Last week on ‘True Blood,’ we found out a lot of information, but was still left with a lot of questions. Who is the spirit possessing Marnie and starting trouble with the vampires? What will happen with Jason now that he has both Panther-Shifter blood and Vampire blood? Will Bill find Eric, and if he does what will he do? Are Eric and Sookie going to become an item? This week, hopefully we learn some answers, and in the process will probably open some new ones to get us more involved with this increasingly addictive show.
The episode begins with Tommy (Marshall Allman), Joe Lee (Cooper Huckabee) and Melinda (J. Smith-Cameron). As you may remember, Tommy was being strangled by Joe Lee, who was showing him the real meaning of discipline. Melinda tells Joe Lee not to hurt him so badly, but Tommy does go unconscious from the strangling. Melinda and Joe Lee walk away, Melinda sadly stating that she “hates hurting him like that”, just before Tommy comes from behind to strangle Joe Lee. Melinda tries to beat Tommy off of Joe Lee, but only gets shoved aside in the process. Tommy grabs the pipe and tells Joe Lee, “Remember when I said I wouldn’t be free until you were dead?” and beats him to death with the pipe. In the process, he accidentally hits Melinda with the pipe with the blow being hard enough to kill her as well. Tommy clearly mourns his mother’s passing, and doesn’t care about Joe Lee. He then goes to Sam (Sam Trammell) for help, waking him and asking what to do. Sam drives Tommy and the 2 dead bodies to the swamp, first being stopped by Andy Bellefleur, and then they dump the bodies in the swamp. Tommy fears he will be going to hell, but Sam reassures him that he has killed 2 people as well, for stealing from him, and he is living fine.
During this time LaFayette (Nelson Ellis), Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) are still in the woods with Marnie (Fiona Shaw), right after her rotting spell has cursed Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten). LaFayette is angry with Marnie, saying things are worse now that there are two vampires pissed off with them. Marnie tries to explain to the others that she has been possessed again, but they don’t care. Marnie says the “Spirit is benevolent” but they still leave her in the middle of the woods alone. Jesus and LaFayette decide they are going to Jesus’ grandfather’s home in Mexico, although it did take some convincing on Jesus’ part to get LaFayette to go. Tara decides she is going to back to New Orleans, but when she calls her girlfriend she finds out her girlfriend discovered mail for “Tara Thorton” and not “Toni” and wants answers. Tara goes to Sookie for help, where she discovers Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) is there – more on that later. Marnie returns to the shop where Sookie (Anna Paquin) comes in and asks for a reading. Marnie is reluctant, but decides to do a quick one for her anyway. She becomes possessed by Sookie’s Gran, who tells her that Gran is at peace, and to look after Jason. Also, whoever she is falling in love with to not give him her heart. She then tells Sookie to run, who leaves money on the table and does so. Shortly after her reading with Sookie, Marnie is taken by the American Vampire League into Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) custody, and is imprisoned. During her imprisonment she is possessed once again by the Spirit, who shows that the priests in her time were vampires. Marnie tries to convince Bill it isn’t her doing the spells, but it falls upon deaf ears. After glamouring her, he realizes she is telling the truth.
Arlene (Carrie Preston) and Terry (Todd Lowe) have a bigger role this week, after last week their child Mikey wrote on the wall “Baby Not Yours”. They are both in a panic as they try to decide what to do. Terry has decided they need to cleanse the house of the spirit of Rene and Arlene agrees. Terry calls Reverend Daniels (Gregg Daniel), who is newly married to Tara’s mother, Lettie Mae (Adina Porter). They sing songs and cleanse the house with sage. That evening Terry and Arlene make love for the first time in a long time, only they set themselves on fire in their bedroom.
Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) puts Jason (Ryan Kwanten) to bed after Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and herself rescue him off the side of the road. Hoyt thanks Jessica for saving his best friend, but gets annoyed when she tenses up when he kisses and hugs her. Jessica, feeling guilty about glamouring Hoyt in the weeks past, goes back home alone, as Hoyt is annoyed with her being distant and decides to stay with Jason. Later on, Hoyt listens to Jason as he tells him everything that happened in Hotshot, and how he could trace all of his problems back to sex. Hoyt tries to tell Jason about his problems with Jessica, but Jason brushes him off saying his problems were bigger. Hollie (Lauren Bowles) makes the comment she can feel the full moon coming. Jason realizes that is what he is feeling too, and runs off in a panic. He then later on has a sexual dream of Jessica and Hoyt and wakes up confused.
During all of this, the main storyline of Eric and Sookie is still going on. It starts off that Eric is looking into Sookie’s room, where she is currently asleep. Godric (Allan Hyde) comes up behind Eric, telling him he is damned, and to drain Sookie’s blood with him so that they may walk in the sunlight together. With their fangs extend, they begin to drain Sookie.
Eric then wakes up to realize it was just a dream, but he doesn’t know Godric at all. Eric goes to Sookie’s bedroom, accidentally scaring her awake by telling her he had a bad dream. Sookie soothes Eric by telling him that she doesn’t think he is damned, and doesn’t believe that he is evil. Eric tells her, “I like being nice to you.” and asks to stay until sunrise in her room. He lays next to her, and with her arm around him he says, “I will never hurt anyone as beautiful as you.”
Tara and Sookie are talking when Eric rises next. Tara was screaming about how Sookie lied to her and didn’t tell her the truth about Eric’s whereabouts. Tara then proceeds to tell Eric who he was; a liar, cheat, sold her out to Russell. Tara leaves before Sookie can explain Eric’s presence, and Eric is shocked to find out what he has done to Sookie in the past. He doesn’t understand why Sookie let’s him stay with her and Sookie explains that if she didn’t believe Eric had a good heart she wouldn’t have let him stay. Eric leaves, saying he couldn’t bear it if he snuffed out her inner light. Sookie calls him back, hugging Eric. They eventually kiss.
The episode rounds out with Bill calling the remaining sheriffs into a meeting about Eric, that he is missing. One of the sheriffs is able to explain who the Spirit possessing Marnie is. Her name is Antonia, and in 1610 she became a necromancer who was able to pull every vampire in a 20 mile radius out of their sleep during daylight hours and burn them to death. During the talks afterwords, Pam lets it slip that she has seen Eric. Bill holds her against the door until she tells him that Eric is at Sookie’s.
Did anyone else just get that usual rush when watching ‘True Blood’ just reading this? This episode brought back the old feeling of wanting to know more, needing that fix to know what is going to happen next, and then dreading the week ahead wondering what will happen. The books and HBO series are very different, as some hardcore fans are finding out. But it is the good kind of different. Not one that makes you question why you are watching, but reminds you what made you fall in love with the books in the first place.
A lot took place in this episode, a lot of information was given and of course a lot of questions still remain unanswered. But luckily the season doesn’t end for some time, so we have time to find out what is going to happen next.
