True Blood – “Fresh Blood” – review

This was an episode I more clearly liked than the last couple.  I really liked where they went with Eric and Russell. Not what I expected.  I’ll be impressed if they really kill Eric off—and depressed!—but I almost can’t believe they will.  Still, a creative use of his options.  Well played, Northman. 

Also well played:  Pam and Russell watching Eric walk into the morning light.  That was actually quite chillingly beautiful.

So did Sookie understand that Bill was just playing a part to try and keep her alive, or did she really think he meant those things?  Her reaction seemed overblown so I do lean towards the latter.  If it’s the former then my God she’s a dim one.  Their fantasy about having a boring life together was kind of hilarious, but how long would it take before even they got bored with it? 

Lafayette’s bad V trip was crazy!  Has Jesus awakened some latent powers that are going to be unrelenting from now?  Ooh, shit, girlfriend.  Watch out!

I liked Tara confronting Andy and maybe getting a little closure—Andy told her that Eggs had been “bound and determined to die,” and it seemed to me that the stricken expression on her face bespoke the realization that, whatever she felt for him, what he had felt for her was not strong enough to overcome his guilt and his despair.

Sam going off on everyone…hm.  That was unexpected.  Kind of hilarious, but mostly sad.  Because he wasn’t just telling off the people who were jerks, he was telling off even the people who didn’t deserve anything of the kind.  His discussion about how everyone thinks he’s such a nice guy and thus no one really knows him was insightful, and I wasn’t surprised to find him and Tara getting along so well, or hooking up again.  But what damage has Sam done to his life, his business, and himself by acting out?  Was it really cathartic, or will it come back to haunt him?  (In more ways than just however Tommy’s about to fuck him over, I mean.)

I’m not sure how I feel about Arlene’s devil baby.  I don’t know how I feel about a character who doesn’t believe in abortion trying it anyway, or the whole Rosemary’s Baby situation she’s trying to pull.  If the kid turns out crazy it’ll be her fault for treating it that way, so it’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Is Terry’s reaction to keeping it because he thinks he’s incapable of siring a child himself?  Cause, otherwise, there’s always the whole make a new baby that is actually yours option, bro.

Jessica:  good girl for making Hoyt face what you are before recommitting to anything!  It needed to be said, even if he didn’t care.  And, oh, the irony of the “real bad things” Hoyt was getting up to with Jessica while his mother and her poor stooge were still conspiring.  Let it go, already, Mrs. Fortenberry!  You’ve lost him.

Jason’s two storylines were just sort of there for me.  “I don’t care what you are, Crystal, because I love you!” (Really, Stackhouse?  You move fast.)  Finding out that the little punk about to beat his football record is on V, supplied by his coach, paid for by his parents…I think I’m more curious to see what Jason does with this.  The football fan in me would love an NCAA scandal, a la Alabama and Tennessee turning each other in for recruiting violations, but I think this show is way too aimed at women to do something like that.  Jason’ll probably just make a speech or some shit. 

I see no feasible way for them to wrap even half of these stories up in one more episode, which was perhaps intentional, given that Season 4 was announced while the latter half of this season might have still been in production.  So that would mean next season is less a “let’s add new shit with no break in between” and more of a “here’s stories that won’t be resolved till later since we know you’ll be back” kind of linkage.  Also, are the werewolves coming back AT ALL this season?  Or were they just sort of pointlessly there to throw everyone off?

Two of the best three lines of the episode came right together:

• “Don’t invite Tara to the party, she’ll get pissed off and beat the kid. Put away the wedding china, Tara’s coming over.”
• “You feel like dropping by my nasty-ass trailer?”
• The other:  “You know I love you more when you’re cold and heartless.”

As a footnote, did you watch the post mortem?  It seemed to me to be very much a justification of the fairy inclusion, as if the staffers on the show sort of looked at each other and said, “Yeah, that was whack, we gotta try and spin it better than this.”  For me they still didn’t quite pull it off.  But what about for you?