As was the case with Mad Men, spoilers lay ahead. So glamour yourself or retract your fangs.
Last week's season premiere of True Blood found our heroine Sookie Stackhouse in a familiar position: on the ground in a dark, wooded area, screaming for her life while some blood-thirsty creature closes in. This time though, the blood-thirsty creature in question was newly made vampire/former human (and from the looks of things, former best friend) Tara.
Sookie mentions to Lafayette that it took while for Jessica to get used to her new afterlife, but I don't ever remember Bill's progeny being quite so ready to go in for the kill. She tosses Lafayette to the ground like a rag doll and takes a bite out of Sookie, all while her maker Pam gets her kick watching the whole spectacle. She eventually gets bored enough with the three of them to tell Tara not to devour Sookie and Lafayette and takes off to Fangtasia. Tara continues her rampage until Lafayette lures her in with some fresh blood ("Drink hooker!"), allowing the opening for Sookie to silver her so they can make her go to ground.
Later Sookie convinces Lafayette, wracked by guilt over what he feels is a selfish decision in the wake of Jesus's death (whose body is still M.I.A. by the way) not to stake his cousin. Once nightfall comes, Tara charges back into the living room, gives the two of them a glare that screams "I don't know whether to eat you or kill you," and says "I'll never forgive you for this." With that she's off, mostly likely to join Pam at the club. If the human Tara held a grudge, you can a bet a bottle of True Blood O negative that relations between vampire Tara, Sookie and Lafayette will be strained for long time to come--or at least until the end of the season. If anything though, this story line will give us more scenes with Lafayette and Sookie, a duo that rarely gets screen time. They share a secret--Debbie's death--are both sans a man/vampire and will have to stick together if they ever hope to get back on Tara's good side. It'll be interesting to see what new twist their friendship takes.
Speaking of Pam, this episode offered a glimpse into her pre-vampire past. Although still as bitchy as ever ("I was in the ground. What's your excuse?" she snaps to Ginger) she's still missing her maker, and thoughts of Eric transport her and us back in time. As she once purred to Lafayette, Pam was a hooker a long time ago. Turns out that time was 1905 in San Francisco. After giving a co-worker a boost (old school blow I presume?), Pam finds another working girl nude and dead in a hotel room. When's she attacked on her way home by a would-be rapist, Eric comes to her rescue by ripping out his throat. Eric notices her lack of fear at the sight of a dead body--though it's unclear if her "I'm no stranger to dead bodies" comment was meant to be trademark Pam sarcasm (dead body meaning limp you know whats) or a small clue about her human life to be explored later. Whatever the case, Eric speeds off into the foggy night, leaving Pam to fret and fantasize about her unknown savior. This definitely won't be the last time we get a Pam flashback, which is a good thing because she's one of True Blood's most charismatic but underutilized characters.
However in the present, it looks like Eric is the one who's in need of rescuing. After a botched attempt to skip town, or continents (with vamps you never know), Eric, his sister-in-maker-lover Nora and Bill are thrown into authority jail, where spouting transparent lies (shame on you Bill) gets you blasted with UV rays and interrogations consist of being of injected with silver. The two then meet the other chancellors, who debate whether they shall meet the true death. Chris Meloni clearly drew from his Law and Order SVU days in this scene, though I will say he fought the urge to cross his arms and flash his signature "you son of a bitch" stare. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I digress.
Aside from serving us a new spin on vamp torture, Bill and Eric's prison stint seems to be laying the groundwork for what will probably be one of this season's main story lines. Apparently, there are those within the vampire ranks who believe in a fundamentalist interpretation of vampire scripture (i.e. humans were created solely to serve as vampire nourishment) who are fighting against the Authority's mainstreaming agenda. It's an interesting juxtaposition to former fundamentalist anti-vampire crusader turned baby vamp Steve Newlin. In season two he was all "praise his light"; now he's claimed to have found light in darkness. Throwing in Lilith, supposedly Adam's rebellious first wife, was a nice touch.
Things look bleak for Bill and Eric until Bill confesses Russell Edgington is still alive, and they will help the Authority find and destroy him, regardless of whether they meet the true death. But you just know Bill and Eric have a got trick up their sleeve. Though that last shot of Russell looking like The Thing's anorexic cousin on life support shows they probably won't have to worry about him for at least a few more episodes.
Back in werewolf/shifter land, the wolves, still dining on former pack master Marcus's corpse, try to put some peer pressure on Alcide to be their new leader. But this lone wolf will have none of it and takes off, leaving Luna and an a beat up Sam to walk home. Sam and Luna have domestic spat after Marcus's mama tries to see Emma and stress the need for her to have pack to come to once that first full moon transformation hits. Luna wants Sam to play his position and support whatever decision shes makes regarding, which is really no position at all. A litany of F-bombs are dropped and Sam walks out. After which Luna discovers Emma has shifted into a tiny werewolf. Score one for the trashy grandmas.
In human news, Terry is still acting nuttier than usual, having wartime flashbacks and freaking Arlene out. After he finds Arlene at his soldier buddy's hotel, the two make plans to visit another war buddy who may responsible for a string of fires. Not sure where this is going, but I hope it's better than the demon baby/Syfy channel ghost story arc he and Arlene had last year. They, and us, deserve better. Andy finds a vial of V juice in Debbie's car, but resists temptation and gives it Jason. Hoyt still pissed off at Jason for sleeping with Jessica post-breakup, while a random kid punches him in the face for sleeping with his mom. He and Jessica are still enrolled in a friends-with-benefits package, but it's obviously not enough for him. Maxine thanks him for breaking her son and Jessica up. And if Steve Newlin has his way, he won't be stopped until he gets a piece of Jason Stackhouse--and well, you know what piece that is. All around him are reminders of his past escapades and people who are intent on keeping him stuck in his old womanizer ways.
Will Jesus be True Blood's first zombie? Will the fairies finally get an interesting story arc? Will Pam have the best one-liners while teaching Tara the tricks of the vampire trade? You already the answer to that one.
What did you think of "Authority Always Wins?' Discuss.
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