Eric tells the rapidly deteriorating Nora and Willa about
the tainted True Blood – he sends Willa to warn Pam. Willa’s just really
competent and assured, I hope she hangs around, I like her. But that’s when
their escape is noticed and the alarms go off. Eric and Nora escape under one
of the tainted True Blood trucks leaving (killing a guard while they do – poor disposable
red shirts, so out of their league)
Willa warns Pam who holds on to her sunny personality (which Willa calls her out on – is that respect from Pam? Why I think it is). Pam says to warn Tara and Jessica but not the general vampire population about the tainted True Blood – or everyone will stop drinking and the guards will notice. Willa returns to the cell.
Eric carries Nora to Billith’s, begging Bill to save her,
to give Nora his blood. But Nora refuses – she would rather die than drink the
blood of Lilith. Bill won’t violate Nora’s dying wish.
Sara Newlin drives up to Truman’s mansion (listening to elocution
lessons for the gospel, ye gods I’m actually afraid to google that in case it’s
actually a thing) and finds the Billith massacre. With dramatic grief, Sara
plans to use Truman’s death as a rallying cry. First step to speak a senator
about making sure Truman’s vision lives on and that the Lieutenant governor
(who she calls a RINO) does not take
over. She wants the senator to use his fixers (professional scandal
cover-uppers) to hide Truman’s body and pretend he’s still alive. Then the
senator fills in at the legislature while Sara handles all the vampire angles.
Just until the True Blood with Hep V is sold.
Personally, I think it’d be a better tactic to go public
with a vampire having killed a Governor in his own mansion. But she impressed
the senator.
To soft-focus fairyland and a naked Sookie and Warlow. He’s
pushy and Sookie makes it clear that sex does not mean she’s walking down the
aisle with him. She pokes his ridiculously old fashioned sexist ideas. Then
Sookie’s telepathy kicks in and she can hear Arlene, in the cemetery, grieving
piteously for Terry. She asks him how to get out of fairy land (she was the one
who showed him! And why does she even ask? The answer is always “use your light”)
and zaps to Arlene’s side to be supportive and strong and reassuring and…
…is this the same Sookie? This is the best friendship we’ve seen from her since, well, ever
With all this drama we need a pointless storyline to pick
up – hey there Sam! Sam calls Lafayette to check up on everything and he gets
the news about Terry as well. He tells Nicole he has to go back to Bon Temps.
She joins him in the shower. Later, Nicole’s mother picks her up and she
promises not to say anything about shifters and gives Sam her phone number.
Sookie takes Arlene home to meet Holly, Lafayette and
Andy to tell her kids – and she blames Lafayette for Terry’s death (since he
told her about the safety deposit box Terry had), calling him a “voodoo queer”.
Lafayette, why do you even stay with these people? Andy takes Arlene to tell
her kids, while Lafayette and Sookie go to check the box Terry received before
Arlene sees it, just in case. They go to the bank and check the box – inside is
a life insurance policy, 3 days old; he knew it was coming.
Back to the vampire prison and Jason gets to meet Jessica
to help her get out – but Jessica, in a spiralling guilt descent over killing
the fae, says she is ok with staying and knowing how it will work out. She
tells him he can’t stop bad things happening and all she wants is for Jason to
bring her James,
the vampire who refused to co-operate with the guards to make him have sex with
Jessica, so she can thank him.
Jason brings James and she tells him how she’d decided
all vampires were evil monsters after what she did, but now he’s shown her
vampires aren’t all evil since he was so selfless. The guards punished James by
ripping out one of his fangs. She warns him about the hepatitis V in the True
Blood. They talk about last regrets now their death is so close – and Jessica
admits she wants to make love to James with all his goodness and humanity.
Super speed stripping and sex follows.
More pointless storylines! Alcide takes his father home
and his dad tries to encourage him to stay rather than going back to the pack, telling
him pack life doesn’t suit them. He returns to his pack and tells them Sam and
Nicole are dead and that Emma is with Martha. Rikki accuses him of being a liar
– and the pack brings out Nicole and her mother
Back at chez Billith, Eric begs Bill to help him,
promising to believe to do anything the whole works. Billith tells Eric about
his visions – including seeing the vampires get fried. And the way to walk in
the sun and save the vamps is with Warlow’s blood. Eric agrees to help – but Billith
must help Nora. Billith feeds Nora his blood - but it doesn’t do anything. Desperate,
Eric suggests Warlow’s blood may heal Nora, even Nora says that’s not true, but
Eric begs Billith to go.
Lafayette and Sookie return to Arlene and she’s softened
the blow with a few drinks. Sookie meets Adalind and they have a telepathy moment,
Holly’s sons arrive and there’s lots of introductions – until Bill arrives.
They hustle the kids upstairs asap and Bill offers his condolences to Arlene,
since Terry was a relative of his. He also offers his condolences to Andy,
comparing his own pain when his own first born child died. It quickly comes with
a veiled threat about how, as father’s, it’s their duty to protect their
children as he feels a duty to protect Jessica.
Billith takes Sookie outside and says he needs Warlow’s blood to save people, Sookie’s dismissive, but Bill says it’s for Tara and Jessica, Pam and Eric who he saw in the vision. He tells her about the death camp. He adds some veiled threats and tells Sookie to bring him Warlow.
At said Death Camp, Pam works on making her psychiatrist
very very very uncomfortable. She plays on seduction, her expertise on sexual
matters and understanding of sexual appetite. She seduces him and makes a deal
with him.
Elsewhere, Jason meets Sarah and she tells him the
Governor is dead, which kind of removes his blackmail hold on her. The guards
grab him, cut his arm and throw him in the female vampire prison cell. The
whole room starts to move towards him – until Tara steps in the way. Then the
top vampire in the room, who made them all back off before, tells the room
Jason is her’s.
At Billith’s, Eric cries and pleads to Godric to save
Nora. They have a flashback, since it was Eric who discovered her for Godric,
back in London 1665, when the plague hit London especially hard. Eric
apparently visited a king who I can only assume is Charles II, who knew he’s a
vampire. Charles was upset that Lady Gainsborough, a very favoured mistress,
insisted on treating the sick of London and putting herself at risk. If Eric extracted
her from London, then Charles would ensure he has plenty of food in those
plague ravaged times.
In plague ravaged London, Eric doesn’t fear the plague
but Lady Gainsborough (Nora) was already sick. She wished to die apart from the
king, making her death her own. Impressed by her, Eric took her to Godric to
make into a vampire.
In the present Eric grieves for Nora as Nora encourages
him to turn towards his own progeny – Pam and Willa. The plague spreads and
kills Nora while Eric cries and wails and begs
The whole narrative on James refusing to co-operate when
the guards tried to rape them both bothers me. And I say rape them both for a
reason – the whole thing is cast as “James refused to rape Jessica” – they were
being forced at gun point to have sex, neither consented, James was tortured to
try and force him to comply. They were both being raped. The idea that James
wouldn’t want to have sex with Jessica, that he was being forced as well, that
he refuses because he doesn’t want to is completely absent. Even last episode
it was depicted as Jessica saying “it’s ok, just do it” without any concept
that MAYBE JAMES DOESN’T WANT TO. The idea that James may be resisting his own
rape is completely absent from the narrative – instead it’s all about James
refusing to rape Jessica. James resisting his own rape is presented as a
selfless act.
Eric’s British accent is… not good. Alas. Really really
not good. His grief for Nora, though, was incredibly powerfully done. I can’t
say I’ll miss Nora though. I’m sure Nora was older than 350, previously. Have
they changed her age?
Again the show is pretty tight – we have side storylines
but they’re not allowed to be distracting on the main thrust. It’s definitely
an uptick over last season.
