Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [59]
The character of Uncle Bartlett does serve the purpose of showing that Bill would do anything for Sookie. Unlike his defensive response against anyone who threatens him or Sookie, killing Sookie’s uncle is a premeditated act. And while we can find his thoughts unsettling, the law judges people based on action, not thought. Sookie wouldn’t endorse her uncle’s murder any more than Bill’s war comrade, seen in Bill’s DGD flashback, condoned Bill wanting to put a wounded boy out of his misery. All told, the writers might have handled this story more delicately. As it is, it takes away from the immensity of Sookie’s ultimate choice to offer herself to Bill.
This episode does deliver one of the finest performances of the season by Adina Porter. In lesser hands, Lettie Mae’s addiction and exorcism would be comical. We have every reason to believe that her demon is an alcohol-induced hallucination, or, at the very least, an elaborate hoax to get Tara back in her life. But we want so badly for Tara to get her mother back that we, too, begin to believe, if not in the demon itself, then in the hope that there’s a cure for what ails her. Rutina Wesley’s usual anger is absent from these scenes, replaced with a new complexity and lack of control. It’s rare to see Tara without words, or the answer. Tara always has the answer.
Jason’s addiction storyline is weaker than Lettie Mae’s. And while the writers had the good sense to let the worst of Lettie Mae’s struggle peak in one episode, we’ll have to watch Jason suffer a while longer, a shame when Ryan Kwanten has shown he’s capable of a much wider range. His journey is more bearable with the addition of Lizzy Caplan in a guest role as Amy Burley, a nomad who subscribes to Nietzsche’s concept of nihilism where nothing is real and everything is permitted. When contrasted against Miss Jeanette’s chanting and crone stones (her teachings having been around centuries longer), Amy’s modern pharmacology of cutting V-juice with aspirin seems more manufactured than organic. What they share in common is that they’re both dealers, doling out measured promises of transcendence. For Lettie Mae, the path to joy is to rid herself first of the demon. Jason hasn’t gone deep enough to acknowledge his demons, so his medicating is more like a Band-Aid than a cure.
While it’s harder to put a face to joy than misery, it is a bit disappointing to see True Blood’s vision of transcendence is nothing more than a Lucky Charms commercial, and Jason’s “communion” with Amy marks the first time that nudity has started to feel gratuitous, which may not have been the case if the opening scene with Bill and Sookie had been allowed to play out longer, making Jason and Amy’s a natural bookend.
The episode ends with the possibility that Bill has been burned along with a nest of vampires. When he leaves Merlotte’s with Malcolm, Diane, and Liam, Sookie misses Bill’s attempts to communicate with her. Confused and betrayed, Sookie has no one to turn to when it appears that her lover could be dead.
With the exception of Lettie Mae’s storyline and the opportunity it gave Rutina Wesley to play down Tara’s anger, giving us a glimpse at her younger, scared self, “Burning House of Love” is a bit heavy-handed. It talks at us a lot without leaving enough to the imagination.
The Bon Temps swamp, where vampires go to heal telepathic waitresses and bar owners streak in the early dawn. (Jen Bark)
Highlight: Arlene: “Suppose she gets pregnant. How in the world can she nurse a baby with fangs?”
Nightcap: The stones that are used in Miss Jeanette’s exorcism belong to the show’s writer Chris Offutt, who started collecting stones with holes in them as a child. The shot of the possum hissing was the only one caught on film. Possums play