With certain story arcs concluded last week, tonight's episode of True Blood was able to trudge forward toward the finale unburdened by scenes involving Obama masks or smoke monsters. And though it feels a bit too little too late, there is some momentum building as we move closer to the conclusion of Season 5, which is just two weeks away.
The contract.
So, as it turns out, the thing Gran wanted Sookie to find under the bed wasn't the old newspaper clippings leading her to Dearborne. That was just a coincidental detour, as it happens. What was under the bed was a scroll with a bunch of fairy writing that's super old and, thanks to practically-elder-fairy Morella's magical abilities, translates into some old contract that says the next fae-bearing female Stackhouse heir has been promised to this Warlow guy. So, that's Sookie right? It would explain why the guy was stalking her parents.
Authority rules.
Molly's gone. Boo! Tina Majorino's character seemed destined for an early departure, but I still would've loved to see her stick around, or at the very least, escape the mayhem so that there was a chance we'd see her again. Alas, she was martyred to the cause of proving just how serious the Lilith worshippers are about eliminating nonbelievers. She went out without groveling, and we got to see a demonstration of her iStake app, so that part was a win.
Meanwhile, Nora and Bill attempted to sway Eric by giving him more Lilith blood. This time, both Nora and Eric witnessed Godric's appearance. He encouraged them to fight Lilith (whom he says is a godless god), then let Lilith scrape his throat open (gross!) and tear his head off. So once again, we got to see Godric let himself die.
I don't think this display did anything to change Nora's opinion of Lilith. But it either gave Eric an opportunity to pretend to have a change of heart, or he really did buy the whole thing and now believes. I'm convinced it's an act. What other choice does he have right now?
Also going along with it is Jessica, who was brought in by Bill's guards and immediately saw the symptoms of religious fanaticism in her maker. She seems apprehensive about the situation, but appears to be going along with it for now, probably because she knows she has no other choice.
Speaking of Jessica…
Hoyt got out of the hospital determined for a fresh start. And by that, he meant a move to Alaska and a memory that doesn't include his first love cheating on him with his best friend. He begged Jessica to glamour his mind to remove herself and Jason from it completely and she complied. It's probably the happiest kind of ending Hoyt can have, as unfortunate as it is. But it was evident by the way Jessica flashed back to their first kiss, and Jason tried to keep him from leaving town later on that it'll take a while for them to get over Hoyt's departure and the knowledge that neither of them have a place in his mind or heart anymore.
Russell breaks away from the pack.
Russell didn't seem all that enthusiastic about the Lilith thing as it was. He was more team-mayhem than anything else, and tonight, he asserted his age and dominance, being the oldest of the Authority vampires, and took off. Before that, he broke out the fancy accent and declared that he "will have the sun." He seems to be on a mission to either synthesize fairy blood in the way the Japanese synthesized human blood with True Blood, or maybe he's just going to collect himself a bunch of fairies to see if he can stretch the effects of their blood. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of them around Bon Temps these days.
In other pack news…
Luna and Sam are determined to get to Emma, who is now in the clutches of Newlin. They shifted into mice and made their way into Newlin's bag. He brought them back to his place and that's the last we saw of them. Obviously, they can shift to escape, but Emma can't. She might be able to shift back into her wolf-cub form but it might not be easy for her to escape Newlin's place that way.
Dead sheriff.
The new sheriff told Pam she needed to help boost the vampire population. That sounds like it falls under the same umbrella of mayhem the authority is trying to create. WIth the True Blood factories destroyed, people are already starting to question how the vampires are surviving. More vampires would mean more human deaths. Pam and Tara were understandably less interested in that than they were in the threat the sheriff laid on them, stating that if they didn't go along with his plan, he was taking everything away from Pam, including Tara and Fangtasia.
Pam was willing to walk away from the club if that's what it took, but Tara made the decision easier by cornering the sheriff and chopping off his head. It was a risky move and sooner or later this kind of bloodbath is going to give Ginger a heart attack, but Tara gets points for throwing in the post-slaying one-liner: "Nobody fucks with us in our house." Being a vampire really suits her.
Some other great moments from the night…
Sookie killed new-vampire Mike with her chopsticks. Yuck! And also yuck: learning Mike the coroner kept his autopsy photos with his porn on his computer. TMI. Sidenote: What's the deal with Mike begin turned in the first place? Seems like that might be relevant, given how random his appearance was.
Russell took Newlin out for "Greek," which for him translates to a frat party massacre. What a romantic date. The two danced, and Newlin seemed to be on board with Russell's walk-in-the-sun plan. But is Russell just using him? Or is love really in the air?
Sam and Lafayette came through for Jessica by protecting her against some Obama leftovers.
Finally, Newlin had a TV debate with a representative, which he probably won not long after reminding him of the "man to man" time they spent together and telling him if he "probed hard enough" he might see that they're on the "same team." Subtle!
