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| Photo: HBO |
As always, spoilers lie ahead. Now read on before you start frying up like rotisserie chicken...
This week episode, "The Sun," picked up right where last week's premiere left off, introducing some new characters, ramping up the intensity of the inevitable vampire versus human war, and delving further into Bill's new found powers and identity.
Well, it turns out the creepy good Samaritan who picked up a unhinged Jason Stackhouse last week, was not in fact, the Warlow. That honor goes to the dude who punched his way through a portal on the same rainy bridge he slaughtered Jason and Sookie's parents on. Am I the only one who thought Warlow (at least with the wide brim hat) is a dead ringer for Rob Zombie? Seriously, I expected him to start busting out "Thunderkiss 69" after he bared his fangs for the camera. But I digress.
Creepy Samaritan Guy is in fact Jason's fairy godfather Naill. Compared to Sookie's fairy godmother Claudine, this guy's pretty up there in age. No offense to Rutger Hauer, but he must have missed the day when all the other fae took a dip into the fountain of youth. Anyway, Jason doesn't believe him until he rattles off a few memories, like breaking his middle finger, winning a big game, and hiding a juicy porn stash that resonate with his inner dumb horndog . Naill tells Jason he needs to get his shit together if he wants to have even a snowball's chance of hell of defeating Warlow, and the two head to Sookie's house (more on her whereabouts in a minute). Jason leads his grandfather to the bathroom where Warlow warbled his threat to Sookie, and jumps through a portal to the dark world where the vamp sprang from.
Though Warlow's long gone from that nether realm. Over plates of spaghetti, Naill reveals he's been tracking the ancient vampire, but now he's been unleashed courtesy of Sookie and the fairies nature summoning circle last season. Naill goes on to explain Warlow's been obsessed with the Stackhouses, for centuries, being that their bloodline doesn't include just any fairy lineage, but royal fairy lineage. The only way to kill Warlow for Sookie to manifest her light into a supernova that will destroy any vampire that touches it. The catch: she can only use it once, and when she does, bye bye fae magic. It has to be said that Hauer was great in these scenes, lending them a much-needed gravitas that's usual lacking in True Blood.
Naill's not the only fairy who pops up in "The Sun." After getting read for filth by Arlene (who really should start campaigning for a manager's position, being that she pretty much runs Merlotte's at this point) for being late to work, Sookie shuffles her tired bones out of bed. While walking to work she hears someone groaning in pain, and after weighing her options for a nanosecond, decides to help the stranger in distress. Girl face it: you'll never be the girl in the white dress ever again. And deep down, you probably don't want to be. Anyway, the stranger writhing in pain happens to be a half-fae named Ben. Ben explains he's been attacked by vampire, which given how they dissolve into crack fiends whenever they so much as get a whiff of Sookie's sugar, strikes me (and her) as odd that there's even a piece of him left. But a bit of telepathic communication but her doubts to rest, and she brings Ben back to her place. Light flirtation ensues-- he is a cutie-- and she gives him directions to the fairy club, a.k.a The Moulin Fairy, but pumps his brakes when he asks her out for date.
Maybe it's the makeup department or Anna Paquin's "I'm too through" facial expressions and body language, but Sookie does seem to have a weariness that was nonexistent six years ago; her hesitation to jump into another relationship is palpable, though there is a spark between her and Ben, even if the mention of Bill still stirs something in her.
Speaking of Bill, one of his new super vampire appears to be seeing the suffering of other vampires via visions. Vision that leave him in a comatose state so Lilith came summon him in his dreams (nice sashay away by the her naked bloody assistants BTW).
After going a spiel about the end being near, salvation and other apocalyptic babble, Bill asks her if he in fact has become a god, but she sort of sets him straight by explaining god is god, while she, along with Bill, will be worshiped like gods, when in fact, they are not. Got it? Well Jessica doesn't. Freaked out and at a loss at what to do about comatose Bill, she calls up some fast food (Human Edibles, who are sort of like prostitutes, but trade getting bit for cash instead of sex) to see if feeding will bring him back. No luck, but cracking the call girl's skeletal frame before sucking all the blood out of her body will do for a snack for now, thank you very much.
In the end Bill wakes up just in time (after a prayer from Jessica that gave Deborah Ann Woll a chance to flex her dramatic skills) to the vampire he saw being drug through the streets in his vision suffer the same fate in real life. Turns out Bill can see the future, and future ain't pretty, with all the vampires we know being burnt to a crisp and such. Which, given, Lilith's order to him to "save us all," means it's not gonna be pretty for humans either.
In other vampire business, Eric's on the warpath. The humans have stepped up their game, creating new vamp-killing weaponry like UV-tipped silver bullets that fry their targets (in this case Tara) from the inside out. After scooping out the bullet and saving Tara, Eric screams at Pam and Nora to stop their bickering, then orders Nora to find something in the vampire Bible that'll give a clue as to how to vanquish Bill before dashing off to governor's mansion. After taking out a Wildlife and Fisheries rep and donning his clothes, Eric puts on his best hick accent and enters the mansion, .
The scene between governor and Eric is a standout, as the two have an increasingly tense conversation about exterminating vampires (apparently two kiddie vamps drained some kids at Chuck E. Cheese. See, they never should have changed their name from Showbiz.) under the guise of talking about the survival skills of whooping cranes. Finally Eric goes for the glamour, but wouldn't you know, the governor has developed special contacts to stop that! After much gloating, Eric is carted off, but manages to fly away before returning to the mansion and glamour the governor's daughter. If he knows what's good for him, he'll kidnap her and hold her for ransom, as the governor has now decreed vampires have no rights under the law.
Sam got an offer from new character Nicole (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a supernatural rights activist, to "come out" about his shifter status as way to smooth over supe-non supe relations. Is she naive? Yeah, but the way she snaps back at Sam after he tries to dismiss her, name dropping of her grandparents' involvement in civil rights in the process, shows she's got the tenacity to back up her idealism. The werewolves made a (thankfully) small appearance. Just as I predicted, Sam and the pack's story lines became intertwined due to Emma , with Alcide and Martha taking her by force to keep her safe in the wake of Luna's on-air shift. No doubt Sam won't give up that easily, but the fact he has such a fabulous baby sitter in Lafayette alone should grant him permanent custody.
As for the other non-supes, Terri and Arlene wrapped up their Ifrit saga with a big red bow of lies, telling Patrick's pregnant wife that he ran off with someone else. And Andy's still totally lost when it comes to raising four fae kids. On the upside, at least they didn't hit puberty overnight. Literally.
Other Thoughts:
---Where are Holly and Steve Newlin? Seriously?
---Something tells me if Jesus had lived, he and Lala would have moved to Vermont or D.C. and adopted a couple of kids or went the surrogate. Mama Lala looked like she was having the time of her life playing dress up with Emma. Or he could always open a combination seance/daycare center.
---Speaking of Sam and the wolves, where was Rikki when they came to take back Emma? After the big show she made (complete with making the other were chick go downtown on Alcide) last week of being the HBIC, she was conspicuously absent.
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