Monday, August 9, 2010

"True Blood" recap: Love shouldn't have to hurt


Spoilers on this week's "True Blood" below, so don't click through if you don't want to know.

This week, we saw several characters endure the suffering of a loved one, either at their own hands or someone else's. We pick up where we left off, with Sookie still terrified and traumatized from Bill's attack. Even after being revived by Bill's blood, Sookie knows that they shouldn't be together. Of course, by episode's end, he rescues her again and they end up making the beast with two backs. Oof. I'm kind of tired of the endless cycle of drama in the Sookie-Bill relationship. The show either needs to keep them together or break them up, then stick with that choice. 'Cuz frankly, I'm getting whiplash.
Meanwhile, both Jason and Russell experience the suffering of one they love. Crystal shows up at Jason's house with a black eye, claiming her fiance walloped her after she broke up with him. Dear, dumb Jason only hears that she broke with the hated fiance. He takes her in, then rushes off to Hot Shot to defend Crystal's honor. Of course, he's shirtless. God bless Alan Ball and his endless quest to find ways to disrobe Jason.
Jason encounters a creepy scene in Hot Shot, but it's nothing compared to the fate that befalls poor, poor Talbot.
I knew that the Mississippi Queen was done for as soon as Russell told Talbot how much he meant to him. Eric, of course, heard Russell and quickly learned that destroying Talbot was the quickest was to get revenge for his family's murder. Still, anticipating Talbot's murder isn't the same as seeing it, and this was a pretty gruesome murder scene, even by "True Blood" standards. Eric stakes Talbot while they're having sex and his nookie partner explodes into a puddle of bloody goo. Talk about coitus interruptus.
Other characters are enduring their own relationship based traumas. Tara clearly has post traumatic stress -- which she refuses to talk about -- from her encounter with Franklin. Arlene (remember her? Carrie Preston, it's been ages!) has a nightmare in which Rene returns from the dead to taunt her and claim that their unborn child will end up just like him. Lafayette's mom escapes from the home, in an attempt to protect her "powerful" son from evil (real or imagined? We don't know), and Jesus shows up to collect her. Alcide still pines over Debbie, while she pines over the loss of her dead fiance.
Sigh. For a bunch of supernatural creatures, you people sure have issues!
Anyway, here are some more of my thoughts on "Night on the Sun." I'm late in posting this, and I'm in a hurry, so these will be brief.
* Though I'm totally over the on-again, off-again Bill-Sookie tryst, there were two lovely images in this week's episode. The first was that of the disconnected IV in Sookie's hospital room, which forlornly drips blood as Bill sadly leaves. The second was the juxtaposition of Sookie leafing through the album she's made of herself and Bill, and the flashbacks of Bill's attack. This show isn't perfect, but you can't fault its visual style.
* For some reason, Debbie's line "They killed my Cooter" makes me laugh uncontrollably. Probably because I'm immature.
* Another nice image -- the Sookie-Debbie cat fight. It reminded me of the throwdown between Sydney and Francie's clone in the second season finale of "Alias." I can think of little higher praise than that.
* RIP, Talbot. I'll miss Theo Alexander's hilariously zesty performance as Russell's partner. But at least he got a memorable death scene. And we got one more great Talbot tirade in the opening scenes: "Franklin's brains won't wash off the bed linens, I had to bury werewolves under the gazebo and that Sookie bitch staked Lorena." Awesome.
* I refuse to comment on the Sam plot. In fact, until it becomes even vaguely interesting, that storyline and I are no longer on speaking terms.
* I loved the gentle scene between Lafayette and Tara as he rubs her feet, trying to coax out of her what happened at Russell's. When she resists, he backs off, understanding from his own vampire experience that one often isn't ready to talk about these things right away. Nice.
What did you think?

1 comment:

einnoczg said...

"refuse to comment on the Sam plot. In fact, until it becomes even vaguely interesting, that storyline and I are no longer on speaking terms." AGREED!