True Blood – Tara tries to end it all

This week’s True Blood had Vampire Tara on her own, scared, hungry and angry at her friends for making her what she is. Tara is not my favorite character, but her anger in this case is understandable. Sam, Lafayette and Sookie try to help her, but to no avail, so she tries to commit suicide by tanning bed. Surely there are less unpleasant ways to go? Anyway, this was the episode’s cliffhanger; will she succeed? I am guessing not, since Pam sensed what was happening and, it turns out, knows a thing or two about suicide attempts. I hope we see Pam step up to really be Tara’s maker, since I think it would be a lot of fun.

We find out via flashback to 1905 that Pam was so desperate as a human madam that she was willing to risk suicide to get Eric to turn her. These scenes both explain her bond with Eric and how much she just seems to enjoy being a vampire. Unlike Tara, Pam doesn’t feel she lost anything when she became a vampire. Quite the opposite, in fact — it saved her from dying of TB or something. Also in the past we get a cameo from Bill and Lorena. This was back in Bill’s “young,” wild vampire days, so to see the role reversal with him as the bad one and Eric as the voice of reason was pretty fun.

Now Eric and Bill are on an equal footing. So equal, in fact, that Salome goes at it with both of them to figure out if they are Sanguinistas! All this campfire theology stuff could be interesting if it hadn’t come from out of nowhere; I’d have liked to have more time to become curious about it. It seems too embedded in vampire culture now, with all the talk of factions and apostates and so on, that it seems to be kind of a ret-con, because we didn’t hear about the Vampire Bible and so on before. That being said, Chris Meloni is appropriately chilling as Roman, the whole idea of Salome as a vampire is fun, and soon they will be dealing with Russell Edgington. Where is he by the way? Stop teasing us, show!

In other news, the Pelts come looking for Debbie, which bodes very ill for Sookie. Sookie is a surprisingly calm liar when Andy questions her; it’s good to see her in trouble rather than as the damsel in distress. She’s even zapping people with her hands again. Anyway, she’s worried that Alcide will turn her in, even though he’s angry, I doubt it. Everyone has a soft spot for Sookie-except for Pam, who keeps pointing that fact out in hilarious fashion.

Jason has sex with his ex-teacher, who was his first; but he realizes that is where his life started to go wrong. Is Jason going to try to be serious now? I suspect many fans will miss sex addict Jason, if that means we see less of his butt. I think it’s time to try to do something different with him, though, and Jessica trying to be just friends with him was cute.

Notes and Quotes:

• Tina Majorino joins the show as a kind of vampire version of James Bond’s Q! We don’t get a character name, so I will assume till then that someone turned Mac into a vampire.
• Andy’s ass ends up on Facebook. Aside from that and the stuff with Terry, the tertiary stuff seemed better integrated this week. Jason and Jessica are kind of out there on their own, though.
• Hoyt goes to hang at Fangtasia; I think Pam sees something of herself in him, even as she calls him desperate.
• Steve Newlin has become the public face of the authority, replacing Nana; this will not go well.
• Pam to Sookie: “Bill’s demon spawn thinks they’re on some kind of business trip, but we both know the only business Eric ever has with King Bill is the kind hat involves almost getting themselves killed protecting you.”
• Steve: “Elvis was spotted in a ’11 in Yakima buying turkey jerky last week but that doesn’t mean he’s still alive.”
• Vampire Mac on the gadget she’s designed: “Just imagine it’s a training bra.”
  Eric: “It’s been a long time since I’ve worn one.”
• Sookie: “Can I give you a hug without you thinking about my boobs?”
  Sam: “Probably not.”
  Sookie: “Oh, what the hell, go ahead.”
• Salome on her bad rap: “The human Bible is little better than Us Weekly.” I loved the Dance of the Seven Veils-esque music in the background of her scene with Bill and Eric.
• Tracy, about Jason: “God gave that boy a penis and a brain, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”

Clacked by Christina Furtado
on Jun 25, 2012 @ 11:13 EST5EDT