This party is going all right...going to drive us mad with anticipation for each new episode! True Blood is dripping with sex and blood and so much emotion it is ready to explode...and we are eating up every last drop with a passion for more, more, more!
Speaking of emotion...Alan Ball recently said that they should put up a sign in the writer's room, "It's the Emotions, Stupid!"...wanting to root each character and their journey in emotions that we all can relate to: love, desire, longing, fear, grief, rage, lust...the need to find a tribe, a place where we belong and to be valued for who we are, regardless of our flaws and quirks. regardless of how strange we might think we are. It seems to me that this is a hallmark of Alan Ball's work: he is more than willing to take us down the craziest path, all the while reminding us that we have so much more in common than we can possibly imagine. It doesn't matter whether we are in the alternate Universe created by Charlaine Harris and then taken into unexplored realms by Alan Ball & Co. ...we can still quite easily slip into Sookie's shoes and imagine that every danger and new discovery is almost too real...feeling ourselves transported into that world, breathlessly waiting for whatever lurks around the next corner.
Best lines: "Is there blood in my hair?" (Eric to Lafayette), "Is make-up sex better than I-thought-you-were-dead sex?" (Bill to Sookie), Any relation to the farm?" (Jason to Luke McDonald), and Andy's dancing skills being compared to "an epileptic on meth" were all very good, but to me, the hands down winner in this category was Lafayette's offer to Eric, "I would make a bad ass vampire, and I would be YOUR bad ass vampire" and the runner up from Lafayette in the same scene, " I'm already a person of poor moral character so I'll hit the ground running"
Creepiest scene: Again, a category with lots to choose from.......Jessica's bloody tears? Eric's post meal burp/puke? Lafayette's digging through body parts with his teeth? No, I am going with Jason's continued involvement with the Fellowship of the Light and the impossibly cheery WASPY couple that leads the movement. All of the scenes at the camp/retreat were troubling, and you can sense some rocky seas ahead for Jason as his star rises amongst the Fellowship group. Best nickname: Luke McDonald, in a tirade against Jason, refers to himself as the "Lukenator". Jason's fellowship rival may be plotting against him now, we will see. Humorous scene: I loved the scene in the store when Bill is shopping, and the amorous saleswoman comes on to him aggressively. She even offers him a private fashion show featuring jean "short shorts", but he passes. The woman then concludes that Eric and Bill are homosexual as Eric greets Bill. Funny stuff.
Well, Lafayette is Alive (hallelujahs all around!)...and enduring horrors almost too real, indeed. Picking up immediately after we saw Eric ripping Royce from limb to limb in Episode 1...we see Eric, blood pouring from his mouth, asking Lafayette if there is blood in his hair! Moving with vampire speed, he gets right into Lafayette's face, asking him to check it out. There are more layers to Eric than we had dreamed of ...and just when we thought he was going to make Lafayette his next entree, he says, "This is bad, Pam is going to kill me." He warns Lafayette not to try anything, since he is still hungry!
Bill and Sookie delight in reminiscing about the joys of "make-up sex" and "you-thought-I was dead-sex" and share a little pillow talk about the frustrations and dangers of raising a teenage Vampire daughter. Bill tries to impress upon Sookie just how dangerous Jessica could be if she is unable to control her Vampire impulses...but it is evident that Sookie really does not get it. Sookie seems to want to believe that there is still a human being inside of Jessica..and tells Bill that she wouldn't be with him if it weren't for the parts of his former self which are still left inside of him. Bill tells her, "I've had to work extremely hard at finding my way back to my humanity..fragile as it may be." They tussle back and forth a bit and agree that they are fighting again...to which Bill replies (with a look that sends shivers all the way to our toes), "Well then, prepare to be made-up to..." Good heavens...where can we sign up for That?!
Pam is back!!! ...and apparently making use of skills learned at the Vampire School of Cosmetology...telling Eric that the blood in his hair is "a Disaster" with a look of disdain that only Pam can give. It is hilarious to see the boo-boo face on the Dread Master Vampire Eric when he says, "I said I was sorry Pam. He took silver to me." Telling Lafayette, "You were there. You saw it. Defend me!". Lafayette proceeds to defend Himself with every bit of sass in his arsenal...and finally, Lafayette fesses up that he thinks Jason Stackhouse is the one who took Vampire Eddie. Conversing in Swedish, Pam and Eric agree that Sookie is too important to them...and Eric then tells Lafayette that this information is of no use to him. How Very Interesting, indeed. Still not learning whatever it is he wants to know, Eric tells Chow to throw Lafayette back into the dungeon (screaming and kicking all the way.)
Meanwhile, we find Jason on the summer-camp bus from hell...with Vampire Haters masquerading as Righteous Warriors. Jason meets his rival ...who immediately tells Jason, "I'm Luke McDonald, no relation to the restaurant." To which Jason replies, "Any relation to the farm?" ...and when Luke says, "What farm?", I realize that he and Jason are fairly well-matched for any competition! It is almost sad to see them struggle for dominance, talking about past glories in football and the like. Luke tells Jason that he struggled through 3 years of abstinence and applied and reapplied to the leadership conference... and Jason guarantees that Luke will hate him for all eternity when he tells him that he had breakfast with the Fellowship Leader Steve Newlin and his wife Sarah, during which they asked him to come to the leadership conference. 2 days ago. OUCH! Maybe they should just get out a measuring tape and get it over with already!
Tara and "Eggs" Benedict do a little bonding in the garden at Maryann's place...during which we get to see Eggs without his shirt...and fervently hope to see him that way many, many more times during the season. Naked Eggs would be even better! Something tells me we don't have long to wait for that.
Actually, Tara begins to reveal a more introspective side when she tells him, "When it comes to men, I have a long history of putting the cart so far out in front that the horse can't see it". She finds out some of his more "colorful" secrets and we are left to wonder how much more of Eggs will be revealed...and I am not just talking about his physical charms.
This episode reveals so much about the inner turmoil that Sookie is enduring. As she tells us, it has just been a few weeks since her Gran was murdered...and she is feeling emotionally overwrought in so many ways. She feels extremely guilty about Jessica, especially after Bill revealed in the last episode that he made Jessica a Vampire in reparation for the life he destroyed to save her (when he staked Longshadow last season). When Sookie sees Jessica's grief-stricken parents on T.V., she picks up a picture of her and Tara when they were kids, with her Gran. Sookie seems to be overwhelmed with grief herself.
Back at the Light of Day Leadership Conference, the campers (uh, attendees?) are given a Ring of Honesty,made of pure silver...and told, "Protect it with all your heart and maybe one day it will protect you". To which someone yells out, "Die Fangers". There is alot of sexual tension generated by Amanda (dolled up like a teenage sex-kitten, singing "Jesus asked me out today") and Sarah... who both seem to have more than a passing interest in Jason. Jason and Luke duke it out playing flag football (during which we see Jason shirtless in all his glory). Followed by a "game" in which Jason plays the Good Guy and Sarah plays the Vampire Sympathizer. She then yells out, "I am a Vampire" (putting on the cheesiest set of halloween fangs you have ever seen) and Jason freaks out, breaking the pole on the American flag in two and threatening to stake her with a blood curdling scream. Is it just me or did Sarah seem to be a little turned-on by Jason standing over her with his stake? We also see Jason struggling with memories of Amy and of his friendship with Vampire Eddie...so, maybe one day soon, Jason will finally Wake Up. One can always hope. One of the more hilarious moments is when Luke tells Jason that Day One went to him...Day Two belongs the Luke-inator. Not even kidding.
Over at Merlotte's, things are going to hell in a handbasket...given more than a little help by Maryann and her enchanting ways. We find out that Daphne is really not working out as a waitress (to say the least!)...making the blood boil for Sam, Terry and Arlene. Sam tries with little success to give Maryann the heave-ho...but she is not having any of it and delights in creating as much chaos as she can. I don't think Maryann is at all happy when she finds out that Sookie has asked Tara to move in...and we see Tara struggling, as she wonders, "Is this too good to be true?" (regarding all the perks of living with Maryann.) Sookie reads Maryann's mind and "hears" her thoughts in what sounds like some kind of Greek dialect. At one point, Terry asks Arlene, "what the hell is going on at table 4?"...where Maryann has been eating everything that is not nailed down for hours and hours. As night falls, Maryann begins to dance, stirring everyone in the bar into a frenzy (what in tarnation is up with Jane Bodehouse?... dancing "a la Maryann" with her eyes turning pure black!) When Sam protests that, "This is my bar, these are my people, this is my town", she begins to vibrate, as Sam pleads with her to stop, and we see her literally compel Sam to shift. It is actually quite chilling when she tells him (shifted into his form as a collie) "Abracadabra, Sam. Don't ever threaten me" telling him that she can do this to him anytime and he won't be able to keep his secret from the town. There is something about her so purely evil that it is beyond imagination.
Back at the dungeon, when Lafayette busts himself out of the chain using the metallic implant from Royce's hip during a seriously gag-worthy scene...I remembered why Vampire movies used to completely gross me out. Too much blood and guts for me...but it did make the point that Lafayette truly is the survivor he claims to be. And then some. He tries to break out of the bar and Ginger (of the ear-splitting shrieks) shoots him in the leg.
Sookie finds Jessica at Bill's, having seen her parents on T.V. She cries tears of blood and convinces Sookie to take her to her parents home, to sit across the street in the car so she can "say Goodbye."
Bill, meanwhile, is doing some shopping for his "daughter" Jessica, and meets up with Eric. Eric says to him, "Good evening, old sport". Bill says, Eric? (not sure if it is him with his new short hair-do) Eric says, " It's the new me. You like?" to which Bill replies, "I do. Very much." If only everyone felt the Same about Eric's new hairstyle. For me, he is still beyond gorgeous...and this comes from someone who has read all the books and seen every episode of the series. As Charlaine said recently, "you can't think of the books as a Cliff's Notes for the series. I don't tell Alan how to write his show and he doesn't tell me how to write my books". As for me, I absolutely have to separate the two. Otherwise I would be ready to yank out My Hair every single week. Nope. Not gonna do that. I love them both.
Eric asks Bill if he can take Sookie to Dallas with him, to search for his missing "friend" Godric, the Sheriff of Area 9. He tells Bill, "She's yours. I am asking your permission to take her to Dallas". He tells him he is only doing so out of respect, since he can take her anytime he likes. Especially since Sookie agreed to work for him. Bill refuses and Eric asks if this is his final answer. I wonder if Bill realizes that this is really not a gameshow and refusing Eric might not be the smartest thing he could do? Bill remains resolute.
Sookie takes Jessica to her parents house..and things do not go very well at all. We find out that Sookie is almost paralyzed with grief and guilt about Jessica, asking her for her forgiveness. Jessica tells her that she does not blame her, and when she sees her sister, she flies from the car with Vampire speed to the front door, banging on it to be let in. One thing leads to another and Jessica shows her fangs to her father, telling him she is about to "home-school him on what it is like to be afraid"....
Back at Fangtasia, we find Pam and Chow awaiting Eric as Lafayette slowly bleeds to death on Eric's leather couch. Eric finally arrives, finding Lafayette ready to bargain for his life. Eric asks him if he would rather let his leg kill him or would he rather let them do it? Lafayette replies, "I prefer Plan C". Eric says, "there's a Plan C?" and Lafayette then asks Eric to, "make him a Vampire." The entire interchange between the two of them is filled with the tension of two powerful and intensely sexual beings circling one another(figuratively speaking), searching for dominance. Even with a chain around his neck, clearly terrified by the vampires, Lafayette still more than retains his vibrant personality, telling them that he can practically glamour people already. He tells Eric, "not only will I be a bad-ass Vampire, I will be Your bad-ass vampire". Eric tells him he will take it under advisement, but you can see that he is more than a little intrigued by Lafayette and how useful he might be. In the final scene between them, Eric tells Pam and Chow that it is "Chowtime", baring his fangs and all three of them attack Lafayette and begin feeding on him. We are left to wonder if Lafayette is just "a meal" or if they are going to actually turn him. Time will tell. Yikes.
Finally, we see Jessica, ultimately telling her father that she is going to "end it, right here, right now, with your belt"...at which point she throws him against the wall and tightens his belt around his neck. Just in time, Bill smashes in the front door and commands her, as her Maker, to let him go. He puts the glamour-whammy on little Eden and Mrs. Hamby, convincing Eden to invite him in. He throws Sookie out, telling her this is all her fault. In the last scene, we see Bill look at Jessica and then literally growl in her father's face.
Up Next!
Finally, the scene from the Paley Sneak-Peek...Bill and Sookie having a terrible fight and Sookie storming out of the car, only to be slashed to the ground by...what?
Hoyt and Jessica hook up! Holey Moley!
Is that a party at Maryann's Pleasure Palace? Is that Daphne, drinking straight from the bottle, with eyes gone pure black?
Sookie pointing a gun...at...who?
Jason...holding hands, perhaps praying? with Sarah? ...saying, "I am Lost. So Lost".
Truer words were never spoken! Now we have less than a week to clean up the mess from the last True Blood party and get ready for the next one: "Scratch my Back"! (Photo credit: HBO)
http://truebloodnet.com http://truebloodnet.com/community http://truebloodnet.com/forums
No comments:
Post a Comment