TRUE BLOOD
Season Two, Episode Five
"Never Let Me Go"
Written by Nancy Oliver
(Warning: Spoilers abound from this point forwards)
Good plots rarely move in straight lines. They weave in and out of obstacles, double back, fork off into different paths, climb up and dig down. Few are the stories that go from Point A to Point B without somehow managing a visit to most of the rest of the alphabet along the way. Few really good ones anyway.
Case in point, this week’s episode.
Sookie has other problems to consider. Erik was right. Texas vampires are idiots, at least their leaders are. More accurately, one of them – a cowboy wannabe named Stan Davis – acts as if he’s been feeding off NeoCon testosterone instead of blood. In the face of Sheriff Godric’s disappearance/kidnapping his solution is to wipe out the Fellowship of the Sun. His compatriot Isabel (who asks Sookie about her relationship at one point, one must wonder why) sees the foolishness of this. He didn’t approve of “coming out of the coffin” and he seems one of those unwilling to accept the world is not what he wants. He says something about the Middle Ages, but my guess is that is pure bluff. He’s probably not old enough to remember them. Neither one of them pays much attention to the logical conclusion that they have a traitor in their midst. How else did someone know to try and kidnap Sookie? You’d think the folks beholden to Godric would want help in finding him, yes? Well, no. Right now, my money is on Stan being the traitor. But then, maybe that is the way the writers want to think…
For the record – and speaking (er, writing) of straight lines in stories, Sookie’s plan of infiltrating the Fellowship of the Sun sounds good but will most likely blow up in everyone’s face.
But Jason, who is also in Dallas, he remains clearly in waters deeper than he is tall. Training for “God’s Army” (and can anyone think of a single time when those words didn’t spell self-righteous atrocity?) he impresses everyone. One reason is that, despite his eagerness to join up and all, he remains a good person. Heart of gold, like I wrote. Brain of tin, but you can’t have everything. And the lovely Sarah. Newlin proves just how much she fits into this place. Remember how her hubby made the case that God is indeed Love, and that is why we need to hate? Yeah, well she now uses the Gospels to justify committing adultery with Jason. I don’t blame her for the cheating, myself. Reverend Newlin seems to be far more exciting by weapons and the prospects of murder than by his hot young wife. Perv. But the calm pretzel logic involved promises nothing but trouble. Lots and lots of it.
Especially once Sookie shows up.
Back at Bon Temps (and may I say how absolutely perfect that is as a name for a fictional Louisiana town?), Sam and Daphne are getting close. More specifically, Sam finds out she is like him, a shapeshifter. Her evident favorite form is that of a doe. Romance is in the air, it seems. How much of that is because of Mary Anne remains to be seen. But it is also true that Terry and Arlene seem on their way to becoming a couple, which is nice and hopeful. He could use some of her gumption while she could do with a few doses of his patience.
Her goals? I dunno, save perhaps to live in total abandon with others. And sad to say for Sam, there are still those scars on Daphne’s back. We see a lot of those over the course of the episode. They probably took hours to apply on the actress. One has to wonder what is really going on with her, especially since she and Mary Anne seemed not to know one another at all.
As mentioned before, no straight lines. Not in terms of plot, anyway. There are plenty of those in terms of dialogue. Here are some of my favorites:
“You never listen to me!” “What?”
“Don’t even say that out loud.” “Uh…I didn’t.”
“Hey, Sookie – there’s dirty movies on t.v.!”
“Where ever I am, there’ll always be women.”
“Nice rack.” “Nice balls.” (To get this, you need to know the man and woman speaking were atop a pool table.)
Usually, one could count on Lafayette to speak some really good line in an episode of True Blood, but not this time. The only thing he does is show up at Merlotte’s, asking for his job back. Of course Sam gives it, but immediately notices how quiet his once-and-future cook seems. The man’s world has been rocked and we’ll just have to see what that means.
Just as we’ll have to see what it means when back in Dallas, a certain vampire we’ve seen before accidentally overhears Bill and Sookie making love.
(Extra: Alan Ball announced at ComicCon this weekend that the drink “True Blood” will indeed become available in September. Not that it is a real blood substitute, but a blood orange soda in identical bottles to those seen on the show. Heh heh. Know I’m trying it out, and keeping the bottle no matter what…)
