Tags
eric, hbo, me and the devil, my what big teeth you have, sookie and eric, southern vampire mysteries, true blood, true blood season 4, vampires, vamps
You are incapable of love. You are damned. You cannot be saved. You are a creature of death, and the living are only good for one thing, and it is not love.
Is it just me, or have the last two True Blood episodes been kind of “meh”? Despite my joy at having Sookie, Eric, Pam and the rest back on my screen and the tremendous amount of plotline story dump we’re being treated to, something hasn’t been clicking for me. “Me and the Devil” has some fantastic individual moments ““ rotting Pam, Portia’s tirade, every single moment Marnie is on screen ““ but there’s a sense of holding back. We’re spending an awful lot of time setting up the various stories that will get us through the season, so I can only hope that Ball and Co. will cash in on it.
I’m appreciating the return of the zingy one liners. There haven’t been a ton of great ones so far this season”“ we’re only five episodes in and the only really memorable quote I can pull from the first four is Lala’s bird line. (“I’m sorry that after all that trouble, your bird is still dead.”) So let’s take a moment to savor the best:
“Oh good, the world needs is more beekeepers.”
“I can put up with a lot, but if you fuck with my face, it’s time to die.”
“The sage smokes out the evil. You gotta get it up in the corners.”
“Lady, when my gran tells me to run, I run.”
“Vampires have often found it advantageous to maintain a hidden presence in humanity’s most powerful institutions, and in the 1600s, that was the Catholic church. And today, as you all know, it’s Google and FOX News.”
So what do we have this episode? A lot of parents (the Mickens, Arlene and Terry, Godric and Eric, Lettie Mae, Jesus’ grandfather, Gran). A lot of ghosts (Godric again, Rene, Antonia, Gran). And a ton of exposition ““ they are really making sure we understand how much is at stake in a potential witch-vampire war.
Well, I have to say that the Tommy storyline took a turn I wasn’t expecting. I thought we’d be subjected to Jo Lee and Melinda (who seems to really enjoy these horrible mother roles ““ she was also Darla in The Crow) for most of the season, but Tommy flipping out and killing them was both justified and surprising. As was Sam’s reaction when Tommy told him he was in a spot of trouble. (“I can see that, Tommy.”) I assume that this will be the bonding/trust circle fall that both men were moaning for earlier in the season. And I predict that it will go bad for them ““ Luna’s story about the two-skins isn’t likely to be a red herring. Tommy’s killed another shifter now.
Speaking of bad parents, Lettie Mae returns. She’s gotten the reverend to leave his wife, she’s stayed clean, and now she’s a Preacher’s Wife ““ everything she wanted the last time we looked in on her. And since she has so much experience with possession and all, she’s helping out with the de-ghosting of Arlene and Terry’s house. Baby Mikey continues to be horrible and creepy but the “Baby Not Yours” incident seems to have pushed Terry over onto Team Something Isn’t Right Here. He arranges for the reverend (and Lettie Mae) to come chase the specter of Rene out of the house. I’ll lay money down that this does not work. Any takers?
Jason heals up well enough thanks to Jessica’s blood. He’s up and walking around the day after they find him ““ which also happens to be the day before the full moon. He’s also accurately calling what happened to him “rape,” which is an issue no one seemed sure how the show would handle. (I remembered, quite late, that there is another question of female-on-male rape that comes up in the show, in the second season, when Arlene thinks she’s taken advantage of Terry during Maryanne’s blackout orgies.) I feel, all practical issues aside, that Jason Stackhouse is approaching this how Jason Stackhouse would — he knows that this is a traumatic incident, has a bullshit theory on why it happened to him, and will be slow to deal with the repercussions. He’s not a guy who spends a lot of time delving into his feelings. Given his track record (running to the Fellowship of the Sun after Amy’s death and his bullet-wound hallucinations after Eggs’s killing); dealing with his emotions is going to be a back-burner thing. Also, he’s got the whole panther thing to handle.
And I’ve seen this question floated about, so I’ll authoritatively state my theory on this: No, drinking Jessica’s blood will not turn Jason into a vampire-were hybrid. This isn’t Underworld. And we’ve seen a shifter drink vampire blood to heal wounds before ““ Sam drinks a lot of Bill’s blood after being tortured during season 2 and as far as we know, he’s still a plain ole shifter.
Bill gets to flex some of his newfound authority this episode ““ he has Marnie kidnapped, he uses his glamour like it’s going out of style, and he assembles his sheriffs to deal with the mess Marnie’s made of his kingdom. It’s during this little meeting that Pam slips up and mentions that she knows that Eric has lost his memory, which means she’s seen him, which means she’s forced to tell Bill where Eric is. All of this is so startlingly out of Pam’s character ““ she’s absolutely one of the most competent characters on the whole show and her loyalty to Eric is iron clad ““ that I can only assume the rotting spell has made its way to her brain.
So let’s talk Eric and Sookie.
They kiss, y’all. Like the way they feel for each other, the moment is a slow build, tentative and hesitant. It took them a long time to get there, to each other, to that place on the porch of her (their) house. Bill and Sookie’s kisses were full of drama. Big explosions, lots of passion. But they were also predicated on a lie and false lust. It was Sookie’s girlhood ideal, you know, the kind of thing you imagine when your only exposure to romance is a lot of TV and movies. I see this as her grown-up kiss. The one for someone you love in spite of their flaws and sins, because you know that love is complicated and hard, and people aren’t white knights or black hats.
It took them the entire episode to end up on that porch. Eric is tormented by Godric in his dream. I know that Godric is supposed to represent the inner vampire urges Eric is struggle against. But I also think it’s no coincidence that it’s Godric ““ who Eric loved more than himself ““ urging him to destroy the other thing he loves. They don’t really do coincidences on True Blood. Eric seeks out Sookie for comfort after he wakes up and sleeps platonically in her bed while she stares at him and thinks about how low his shorts sit on his hips. Or like, contemplates her mental anguish or something. But I bet she’s thinking about the shorts.
Sookie’s dead grandmother puts in appearance to tell her what a bad idea falling in love with Eric is because the situation’s temporary, courtesy of an afternoon visit to Moon Goddess Emporium and Marnie. And then she tells Sookie to hightail it out of there because Marnie is dangerous to her. I guess no one likes the fae. Not even burned at the stake Spanish witches who are channeling themselves through middle-aged Wiccans. Tara throws another wrench in the works by flipping out when she finds out Eric has been living in Sookie’s basement ““ not because Sook tells her, but because low-shorts, fang showing, Eric pops up in the middle of a girl’s heart-to-heart. She throws in Eric’s face every sin he’s committed against Sookie and flees.
Eric is devastated. He really is. You can see it on his little boy face. He leaves to keep from hurting Sookie any further, out into the night and the darkness, but she slips out after him in her sun-yellow dress, standing in a pool of light. And calls to him. Holds out her arms.
And they end up there, on her porch, in that kiss.
Bonus Content: Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues”
Kristina said:
First of all, I read all the books and the fourth was by far my favorite so I was going to be de-VA-stated if Eric didn’t lose his memory – sooo glad that happened. Loved the kiss and agree that it was a real grown-up kiss.
I also agree that there is something off about this season so far – while it’s had good moments, I’m kind of not in love with it.
Speaking of not being in love – I have completely lost all fondness I ever had for Tara. I cannot stand the twitchy-gun ready-all vampires are evil biatch she has turned in to. Her rants were funny in the first season when they were all about her being black, but now, I just find her annoying and tedious on screen. Love the actress, hate the character….
anyone else with me on that?
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PocaChica said:
I’m not a fan of her either. Send her back to Nola.
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bettyeff said:
I’ve gotta disagree. Tara’s been through some really rough shit with vampires. Kidnapped, raped, left for dead…Plus she’s seen them do shit to others. Her cousin was locked in a basement and tortured. It makes sense that she doesn’t trust them. It makes sense that she’s got trauma, and she’s dealing with it by doing everything she can not to let them hurt her or anyone she cares about.
Now, what *I* hate about her character was that Ball apparently thinks all the above is how you make a lesbian. Ugh.
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Teri Floyd said:
Yes. I haven’t loved her at all since Season 1. Even the new, supposedly ‘badass’ UFC fighting Tara is still irritating as all get out. All she does is whine in a shrill voice and storm out of places.
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WillowWeen said:
Oh wow I didn’t put that together. Ooo – I wanna see Tommy messing around and turning into people. Why do I still like him? Maybe because he’s just a kid? I feel the same for Jessica. They’d both have to do a lot of wrong for me to hate them.
Did you think they rushed the romance with Sook and Eric? I have these fond memories of the books where they’re just hanging out, watching Buffy, acting like a couple. But the show isn’t setting them up to act like a couple. Eric is more like a hyperactive child than a wounded adult.
I feel like this whole thing is gonna turn into more reason for Bill and Sookie to be together over Eric and Sookie. The show seriously pushes Bill as the good guy. It’s hardly the same character.
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PocaChica said:
I thought it seemed strangely out of character for Pam to break too and I hadn’t thought about the brainrot but I hope that’s it. Why didn’t Pam follow Bill when he went after Eric? Pam’s outfit,due to her jacked face, seems to be the HBO solution for hiding skin maladies like they did with Samantha Jones on SATC. When Jason was talking with Hoyt about the rape I thought about all the comments from last week and @ Teri Floyd had mentioned Jason gets f’d over every time he has a love/sex interest. Sounds like he felt the same way. I’m guessing that Jason has no control of shifting during the full moon. I liked “gators love marshmallows”.
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QoB said:
I loved Tommy’s ingenuity with the alligator, but why on earth did he not shift and escape when Joe Lee had him by the throat last week?? It seems like the writers are really inconsistent about when shifters can/do shift.
Loved Jason’s awkward sex dream about Jessica and Hoyt. Hiliarious. (also, hello Hoyt…). Was cursing Jessica for not being able to keep up her cover that started with her glamouring Hoyt, but it’s very consistent with her character.
Didn’t love the Sookie/Eric kiss at all, sorry. Wanted MOAR CHEMISTRY.
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Slay Belle said:
I loved Jessica’s Ann Margret look. That girl needs to be cast in a biopic, stat.
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Sissy Larue said:
Just far too much going on. With so many plot lines going on, why did they introduce a new one with Alcide right at the very end of the show. We hadn’t seen him for 50 minutes — why not wait until next week?
Oh, and as far as Arlene and Terry go I’d be willing to bet that it’s not Rene who wrote on the wall. It’s that gross filthy doll.
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Slay Belle said:
I’m going to guess that this is the introduction of the other huge development that happens in the 4th book. It was a fairly important occurrence and I didn’t think the show could really skip it, so I assume this is the start of that plotline.
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Sissy Larue said:
Oh, I’m okay with the plot line coming in, I just think it was weird that they introduced it for about 30 seconds in the last 10 minutes of the show. I get that Ball is trying to give us the feel of a daytime soap, but I’m resisting that every step of the way.
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Teri Floyd said:
I guess that Debbie Pelt was a good girl for two episodes and now she’s gonna go all baddie again. Which is fine with me, because that actress plays psycho evil Debbie really well.
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QoB said:
I ❤ Psycho Debbie.
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OneBigPear said:
I just want to go on record here, Fiona Shaw as Marnie is pulling no less than an award-winning performance.
She is phenomenal.
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QoB said:
She is an amazing actress. If you ever get a chance to see her on stage, gogogo.
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Slay Belle said:
She’s is just phenomenal in the role. I think there’s some fine acting on the show — Askars does some subtle and interesting stuff — but she is just head and shoulders above everyone else. I’ve been completely blown away by her.
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QoB said:
She’s Irish acting royalty. I bow before her:)
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Teri Floyd said:
Can I just say, somewhat triumphantly, that I totally called that Jason and Jessica would end up having some sort of ‘thing’ in the future, in the last recap? It is so going to happen, and I called it long before he ever drank her blood! Woot!
Ok, bragging over.
I totally did not pick up on the fact that Sam and Tommy’s Mom is friggin’ DARLA from the Crow! Considering how many times I watched that movie as a teen I’m shocked that I didn’t see it. Whoa.
I loved Eric and Sookie’s kiss. I thought it was sweet and had a kind of maturity and realness to it that Sookie never had with Bill.
And I agree with the masses – Pam never would have slipped up like that. Either it’s really bad writing on Ball’s part, or she’s not herself because of the rotting spell, or she has something up her sleeve. It’s just not like her character.
Marnie is awesome and creeps me out at the same time. I kind of hate her, she gets on my nerves…but the actress is so good I kind of enjoy watching her. Not like Maryanne from Season 2 that I just wanted the fuck off my screen.
I know Sookie is a shitty friend and all, but I’m bored with Tara blowing up at Sookie and storming out scenes.
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Moretta said:
I think Pam’s slip was masterfully acted. When she realized that her ear was falling off, she let out this small, panicked shriek that I associate with losing it. It’s subtle but when I heard it, even before the slip, I said, “Wow, she’s not holding up well at all.”
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Sissy Larue said:
Also: I know this may be controversial, but could they hike ASkars shorts up just a half inch or so? I like the cut of his muscles as much as the next girl, but leave something to the imagination, already! (Also, is it actually somebody’s job to make sure that they’re sitting as far down as possible without revealing any man business? Because that would be a pretty crazy job).
And finally, has Tara always smoked cigarettes?
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QoB said:
I bet that person was really busy last week with Alcide.
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Slay Belle said:
Double sided tape! Good for boobie shirts and low hanging shorts. (I found the shorts really distracting during the Tara-Eric argument.)
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Sissy Larue said:
Though, I find that goofy hooded sweatshirt just as distracting as his abs. Please, get him something to wear. There’s gotta be something else in Bon Temps for a seven-foot viking to wear.
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pileofmonkeys said:
I do find it believable, though, that all Jason would have left around the house is a hoodie with the sleeves cut off and gym shorts. I feel like Pam would have insisted on making sure some clothes were delivered or something, though.
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