Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [51]
1.04 ~ Escape from Dragon House
Original air date: September 28, 2008; Written by: Brian Buckner; Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Tara: People think because we got vampires out in the open, race isn’t the issue no more . . . Race may not be the hot-button issue it once was, but it’s still a button you can push on people.
Jason becomes the lead suspect in another murder, and Sookie uses her gift to try to find the real killer. Bill takes Sookie to Fangtasia, a vampire bar, where she meets Eric, the bar’s acerbic owner.
We really have to give it to the writers for this episode. They manage to interweave the politics of segregation into a storyline that includes Jason brewing a blister the size of a nickel from chronic masturbation. Even Bill’s explanation that Fangtasia was named as such because vampires like puns — what Charles Lamb described as “a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect” — effortlessly leads directly into the scene in which Sookie and Sam are at odds over their stance on vampire rights, hearkening back to the Louisiana law of 1890, “separate but equal.” True Blood has been referred to as pulp opera, a perfect mingling of camp, sharp satire, and serious drama. It lives up to that label in “Escape from Dragon House.”
This episode focuses on choice and logic versus values and traditions. People stick to what they know in times of change, Sookie remaining the exception. She holds to her ideals, with her belief in full rights for vampires running alongside her belief in common courtesies, such as Bill learning to say sorry for someone’s loss. But she’s also flexible and believes, as Gran does, that God’s plan will be revealed in good time, and that until that time, we can’t stop being who we are or evolving into who we could be. For Sookie, that means mining others’ thoughts for possible clues as to the real killer’s identity.
In this episode, the experience of Sookie’s telepathy is given added texture via speed changes in filming. It’s particularly prevalent in Merlotte’s. A vampire’s approach is often sped up, as if bypassing the obstacle of time. By contrast, slowing things down around Sookie shows us the intensity of her focus, which, for her, is scary, allowing in a flood of details unfiltered. What she hears challenges both her delicate sensibilities and her core values. It’s also the second opportunity the writers have taken in this episode to echo the bigotry that we as viewers recognize from our own worlds, vampires aside. (“Dead fucks, niggers, and regular folk all living together. If God wanted it like this, he’d have made us look the same.”) It would seem that everyone has their demons, vampires and mortals alike.
Sookie is, however, willing to settle back into tradition when it serves the situation better. We know she doesn’t like the idea of Bill owning her, but when they approach Fangtasia she lets him slip his hand around her waist. When Eric shows his interest in Sookie, she herself declares that she is Bill’s. By mainstreaming, Bill begins to looks normal, especially in a place that looks more like the Hard Rock Cafe than a vampire bar. When Sookie helps Eric, Pam, and Bill escape from the police raid, it’s less about keeping them safe than believing it’s the right thing to do. While most of Bon Temps has already declared vampires guilty, Sookie continues to believe the undead are innocent until proven guilty.
Tara’s beliefs are similar, not to mention hilarious as demonstrated in the scene in which she storms the sheriff’s station with the threat of discrimination if they can’t believe a white man (Jason) and a black woman (Tara) could be together, thereby offering Jason an alibi that frees