True Blood – “9 Crimes” – review

I thought this was a good episode—it balanced between having things happen and continuing to layer on the mysteries and potential for things that will happen later.  The main events:  Bill calls Sookie and tells her he doesn’t want to be found, that they’re over; Franklin goes over the edge creepy with Tara and kidnaps her while professing his belief in the bond they share; the Magister makes a raid on Fangtasia and finds their V supply, giving Eric a two-day ultimatum to find the vampire responsible or he kills Pam; and Sookie and Alcine go to his ex’s “engagement” party only to discover it’s her initiation into Cooter’s pack—including the branding.

First things first, Bill dumping Sookie.  One, pretty great acting from both of them, Bill looking coldly tortured and especially Sookie being so distraught, shocked, confused, disbelieving, and bawling all at once.  Two, Bill has obviously been reading the Twilight series because, seriously, that speech was pure Edward:  “I’ve only brought you pain. I am death.  I want to be with my own kind again.  I’m tired of holding back for the sake of your humanness.”  Thank goodness Sookie ain’t no Bella-with-no-self-esteem; she doesn’t believe he means it, because that would mean he never meant he loved her, and she wants to make him say it to her face.  Good for her. 

Ancillary to this point, I want to say that I am fucking sick of this culture of guilt, this idea that someone would rather torture him/herself than take the chance of doing something that would hurt a person s/he cares about.  It creates this faux parental “I know better than you what’s best for you” idea, which is insulting and frightening all at once.  Sookie is an adult.  She can make decisions for herself.  She is obviously, by virtue of her telepathy, already part of Bill’s world of the Other.  It’s bullshit for him to make that decision for her.  Granted, he is under duress and forced to leave her…but I have this feeling that he really means it, and that even if she gets him out from under the thumb of the King of Mississippi, he’s going to try and stick to this “doing what’s best for her” line.  Which also, of course, totally dismisses the fact that doing so would condemn her once more to being alone because she can’t bear to touch a human/oid who has brain waves she can read.  “Brought you nothing but pain” my ass.  So I hope he goes back to her if he gets free, but I expect he’s going to fight her on it now. 

Franklin…who the hell is this guy, and who is he working for?  He keeps referencing his “employer,” and he takes Tara to the King of Mississippi, but that doesn’t mean Russell is Franklin’s employer.  Might be.  Might not be.  After the post-mortem I wonder if Franklin is some sort of operative for The Authority.  From a storytelling perspective, he almost has to belong to an entity we’re already familiar with—the Magister, perhaps, or The Authority, or the King—but from an audience perspective I think it would be more satisfying for him to be something new and unknown.  Yes?  No?  Thoughts on who you think that cat’s working for?  Also.  I sincerely hope that his obsession with Tara is real.  Like, yes, that is tragic and creepy for her, but I don’t want her to simply be used as a way to get to Sookie to get to Bill or some shit.  I want her to have her own storyline.  So, creepily obsessive vampire who thinks she feels “magical” to him works.  Better than “I’m going to drag you to Mississippi as yet another pawn to force Bill Compton into doing what King Russell wants,” you know?  Also, Franklin is a great reminder of what vampires really are—cold-blooded, autocratic, sociopaths.  I know the current fashion is to make them all warm and fuzzy and guilt-ridden and tortured by love, but in truth a creature that old and abandoned of his “humanity” would be much more weird, alienating, and terrifying.  Thus, Franklin. 

Finally on the major points I want to discuss, the werewolves.  Um.  Seriously, what’s so great about being a werewolf?  If they are meant to be a foil to the vampires in terms of supernatural badassery, they are an Epic Fail.  One vampire can take out a pack of 5?  Really?  And then throw in their all being biker tough guys, acting sort of like second-class citizens just from their own behavior…and the fact that at least one pack is all V addicts…really?  I’m not seeing what’s so great about them.  And that makes me sad.  I want them to be a true competitor with the vampires, but right now it just seems to be the natural order of things that they would be subservient to the vampires.  And that’s an insult to the creatures they’re supposed to be emulating. 

I was glad to finally meet Debbie Pelt, Alcine’s ex (Brit Morgan, who I loved on The Middleman and have been excited to see here since her casting announcement came through), and the scene with her branding was just straight creepy.  Especially with the implication that she’s so hopped up on V she doesn’t understand the choice she’s making.  I don’t know how much of a part her storyline is going to play in the season, but I hope it’s not just a texturizer.

Lots of good quotes this episode:

• “No matter how well you know a person, that doesn’t mean they can’t up and kick you in the nutsack.”  “Well, I don’t have a nutsack, but…”
• “I’m a vampire, not a fucking idiot.”
• “One thing’s for sure:  we’ll never be as bad of parents as they are.”
• “Think I’ll kill all your brother-cousins first.”
• “THAT is called ‘sealing the deal.’”
• “Love is a hell I’ll never get out of.”  “No one does.”

Four things I think will come back later:

(1) Jason shooting his mouth off to Andy in the bathroom…I expect someone was in one of the stalls.  Hoyt, most likely, crying over the fact that he saw Jessica “flirting” with another guy.  Poor bastard.  Speaking of, those two need to figure themselves out and get back together already!  They’re so sweet together.  Plus, she’s still dealing with the fact that she was turned and in the human world people still remember her, and she now has no one to turn to with Bill gone.  Which, again, raises the fact that Bill’s kind of a shitty Maker—he hasn’t once called to check up on her, or tell her who to go to if she has trouble.  I know he created her under duress, but he’s pretty much abandoned her.  Not okay, Mr. Compton, even in your current situation.  The King would understand about your responsibility to your “daughter”—even if he monitored the call, he’d let you make it. Speaking of Jason, how hilarious was he this episode?!  Loved every moment of that altercation with his young “rival.”

(2) Bill trading the King the information he wants for a promise of Lorena getting eliminated.  I think it made the King take him more seriously.  I hope he makes it happen, because that bitch is so one-note I’m just tired of watching her.

(3) The King of Mississippi being in charge of the pack of wolves that Eric has such a bad history with…especially now that Eric and Pam have implicated Bill, in his absence, in relation to the V.  Given that Eric knows Bill is in Jackson, he’s obviously about to descend on the town and come face to face with the pack, his past with them, and probably a conflict with the King as a result.  I’m guessing that will be the epic showdown at the end of the season. Also, Pam better not be the series regular who gets killed this season! I love her!

(4) Sam giving his parents some help.  This is going to go one of two ways–either small family drama but ultimately redemptive, or a big clusterfuck that will go wrong at exactly the worst moment.  I hope the former.  I thought Sam proved what a stand-up guy he is all over again, though, helping them.  Mostly for the sake of his brother, so that Tommy doesn’t have to learn when it’s too late to make something of himself that his parents aren’t his responsibility.  Nicely done, Merlotte. 

So in all, again, a great mix of humor, intrigue, and things actually happening this week.  But what did you think?

Check out a preview of next week’s episode.