Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [96]
As the episode ends, all hope seems lost. Faith, in particular, has seen better days, all but abandoned or its influence enforced against people’s will. Maryann once told Tara that Carl’s life of service was a selfish act because he wants to please people. But the orgy participants are empty and depraved, void of any emotion, joy, or fulfilment. Who are they in service to? Maryann? Or something higher?
Highlight: Andy [to Lafayette]: “You weren’t on any damn gay cruise. ’Cause if you were you would’ve come back with more pizzazz, not less!”
Nightcap: This episode has also gone by the title “Friend Is a Four-Letter Word.” “Friend Is a Four-Letter Word” is a song by Cake, but it does not appear on the episode playlist. The character of Lorena does not appear until Club Dead, the third book in the series. Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry) and Mariana Klaveno (Lorena) appeared together in the short-lived FOX show Standoff (2006).
Paging Dr. Creepy: The flashback in which Lorena and Bill devour the couple, then each other, is particularly disturbing, their female victim left to bleed out while they have sex beside her. Rolling over each other like swines in a mud pen, they’re completely soulless, merely killing because they can, and heartless, forcing their victims to take the most horrific visions to an early grave.
Location, Location, Location: The Fellowship of the Sun church is actually the Sky Rose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park, in Whittier, California, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The largest cemetery in the United States, it has over 600 employees. In 1956, they opened the Rose Hills Mortuary and Flower Shop, making it among the first to offer all services required for memorialization.
Encore: “Hard-Hearted Hannah” is performed by Dolly Kay during the end credits, and by Stephen Moyer at the piano in Chicago in 1926. “Hard-Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah)” tells the story of a “vamp” or femme fatale from Savannah, Georgia. It’s been recorded by many artists including Lucille Hegamin, Peggy Lee, the Ray Charles Singers, Patti Austin, Jim Croce, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Sinatra, Kay Starr, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Toni Tennille, to name a few. Both Dolly Kay and Belle Barker recorded versions of the song in 1924, each landing on that year’s Billboard Top Singles. Its inclusion in the show is both timely and humorous. The song would have still been popular and recognizable in the 1920s, perfect musical fare for a vampire existing in plain sight.
Tribute: Mehcad Brooks (Benedict “Eggs” Talley)
“One moment you’re having an orgy in the middle of the woods and it’s 45 degrees outside and you can see your breath. You’re actually discussing Kafka and Puccini between pelvic thrusts. And you’re pondering how it is you’re being paid for this and trying to make it seem real!”
— Mehcad Brooks
When Mehcad Brooks first appeared on True Blood, millions recognized him immediately. It wasn’t from Desperate Housewives or any number of modeling campaigns: it was from the bedrooms of our childhoods, mirrored in the image of many unclothed action figures. Six-pack abs are for mere mortals; Mehcad Brooks has a superhero’s physique. Yet his perfectly sculpted physique offers much more than eye candy, as pleasant as it is — it’s key to his appeal as the perfect sidekick for Maryann. He’s strong, charming, straightforward, and sensitive . . . so much so that his fall is even greater when we realize that he isn’t capable of taking care of himself, that even those who appear to have everything going for them are still susceptible to influence.
Though images of Brooks’ impressive derrière have shown up all over the internet, it’s his smile (for real) that we’ve come to love most, along with Eggs’ innocent love for Tara. Even when Sookie’s house was packed to the rafters, it was like Eggs and Tara were the only two dancing, eyes only