Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [48]
Bill and Sookie seem to be the only two who are prepared to divorce from tradition. Everything comes with some measure of risk, at once threatening and intoxicating. When Sookie feeds on Bill to survive, it’s like first intercourse for them. It’s a matter of life and death, so we’re asked to suspend our disbelief that there was no choice, and that drinking his blood isn’t akin to a supernatural Rohypnol. Upon realizing that the regenerative powers of Bill’s blood also carry irreversible consequences — Sookie’s libido will spike, and Bill will be able to locate her instantly through vampire GPS — she doesn’t shy away. She accepts a fate that is not only life-changing, it means she will forever be tied to Bill, the ironic flip side of one who prior to this had had no success meeting anyone.
In this episode, territory also spans time. A good example is the scene in which Bill bristles at the name of Gran’s group, the Descendents of the Glorious Dead. Nothing is glorious about cold and starving boys, he argues. This scene demonstrates why vampires are such a clever narrative device. Bill is talking in the present about something he experienced in the past, but he relives it as presently as he stands in the here and now with Sookie, this person who is but a blip on Bill’s timeline, listening intently. He’s an historian because he’s able to talk about past events, but it’s not passed-down knowledge, it’s first-hand experience about something that happened over 140 years ago. Just think how much else he’s seen and done since then, and how much he can educate Sookie, who’s still quite naive to the ways of the world. (I’d make a model of a modern Major-General joke here, but, alas, Bill was a lieutenant.)
Conversely, Sookie’s personal history is only two and half decades old. But while she may have not fought in a war, she knows how to face her battles, a timeless strength of character they share. It’s also an absurdly macabre moment. Watching Bill and Sookie stroll down the lane to her car, matted in their own blood and that of each other, they appear so quaint; it’s as if they stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Actually more like Norman Bates, if his medium was paintball.
As Sookie and Bill learn more about one another, it’s their extreme age difference that draws them closer. Who better than Bill to know what it’s like to lose family, as Sookie has lost her parents; he’s undead and will outlive anyone mortal he ever knows. In a moment of honest passion, they kiss, then Bill prematurely fangulates, his true nature manifesting itself against his will.
It’s clear that their romance will be front and center to the show. The bigger the tension, the bigger the release. We’ve seen Jason’s approach to sex: pure, non-committal pleasure. If sex is the most earthly gateway to temporary transcendence, then when we finally do see Bill and Sookie together it will have to be epic, otherworldly. It will have to be the best sex for all time.
As this episode closes, Sookie is swarmed on Bill’s porch by three hungry vampires. We’re left to think about how we control our territories. Do we defend them to the death, join forces, or expand our borders to accommodate newcomers and a new way of life?
Gran’s porch, where Sookie first gave Bill permission to cross her threshold. (Jodi Ross, courtesy of The Vault www.trueblood-online.com)
Highlight: Gran: “Jason, you don’t need any help lookin’ like a fool.”
Nightcap: In the scene where Bill recounts stories of the slaves his father owned, Tara’s expression is a mixture of fear, betrayal, and disbelief, as if the one thing she had, her history, has been taken from her. Rutina Wesley