Monday, July 30, 2012

True Blood S5:E8 recap

Did anyone else notice how many people were held against their will in a wide variety of circumstances in this episode?

Lafayette was just released from captivity (thank gawd for the V in the first aid kit!!), then there's the anti-shifter redneck Sam brought to justice, Jessica, probably Hoyt is now being held (@Haley, I bet you're right and ex-Sheriff Dearborn is the one in the truck on the other end of that gun), the Mean Girl at Fangtasia from Tara's old high school, the unfortunate mother of a 4-month-old baby, and the young male track star... yep, pretty much everyone and their mom was someone's hostage this time around.

Alcide's love scene = thank you. We needed that. More please!

Of course the V-supplier for the pack is none other than Russell Edgington - he's been doing that throughout history. Now I'm sure he's just playing along with the I Love Lilith crowd. I think Beel is, too. Will Eric silently slip out of The Authority HQ now, or does he still think Nora can be saved?

Lots of quality Beel-ness went down in this ep, which I enjoyed. It had been awhile. Did anyone else catch that Stephen Moyer directed this episode? The Beel flashback to his daughter Sarah's deathbed in 1910 was an interesting scene, reminding us that Beel is this show's Tragic Hero. Presumably, he refused to turn Sarah, and she died a miserable death. In fact, I'm positive he didn't make her immortal because the now-dead Magister from seasons past who ordered Beel to turn Jessica (as punishment for staking Longshadow in order to save Sookie) said Beel had never been a maker before. Interesting how the old parental guilt he probably feels at having made that choice ultimately led him to behave so appallingly towards the human Salome offered him to feed on, but then again, how could Beel have ever saved the woman from the clutches of a much older vampire? Well, couldn't he have at least glamoured her? Reminds me of how Beel once left human Tara high and dry at Russell Edgington's house.

Luna skinwalking as Sam - now that was unexpected! I laughed at the mustache ride sweatshirt she stole from another patient. What are the skinwalking rules again? A shifter becomes a skin walker when they kill their own mother, but if they do it too much they get violently ill, puke a lot, and possibly they die? Where are they going with this? Sam Trammel's acting was spot-on, his body carriage really made it look halfway believable.

Good for Lafayette for finally charging for his medium services! Patrick or Terry must die at the other's hands. Sounds like just desserts. (Please let it be Patrick.) The bit with the flaming candles on the table was classic horror-movie fun. The show is really facile about mixing the supernatural with social commentary about mental illnesses - Terry's PTSD, Lafayette's mama's schizophrenia, etc.

Sookie and Jason discover the vampire who killed their parents is named Warlow (sp?), and is Sookie's new psychic friend. He gets my vote for Lead Villian of next season.

Your thoughts?





3 comments:

mom2boy said...

I love Pam. I still don't love Pam and Tara though. I do appreciate that they had the conversation to inform us that Tara asked to be a pole dancer instead of bartender. I don't see it but it made me feel better.

I don't think Bill is faking it. I think he's caught up. There's no way he could have saved that woman but old Bill would be super tormented right now. The way Eric is. Interesting switch.

So we know Luna killed her mom. And Sam loves her. I watched the after show comments. It lead me to believe that her shifting into Sam was more for the cast entertainment than plot development.

Vampires are not to be confused with kittens.

Lafayette faking until he wasn't. Awesome!

Was that Russell in Sookies house? Can vampires do that? Creepy scary and I bet Sookie wishes she hadn't thrown all that luminescence away.

Unknown said...

Good point on the captivity situations - I hadn't thought of that! I still think I'm right about the sheriff, too, but I wonder where Maxine Fortenberry is going to play into this because when Sam/Andy were in the house he smelled a large woman with bad diet. That could be the sheriff's hot tub lady, though. I just think it's odd we haven't seen her.

Ummm, yeah... I'm with you the Alcide love scene. They can do another one of those if they want, I wouldn't mind. This season has been light on hookups.

I think Eric is going to try and save Nora, but eventually he's going to kill someone (maybe even her) before they eat Sookie. I agree Russel is playing along and doesn't care about Lilith.

This was SUCH a good Beel episode. He directed himself quite well, I thought. I'm not sure he's drinking the kool-aid for real, but I didn't see how his guilt led him to eat a young mother with Salome. Maybe I'm slow?

I didn't think the skinwalking had a point, unless it kills Luna, but I agree Sam T. is a great actor.

I loved the Miss Cleo scenario, and figured it would play out as it did. I cried when Jesus was in the car, and lord help me if they kill Terry off, too.

I feel like Warlow will go into season 6, as well. It's too late to be introducing him now and wrap it up in 4 more episodes, unless we figure out who it is next week and someone saves the day. Which is entirely feasible in Bon Temps. :)

Also, I still LOVE Pam and Tara together. I think Pam's character is going to grow because of this.

hush said...

@mom2boy - Good point about Beel and Eric having switched roles re: feeling super tormented right now. Though with Beel's game face, you never really can tell what's going on in his pretty little head.

The vampire who Sookie connected with psychically is someone named Warlow, and I don't think we've ever seen him on the show before. Spooky! Great storyline.

Pam and Tara still make me very uncomfortable, but I also think it won't be long until Pam truly cares for Tara and will finally show it - maybe eventually it will even resemble a healthy relationship. What a journey with this pair! Just last season Pam had vowed to hunt Tara to her grave for her role in Marnie having put the spell on her, and now they're (dysfunctional) vampire family.

@Haley - I tend to think Sam would have recognized Maxine's smell given that she's been a Merlotte's regular and he's smelled her a thousand times already, but hey, it totally could be her or the hot tub lady. Based on the last comments Maxine made awhile back, we know for sure it is not over for Maxine, and she definitely still wants Jessica gone. Hmm...

How Beel's guilt led him to eat the mother with Salome - Beel told Sarah "Immortality is a curse." She asked him to "Make me like you then" - and presumably he did not. He loved her too much to "curse" her. I think the memory and the guilt any parent would feel in those odd circumstances allowed him to steel himself and act like a true, cursed vampire and eat the mother. The feelings helped him to depersonalize the mother somehow. That's my two cents anyway.