True Blood: The Sun

"I was testing you and you failed miserably!"

Something comes through a portal- can it be Warlow? Meanwhile, Jason gets a bollocking from his fairy grandfather and it becomes abundantly clear that humans now have the resources and weaponry to fight back against vampires. Bill can feel vampires being tortured right now in Louisiana, a place where they have no rights and, no doubt, a Kristalnacht is coming.

Sookie meets Ben, a mysterious injured fairy, while Sam meets Nicole, a civil rights activist who knows he's a shifter and wants to fight for the civil rights of "sipes"- an opposite reaction to the new governor. Predictable.

Bill's Lilith-inspired powers provide us with a lot of spectacle, while Andy's kids continue to get older and Niall investigates the portal Warlow may have used.

We get an interesting set piece between Eric and Governor Truman Burrell in which the battle lines are drawn and we learn that the tyrant has an Achilles heel, a daughter, Willa, whose name sounds a bit like "Wilhelmina" and whom Eric later seduces through the window, Dracula-like.

Niall gives another info dump to Jason and Sookie: the Stackhouses are vampire royalty and Warlow is obsessed with them. Niall is a King. Warlow murdered his family; John was his son. Even cooler is that Sookie has a kind of supernova power that can kill vampires- but she immediately stops being fae if she uses it.

Alcide and Sam are also clashing about custody of Emma after Luna's demise, and Jessica has a beautifully shot moment of religious angst. But we end with Bill having a vision of all our favourite vampires about to die by sunlight in an obvious analogy for a gas chamber.

This episode is better but still awkward, and the crudeness of the Nazi metaphor is getting more and more jarring.

True Blood: Who Are You, Really?

"Who the fuck is Mary Poppins and can I please kill her?"

So Bill turns into a rampaging and expensive-looking god-beast, but everyone escapes. It's a dramatic start, but with more than a hint of meh. This Lilith storyline has already gone on too far.

Even more meh, we have a new Governor of Louisiana who is instituting racial laws against vampires which are clearly meant to invoke the Nazis with a hint of Jim Crow. I generally like my metaphors rather more subtle than this and, well, isn't it seat her obvious thing to do at this point?

In other stuff, Tara and Pam are still sweet together. Pam is still awesome. And Jason gets an info-dump from Nora; Warlow was allegedly vamped by Lilith herself and is truly ancient, indeed mythical. And Jason is going through a racist phase. It's parental thing, literally.

Andy is slowly growing into fatherhood, Alcide is now packmaster, and Kason meets his "fairy grandfather", Niall. We know he's an important character, as he's played by Rutger Hauer. 

Bill is suddenly, seemingly, Bill again. Both Sookie and Jessica are uncertain. Is he really Bill? The new governor has Fangtasia raided, injuring Tara while doing so. And Eric returns Sookie's house to her. That's a lot of stuff, but mostly either set-up or tying up loose ends.

But we end with a lot of angst from Bull; what is he now? What are his powers? It's all very well-executed but I'm a little concerned that True Blood may be getting a little high on its mythology and forgetting to actually be about something.