‘True Blood’ recap: Eric and Sookie get steamy
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Eric and Sookie in the shower.
In Sunday’s episode of ‘True Blood,’ ‘Spellbound,’ written by Alan Ball, one of the most talked about fan favorite moments from Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries made it to the screen -- just as Ball had promised an audience at San Diego’s Comic-Con International in July. The cryptic show runner had hinted that his version of the famous love scene between the two characters would possibly be ‘weirder and dirtier’ than what was in the book, in this case, ‘Dead to the World,’ the fourth of Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels. And well, it was weirder, or should we say trippier, given that Eric and Sookie were high on each others’ blood and hallucinating?
But first things first. Jason bursts through the door to subdue Jessica before she can be consumed by the sunlight, having been lured out of her usual daytime slumber by the witches’ powerful curse. Jessica regains control over herself and, realizing Jason just saved her life, kisses him. He brings her downstairs to Bill, who is still bound in silver. Concerned that the coven might have only temporarily broken the spell, Bill instructs Jason to bind Jessica with silver until nightfall. Trying to distract her from the pain, the perennially clueless Jason tells Jessica to think about good things -- like hot summer days, barbecuing. He means well, anyway.
Bill comes to the rescue and gives Jason his cue to go, telling him that he and Jessica need to get a bit of rest. Bill and Jason agree that no one should really hear about the murdered guard, or for that matter, the other guard that Jason shot outside when he was racing toward the house to rescue our favorite redhead (other than Arlene, of course).
Shreveport pack master Marcus instructs his werewolves to stay out of the brewing war between the vampires and the witches, lest they end up dead. It’s a message Alcide endorses; Marcus points out that Alcide has a certain amount of Alpha in him and that he could move up in the pack if he wanted. On their way home, Debbie makes Alcide promise that he’ll stay away from Sookie. It’s a promise he naturally breaks.
Sam goes to see Luna to tell her that he’s thrown Tommy out of his life for good, but, of course, Tommy is still determined to cause trouble. He breaks into Maxine’s house and steals enough of her belongings to be able to pose as her (thanks to his new ‘skinwalking’ abilities). In his Maxine disguise, he meets with the rep trying to secure the lease rights to the natural gas that’s been found on her property, but can’t manage to wrangle an especially flattering deal.
Even with things back on track with Luna, though, Sam has a new set of brewing problems after Marcus turns up at her place and expresses his displeasure at Sam dining with his ex and his little girl.
Back at Sookie’s, Eric convinces her to remove the silver chains from around his neck, but his ability to heal has been compromised by the fact that he hasn’t fed since he drank Claudine’s fairy blood. Sookie offers him a True Blood, but they both realize that’s not going to do the trick. Sookie lets him feed from her, and Eric bites into his own palm, offering her his blood -- though at first Sookie seems confused, given that she’s not injured. He simply tells her ‘we will be one’ and she takes his hand in hers and drinks. Intoxicated, they find their way to the shower, and then onto the bed they envision lying just outside Sookie’s bathroom, where it appears to be snowing in the daylight.
Honestly, it’s no wonder Andy’s so addicted to V.
Det. Bellefleur is, in fact, so addicted that he struggles not to lick up the remains of vampire Beulah Carter, Maxine’s neighbor, who clearly did not get the memo about chaining herself up in silver. Arriving at the crime scene, Jason scolds him and tells him to get a grip. Bill, too, arrives, telling the one television reporter on hand that ‘vampire suicides’ such as Beulah’s are all too common, what with all the anti-vampire sentiment in the world -- then glamoring her to make sure he gets plenty of time on camera to spread that message.
He also manages to persuade Antonia, who is at the Moon Goddess Emporium with Tara, to agree to a midnight meeting at the Bon Temps cemetery in the hopes of bringing about a peaceful resolution to their dispute. That meeting, though, turns out to be anything but peaceful.
The confrontation begins when both Bill and Antonia reveal that they have not come alone -- Sookie, Eric and Pam are backing Bill; Tara and the other witches are backing Antonia. Bill promises that the vampires will do her or her coven no harm; in return he asks her to remove the spells from his two subjects who are present. Sookie listens in to Antonia’s thoughts and learns that she’s casting a spell even during their conversation. She calls out, prompting Bill to bring in his human backup. And that’s when things really escalate.
Eric kills ... someone? Tara does too, only moments before she runs into Pam, who seems determined to take the opportunity to exact her revenge. But Bill commands her not to harm Tara, now or ever. When Tara asks Bill why he saved her, he responds simply, ‘You know why.’ Hmmm.
Meanwhile, Eric is gorging himself on blood, and Sookie saves herself from an attack with her ‘microwave fingers.’ But those fairy powers can’t ward off the bullet that enters her abdomen, calling both Eric and Bill to her side. Bill is silvered before he can reach her and Antonia blocks Eric’s path, casting a spell that leaves the viking docile and kneeling before her. Leaving Alcide to carry Sookie to safety. We hope.
There were two other major confrontations: Between the strange spirit who drops by to serenade baby Mikey and Lafayette, and between Jessica and Hoyt. Lafayette dreams about the spectral woman and learns that she had an infant son who was murdered by the baby’s own father, a married white man, in an attempt to cover up the child’s existence. Moments after Lafayette wakes up, she takes possession of his body. (We also hear some interesting background murmurings about Steve Newlin’s disappearance ... might the reverend be found soon?)
And sadly, Jessica and Hoyt’s relationship is over. After a heartbreaking fight in which Hoyt rescinds her invitation to their home, Jessica turns to Jason, who, flustered by his feelings for his best friend’s now-ex-girlfriend, uninvites her from his place, too. Still, it seems like just a matter of time before she’ll be asked back -- Jason isn’t exactly the best about staying away from a pretty girl, even one likely to get him into massive amounts of trouble.
But back to that shower scene for just one moment. Given all the anticipation about how that might have played out, what do you say, Team Eric? Are you thrilled? Disappointed? Please leave your comments below.
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Alan Ball: Vampires are just a huge metaphor for sex
-- Gina McIntyre
