Monday, July 23, 2012

True Blood Season Five, Episode Seven: In the Beginning

When last we left True Blood, Russel had just killed Roman Zimojic. On the heels of this, a group of armed men break into the compound and drop a net over him and Eric is silvered off his feet to the wall.

At the fae bar, Sookie learns that she will run out of her magic if she uses it.  This means that she won't be fae any longer. Fans of the book are probably aware that this is yet another deviation from the Harris' version because in the books, Sookie's ability to read minds was a gift from a demon and not  result of her fae blood. Sookie thanks Claude for the information and leaves the club. I call this getting the viewers hopes up just a little.  Deep down we all know that they even if somehow Sookie's ever so special fae powers disappear, that they will find some other reason to make her a special snowflake.

Andy is in the process of being questioned about the death that happened last week.  Sam takes the opportunity to sniff around the store looking for any link with the people who killed the other shifters in town.  He asks Debbie to check a box and they discover that it is filled with Obama masks.  When he proceeds to roll around the floor checking the scent it causes Debbie to ask if there is something she needs to know about him. 

Hoyt has joined an anti supernatural hate group. Hey True Blood, haven't we had this storyline with a different character already?  Hoyt claims to feel more love in the hate group.  The entire conversation is absolutely ridiculous but I can appreciate it to some degree, as it really is a mirrors how privileged people talk about those who are historically marginalized, though in this case, supernatural beings are not marginalized in anyway. Hoyt claims not to know, how it is that he ended up in a relationship with Jessica. I was fine until one of the haters claims that what happened between them was date rape.  Look, I get that this is a conversation involving men who are not educated or intelligent, but the rape analogy was over the line.  When it comes to the subject of rape, True Blood has a history fraught with problems and in this situation, it makes it seem like people accuse rape because their feelings were hurt rather than being violated.

In the authority compound, Bill and Eric figure out that Nora had something to do with Russell having the ability to kill Roman. In the cell, Bill and Eric determine that Nora did not act alone and so they turn to Molly to try and figure out why the I-Stake didn't work. They are brought before Salome Agrippa, who is anything but grieving.  Russell tells Eric that he forgives him for killing Talbot and suggests that both should respond with forgiveness.  Russell claims that he has been born again in his new makers image.  Born again vampire?  You know that Christian fundamentalists are somewhere losing their shit over that one. Each time Nora refers to Eric as brother he loses his temper because he knows that she set them up. I get that Eric was upset that Nora betrayed him, but did the writers have to get him to call her a cunt? I hate that word beyond all belief.

It turns out that Salome Agrippa followed Eric and Bill and dug up Russell because she knew that he was the only one strong enough to defeat Roman. Salome asks Bill and Eric to join them, but Bill says he believes that without peaceful co-existence that both sides will die and for his part, Eric simply says no.

Alcide is sparring with his new second and he points out that his opponent will be on V and so he is prepared to lose.  He refuses to take V, even to level the playing field. Martha is not happy about the challenge because she believes that it's J.d's turn to be alpha.

Arlene is watching the tape of her wedding tape to Terry. Holly tries to comfort her but Arlene says that Terry is crazy.  Holly tries to tell her that he has PTSD, but Arelene persists and tells her about the Ifrit.  Finally someone on this show of vampires, werewolves, witches, maenad and fae admits that Terry could be right about the smoke monster.  See, that wasn't so damn hard now was it?


Back at Sookie's, Jason makes her breakfast in bed and tells her that she is not responsible for the death of their parents.  Jason admits that he always thought it was his fault and that not once did she treat him like he was responsible.  Jason actually is a good brother and tells her that he won't allow her to take on the guilt. I found myself contrasting this scene to the lack of sensitivity shown Jason after his gang rape and his fear of turning into a shifter.

Andy heads off for a visit to see former Sheriff Dearborne to talk about his insecurities.  Bud is not pleased to see him and points out that when he retired, he never told him to drop by whenever he liked it. Bud's wife is out of town and he has his mistress over, so that is all Bud wants to think about. I didn't expect to see Bud reappear on the show after he quit in a huff, so it was kind of nice to see him again.

Lafayette drives out to see Jesus' uncle and the place seems abandoned at first. In one room he finds a head in a chair when he is held at gunpoint.

Luna wants out of the hospital but Sam does not think it's a good idea.  Sookie pops by for a visit with junk food and magazines. Sookie immediately asks Sam if he can talk and Sam rambles on about what happened to Luna and Emma. It turns out that Sookie wants to know if Sam would stop being a shifter if he could to be a normal human being.  That right there once again serves as evidence that Sookie is incapable of thinking of others.  The trinkets she brought Luna were just a ruse to access Sam's thoughts. I understand that Sookie and Luna are not close but Sam clearly has feelings for her and not even for five minutes can she allow the focus to be on anyone but here.

At Fangtasia, Pam has Tara up on the stripper pole. Are there anymore tropes left regarding black women that True Blood has yet to fulfill?  Lettie Mae pops by to see Tara and asks how she could do this to her. Lettie Mae tells Tara that she is dead to her now because she cannot have a daughter who is a vampire, now that she is a ministers wife. Right, this coming for an abusive, neglectful, alcoholic mother. 

At the authority compound, Russel disavows all of the negative things he said about Lilith and Salome forgives him. When Salome makes the announcement that they are all going to drink Lilith's blood that night, she faces some push back but Russel quickly decapitates the vampire in question.  A this point everyone is silent. Bill has some reservations but Eric says that because they are vampires, the blood is not going to do anything. As they walk through the streets, they are clearly high. I kind of liked this scene because for once Bill was not angsting and watching them look at his hand in wonder had me giggling.

Back at Fangtasia Tara is licking her wounds in Pam's office.  Pam tells Tara that Lettie Mae is not her mother and that 100 years from now she won't remember her.  Tara hugs her, which clearly makes Pam uncomfortable, so Pam tells her to get back up on the pole.

Lafayette has had his lips sewn shut.  Lafayette is told that he stole the family's magic.  Before he can kill Lafyette the preganant woman  gets off the ground and stabs him to death.  She then proceeds to cut the stitches on Laffyettes lips.

J.D. is holding court telling everyone that a vampire friend of his says that a war is coming between vampires and humans.  J.d. believes that the way forward is to drink his blood (Russel's) so that he knows that he can trust them. Martha walks in the room and sees that J.D has given Emma V and is not impressed.

As Sam is leaving the hospital, he catches a whiff of an orderly. When he accuses the orderly of killing his friends, the man points out that the store owner was his friend. In a field, Terry and Patrick are having a few beers. The Irfit manifests behind them but quickly disappears.  Terry puts the gun to his chin and Patrick tells him that suicide is for Muslims. Really?  For Muslims? In the end, Terry lowers the gun when Patrick brings up his children.

At a karoke bar, Russell gets up on stage and starts to sing. Gotta say that it's a good thing that Denis O'Hare is an actor because he never would have made it as a singer.  When the woman on stage professes concern for her mother, Russell tells her that she should be more worried about herself before biting her.  I love how much Russell enjoys his notoriety. 

Jason pays a visit to Jessica and tells her that his parents were killed by a vampire. Jessica tells him that not all vampires are the same and then she kisses him.  Jason tastes the blood that she just drank from a person. When she admits that she does not know who she was feeding on, Jason flies into a rage. They exchange words and when Jason calls her a fanger, Jessica bites him, causing Jason to shoot her in the head. Security rushes in and targets Jason and she tells him to get out of her house. I don't understand why the writers took this relationship in this direction at all.

At her home, Sookie gets flashbacks to her past and decides to start shooting her fairy power into the sky hoping to run out. As Jason is about to get in the car, he sees the flashes of Sookie's power and takes off running.

At the karoke lounge, all the vampires are savagely feeding when a single drop of blood falls into a pool of blood.  Lilith rises from the pool naked. All of the vampires are overcome for a moment but then return to feeding. Goderic appears to Eric and tells him that what they are doing is wrong and that he has to save his sister.  Eric stops feeding and sits up. I hope that True Blood is careful with this storyline, as Lilith should rightfully be a strong being, who is not defeated in a few episodes.