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Location, Location, Location: Bill Compton’s house was actually a Confederate headquarters during the Civil War that was turned into a makeshift hospital.

Encore: “Cold Ground,” performed by Rusty Truck, plays during the end credits. Truck’s connections served him well, employing help from such friends as Jakob Dylan, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Willie Nelson. His first album, Broken Promises, is a confluence of country, rock ’n’ roll, blues, and easy-listening. Cat Power’s “Half of You” plays in the scene before, an apt and moody ballad about wanting to have all of a person, appropriate for Bill and Sookie’s first love scene. But as Sookie is making love for the first time, Jason is having sex for the umpteenth time, and Tara and Sam head deeper into their friendship-with-benefits arrangement. Not everyone’s bed is warm above this cold ground.

The Stackhouse family photo collage, given to Gran as a birthday present from Jason and Sookie. (Jodi Ross, courtesy of The Vault www.trueblood-online.com)

Tribute: Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur)

“Nobody ever listens to me, but they should.”

— Terry Bellefleur

Terry Bellefleur is deceptively simple. His intense personality and uncensored speech make it easy for people to dismiss him. But what makes him one of the most loveable characters on True Blood is that by the time we meet Terry for the first time, he’s already embedded into the lives of the other Bon Temps citizens. We don’t write him off because the other characters we love seem to care deeply about his good will and intentions.

This is in no small part attributed to the respect Todd Lowe brings to his portrayal of Terry, forged in a desire to pay tribute to war vets who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “[W]hen I was in high school a few of us would go to this glorious VFW hall and play bingo,” he says. “[M]y friends and I got cornered by this intense Vietnam tunnel rat; you know, the guys that go into tunnels searching out bombs? He literally had four big ol’ high school boys pinned to the trunk of my car without ever touching us, he was that intense. . . . So, I always think of that guy. I feel like I have to do it right because of the responsibility to the veterans . . .”

I’ll confess, though, watching Lowe makes me pine at times for Gilmore Girls. When he first appeared on-screen I screamed, “Zach!” followed immediately with “. . . is hairy!”

Where you’ve seen Todd Lowe: Gilmore Girls, The Princess Diaries, Without a Trace, Navy NCIS, playing with Pilbilly Knights, his L.A.-based country-rock band (www.myspace.com/pilbillyknightsmusic)

Fan Sarah Napier catches up with Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur) on a day off from Merlotte’s. Mmm, I bet he smells like fried catfish. Tasty! (Sarah Napier)

1.07 ~ Burning House of Love

Original air date: October 19, 2008; Written by: Chris Offutt; Directed by: Marcos Siega

Lafayette: It ain’t possible to live unless you crossin’ somebody’s line.

Bill settles a score from Sookie’s painful past. Jason meets an exotic new woman. Tara takes her mother to exorcize her demon.

Considering this is the episode we’ve been waiting for ever since the opening credits first rolled — Bill and Sookie finally do bad things! — it isn’t the strongest one of the season. To start, we don’t get to bask in the afterglow of Sookie’s first time having sex with a man, not to mention being fed on, before it’s tainted by Sookie’s confession that her Uncle Bartlett had sordid thoughts about her as a child. As a storyline, it feels inserted and rushed, all but unnecessary for the amount of time the uncle remains in the show. It’s already been established that Sookie hasn’t been romantic with a man because she would be able to hear his thoughts. Not until Gran’s funeral had there been anything to suggest Sookie was affected for any other reason.

Bill is also robbed of the chance to vocalize what it meant for him to be with Sookie. They