True Blood: Thank You

"I wouldn't let you go down on me for a billion dollars!"

So we reach the final episode, and the main story between Sookie and Bill finishes predictably, with no surprises, but beautifully written and shot, as over a large proportion of screen time they come to an understanding and Sookie ends up lovingly killing him- although not, in the end, giving up her fairy powers. This leaves limited room for everyone else, yes, and some very important characters (Lafayette, Sam) are reduced to cameos, but it's the right decision.

Bill also gets to give Jessica away in a hurriedly arranged marriage to Hoyt, a beautiful extended sequence even if there is the niggling sense of an awful lot of unchallenged patriarchal assumptions going on there. Also, Eric kills Gus, and he and Pam end up as the billionaire owners of New Blood and the King and queen of vampiredom, which is nice. And Sarah ends up with a miserable but more-or-less deserved fate, pretty much as the prostitute Pam always intended her to be.

It's also nice to see Sookie advising Jason to actually sleep with Bridgette and get together with her, and the slow rekindling of the friendship between Jason and Hoyt. And it's especially lovely that Andy, who will inherit Bill's estate, agrees to perpetually rent the house to Jessica and Hoyt for a peppercorn rent.

We fast forward at the end to a few years later, and a happy community. Jason and Bridgette have children and Sookie is pregnant by a man whose face we don't see- that's the point; he isn't special. It's the perfect ending to an unexpectedly perfect final season.

True Blood: Almost Home

"Even as the cure you're still the fucking problem!"

We begin with Eric seemingly about to kill Sarah, until he unexpectedly is cured by her. Could there be hope for both of them? And eventually for Bill? Apparently not; after spending much of the episode building up to the moment, the episode ends with our friends all surrounding Sarah in her cell and Bill able to drink his cure... and, after putting everyone to so much trouble to get him cured, he refuses. Well then.

In other plot threads, Lettie Mae and Lafayette finally convince the Rev to join them in their V trip to find Tara's spirit. It seems she wants closure, and peace with her mother; it seems Lettie Mae was a good mum until she was abandoned by her abusive husband, and it's nice to see that acknowledged as a mother and her departed daughter finally reconcile. It's still shocking how little Tara is in this season, though. She's always been my favourite character.

(Incidentally, Tara's dad is played by Malcolm Goidwin, Clive from iZombie...)

Hoyt argues with his girlfriend Brigette about having kids, as Jason realises that Adilyn and Wade must be with Violet. Indeed they are, and about to be tortured to death, until they (and Jessica, and Jason, the only man who ever rejected her) are finally rescued, and Violet suddenly killed, by... Hoyt. There's a surprise. And things seem to be moving towards him and Jessica getting back together, amnesia or no amnesia. But wouldn't they just split up again for similar reasons?

Superb. As is every single episode at the moment. True Blood seems set to end on a real high.

True Blood: May Be the Last Time

"You're gonna die tonight."

Death stalks this episode. Bill is dying, obviously, but Sarah Newlin is being pursued by those who wish her dead, and hallucinating about her imminent death. And the episode begins with her sister Amber, after a change of heart about "Noomi", dying at Eric's hands after revealing that Sarah is the cure for Hep V. Gus isn't happy.

Meanwhile, Andy and Holly desperately search for their missing children, who may also soon be killed. But no; Violet has taken them to a well-equipped boudoir where they can have sex amongst crops, nipple clamps and assorted dildos. It really is awfully thoughtful of her. The two teens are, needless to say, overwhelmed.

Arlene, meanwhile, having had his blood, is having erotic dreams about sex concluding with sex on the pool table. Sarah seems safe for now as, in a nice bit of satire, Gus doesn't want to use her synthesised blood to find a cure for Hep V, but to create a product that people need to take for the rest of their lives. It's all about profit. And Eric has a 49% stake.

We get a sweet flashback from 1855; Bill is told by his dying father to marry Caroline, the girl next door whom he has never met, in order to acquire her land so his mother will not starve. Such was life. But their initial meeting is sweet, and they end up finding happiness. For a while. That's all we can hope for in this transitory life.

Sookie deals with an unhelpful cameo appearance by Ritger Hauer as Niall as Sam has a nice chat with Arlene about Nicole's ultimatum. And, rather sweetly, Keith wants to be with Arlene even though she's Hep V positive and they can't have sex. 

We and with Adilyn and Wade tied up and in danger, while Sookie and Bill make love for the first time in ages. Extraordinary, as always this season.

True Blood: Karma

"There are some woodpeckers moving into my frontal lobe..."

It's the day after the party and Alcide is still dead, the world is still a hard place and Bill has Hep V. It's quite the hangover.

The direction is superb from the start as Eric and Pam fall into the hands of the Yakuza and the mysterious "Gus". Meanwhile Lafayette and Lettie Mae go on a V trip to find Tara, Bill realises that, without a Vampire Rights Act, he has no rights to bequeath his property as he wishes- a clear reference to the injustice of a situation (true in many US states in 2014) where gay couples could not marry. Still, at least he gets to kill a symbolic homophobe.

And Violet, knowing that Jason is cheating on her with Jessica, is desperate to please him, changing her tune fast as she says that she is his and dresses up to give him a loving blow job. You feel desperately sorry for her, blunt and brutal though she is. But it isn't enough, and when Jasin goes running again to Jessica she is howling with rage and despair. It's over.

Gus has an interesting chat with Eric and Pam, albeit one conducted under very formal circumstances; the Yakuza Corporation has lost face with the tainting of Tru Blood. They, like Eric, want Sarah dead and there is, for the moment, a confluence of interests. 

Elsewhere, Andy goes hilariously mad at finding Wafe in bed with Adilyn, and the shouting match between him and Holly is no less funny, the whole thing being both written and played for comic relief. And Nicole announces that she's had enough of Bon Temps and she's taking her pregnant self off home; is Sam coming? It's quite the ultimatum.

The most heartbreaking moment is when Sookie realises that, not only is Bill irrevocably dying with Hep V, but he got it from her. Ouch. No wonder the two of them are growing close once again.

Amber and her annoying sister Sarah aren't getting on well at all. That is, until it turns out that Sarah is the cute firHeo V and Amber isn't going to die. This is, to put it mildly, something of a turning point for the season.

We end with Sookie and Jessica crying over Bill's illness, but not before Violet finds Adilyn and Wade and takes them away. What is she planning?

Another superb episode, needless to say.

True Blood: Lost Cause

"I have been your sex slave for fifteen years, Eric Northman, and we ain't never had sex!"

It's the aftermath of the big battle, and there's a lot of healing to be done, especially for the bereaved Sookie. This being Bon Temps, it's decided (by Lafayette, mostly) that the solution to this is a party at Sookie's. A good time is had by all, and it's left to Nicole, an outsider, to point out how weird this is, and what awaits place Bon Temps has become.

Eric and Pam meet Sarah Newlin's estranged vampire sister, Amber, who has Hep V. She wants Sarah dead too, which usual ful. But everyone else is partying, except Bull who stands outside experiencing flashbacks from the Civil War. We now learn of his scepticism towards the cause of "freedom" to own other human beings, although of course he must be shown to have such views, or he would lose our sympathies. Interestingly, it is this scene that gives the episode its title as Bill knows the war is futile.

There are lots of little character moments; Andy is finally able to forgive Jessica for what she did. Indeed, the wounds and even the distinction between human and wan pure in Bon Temps appear to be slowly withering away. Good. It's a season about subtle shifts, character development and, I think it's clear by now, no Big Bad. It's refreshing.

There are deeply touching moments; Lettue Mar makes a dignified tribute to Tara. Andy makes a sweet proposal to Holly- and she says yes. There is death, but life goes on. Sookie and Arlene have a lovely long meaningful chat about losing your man. And Jessica sees James and Lafayette, who've grown increasingly close, fucking... and Lafayette stands his ground, insisting that Jessica has been neglecting him and that he deserves as much happiness as straight, white people! As for Jessica, she still has Jason, Violet or no Violet.

Meanwhile, Eric and Pam learn that Sarah Newlin'sparents are truly evil; they're at a fundraiser for Ted Cruz and the far right Republican Party. Fortunately they're all massacred by the Yakuza; things could have got nasty. 

The party offends unpleasantly, as Lettie Mae stabs Willa, desperate for her blood. And the episode ends with Eric finding Sarah... and Bill realising he's infected with Hep V.

Another brilliant episode, then, typical of the season. But I'm not sure what the present day "lost cause" was intended to be.

True Blood: Death Is Not the End

"Please don't turn into a rat!"

If the episode wasn't already excellent enough, it ends with a top tune from Bob Dylan that I admittedly know best from the cover by Nick Cave and P.J. Harvey. But I digress. This is another superb episode of excellent, character-based writing and all centred around the devastating effect of a death- in this case Alcide's- in a very different way from the superficially similar use of Terry's death last season.

News travels. To a trailer park in Jackson, Mississippi, as a priapic father discovers he has lost a son. To an oil rig just off Anchorage, Alaska as Aston discovers he's lost a mother- and it's a shock to see Hoyt again. Both are to converge on Louisiana, as are Eric and Pam; Eric wants Sarah Newlin dead, but first there is the matter of Willa, his neglected progeny.

Cue a flashback, as the Magister (remember him?) meets Eric and Pam as they arrive in Shreveport for Eric, the rebel, to be made sheriff of Area 51 as punishment; this is an interesting retconning of the character which reconciles the Eric of the first season with the much more rebellious character he has become. Also fascinating is that the small business they initially ran was a video store with a poem section. Most fascinating of all is Ginger who, before her mind was destroyed by regular glamouring, was a highly intelligent postgrad student specialising in vampire lure. We see her choose her life, in a way, but it's impossible to argue that she knew what she was in for, and we mustn't forget that she's been horribly abused over the seasons. Her life, once full of potential, has been wasted. Much like Alcide's.

Sookie uncovers traumatic memories from Holly, revealing that the Hep V vampires are holding Arlene and the other hostages at- where else?- Fangtasia. Sam, we discover, is rather keen to rescue Nicole and the baby. No one can mourn properly while other friends are in danger. 

There's a big raid, exciting to watch, and all the people we care about are rescued from the Hep B vampires with the help of Bill- and Pam and Eric. Eric tells Sookie that he has a month left, and has been spending the time he has travelling. Death haunts everything in this episode; indeed, this season. Arlene nearly dying, and seeing the spirit of Terry as she nearly goes, is deeply moving even to an atheist like myself.

Sam is well and truly out as a shapechanger; Vince is killed; it seems the forces of bigotry and mob rule are in retreat for now. We are left to reflect on yet another extraordinary piece of television.

 

True Blood: Fire in the Hole

"I'm as big a fan of the French vagina as you are, Eric"

Another episode of superb characterisation, delightfully leisurely pace and beautiful writing here in what is shaping up to be an unexpectedly excellent season. We begin with Sarah Newlin, having swapped her addiction to fundamentalist Christianity to some faux-Hindu hippy "guru" out in LA.

Eric, meanwhile, knows he's dying and has become apathetic. What has he to live for? Cue a retcon and a flashback to the Rhone Valley in 1986, where we learn about Sylvie, a previously unmentioned human love of his. The Authority, and Nan Flanagan, end up killing her and arresting Eric and Pam; that crowbars in a good reason for him to retrospectively hate the Authority. 

Elsewhere, Bill no longer feels when Sookie is in danger after his transfusion. And relationships are shifting; Violet can't give Jason the family life he wants, and James connects far more with fellow druggie Lafayette than he does with the distant Jessica. Bill, meanwhile, has a flashback of his family in 1862, on the eve of war. All this is fascinating.

We end, though, with violence, chaos, Alcide's shocking death, and the urge for one more episode...

True Blood: I Found You

"Don't you try that NRA hillbilly shit on me!"

One episode later and, after an initially worrying first episode, it all looks so different. Can it be that True Blood has found its mojo again? This is all I wanted: character-driven storylines where character serves plot, not vice versa; bloody good writing and acting; and actually being about something, in this case with the return of Eric turning Hep B into a proper, functioning AIDS metaphor.

The whole thing is just a superb script, superbly shot, slowing down to deal with the interiority of its characters; what True Blood has always done best. We begin with a dream sequence in which Jason has sex with Eric (Eric is the bottom!) while Sam is a good mayor and all the characters we know and love are brilliant in handling a crisis which personally affects them as much as anyone. People can be magnificent. And then we have Vince, the epitome of small-minded bigotry, which is depressingly effective at whipping up a mob. People are great as individuals; as a group, less so. Consider 52% of my own country, for example.

Arlene, Holly and the pregnant Nicole are also heroic, in captivity and waiting to die as food but not giving up. Bon Temps is cut off but its population is good in an apocalypse.

We get a disturbing sense of the town's future of the neighbouring town of Saint Alice, its population entirely dead, and this made personal for us through the diary of an obvious parallel for Sookie. It's the apocalypse, but this is used as a jumping off point for character development. 

The episode is triumphant, and the end, with Pam finding Eric in France, promises even more...

True Blood: Jesus Gonna Be Here

"Your God and my God can get a hotel room and have a circle jerk for all I care - I'll be in hell, having a three way with the devil."

Meh. I know I started last season with a palpable lack of enthusiasm but felt things improved towards the end, but this feels worth. It feels like a show trapped in its own mythology, about nothing other than itself, plodding along with nothing to say about the world. Bon Temps is full of humans and vampires together bonded against Hep vampires and... that's it. There's a cool scene with Pam, and James has an interesting and druggy chat with Lafayette. Oh, and Tara dies.

Obviously Tara will be back, and soon. That would be a cheap way to kill a major character, just to liven up a dismaying my lacklustre season opener but... well, what else is there? Sookie and Alcide's relationship is fraying. Jessica is starting to connect, against the odds, with Adilyn, whom she is sworn to protect. Pam is in Marrakech hunting for Eric, who isn't in an episode for the first time in ages.

There's an obvious new villain in Vince, an annoying bigot. Jason finally gets to have sex with Vioket by acting domestic baby, as she's always secretly wanted him to. Lettie Mae and the Reverend Daniels seem to be more central characters, which is interesting. And Sookie's concluding speech is brilliant. But... I hope the season improves.

True Blood: Radioactive

"You guys are the worst fucking makers ever!"

It didn't look like there was a lot for a season finale to do. There was, in the end, but it's nice to have a finale with room to breathe and not needing to move at too fast a pace.

The main point here, of course, is that Warlow is an entitled and abusive man and always was if you were paying attention; his superficial charm is textbook abuser. So he needs to get his comeuppance. It's also interesting to see the contrast offered between the essentially BDSM relationship between Violet and Jason: she "owns" him, and makes him pleasure her daily while denying him release, but it's consensual. Ish. Warlow is just an abusive twat.

Also, we hear the welcome tones of the Breeders' "Cannonball", Bill is back to normal and, ironically, Adilyn is needed to transport everyone to faerie and defeat Warlow. There is much fighting and, at a fairly early point, the goodies win, Warlow is killed and the episode can now do other stuff.

There is a fascinating arrangement proposed for Bon Temps, proposed by Sam, to "pair" each resident with a vampire for protection in return for feeding. It's moving to see Jessica offering to protect Adilyn for nothing. It's also moving to see Tara's no good mother offering to feed her.

We end a surprisingly reflective episode, in a season that started rather rubbishy but ended up ok overall, with Sookie and Bill still estranged and, naturally, marauding vampires...

True Blood: Life Matters

"I fucked your progeny."

It's a brave and oh-so-right decision to dedicate and structure this episode around Terry's funeral, punctuated by the various poignant speeches and the flashbacks illustrating Terry's life, his effect on the community and peoples' effect on him. For a fantasy series it's a very grounded episode about everyday life and everyday tragedy. Every life matters, and every death hurts.

Before all that, Warlow isn't actually dead and Bill is still acting like a twat. But the funeral is the main event, and it is wonderful. 

In other plot threads we have Overlark's fitting death as Eric rampages his revenge in ways that will make a man wince, followed by Bill's coup de grace. And Bill gets his great Christ moment, letting all our favourite vampires eat his blood and not die from the sunlight as his visions foretold they would. Sudden death, and sudden life, both unexpected, juxtaposed. 

All our favourite vampires, that is, except Steve Newlin. Bye Steve.

Jason gets to chase Sarah for the final showdown, heroically refusing to kill her like the good bloke he is. Our vampires live, escape and rejoice... but plenty of infected True Blood is out there. This is ominous...

Wow. What a beautiful piece of telly.  Even as underwhelming a season of this can produce genius like this. I love True Blood.

True Blood: Fuck the Pain Away

"And I firmly believe God wants me to fuck you!"

So, apparently Warlow loves Sookie and she is his "intended": that's a little creepy. And then there's Jessica, distraught with guilt over murdering the fairy girls yet high on their blood. It doesn't take much to guess there's a lot more religious angst in store for her. It's quite an opening and I am, for once this season, almost hopeful about the episode.

Warlow, it seems, hates being a vampire, and killed Sookie's parents to stop them killing her, quite a bombshell. So is the fact that Bill, being part-Lilith, turns up to order Warlow around as his maker, a nice twist. 

Only one of Andy's girls are alive; this must be devastating. Understandably he's furious at Bill, under whose roof this all happened. Tara and Eric are also displeased, in their case about Pam being taken to the camps, and proceed to spend much of the episode being badass together. Things are getting bad fast, especially with Sarah whispering all that poison into Truman's ear.

Speaking of Sarah, after her inevitable shag with Jason (one up on her estranged husband there), she gets into a mismatched cat fight with Jessica, who is so not in the mood. Less lighthearted is the fact that Terry has just hired an old war mate to kill him; in effect, suicide by hit man. Last season's adventures with the Ifrit were all too much for him. 

Pam is fascinating when she says that, yes, she was distraught about Eric but that's over now. Vampires are old, with a long-term view, and "pain is a worthless emotion". This is a nice contrast with Terry in an episode all about the emotional pain people carry. At last, an episode this season that's actually about the human condition.

Lafayette helps Sookie to learn her parents knew about Warlow and wanted her to die so she wouldn't be turned by Warlow. Blimey. 

There's also a flashback from 3496 BC, with Warlow returning to his village and massacring everyone except Niall, another violent event causing lasting pain for so many. 

We end on a double cliffhanger, with Pam and Steve Newlin forced to fight while Lafayette, possessed by Sookie's dad, tries to drown her. This episode is much better.

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.

True Blood: Sunset

"Kind of strange to hear you were sold to a vampire 300 years ago..."

Much of this penultimate episode consists of Lilith appearing to Bill and various other chancellors, tempting them to drink her blood and... then what?

Bill, it seems, no longer cares about Sookie, Jason or indeed any humans; the exist only as food. Jessica is tested to

see if she agrees, being sent to sire Jason, something which we instantly know she isn't going to actually do. And we get more exposition about the scroll, and Sookie having been promised to a vampire called Warlow. 

Incidentally, "Stackhouse" isn't a very Gallic name. Could there have been Stackhouses in the Louisiana of the Sun King himself back in 1702?

The increasingly deranged Sanguinista council declare ware against the USA by killing a general, not something that can be reset easily; this will have permanent consequences. Roman's dire predictions of the consequences of not mainstreaming may well come true. 

On a much nicer note, Pam decides to sacrifice her life for Tara and take the blame for the killing of the nasty new sheriff of Area 51. She may not always show it, being grumpy old Pam, but her character arc to becoming a loving mother is now complete. Aaaah.

We end with the dairy club in dire peril as Russell Edgington approaches. An eventful and exciting episodes but I wonder, yet again, if this may be concealing the possibility that the series may be past its peak and over-reliant on its own mythology.

True Blood: Gone, Gone, Gone

"Who's the smart one now?"

Bill's idea is bearing fruit; the lack of True Blood is already leading to an increase in vampire attacks on humans. Things are taking an increasingly apocalyptic tone as we approach the end of this rather uneven season.

The most heartbreaking event of the episode is that Hoyt is not only leaving for Alska but gets Jessica to glamour him so that he forgets her-his first love- and Jason- his lifelong best friend. This is the thematic centre of an episode about abrupt endings.

Eric is in deep trouble as the new Authority takes over, setting quotas for new vampires to be turned and menacing a splendidly incandescent Pam. But Bill has an agenda of his own, and it involves Lilith's blood. 

Jason, meanwhile, once again shows himself to be good at police type stuff by finding a mysterious old scroll in Sookie's house. The language seems utterly inscrutable, but this artifact is clearly important. 

Bill is getting increasingly creepy and fanatical, trying to push religion on to Jessica just as her dad did. He's a little less dull this episode because of the good handling of the mystery of his motives, but the character is nonetheless neither likeable or particularly interesting. We're all motivated here by our liking for Jessica.

Ominously, Russell Edgington has a plan to breed fairies so that vampires can "day walk"  Salome disagrees and there's a permanent schism between them; Russell never did have any true allegiance to religion. Interestingly, his accent turns German when he's emotional...

We end with Maurella appearing to Andy, pregnant, and explaining that he's agreed to raise her children. This is quite the bombshell, especially given his flourishing relationship with Holly. And that piece of vellum in Sookie's house turns out to be a contract from 1702 saying that the "first fae-bearing human heir" of one John Stackhouse belongs to someone called Warlow. And that would be Sookie...

Ok. I'm intrigued.

True Blood: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

"Whatever happens we keep our heads down, our tits up and the True Blood flowing!"

We get an overdue and, in the end, satisfying resolution to Terry's Iraqi Ifrit subplot and, as a bonus, we get a resolution to the anti-Supes KKK plotline with a genuinely surprising revelation; former sheriff Bud, while very much under his fanatical girlfriend's thumb, is secretly the "Dragon" in charge. It's a well-executed and entertaining end to the subplot, with Andy and Jason shown to actually be capable of good police work, and a clear message that the baleful influence of such racist terrorist organisations persists in the Deep South and beyond.

Otherwise, though, there's a slight sense of going through the motions. Yes, Pam is awesome, but the scenes of Bill embracing his role as senior baddie and thinking of Sookie while shagging Salome simply don't have much traction; the character has become boring and the ambiguous Eric is far more interesting. 

It's amusing to see Edgington and Steve Newlin as delightfully homicidal lovers, taking Emma as their unfortunate "pet" and generally being gleefully evil together. We meet Alcide's disgraced dad, who bears an awfully close resemblance to the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. But, worryingly close to the end of the season, I'm feeling an unexpected lack of enthusiasm. Can things improve?

True Blood: Somebody That I Used to Know

"And  first, may I say... God has the most beautiful tits I've ever seen..."

All our favourite vampire characters continue their drug-fuelled religious orgy of death and trippiness while Sam and Luna continue to deal with the presence of an anti-supe Ku Klux Klan. Eric is sceptical of his drug-addled visions. Bill, who is becoming less likeable with every passing episode, is not. Eric, at least, is not a religious fundamentalist and, unlike Russell Edgington, is not a hypocrite.

Sookie, meanwhile, is fed up with being a fairy, and it takes an intervention from Jason to stop her using all of her powers up forever. Alcide, training to challenge for the role of packmaster, is shagging his trainer. But mostly this episode examines our vampires. We get a flashback to Bill in 1910 as he refuses to make his dying daughter a vampire in spite of her pleas; what right has he to recuse? Bill is becoming both less likeable and, in spite of the interesting themes, less interesting.

Hoyt and his very right-wing mates are getting on rather well until, predictably, he's made to stake Jessica. This causes the expected change of heart and, with a bit of trickery, the two of them soon bugger off after a bit of drama. 

Sookie and Jadon get some help from Claude and their other fairy friends to reconstruct the deaths of their parents on that bridge and sure enough- it's a vampire who killed them, with Claudine then arriving to somehow get rid of it. It seems to have been called "Warlow"..,

Eric and Nora clash over what Godrc would have wanted as Pam helps Tara get some delightful revenge over a racist customer. Lafayette helps to bring Terry's subplot closer to its welcome conclusion while Russell Edgington and Steve Newlin bond over gay fantasies. Bill makes himself useful to the now Sanguinista-dominated Authority by suggesting the bombing of True Blood factories.

There's a lot of incident, yes, and Sookie's plotlines is fascinating but, well, this is the first episode where I've felt a definite sense of the plotlines not all being as entertaining; some are becoming tiresome. For the first time I'm thinking that perhaps True Blood may be a little past its best.

True Blood: In the Beginning

"Join us!"

"Never, you Bible-banging cunts!"

Edgington, that hypocrite who has so recently burnished his atheistic principles,  is taking over at the Authority. As if we ever doubted it, he's clearly the season's Big Bad. 

Elsewhere, there are touching scenes between Sookie and Jason as he reassures her that she isn't responsible for their parents' deaths. Their relationship is rather lovely.

Andy visits Bud for some advice; long time, no see, but Bud seems distracted. You know his random appearance has to have some significance, though. Tara is visited by her horrible mother, and disowned. Poor Tara. But, of course, in the long run I suspect this is done to underline the fact that Pam is her mother now, and finally one who cares. Or will do.

Lafayette is off on his own shamanic subplot in Mexico while Edgington takes control of Marcus' old pack. Sookie tries to use up all her powers do she can lose them. And all the Authority have a massive drug trip where they see Lilith.  There's a murderous death orgy and Eric and Nora see Godric's disapproving ghost... 

Most of the characters are at quite a low ebb; must be mid-season then...

True Blood: Whatever I Am, You Made Me

"These beans are as cold as titties in a brass bra."

This episode, primarily, is about Tara- a character neglected last season somewhat- beginning to come to terms with what she now is. We also learn of the Sanguinistas, their opposition to the Authority, and their approval of Russell Edgington, of whose presence we are always reminded. Bill and Eric have their work cut out.

Still, Tara still has her friendship with Sam, whose plotlines have increasingly gone off in their own direction of late. At least he's someone she can trust, and drink with. It's nice to see them intersecting again.

Jason spends much of the episode coming to terms with the fact that he lost his virginity to an old teacher- an interesting character point- while we see more of Pam in 1905, with events going predictably and foreshadowing her growing into her own role as maker, and Bill's first meeting of Eric. Steve Newlin inhabits his new role as comic relief. Andy and Holly are now officially a couple, which is sweet. Oh, and one of the Chancellors is Salome. The Salome. "Chancellor Agrippa".

Nora is tortured by the Authority, but has spirit: "And, as we say in Surrey? Sod the fuck off, you cunting twat". All this is delivered in a delightfully cut glass accent; top swearing.

We end with an angst-ridden Tara attempting sunbed suicide, but we know Oam will discover her maternal instincts and save her. A good episode, giving the plot and characters space to breathe, and all about what made the characters- Tara, Jason, Pam- what they are.