True Blood: New World In My View

There was not a lot of plot development during this episode, but do not fret, dear readers, because it was still juicy and full of hysterical moments. Really. I literally found myself laughing a lot more than usual.

Sookie, Bill, and Jason were technically playing catch up on the things we already know have been going on back at home. People were running around town, tossing themselves in front of cars and pretty much just acting a fool. Repeated calls to the police station were greeted only with an answering machine, and for a town that small, it was utterly baffling and annoying to Jason.

After hearing all the crazies talk about finding Sam and, well, killing him, they head to Bill’s. There, Jessica and Hoyt have their hands full trying to wrangle the newly black-eyed and liberated Maxine. Keeping her locked up is probably the smartest thing these two could do, but it sure as hell doesn’t look like any fun with all her hateful ranting and sexual lunges at Jason (I feel you, lady!). But the funniest part of all was the realization that an alien-killing Wii game would hold her attention.

The two give them the heads up that party central has been Maryann’s place which also happens to be Sookie’s place, and they go off to find out what’s going on. Jason takes the opportunity to break from them and use his FOTS training to  confront, head on, what’s going down in town.

And Maryann is done with pleasantries when they arrive. I guess I get that since she’s already erected a giant tree statue made out of meats and veggies and other earthly things. I can’t imagine what that thing smells like in that hot Louisiana sun, but she just wants a little more Kobe beef and Sam. Sookie makes her stand. but Maryann is faster and stronger, so Bill goes vamp on her. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to be filled with blood, more like gross sticky black ooze that makes him puke. In all the mayhem, Sookie puts her hand on the baddie’s forehead and a light sparks out of it. It puts Maryann out of commission for a second so they take the opportunity to run. No one has any idea what just happened, let alone Sookie, and all Maryann can do is laugh as they run and scream out “what are you?!”

Elsewhere, Jason finds Sam and Andy stuck in Merlotte’s freezer with all the maddies in town ready to turn him over to their new leader. Terry, with his military background has become the groups leaders. Jason bust in, wielding a chainsaw, and when no one paid him any attention until he sawed their radio player in half, I almost died. No one seems to care that he’s ready to knock ‘em down like bowling pins until he puts a nail gun to Darlene’s head. Well actually, everyone wants him to (teehee) nail her, even Arlene but Terry doesn’t like the idea of him hurting his lady friend. They retreat long enough for Jason to get Andy and Sam convinced to come out but not long enough to help them escape.

So Sam gives up. He’s thought about it a lot in the last couple of episodes, but he actually does it this time. Thankfully, Jason’s scheming isn’t done yet, and he takes advantage of the fact that these black eyes make vision a little blurry. He dons a gas masks, throws some flares, and keeps some in his hand for a god-like effect, and all the while Andy’s holding this tree branch as antlers behind his head because no one will believe he’s a god unless he has antlers. Hysterical. At this point, I’m rolling around in my bed. Sam screams “smite” me about ten times before Jason gets with the picture, and then shape shifts, and that’s enough to convince everyone to go back to Maryann and tell her that their job is done. Now, we haven’t yet tackled Jason and Andy seeing Sam disappear and reappear naked, but I can’t wait until they finally put it together in their little brains.

And the final piece of this puzzle is saving Tara from Maryann’s hold. Lafayette and Lettie Mae try to reach her with slaps and prayer and nothing works. Lafayette quips, “This has got to be the worst [bleeping] intervention in history!” Never mind, Tara just chants the same thing over and over again and says “He’s” coming to kill them all. He must be Dionysus or Satan, definitely someone scary. When Sookie and Bill show up, Bill glamors her while Sookie presses further than she’s ever had to to get answers, and though it’s difficult, she finally unlocks Tara’s brain and all those repressed memories. Boy, her realization of everything that’s happened is heartbreaking. But Bill can’t hang around because he knows something has to be done, and he doesn’t want to call on Eric like Sookie suggest. Instead he heads to the Queen Bees home, who happens to be the head honcho of vamps in Louisiana.

Side Note: Jessica has enough with mommy dearest vamp-hating rants and attacks. Doesn’t look good for either of them in Hoyt’s eyes. And Bill recognizes the sacrificial tree with a burning man from a book he was reading in a flashback a few episodes ago. He also remembers the names that accompanied the picture, which he thought was just a myth, and the words Tara was chanting happened to be those names. Oh, and the picture and caption definitely had to do with Dionysus and his Maenads.

So we didn’t learn very much, but I’m happy that Bill, Sookie and Jason are finally clued in to what’s been going on while they were in Dallas. I love Sookie all gussied up and ready to defend the people she loves, and hopefully Tara will finally have the will to fight back too. It’s also clear that something different about not only Sookie, with her new powers, but Jason (same blood, duh!), Hoyt, Andy and maybe even Lafayette and Lettie Mae since they all seem to be immune to Maryann’s crazy juice. Hopefully we’ll get some of those answers before the end of the season as well as Maryann’s downfall. Only two more to go!

Season 2, Episode 10: New World In My View (Originally aired August 23, 2009)

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Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro