True Blood: She’s a manead, manead out of control!

As we find ourselves one episode past this season’s halfway point, many of the mysteries and unanswered questions plaguing us these past few weeks have been resolved. but there’s still plenty of the drama we’ve come to love and expect from True Blood, and the tension increases each passing Sunday.

Things start off with a bang, literally, as Lieutenant Andy stumbles upon the orgy porgy right before Sam’s life is cut short (literally). Why he still has a gun after being stripped of his officer-ly duties, not quite sure, but it sure did disrupt the hedonistic celebrations just in time for Sam to get away. The next morning the Eggs and Tara try to put things together, but have no recollection of the x-rated activities that went down. While he comes to the simple conclusion that Maryanne’s super potent bud knocked them out for the night, Tara remains suspicious. (Having an abusive alcoholic mother makes you more apprehensive.)  Throughout the rest of the episode more clues pile up indicating to Tara what Maryanne really is.

While we deal with a love affair gone sour, in Dallas, another blossoms. As we learned in last week’s episode, Bill is unable to overpower Lorena as she is his maker. With this power she keeps him trapped in his room, unable to rescue the once again distressed Sookie. In a flashback to the 30s we see the end of their relationship and the origin of the Bill we know today. At this pre-True Blood point, he’s refused to feed on humans, not even the enticing chorus girl Lorena (in a very Kiera Knightley in Atonment style dress) has brought home. Belligerent, he commands the chorus girl to leave and tells his maker he can’t stand the sight of her- she’s stolen his humanity. Hurt, she tries to convince him that feeding on mortals is his nature, and he will outgrow this conscience. We of course know this to be false.

Next door Hoyt reveals to Jessica his deepest, darkest secret. He’s a virgin. A 28-year-old virgin. He describes how he’s waited for someone special to come along for so long, and to his surprise she finds nothing problematic about that. After all, she too is virgin, which is no surprise given her suffocating childhood. Just cause she’s a vampire doesn’t mean she’s a slut, although she would’ve been if given the opportunity. (Her words, not mine.) In another wonderful display of  character, Hoyt explains he’d never judge her or anyone else-people just get lonely sometimes. It’s ridiculous how adorable these two are and I can only hope against hope that they don’t get torn apart too soon. And oh yeah, she offers to take his virginity the next night.

After a night of torrid love-making to the preacher’s wife, Jason wakes up to a tearful Sarah. Don’t worry though, they’re tears of joy. She’s so overwhelmed with emotion, having realize what love truly is, that she can’t wait to see her hubby. Her hubby with all the weapons in the closet. Fortunately Jason has enough sense to realize what a moronic idea this is and convinces her to wait till after the lock-in. God’s work comes first of course. Best line from this scene: ”Just because I broke my vow to my husband doesn’t mean I’m ready to throw all my beliefs out the windah.” Gotta love her whacked out sense of morals and the crazy  dialogue the writers give her each week.

Below all of this adulterous drama, literally, Sookie, accompanied by a claustrophobic Hugo, comes to the conclusion that someone in the nest is a traitor. Using her telepathy, she later finds this person to be Hugo. But he wasn’t always a spy as it turns out. He explains to Sookie how his life began to crumble after falling in love with Isabel-he became addicted. And when he begged to be turned so they could be together as equals, she refused. That b****! But as we learned in an earlier interaction between Eric and Isabella, she finds his humanity, his ability to feel things so much more intensely, a product of the brevity of his lifespan and intriguing.Not even the aging process, contrary to Hugo’s beliefs (Episode 6), is a turn-off to her.

Speaking of Eric, the tension between he and the Dallas vamps comes to a head when Stan calls Eric and Isabel out on their inaction. Eric, brooding and intense, retorts, accusing Stan of trying to start a war with the LDI as a distraction after murdering Godric for his title. He vows to show no mercy if this is true and leaves the two of them to bicker. “If Godric is gone, nothing can bring back what I have lost,” he says, before a blood red tear falls down his pallid cheek. And finally on the Nordic front, the ever impending love triangle between Sookie, Bill and Eric was alluded to quite heavily in this episode.

After his narrow escape, Sam goes after Daphne with a shotgun looking for answers. She, with all the calm of a cult member seconds before drinking the kool-aid, explains to him what Maryanne is. “God,” how cliche. After he calls bull, she goes into greater detail. She is a maenad. I’m sure all of you Greek mythology buffs out there know what that is, but for the uninformed, she’s able to control wild energy within mortals like lust and anger. She thrives on chaos. Supernaturals,  like Sam and Daphne, have a natural resistance to her powers. They must choose to submit her, free will in tact, as Daphne has done. This explains Maryanne’s interest in Sam. He’s the one that got away from her from all those years ago.  She can’t control him. So naturally he must die.

Earlier in the episode, Hugo, eager to be released from the cage willingly, gave up all the deets on he and Sookie’s mission, including her last name. The Reverand Newlin automatically put together the familial ties and went in search of Jason. He finds him, suitcase in hand, about to leave before Mrs. Newlin can spill the beans. This of course doesn’t help Jason’s case in the preacher’s eyes. Next thing he knows he’s shoved into a van and then held at knife point by Gabe, the burly security guard whose ordered to “take care” of him. After Gabe stupidly mouths off about Jason and his vamp-loving slut of a sister (his sentiments, not mine), he manages to break free and kick the light of Christ out of him. He then takes off into the wilderness.

Still waiting for a preoccupied Bill, Sookie sends out a telepathic smoke signal to Barry asking him to deliver to Bill her whereabouts. As the sheep flock in for the lookout Steve pulls Sarah aside to tell her of Jason’s treachery. This sends her out on some sort of ATV come night time in search of her lover. His initial relief at seeing her is put to an end when she pulls out a gat and sticks a cap in him. When Gabe gets back to the cage he starts knocking around Hugo, teaching him that once you go vamp you can’t come back to God. Sookie jumps in to help, but ends up on the ground about to learn what she’s been “missing” while whoring herself out to bloodsuckers.

Bill senses her distress, but still cannot run to her aid. A second flashback shows us how he finally gained his freedom: a broken table leg to his chest, demonstrating he would rather take his own life than be with Lorena. Finally she understood he didn’t love her and let him go. But now she’s back and determined to keep him from chasing some human. On a more romantic note, Jessica wakes up to Leona Lewis, rose petals, and blood scented candles, as Hoyt preps before they do they nasty. (Yeah and Maryanne has Eggs kill Daphne cause, well, she’s an evil succubus. And Lafayette is back dealing V as well as sassy quips!)

Barry shows up to deliver the message, but that pesky Lorena has him pinned against the door preventing him from acting. Eric, across the hall, hears the message, including the part about Godric being chained up in the church, and takes off. Seconds before Sookie ends up like Paige on that jarring episode of DeGrassi from my adolescence, a much beefier Godric swoops in to save the day.

Final thoughts? DAMN!

For another take on this episode, read Release Me by Inisia Lewis.

Season 2, Episode 7: Release Me (originally aired August 2, 2009)

For more on True Blood, click here.

Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro