Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [90]
Sookie finally calls Bill on hating vampires after he treats Jessica like a predator for bringing Hoyt to their home. In keeping with the LGBT themes of the show, Bill explains that when he was made vampire he didn’t have the option to mainstream. Vampires were outlaws, akin to gays and lesbians trying to find one another in secret bars, often passing as the opposite gender so they could be seen together in public. Bill envies Jessica, knowing she’ll have it easier for being able to live openly, even if she has some growing up to do.
It’s been a while since we had an episode as fun as this one, a nice break from the darker shows of late. Sookie’s travel dress to Dallas is a ray of yellow sunshine in the dead of night. Jessica’s coffin prat fall is hilarious! Deborah Ann Woll has really hit her stride as Jessica, finding just the right intersection between naughty rebel and liberated teenager. Even the scene in which Bill and Sookie learn that the Fellowship of the Sun sent Leon to capture them at the airport is lighthearted, written to show Bill’s evolution as a sentient being as much as for exposition. Eric is back to his sultry self, offering his blood to Lafayette so he can track someone Sookie cares about, something he finds curious. Could Eric be evolving? Is it all business for this 1,000-year-old vampire, or can you teach an old dog new tricks? But more important, Lafayette is back, and with a kick in his step, no less!
Soon enough, it will be back to business. If Godric, twice as old as Eric, and the oldest vampire in the new world, can be captured by the Fellowship of the Sun, then all vampires are vulnerable, a cost of coming out of the coffin. Jason will have to man up, but will it be for his God or for mortal sins of the flesh with Sarah Newlin? And as the episode closes, after 25 years alone in her own head, Sookie meets another telepath, Barry the Bellboy.
The foyer of Gran’s house, featuring family photos of Sookie, Jason, and who we assume to be their parents. (Jodi Ross, courtesy of The Vault www.trueblood-online.com)
Highlight: Sookie [on mini liquor bottles]: “I’ve always loved these; they’re like booze for dolls! They gave me ten!”
Nightcap: At Sookie’s, Tara watches the Pamplona bull-run on television, a sly tip to the “bull-man” that’s killing people in Bon Temps. The airline Bill, Sookie, and Jessica take to Dallas is called Anubis, named after an Egyptian god associated with mummification and protecting the dead as they prepare for the afterlife. When Eric comes to Lafayette’s window, Lafayette’s watching Jason and the Argonauts (1963), which features a sequence of reanimated skeletons. (This effect was originated in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), which is perhaps why it’s erroneously reported in places that it’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad playing on the television.) In the film, Jason is a legendary Greek hero. It’s possible the Greek Jason is a reference to Jason Stackhouse’s assertion that he’s in a war, and he’s ready to fight. When Bill and Sookie check into the Hotel Carmilla, Sookie suggests refering to Jessica as his ward, she the Dick Grayson (Robin) to his Bruce Wayne (Batman). The films playing on the hotel pay-per-view adult channel are Intercourse with the Vampire, His First Fangbang, and Co-Ed Chowdown.
Relationship Crypt Falls: Bill, you really need to pick up a copy of Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements. The first agreement — “Be Impeccable With Your Word” — will help you keep a lid on it in situations where you feel challenged as Jessica’s maker, and serve to remind you that what you say will be imprinted upon her for eternity, not just until she’s 18 and moves out of the manor. You’re lucky to have such a smart and kind progeny. And if that doesn’t work, give yourself a time out. Sleep on it, and come back fresh the next dusk.
Paging Dr. Creepy: To the woman shoveling dirt into her mouth at Tara’s birthday party: you missed the cake table. First, close your mouth while you eat. Second, while communing with nature is a beautiful thing, all of Bon