True Blood: Blood, Sex, and Ritual

This week, Sookie and Bill finally consummate their not always stable relationship in more ways than one, as Bill gets a chance to sink his teeth into her neck while they have sex for the first time.  Afterwards, they sit in his bathtub, and while Sookie has no regrets, her mind still wanders back to when she was a child and old, crotchety Uncle Bartlett (Cheyenne Wilbur) touched her after making her sit on his lap.

Just when Jason couldn’t come across as a bigger loser, he barges in on Lafayette doing a little burlesque in a gold thong in front of a video camera.  Lafayette, startled, tells Jason to leave.  Jason tries to overtake him to get his hands on some V, but Lafayette is much stronger and holds him back.  He refuses to give him anymore V after he drank the whole vial the first time and then told Tara what he had done.  Lafayette kicks Jason out.  Consistent with his usual sneaky ways, Jason goes to granny’s house to steal her jewelry and antique candlesticks.  Sookie catches him and is in complete disbelief, while Jason notices the bite marks on Sookie and is completely disgusted.  She tells him to leave, grabbing most of the valuables, although he still takes off with the candlesticks.

Tara’s mother, Lettie Mae (Adina Porter), is convinced she is possessed by a demon and begs Tara for $445 in order to get the demon exorcised.  When Tara refuses, Lettie Mae goes to the bank to apply for a loan but ends up making a fool of herself when she accuses the banker of discriminating against her because she is a Christian, then throws herself at him in front of all the customers in an attempt to get the loan anyway.  Tara has to come and drag her off the banker’s lap.  Finally, Tara gives in to her mother, takes out some cash she had stashed in the kitchen, and takes her to see Miss Jeanette, a voo doo priestess who lives in a remote trailer in the woods.

At Merlotte’s, Sookie serves up food with a big grin across her face and a cutely tied scarf around her neck.  When Arlene asks her why she looks so happy-hoping she looks that way because something happened with Sam and not Bill-Sookie admits to her that she was with Bill and not to tell anyone.  Like the dependable Southern woman that she is, Arlene instantly goes to Rene and Sam to spill the beans about what Sookie has done.  Sam runs up to Sookie and rips the scarf off her neck, also disgusted by what she has done.  Sookie proudly bears her neck for all to see, then tells everyone she is happy about her decision.

Back at granny’s house, which now belongs to Sookie, Uncle Bartlett is rolling up a ramp in his wheelchair to throw out the trash when he comes across a vicious looking Bill.  Bill tells him he is here for Sookie and inflicts a fatal bite to Bartlett’s throat.  He goes to the swamp to dispose of the body when he realizes that Sookie is in trouble at Merlotte’s.  He goes to Merlotte’s to find Liam, Malcolm, and Diane harassing the people in the restaurant.  To subdue them, Bill agrees to go back to their house with them.  Sookie pleads with him not to, telling him he is better than they are.  But he does not listen.  Royce, Wayne, and Chuck, the local yocals from last week’s HIV burger scene, decide to go to Liam, Malcolm, and Diane’s nest in order to set it on fire.

At Miss Jeanette’s, Lettie Mae’s demon is removed with a rock ritual and transferred into a possum that Miss Jeanette drowns.  Miss Jeanette tells Lettie Mae she is free of her demon, but something needs to be done about the demon in Tara.  Tara, upset with the accusation, becomes defensive and tells here there is nothing wrong with her.  But Miss Jeanette astutely points out that Tara has few friends, can never seem to hold a job-and in Tara’s own words -is “boyfriendless.”

Jason goes to Fangtasia in search of V.  Pam, the vampire manager there, recognizes the last name on his ID and asks him if he knows Sookie Stackhouse.  He tells her she is his sister.  Pam comments that he is nothing like her, hisses out her fangs, and lets him in, wishing him good luck with ever getting back out.  Inside Fangtasia, Jason is less than suave about getting his hands on V, and a gypsy-like V dealer, Amy, convinces him to leave with her so she can get him some.  After they leave, she goes on and on about how she’s originally from back East, escaped her bourgeoisie life, and how she finds Jason’s truck to be authentic.  Back at his parents’ place, Amy places drops of V on aspirin to keep it from coagulating and chants about nature and Gaia as she crushes the now scarlet colored aspirin.  They end up snorting it and have V-induced hallucinations while having sex.

After waiting for Bill to return to his house all night, Sookie drives off to Liam, Malcolm, and Diane’s to see where he might be.  She comes across the police and fire crew, hauling burned caskets out of the charred house.  They verify that there are four bodies.  Sookie stares at the caskets in horror.

Season 1, Episode 7: Burning House of Love (originally aired October 19, 2008)

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