True Blood: Another One Bites the Dust

There are a few things that I know. Vampires are so in right now. Alexander Skarsgård is hot dead or alive. And True Blood season two was sexy, fun, dark and, all around, just plain awesome. I was definitely a skeptic after the end of the last episode, but you will be happy to hear that things are getting back to “normal” in Bon Temps after a long period of straight-up southern insanity.

Like I assumed, we didn’t get answers to everything that was brought up this season, but they answered more than I expected. And to everyone who was getting a little tired of the Maryann storyline, you’ll be pleased to know that she’s dead as a doornail. (That’s a Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse book title by the way.) As much as I loved this season, they sure did save a lot for the last possible minute.

We pick up in that precarious situation we left Sookie in last week, the one where she’s trapped in her grandma’s house and surrounded by her friends turned black-eyed loonies. Oh, and everyone was fawning over this big egg.

MARYANN AND THE REST OF BON TEMPS
Turns out the egg is no parts demon and all part ostrich and just part of Maryann’s offering to her God who will also be wedding her when he arrives, hence Maryann wearing Sookie’s grandma’s wedding dress and choosing Sookie as her maid of honor. While we’re waiting on Sam to arrive, Maryann taunts Sookie about her powers which Sookie can’t even begin to use because she has no clue at all what she really is. But come Sam does at the behest (and fangs) of Bill who thinks that giving him up is the only way to save Sookie and the town. Now we all know our little Miss Stackhouse would never sacrifice her friends for herself, so she’s none to happy with Bill. Jason and Andy are pretty much no help because the moment they try to get close to Maryann, they’re turned. (Guess that answers my questions about whether they’re something supernatural or not. Or does it? You can never tell with a show like this.)

Once Sam’s strapped up and ready to be sacrificed, Maryann gets Eggs to stab him right in the chest. Sookie is completely distraught, but together enough to listen when Sam mind-whispers for her to destroy the egg and that gross meat tree. Maryann’s not too happy to have her gifts ruined, and she turns to all of her (so far) faithful black-eyed minions, deciding that all of their slaughter would make up for the fact that there’s no longer an egg or meat tree to offer. Seems a little off balance to me but who am I to judge.

And then appears a beautiful white bull, and Maryann is so verklempt she’s not even prepared when the bull rams a horn right through her. I think I yelped out in glee which is pretty morbid when you think about it, but the lady doesn’t bleed red so I get some leeway here. By this point I’ve guessed what’s really going on so I wasn’t too surprised when the bull transformed back into Sam. I was shocked when he pulls out her heart and squeezes it, effectively rendering her a corpse. I will say Michelle Forbes was fantastic until her final breath and deserves a huge bravo.

THE AFTERMATH
And with that, Bon Temps is saved, and everyone returns to normal (sort of). We learn that Bill planned this all along, promising to save Sam by allowing him to drink his blood and heal him once he “sacrificed” himself. Jason and Andy are trying to deal with the fact that they think they’re heroes but that no one else in the town can remember that fact. And let’s just say that Andy’s taking it a lot worse. Everyone just wants to hang out at Merlotte’s and who can blame them with its ample supply of booze.

There’s a sweet moment between Sookie and Sam when she thanks him for the risk he took and for just being an all around great guy. Sookie also talks with Eggs who turns to her for some help remembering what he’s been up to while  under Maryann’s trance. Waking up with blood on your hands kind of messes with your brain. Not that I know about that or anything. But after he learns what really happened, he sure wishes he didn’t have a clue.

Seeing as he didn’t kill one but three people, he tries to give himself over to Andy (who’s also been returned to full detective status!), and he has the murder weapon in hand. But Eggs is so distraught and crazed, he ends up looking ready to kill Andy instead, and that’s when Jason, after all those war games, finally gets his first kill. Andy, taking in the situation, ends up pushing Jason away and taking the rap for himself. Tara’s beside herself and the entire town is at a loss for words, but we’ll have to wait until next season to see what happens.

And in the biggest reveal of all, Bill, finally, takes his lady out for a beautiful, expensive French dinner and he proposes! Sookie starts crying, sad tears which is never a good sign, and she tells him that figuring out she’s not really human has confused her and that she can’t give him an answer. The proposal and rejection endears me to Bill, but I can’t say when she ran away to freshen up that running mascara that I didn’t hope Eric would pop up. (He doesn’t, and by the way, I don’t condone infidelity unless it has anything to do with Eric.) And when she comes back out of the little girls’ room, Bill is gone. (For everyone who might be a little angry with Bill for just leaving Sookie, know that there’s actually some foul play at hand, and it probably has to do with my new boyfriend Eric.)

ON A SIDENOTE
Jessica and Hoyt seem like they’re on their way to a reconciliation when Hoyt realizes that all the horrible things his mother said about his father were true. Maxine even admits that she wanted to keep Hoyt all to herself because she was afraid of being alone, which doesn’t sit well with a man who was never allowed to really grow up. After that, he’s quick to make up with Jessica, but she’s already out with another man. Unfortunately for the guy, he doesn’t know that she’s a vampire just looking for her next snack. Broken hearts and vamps just don’t go well together. What will Hoyt feel if he ever finds out?

Sadly, we didn’t get enough of Eric this episode. Eric and the Queen played Yahtzee, and we discover that Sophie Ann is the one ordering Eric to supply humans with V. While Bill brought out the boring in Sophie Ann, Eric brought out the wild side. She should show that side more often because Evan Rachel Wood actually kept me very entertained this episode.

And Sam takes a big step by opening up about who he truly is to his adoptive parents. When he first changed into a dog, let’s just say they were mortified, shocked and more than happy to let him run away. He gets a lot of apologies when he returns but not acceptance. Don’t feel bad for Sam because acceptance isn’t what he’s looking for. He actually wants to contact his birth parents, and after all they’ve done to him, his father does get him their information in the end.

WRAP IT UP
Season two of True Blood definitely went by too quickly. I can’t believe not too long ago I was recapping about the Fellowship of the Sun. Doesn’t that feel like a distant memory? We didn’t lose any big players, but I have a feeling that Eggs’s death will really have an impact on Tara next season. And did Eric actually kidnap Bill or did someone else beat him to the punch? Will Sookie get to show Bill that she really does want his engagement ring on her left hand? And Sam’s mom said that his real parents aren’t good people, but I’m less interested in judging them and more interested in finding out who or what they may be.

So after everything is said and done, I’d give this season an A-, but the finale a B. What’d you think of the finale and the rest of season two? Did it live up to your expectations?

Season 2, Episode 12: Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ (originally aired September 13, 2009)

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