their money and watch the show with hopes also. The mutant vampires coming to Arlene's can only go one of two ways. Bill is going to get his blood into Sookie and the vicious cycle is going to start all over again and I'm tapping out and bowing out gracefully because 6 seasons of a train wreck of a relationship and the writers still want to pursue that avenue doesn't leave the show any room for improvement. No matter what good Eric does the citizens of Bon Temps Bill will take credit and Sookie will teach her kids to be weary of the things that go bump in the night (Eric)....

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  10. I've been brooding a bit about this whole Eric snowbathing situation and have decided that Pam is going to save him and that's all there is to it. Because I'm reaching the same place, Antoinette. We did get season four/book four, but the past two, it's been like it never happened. Why are they throwing away the best character in the series? Dan said it's like Spike -- he's the best character and the favorite of most fans but the writers don't seem to know what to do with him.

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  11. I totally agree it's like Sookie is the one with amnesia now. Eric is totally wiped off her mind.

    I don't understand why the writers are denying the one relationship that the majority wants - especially since Alexander Skarsgard too has a big fanbase. They blow the Eric fans off season after season only to throw Sookie with other guys at us but not giving us the one that is most logic at the moment. They didn't even interact in 9 out of 10 episodes. After episode one he was no longer a kind thought worth for her. And in the end they treated Eric simply like crap - they treated even Terry better. They ruined Eric in so many ways while they again redeemed and elevated Bill. How can there even be a chance for Sookie and him after all he's done? And nobody wants to see Alcide with Sookie. But maybe that's how they keep him relevant since his other storylines were snoozers.

    And Andy can now borrow Hershel's shotgun to get through next season.

    At least Bill as a bestseller author was hilarious.

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  12. If Pam had saved Eric, they probably would have shown up in Bon Temps after six months.

    My guess is Eric somehow caused an avalanche to bury himself in snow. He's still trapped there, and Pam's either looking for him still or trying to dig him out.

    Great season. This episode and the last really pulled it altogether.

    Knew things would not end well with Warlow, I just didn't realize how totally self-interested he was. Sookie really needs to trust her instincts, like always. Don't stop for strangers, Sookie.

    As soon as they were in the bathroom I knew Niall was gonna show up and save the day; btw, where is he after the leap in time? Glad Jason got to avenge his family and gain closure by killing.

    I love the evolution of Bon Temps and all the characters. Alcide finally got Sookie, Jason finally got tied down, Bill's telling the truth, Sam's mayor, Merlotte's is Bellefleur's, good vamps are now actively partnering with humans, and we have a slew of wigged out vamps ready to cause trouble.

    I wondered why Alcide's hair was all puffy in the beginning. Any look seems to suit that man. You're right, though, he is a giant.

    I never thought of Lettie Mae poisoning Tara. I hope that's not the case, but if so, it would be truly diabolical. I don't think Lettie Mae is that smart or cruel. Either way, that was an intense scene that has been a long time coming.

    I love that Jessica's trying to atone by protecting Andy and Adeline. They'll probably have to team up now that the town is becoming infested.

    Its hilarious how Jason started out totally ignorant and suspicious of the vampire dating his sister and now he's the one dating a vampire.

    Well, can't wait for next season and the huge vampire battle that's about to break out.

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  13. It was pretty good. To be honest, I really liked the first three seasons, and I thought the fourth season was fine, but the last two seasons have seemed kind of meandering and tired. I'll still be watching next season though.

    (I seriously doubt Eric is dead - I don't think they would have killed him in such an off-handed and, frankly, stupid way. If he had been going to die, it would have been during the battle to free the other vampires.)

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  14. My quarms with this episode are similar to the above. Eric has survived a thousand years for a reason, he is too savvy to get caught out like that. The sunbathing scene was pretty gratuitous, but im not complaining! I sincerely hope A.S does come back next season, I just cant imagine it being the same without him!

    Sookie seemed a little too happy with Alcide, I have a feeling that he may bite the dust trying to be her protector This will quite nicely pave the way for 'nice' Bill to come back onto the scene (btw I thought that once Lilleth was out of Bill he would go back to being the puddle of blood he started off as at the beginning of the season, but he didn't?!)

    I really enjoyed this season and looked forward to every episode. Like every TV show, True Blood has a shelf life, but I think they can get another 2 seasons out of it before wrapping it up for good.

    Just want to say, thanks for you reviews Billie, I look forward to reading them straight after watching the show. They really do compliment my pleasure of the show.

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  15. We can stop worrying about Skarsgard now. He's on board for season seven.

    http://tvline.com/2013/08/20/alexander-skarsgard-leaving-true-blood-eric-death-nude/

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  16. Huzzah! Let's hope Sookie and Eric actually have some scenes together this time.

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  17. Glad Eric's okay. Was actually worried there. Also good riddance to Warlow.
    Tara got some much needed scenes this episode..now if only Lafayette could get some more focus next season. Is Willa seeing Tara? I hope so.
    Violet/Jason gives me the creeps. Hope they resolve that next time.
    Also Niall's return was great.
    Anna

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  18. Hey, Truebies -- True Blood has been canceled. We're getting one more season next summer, consisting of ten episodes.

    http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/03/true-blood-to-end-run-in-2014/

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