Without access to HBO Go, I had to wait until tonight to see “You Smell Like Dinner,” and while I still wish Time Warner would get on board with HBO Go already, I have to say, the episode was worth the wait. Things are already beginning to brew (witch humor!) this season and tonight’s episode offered an excellent double-cliffhanger.
Where’s Jason? WereJason!
The episode began with Jason having his wounds licked by Crystal’s family. They had him tied up on the property, where he was left to fear his fate for the duration of his stay there. Andy was his only hope, but the man’s V-addiction came before his determination to find Jason. When Felton saw Andy showing signs of V-withdrawal, he got one of his relatives to hand over a vial of the stuff, which was enough to give the sheriff a reason to leave.
As it turned out, Jason’s purpose there was to help Crystal have a baby (or possibly a litter of werekitties). Felton is unable to give Crystal a child, which could be because he’s related to her (didn’t she once refer to him as her “double-cousin”?). In order to ensure that Crystal’s baby is a werepanther, Jason must be turned into one first, which involves being chewed on by other panthers. I’m not entirely clear on the logic of biting Jason to produce a werepanther baby. If the baby doesn’t inherit its mother’s were-ness, couldn’t they just turn it later? Regardless, Jason’s fate hangs in the balance and frankly, it’d be kind of cool to see him with some special abilities, if that’s what ends up coming of this. On the flip side, he could die, which would be very bad.
King Bill
Last week’s episode ended with Sookie being threatened (sort of) by Eric and tonight’s ended similarly, but for different reasons. While drama was everywhere tonight, Sookie spent most of the episode out of harm’s way and waiting around for answers. Following a conversation between Sookie and Eric, wherein he attempted to convince her that she and her freedom-smelling blood would be better off if she were his, Sookie went to Bill’s house to appeal to him about regaining ownership of her home. Bill was busy bedding and drinking his witch-spy when Sookie arrived, but he cut that short to hear what she had to say.
For someone who just broke up with Bill like five minutes ago (her time), Sookie seemed to take seeing Bill with another woman rather well. She was surprised to learn that he was king but even that went down easy and she admitted to not really wanting to know how he managed to land the gig (More on that in a minute). Despite his power as king, Eric is still well connected and there isn’t much Bill can do for Sookie other than to advise her to seek shelter with another human. This is why I love the politics of True Blood. Between their own private government, added to the rules of their kind and the seniority that tends to come with age and in some cases, centuries of history, the system in place has a sort of checks and balances way about it, with no one vampire having all of the say.
Punk Rock and Politics
Back to Bill: We got a couple of great flashbacks tonight. The first involved Bill and Nan’s first meeting, which took place back in 1982, during the punk rock era in London. Not only was this a great opportunity to hear a bit of Stephen Moyer’s British accent, but we also got to see what Bill Compton looks like all punked out. Nan Flannagan witnessed Bill feeding off of a bartender and then glamouring him and letting him go. Intrigued by his display of humane treatment, she invited him to get on board with the vampire plans to mainstream. This included an amusing mention about Louis Pasteur being among the vampire scientists who were working on creating synthetic blood.
In addition to making me wish for an appearance of Spike (Buffy reference), the ‘80’s flashback showed us the beginning of Bill’s relationship with Nan and the earlier days of what would become the new way of life for vampires in mainstream society. The flashback that came later, which featured Bill killing Sophie-Ann, explained how he got the job as king. The most interesting part about this scene wasn’t seeing Sophie-Ann explode into a burst of bloody goo, but the conversation that came after. Nan commented that Bill’s distaste for the queen seemed personal. Bill explained the connection with Sophie-Ann and Sookie, however when it came to discussing Sophie-Ann’s interest in Sookie, he lied and said the queen had been off about thinking Sookie was special. So, we know Bill is loyal to Nan, but he isn’t above lying to her if it means protecting Sookie.
Witches, 1 – Eric, 0
Tara returned to Bon Temps looking better than ever and, after visiting Sookie and getting caught up there, she went to see Lafayette and Jesus. They took her with them to the witches meeting, which was probably a bad idea. This is not to say that those witches aren’t inviting trouble on themselves by raising the dead, but it should be a known fact by now that, where Tara goes, trouble follows.
As the leader of the coven, Marnie decided that the next plan would be to raise a human being from the dead. That’s a pretty big jump from raising a bird, but why mess around with pigeons when you can bring a human being back to life? Bill’s spy found out about the bird, which prompted Bill to send Eric to put a stop to what the witches were doing. Messing with the dead includes messing with vampires and that’s not something Bill or Eric need to deal with. It seemed like Eric had the upper hand when he confronted the circle and offered the witches a deal, which was really more of a threat. The tables turned quickly though, due in part to Tara wandering in at the wrong time (go figure), prompting Lafayette to take the witches’ side and fuel Marnie’s possessed witch-rage.
Marnie went into trance-mode and did something to Eric that gave him amnesia. He has no idea who and possibly, what he is. Sookie came across him, wandering down the road. He commented on how good she smelled and that’s where it ended. Will he attack her? Possibly. Either way, something tells me Sookie will live through it. I’m also guessing she’ll be bringing him back to her house. Eric had his own “cubby” installed there already, which will give him a place to sleep. Of course, she’ll have to replace the blood she threw out, but he might take some of hers.
Shifting Relationships
Sam’s still hanging out with a bunch of other shifters. He’s been trying to keep this from Tommy, but his brother followed him and found out. He did express an interest in having an actual brotherly relationship with Sam. We'll have to see how that goes.
Among the shifters is Luna, a beautiful woman with a thing for Sam and the added ability to shift into other people. According to the legends of her people, this trait is inherited by a shifter who kills another shifter in their family. Luna’s mother died during childbirth, which may be how she earned the trait. Regardless, something tells me Luna’s going to make good (and mischievous) use of an ability like that. I’m also curious to know if this ability is something Sam could inherit if he were to kill a member of his own family. His relationship with Tommy is rocky at best, and I can’t say that Sam would intentionally kill his brother, but given how impulsive the kid is, it could end up happening by accident.
A Fight and an Argument
Hoyt and Jessica’s troubles continued tonight as Hoyt got into a fight with a group of protesters outside Fangtasia. Because one of the protestors was filming it, Jessica and Pam could do nothing but watch, lest they be displayed as the violent blood-thirsty creatures the protesters want the world to see them as. Later, when Jessica offered to heal Hoyt with her blood, he referred to it casually as "that shit" and made a comment about not wanting to drink vampire blood, which offended her.
While Hoyt had a point in seeing the down-side to overindulging in V, I see Jessica’s side as well. If she spoke about Hoyt’s blood the way he spoke of hers, he’d probably be offended. Blood is everything to a vampire. Jessica running off to Fangtasia and drinking from someone else, essentially cheating on Hoyt, was a nice demonstration of how connected love, sex and food are for vampires. Of course, Sookie understands the unwritten rules of vampire/human relationships, which is why she was concerned when she came across Jessica feeding off another man.
Staring Contest
Finally, Arlene is still convinced that her baby is channeling his father’s evil spirit. Terry’s optimism and determination to shower the baby with love is sweet but I think I’m with Arlene. I’ve had a few staring contests with my nephew and never once has a blood vessel in my eye burst during the show-down. There’s something not right about that baby. All the same, I’m not sure yelling, “You’re rotten to the core, just like yer daddy was!” might not be the best way to handle the situation.
We’ll close this out with a random question. What was up with Sookie seeing Tara as a monster-lady for a second when she first showed up? Is there something bad in Tara or was this some kind of hallucination leftover from her time spent in fairy-land?
