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billnsookie4vr, brujo, eric, hbo, my what big teeth you have, sookie and eric, sookie stackhouse, southern vampire mysteries, true blood, true blood season 4, vampires, vamps, witches
Eric, snap the f*ck out of it! You have no loyalty to Bill Compton. You are a Viking vampire and god and you bow to no one! If someone crosses you, you rip out their liver with one fang!
An open letter to Alan Ball:
Dear Alan,
Seriously? What the fuck is with all the rape?
Not a fan,
SB
Really, there has been a lot of rape and attempted rape on the show ““ Sookie, Jason, Tara, Antonia, Rene’s sister, Jessica (if her turning wasn’t symbolically meant to be a rape/murder, I’ll eat my hat), Luna (via Tommy’s damn shenanigans this episode), and the entire dubious consent issue for every single person at one of Maryanne’s maenad sex orgies. And you know what? I’m tired of it. I’m tired of rape as character development. As motivation. I’m soaking in rape culture and I’d have more patience for it on this show ““ which, let’s be fair, I give plenty of rope to ““ actually dealt with the issue instead of tossing it in to zest up the storylines.
Enough.
Let’s move on.
So far, season 4 has not been my favorite. I mentioned last week that I had been fairly “meh” about everything that’s gone on, and despite what happens in this episode, the show feels like it’s treading water. We revisit Antonia’s story, which has now been repeated (with angles) for three episodes straight. We get more Bill-Sookie-Eric. Debbie is sketchy again. Andy is still V-hopped up. Stuff happens, yet nothing seems to have gone anywhere.
Now that Eric and Sookie have moved on to semi-naked-on-the-couch, Bill bursts in like the wet blanket he is to put a screeching halt to the festivities. The vampires pop fang and trade blows for Ms. Stackhouse’s affection until Sookie yells out that Bill is the King. New Eric immediately falls to his knees.
I mentioned back at the beginning of the season that Bill could only secure his crown through trickery because he wasn’t strong enough to hold it through power. Observe: Eric wipes the floor with him. There’s not even a contest. Eric spanks him all over Sookie’s living room and would have ended him in a big pile of goo if Sookie hadn’t intervened. How long is he going to be able to maintain this charade?
Bill drags Eric back to the mansion, has him silvered (just to be a jerk) and then tells Sookie he doesn’t care about who’s between her legs (just to be a jerk) and then that she’s being manipulated by Eric so he can get in her pants (because he’s a lying jerk). Sookie calls him to the carpet on his bull ““ this is a season shift that I can get behind. Sookie is far more “fiesty” with a helping of “gumption” over her “kinda bratty” attitude of seasons 2 and 3.
Her character development gets her escorted off the premises.
Eric and Pam are reunited in the basement of Chez Compton. It’s not quite the reunion Pam hopes for ““ she’s melting in slow motion, her father-figure barely remembers who she is, and he’s acting like a pushover. She tries to jar some sense into him, but Eric doesn’t want any part of his old life.
Over in another cell, Marnie is offering herself up for a host to any spirit that will have her. She’s scared and weak, and people like that can be awfully dangerous. Antonia takes the opportunity to give Marnie another bit of her back story, showing her how Antonia raised all of her tormentors and burned them in the sun during her own execution. Let’s be honest here ““ that’s pretty badass. That kind of anger doesn’t just evaporate. The spirit takes over Marnie ““ it’s not clear what happens to “Marnie,”she could just be hanging around for the ride ““ and summons one of Bill’s sheriffs, Louis, who was also one of her tormentors. Fate or coincidence? I’ll go with fate. She’s gonna mess his stuff up.
While the vampires are having their drama, other things are going on in Bon Temps. And Mexico.
Bon Temps ““ Arlene and Terry’s house gets burned down by either a) their creepy child, b) their creepy doll, c) Rene’s ghost, or d) all of the above. Most importantly, Terry’s armadillo, Felix, makes it out of the house OK. Oh, and so do the kids. In fact, Mikey was outside the house before anyone else, which is totally weird, y’all, because he was supposed to be in his crib. And he’s waving to some pretty ghost lady who might have rescued him.
SB prediction time ““ I will guess that Pretty Ghost Lady is actually connected to the doll and has manipulated events to get close to Mikey. But, also, Rene’s spirit is also in play, and there’s going to be a spirit level showdown over Mikey. And Lafayette will be involved, since there’s absolutely no reason to introduce Lafayette-as-medium in this episode AND a new spirit in Bon Temps without them being connected.
Tommy is now a skinwalker after killing his mama and turns into Sam by accident. Not one to let a good opportunity go to waste, he promotes Jessica to server, fires Sookie, and then has sex with Luna when she stops by Sam’s trailer.
It’s finally the full moon, so Jason has preemptively handcuffed himself to his bed so he doesn’t hurt anyone when he turns. Sookie, who finds him in this compromising position, points out that his slender panther paws will just come out of the handcuffs. When she refuses to leave him alone, Jason ditches her during a bathroom break and takes off into the swamp. His fear summons Jessica and she sweetly watches over him until it becomes obvious that those Hot Shot weres had no idea what they were doing. There’s a rising tension between them and Jason, for once, wisely takes off before he does something stupid.
Mexico ““ Don Bartlo agrees to help Jesus and Lafayette with their witch problem if Jesus finds an appropriate sacrifice. Both boys insist that they have a vampire problem, not a witch problem, and Don Bartlo laughs right in their face. Everyone on the show has dismissed Marnie as a threat despite all the trouble she’s gotten them into ““ clearly, this is going to come back and bite all of them in the ass. Jesus finds a rattlesnake ““ so symbolic! ““ brings it to his grandfather, and then his grandfather attacks Jesus with it. As Jesus writhes on the floor, Bartlo locks the boys in a seemingly empty room, commanding Lala to protect his lover. It’s a drastic move, but Lafayette has proved obviously resistant to the truths that have been in front of him since last season; he’s got a connection to the other world. A healer spirit possesses Lala long enough to cure Jesus.
And that brings us around to the last big development of the episode.
Bill convinces Nan Flanigan that Eric is a threat to the vampire community, though his lie fools no one. He gets permission to finish Eric off anyway. As he prepares to Final Death the Viking, Eric pleads for mercy to the women in his life; Pam, moldering away in the basement, and Sookie, who still cares for Bill and deserves to be happy, even if Eric can’t be the one making her so. Bill’s black heart grows three sizes too big and he sets the other vampire free.
Eric finds Sookie in the swamp and the two make love under the moon while Bill gets a morose silhouette in which we are supposed to feel bad for everything he lost. (Some of us don’t care.)
Bonus content: Neko Case, “I Wish I Was the Moon”
freckle said:
I liked I wish I was the moon (the song) and I discovered that I care much more for tv-Jason than book-Jason (good job Kwanten!).
I’m relieved that Skarsgard can play more than annoyingly/hot vampire and quite like the innocent act. Also relieved that Bill’s closer to full out bastard instead of “I’m-doing-this-for-you”.
Erm.. I just caught up with the last four episodes so I might be a bit confused. I don’t really like where Lafayette is going, Jason/Jessica was nice and why do people always do rude things when they turn into other people? Really?
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PocaChica said:
How prevalent is rape in the books?
It seems like Nan Flannigan doesn’t really care what Bill does and let’s him true death whoever he wants. Is it because these are petty issues to her? It’s going to be interesting to see how all of these competing story lines will come together, if at all. I thought that Tommy as Sam did a great a job acting. Lafayette’s hair was the biggest disappointment of the episode for me.Wiggity Wack.
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PocaChica said:
One more thing, I forgot, I find it hard to believe Bill just let Eric go and would have loved to see how it all went down.
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Slay Belle said:
I honestly had a moment where I thought Ball would maybe have Eric killed off. That’s how much of a dick I think Bill is.
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Slay Belle said:
There is… one, maybe two rapes in the books, and only one ‘on screen’. Curiously, its the one rape Ball doesn’t depict in the show. If you don’t care about book spoilers, I’ll elaborate on it because its a very significant tonal change in the book series to the tv. Oh, and there’s at least one other scene in the books of some ‘dubious consent’ issues that I just remembered.
Oh, and I think there’s some discussion about what bad people the supes can be, but nothing ‘on screen’ like what happens in the show.
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OneBigPear said:
So with you on the open letter to Alan Ball. Please send it … I will cosign.
Let’s get back to Tommy though … or rather Sam Trammell playing Tommy. That was finely done acting right there. It doesn’t top Victor/Topher, but it comes damn close!
RE: Pam’s attack on Tara and her girlfriend. Both Tara and her girlfriend are CAGE FIGHTERS. Pam — while still a vampire and very strong — is falling to pieces. Nothing pretty can come of this for Pam and she’s not a dummy … she’ll run. If things run true to Tara’s luck though, her girlfriend will die. I hope not, but that seems to be the way they write her.
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Slay Belle said:
Wasn’t he fantastic? Sam and Marnie had some outstanding moments in this episode. He had Tommy’s manerisms down.
I’m gonna guess the girlfriend dies too. Pam is falling apart, but she’s still hella fast — she can get to the girlfriend before Tara can reach her gun.
I’m curious where this will leave Tara and Sookie’s relationship. Everyone knows Tara isn’t a major character in the book series, but her friendship with Sook has notably cooled over the years because of Sook’s involvement in the supernatural. I wonder if they’ll keep this.
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OneBigPear said:
I’m laying bets it won’t come to needing a gun. Two extremely tough cage fighters against an ailing vamp? I think they’ll take Pam down physically. Not enough to kill her obvs, but enough to make her back off. And not before she gets the killing blow on ladyfriend.
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synthqueen said:
I definitely think the girlfriend is going to die. Have you seen the Comic Con preview? Tara’s reactions in that make me think that some shit goes down to make her pretty mad at the supernatural world.
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Teri Floyd said:
Oh man, that was hilarious. That WALK!
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QoB said:
the walk KILLED me. I like that they put in Tommy’s limp, too.
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Teri Floyd said:
I’ve heard a few grumbles from a few people who didn’t like the love scene between Eric and Sookie. Admittedly I’d love some porno-Eric myself, since I’m head over heels in love with Askars, BUT — after all the horrible violent rape that we’ev seen as of late on this show, I welcomed that cheesy, romantic, moonlight love scene. Admittedly I blushed and had one hand over my eye (I’m a sap), but I enjoyed it. I, too, am really tired of the rape storylines. When Tommy had his way with Luna, and then Antonia got raped, I was just like, seriously? SERIOUSLY! Two in one show? Enough is enough, Alan Ball. So yeah, I’m a little soured on that at the moment, and I thought Sookie and Eric’s sweet love scene was kind of refreshing. We can watch crazy angry sex between her and the mean Viking once he’s his old self again and I’m sure I’ll be more than happy to see it.
I’m bored with Tommy’s character. After he offed his folks, I was kind of hoping he’d go ‘good’, and that he’d become a wholesome, multi-faceted character I could root for. But instead, he’s a freaking douchebag and I want him off my tv. The thing with Luna was the last straw. I don’t even want to watch his scenes anymore. He’s too much the clumsy villain, and I just find it boring and one-note how he messes up every single thing for Sam.
This doesn’t really have too much to do with the show, but I heard Carrie Preston (who plays Arlene) do a guest spot on an online radio show over teh weekend and she played all female artists, and sounds like a super awesome feminist, PLUS she’s from Georgia, just like me, so I am newly in love with her all over again. Oh, and isn’t she married to the guy who played Ben on LOST? Love love love.
And this Louis person will always be Olivier from Six Feet Under to me. I keep expecting to see a tormented Russell or drunken Margaret Chenowith come running through the door professing their love/lust.
I love me some Hoyt, but man, Jason and Jessica have amazing chemistry. I think she needs to jump on that. I’ve always hated Jason’s character, but this season he is seeming pretty damn sexy to me. I think it’s because I heard Ryan Kwanten speaking in his real accent in an interview and now I’m all hot and bothered. I suspect he IS a werepanther, and we’ll see a transformation soon.
Debbie Pelt is so much cooler when she’s being shady.
I want Andy and Holly to get together. Dude needs someone in his life who doesn’t treat him like a joke. V addict or no.
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OneBigPear said:
I involuntarily blurt out “You little shit!” almost every time Tommy is on screen. Sam Trammell did SUCH a good job playing Tommy that I yelled it out during his scenes.
Tommy is such a little shit.
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Teri Floyd said:
I know! It was cool at first, and interesting, but now I’m just over it. Give him something to do, or something, other than be a little pissant. Please.
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fun back in sin said:
ITA about the increasingly upsetting prevalence of rape. I was especially unhappy to find out (I think on this site?) that Alan Ball and another person who works on the show were so cavalier in an interview about Jason’s gang rape. Last night before we watched the show, my boyfriend said sarcastically, “I wonder how many people get raped tonight? I’m guessing two!” We were not happy to find out he was correct.
Despite that, this was one of my favorite episodes of the season thus far–it seems like a lot of the plotlines are moving right along. I’m glad that Lafayette & Jesus are getting a more interesting storyline, and Sam-as-Tommy was so good at it, it fun to watch. I thought they’d dubbed in Tommy first but I think that Sam Trammell was just doing that great of a job.
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QoB said:
From a plot POV, Tommy as Sam sleeping with Luna was …odd (aside from the dodgy, dodgy consent issues). Her turning up at his place, suddenly eager to sleep with him out of nowhere, felt like a blatently transparent attempt to make Tommy seem more like an asshole, and not actually motivated by Luna or her relationship with Sam.
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crackers in bed said:
Can we bring regular Andy back while we’re at it? V-addict Andy is pointless, poorly written. and annoyingly 1-dimensional.
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Slay Belle said:
About the only redeeming thing V-Andy has done is heft that chair over his head. I thought it was hilarious.
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