True Blood: Don't You Feel Me

"I'm gonna need you to tie me up..."

Predictably it's Warlow who saves Sookie, and Lafayette is himself again. Warlow is now in her good books and she's utterly disgusted, unsurprisingly, with her father.

Jason joins the anti-vampire Gestapo undercover in an attempt to rescue Jessica, and impresses people; he may be dim, but he's loyal and has skills, bless him. Sookie and Warlow get closer and closer, with hints of kinkiness in his vampire side. And Andy gets so close to his surviving daughter that he gives her a name: Adilyn. Number Four just won't cut it now.

Lafayette lets Arlene know the rather blatant fact that Terry is suicidal. They attempt to change his feelings by means of Lafayette's powers, but unfortunatwly this makes her m forget the danger he's in. He dies in Arlene's arms, and it's shocking and horrible. 

This dominates the episode. Other things happen- Sam vs Alcide, the revelation that Warlow want to turn Sookie and marry her, Jason and Sarah confronting each other- but this one, awful event hangs over everything.

A vampire called James turns out to be a gentleman, not raping Jessica as ordered in spite of both his torture and her low self-esteem. Oh, and Bill unexpectedly walk up to Truman and beheads him. Nice. Rather more upsetting is the death of Nora in Eric's arms; there's a lot of death in this episode.

We end with the revelation that Sarah (now clearly on charge) means to manufacture new Tru Blood spiked with Hepatitis V: genocide. And Sookie is, er, getting in rather well with Warlow. An unexpectedly gripping and emotional episode.

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: At Last

"You deserve to be one of us..."

We get the shocking reveal at the start that Ben, a half-fairy, is also a vampire, as he immediately uses his own blood to heal Jason. It seems a hybrid such as himself can walk freely in the Sun. There's more exposition as Nora explains, before being shot, that Warlow (this is where it clicked for me that he was Ben, an impressive reveal) is said by the Vampire Bible to be the only person who can kill Lilith.

Meanwhile Andy's fairy daughters are now teenagers, and Eric turns Willa (the first time since Pam that he has done this) both because she impresses him and to torment her father. Sam starts to develop a relationship with Nicole. 

Truman is appalled and heartbroken at what has happened to his daughter; Sarah is just straightforwardly evil. It's clear that she's both the power behind the throne and the true Big Bad. She persuades Truman to send his own daughter to the camp.

Interestingly, Warlow still seems to have purely romantic intentions towards Sookie in spite of being a vampire. But we end with a hungry Jessica, unable to control herself, killing Andy's fairy daughters for their blood. Oops...

This is much better; at last we're getting real drama and intrigue.

True Blood: You're No Good

"I was crazy and more racist than usual..."

Eric and Wila have this very appealingly twisted erotic attraction, very much reminiscent of Dracula as I've already said. This is clever, but does it really mean anything other than pure reference in the sixth season of a series about vampires when we've already learned what vampires are like?

Bill's vision is clarified: Jessica, Pam, Tara, Eric, all to burn in the Sun. Understandably he's upset and determined to stop it. Willa gives Eric all sort of sordid details about her nasty dad. There's confusion about the extent of Bill's powers now. And Niall finds that there's been a massacre at the dairy club and they're all dead, which is awful. This is all entertaining enough but with a definite side order of meh.

More interesting is the return of Sarah Newlin, clever, deliciously evil and fanatical as ever, now working for Truman and aiming to be a politician- Republican, of course. And Bill tells Sookie that she's dead to him for refusing to help prevent his vision. Again, meh.

Also meh is Sam and his new civil rights friends' successful rescuing of Emma from the werewolf pack. Even the cliffhanger with Jason badly hurt can't liven things up. I'm seriously worried about this season.

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: Save Yourself

"You're a dick!"

At last this season ends, but inconclusively. We begin with a swift resolution to the cliffhanger as Eric suddenly kills Russell Edgington, but the story arc doesn't quite end as the season climaxes with Bill seeming to merge with Lilith. Yes, we have the traditional setting up of the next season's plotlines- Andy's four new fairy daughters are delivered by Holly, of all people- but this is an uneven and unsteady finale.

There's a somewhat messy showdown during which Jason gets visions of his rather anti-vampire parents while kicking arse somewhat awesomely. Alcide finally kills J.D. and becomes leader of the pack. But mostly it's all about the messy downfall of the authority, following which Bill tricks and betrays Salome, whose death is sudden, like Edgington's.

It's an odd finale. Parts of it are satay img conclusions to arcs. Parts are intriguing set-up. But as a whole this is a finale uncomfortably lacking in coherence.

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: Hopeless

"You're no better than humans with your absurd magical thinking. There is no Lilith!"

Predictably, Sookie saves everyone with her mysterious powers before the Authority arrive to take custody of Edhington, who is seemingly at their mercy. Fatally, they spend most of the episode underestimating him while he mocks their religious certainties.

Hoyt, still desperate to get Jessica back, is getting quite kinkily submissive, while Sam is at Luna's bedside; it seems she isn't dead but they want revenge. And we see more of Lafayette's delightfully twisted relationship with his mother. And Sookie hears how it was a vampire that killed her parents, leading Jason to introduce her to his new-found fairy mates.

Bill and Eric are, it seemed, now heroes to the Authority, their misdemeanours forgotten. Edgington is to be executed. But we know by now that Russell is bound to end up on top and, sure enough, the villainous vampire takes full advantage of an unexpected Sanguinistas coup against Roman from within the highest ranks of the Authority...

This is where the unexpected twists start. Yes, this is the season where True Blood perhaps begins to become over-reliant on its own past mythology. But it's excellence goes on and on. 

True Blood: Let's Boot and Rally

"New York City smells like pee. And the people are rude."

I love the opening scenes- Sookie vomiting before she's about to have interrupted sex with Alcide, and Lafayette enduring a bad trip, except that this is real magic of the Alan Moore kind. Religious angst; must be the Deep South.

Jason gets trippiness, too, spending most of the episode "seeing" and "hearing" the parents he now knows to have been murdered. Sookie, under the splendid influence of alcohol, is highly amused to see the alpha male fight between Bill and Alcide. And the Authority continues its purge against Sanguinistas.

It becomes clear what's persecuting Terry and his former unit; they shot an Iraqi woman in cold blood and were cursed to be persecuted by a demon called an "ifrit", a creature from Islamic mythology that I know mainly from Dungeons & Dragons.

Andy and Jason are investigating the murder of Sam's friends, and Andy confides to Jason that he naughtily cheated on Holly with a fairy, no less. But the sweetest scenes are of Tara slowly adjusting to life as a vampire. Less sweet by far is Luna being suddenly shot, with Emma fleeing as a wolf.

But the episode is mainly about the hunt for Russell Edgington; Bill and Eric are running out of time but, with the help of Sookie and Alcide, they find him. And are ambushed by his signature wolves...

An episode of plot, plot, plot, perhaps, but with plenty of humour and character along with the incident.

True Blood: We'll Meet Again

"The man who wrote [the Vampire Bible] was high the whole time.."

At last Pam reluctantly steps up to be a maker/mother to Tara, in her usual comically curmudgeonly fashion- it's been obvious that she would for some time. Meanwhile, Bill and Eric are still loose, albeit under pressure to find Russell Edgington, while Nora is still being tortured.

Sookie finally confesses to Jason about Tara- and killing Debbie; thankfully he's quite sensible, and Andy is amenable to a little clamouring from Jessica. Oddly enough, Jason is actually quite a good cop. Lafayette starts to explore his powers as a magician while Patrick and Terry head to South Dakota to track down the arson suspect, their former comrade who was with them when they shot civilians in Iraq.

I love seeing Sookie getting pissed on vodka; Anna Paquin plays this brilliantly. Andy and Jason are also partying, courtesy of a corrupt judge, except this is an invisible club- run by fairies. And Andy sees and shags Maurella again! Isn't he supposed to be going steady with Holly? Tsk.

There's more bad news for Sam as his shifter friends are murdered, while Terry and Patrick find themselves at gunpoint. A drinker Sookie has a bit of a fumble with Alcide, with Bill and Eric watching. But it's Jason, in the club, who gets the big revelation: his and Sookie's parents were murdersd by a vampire...

The emotional heart of it all, though, is when Eric, on the run, lovingly releases Pam to protect her, approving of the fact that she is now maker to Tara, his "granddaughter". These are surprisingly moving scenes.

More excellent stuff. I'm enjoying this.. 

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.

True Blood: Authority Always Wins

"Can I just say... before you became a vampire you were a massive dick."

I love the fact that an amused Pam just nuggets off and leaves Sookie and Lafayette to deal with the newly undead Tara; she's really shining as a character this season, and a lot of this also has to do with the flashbacks to 1905 Sam Francisco where Pam, as a brothel madam, first encounters Eric. I suspect that the theme here is what it means to turn someone, to become a maker/parent, and that Pam has a long journey ahead of her which will culminate in her learning to love and cherish Tara. But that's for later.

In other news, Luna snaps at Sam while Eric, Bill and our new friend Nora are interrogated by the stooges of the Authority in New Orleans. At last we begin to see what the fabled Authority is like. Steve Newlin, wonderfully, has replaced Nan Flanagan as the TV face of vampires.

We also learn of vampire mythology, courtesy of their Bible; God, it seems, was a vampire, and his first creation was a vampire, the mythical Lilith. Humans exist only as cattle. And yes, vampires have their fundamentalists. Nora is said to be one, which is interesting. The Authority does not approve.

Terry and his war mate head off to further their sub-plot, Tara is most displeased to find herself a vampire, but what loons largest is the Authority. We even see the Chancellors in session with their boss, Roman, a great believer in mainstreaming. Bill offers them Russell Edginton in a desperate attempt to save his and Eric's lives, and the last thing we see is Russell himself...

A superb and tantalising episode, then, in which things begin to take shape...