by Chris Saccaro
True Blood is known for many things; sex, vampires, and more sex. One of the things it’s not known for is tugging at the heartstrings of its audiences. However, tonight’s episode features some heart-warming moments mixed in with the usual guts and gore.
The most touching moment of the episode brings a close to the Hoyt/Jessica/Jason saga that’s been prominent throughout the season. Hoyt desperately begs Jessica to glamour him into forgetting about her and Jason. I thought it was great for the writers to give a conclusive ending to his character when they really didn’t have to. They could have kept it where it was, since Jessica and Hoyt effectively worked through some of their ill feelings towards each other in “Somebody That I Used to Know.” But this goodbye was a lot more permanent as after having his mind erased, Hoyt plans to move to Alaska.
The idea of brainwashing is becoming a staple of The Authority storyline as well. Bill forces Eric to get high on Lilith’s blood, which leads him to see a vision of Lilith killing Godric. The parallels between The Authority and Fundamentalist Christianity are pretty obvious, made even more so by Jessica’s introduction into The Authority at the end of the episode. Bill’s speech to Jessica is very unnerving. Even she makes parallels between the vampire bible and her bible study classes.
Despite the successes of The Authority’s plans to cause a Vampire vs. Human civil war (which is progressing quite fast for True Blood), the internal struggles of the Authority members are becoming much more prevalent. By the end of the episode, Russell breaks away from the Authority, dismissing them as just another rung on his ladder to world domination/fairy annihilation.
Even though the hate group stuff was dealt with last episode, the idea of vampires vs. humans is still running rampant in Bon Temps. Sookie learns that she was actually promised to the vampire who killed her parents hundreds of years ago in the form of a fairy contract. Why he waited so long to claim her is unclear. However, this puts Sookie between two vampires who want her; Warlow and Russell. It might be best for her to stay hidden in the fairy dance club until all this blows over, but let’s be real; she would never do something that guarantees her safety.
Tara and Pam get some great scenes together again and it’s really great to see Tara embracing her vampirism. Not one to live a life on the run, Tara kills the new vampire sheriff, in what is probably the coolest thing she’s ever done.
Once again, everything is building up to a really awesome season finale. Storylines are concluding naturally, leaving the more important stories to take the spotlight. With Sam and Luna in the Authority compound disguised as mice, things are definitely going to escalate.
Chris Saccaro is a staff writer. Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.
