True Blood Review: Something To Sink Your Teeth Into

The third season of True Blood is officially off to a rollicking start as the frantic pace of last week’s premiere showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, Sunday night’s sophomore installment kept the brisk bedlam so remarkably intact, it seems things may even be speeding up towards further frenzy. Episode two proved to be another jam-packed, frenetic freak show of cheeky hilarity and grisly discord. Bursting at the seams with the show’s signature technique of implementing endless exposition, the methodical madness clearly seems designed to set up what looks to be a potentially groundbreaking season.

To wit, Alan Ball and his writing team seem hell-bent on introducing as many new characters and plot developments as possible, taking the show to creatively dizzying heights. One hour almost doesn’t seem to be enough time to properly exhibit the amount of pure showmanship True Blood manages to divulge in each episode. The harried structure of every scene transition has given me, as a loyal viewer, the constant feeling of trying to catch up with each storyline as they whoosh by with the focused speed of a Bon Temps vampire – leaving only a faint, blurred streak of evidence they ever existed, but also an undeniable, robust curiosity as to what just happened, and what could possibly be coming next.

Sunday night’s festivities begin with a rejuvenated Bill wreaking single-handed havoc on the team of strung out werewolves who had abducted him hours earlier. Bill’s quest for both vengeance and a justifiable display of unadulterated machismo come to a head as he uses his fangs to rip off the ear of one of his lycan abductors. The victim, along with most of his cronies, is back to human form, naked and writhing on the ground in agony.

“You’re next,” growls Bill to the remaining lone wolf of the bunch, the wild-eyed, assumed leader of the pack. Before further species-transcending testosterone can be demonstrated between Bill and his hairy, teeth-baring opponent, a regal-looking fellow trots into frame atop a majestic white horse and interrupts the carnage.

“Your majesty,” Bill exclaims with surprise, letting the audience know the impromptu visitor is undoubtedly an important figure we’ll need to remember. The mystery dignitary surveys the scene and chides the chief wolfman for letting the situation devolve to such extremes.

“I said escort him, not hunt him like an animal,” the visitor clucks with disapproval. Bill’s subsequent facial expression, as does mine, illustrates an understandable “?!?” upon this revelation. We learn the party crasher is none other than Russell Edgington, Vampire King of Mississippi (Denis O’Hare), and he’s pretty desperate for a chat with Bill. So desperate, in fact, he had enlisted the help of the maniacal werewolves to bring Bill over to his palace for an explanatory dinner. Realizing this strategy hadn’t exactly worked out according to plan, the King curtly scolds Bill’s nemesis, apparently named Cooter (yes, really), for both crudely feeding off of Bill and resorting to such carelessly violent tactics without managing to complete the assignment. Both King Russell and Cooter (yup, still funny) are surely going to be seen on a regular basis, thus bringing this episode’s New Important Character count to a total of two so far – and we haven’t even reached the opening credits yet. I can already tell I’m lagging behind! Let’s get down to business.

Back in Bon Temps, Lafayette proves himself Best Cousin Ever as he forces his fingers down a grief-stricken Tara’s throat, attempting to rid her of the couple dozen or so pills she impulsively swallowed. Tara’s well-meaning but criminally ignorant mother warns her she could “go to hell for this,” causing an increasingly exasperated Lafayette to inform Mom she’s lucky Tara hadn’t offed herself earlier, considering the exemplary parenting skills she was raised with (zing!), and whisks Tara off to the ER.

Still frantically searching for the missing Bill, Sookie has again sought the advice of Eric upon her discovery that werewolves are responsible for the abduction. When she inquires about the puzzling symbol branded on one of the kidnappers’ necks and its Nazi connotations, Eric says he’s never seen it before and warns Sookie about the dangers of the crew she’s investigating. “They’re territorial, vicious, pathologically secretive,” he declares, causing Sookie to rightfully point out the existence of the same characteristics in certain other creatures of the night. Sensing tension in the room, an intuitive Pam (a delightfully deadpan Kristin Bauer) asks Jessica to follow her to the ladies’ room so they can “stare at [themselves] in the mirror.”

Jessica uses this as an opportunity to ask for Pam’s advice about the trucker she accidentally killed and the subsequent pesky corpse rapidly decaying on her property. When Pam tells Jessica she can listen to a human’s slowing heartbeat as a feeding gauge, Jessica admits she doesn’t think she’s able to stop– even if she knows her victim is dying. “I think about crying children with soggy diapers,” offers Pam. “Also, maggots.” Well. That oughta do it.

As for Sookie, her level of anxiety over Bill’s abduction and the revelation about werewolves’ involvement bring her to tears in front of an uncomfortable Eric. “Please don’t do that,” he implores. “It makes me feel disturbingly human.” Hee. This statement cues one of two incredibly revealing flashbacks, the first of which shows Eric and Godric, his ill-fated maker, as S.S. militia in wartime Nazi Germany. Whoa. The two encounter a female werewolf, who has just fatally mauled an American soldier, and confront her. Even though she insists they’re “on the same side,” Eric spies the same puzzling symbol on her neck that Sookie had asked about, and declares, “No, we’re not.” Clearly, this symbol signifies a particular strain of werewolf set apart from their assumedly less-threatening counterparts, and Eric doesn’t want Sookie to know the gory details about their existence and his obviously thorough knowledge concerning, well, all of it.

Once again, Sam Merlotte and his quest for identity nearly became an afterthought until he pops up on screen just in time to let us know he’s still on the search for his birth parents. Last week, after discovering Tommy (Prison Break’s Marshall Allman), a younger brother he never knew he had, Sam had followed him home in the hopes of discovering where his shape-shifting ability may derive from. Instead of knocking on the door, however, he slept outside in his truck and was abruptly awakened by a furious Tommy, demanding to know what he’s up to. Finally, Sam gets his chance to go inside and confront his real parents for the first time, who have kept fellow shifter Tommy in the dark about his existence. Turns out, Dad is a regular joe but knows what’s going on, Mom can shape-shift, and they both look like they belong in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or Deliverance. You get the idea. Tommy is immediately resentful of Sam’s thunder-stealing visit and faux-charms him into going for a cathartic run as their canine alter egos. The joyous romp ends with Tommy’s blatant attempt to get Sam run over by a truck. Basically, Tommy’s a brat with a serious case of Only Child Syndrome.

Moving right along, Merlotte’s clueless sous chef, Terry Bellefleur, helps Sookie track down a werewolf attempting to harass her outside the restaurant. Genuinely spooked, Terry gives Sookie a gun for protection, sweetly saying, “I’d miss you if you got killed.” Poor Terry will probably be the last to find out Arlene is carrying his baby, but his prospects as a future father look endearingly bright as he tells Arlene she should trust him with her tweenage kids because he has “a diploma from anger management” and once nurtured a baby armadillo back to life. Despite these adorable anecdotes, Arlene still can’t fess up.

Meanwhile, the ever-fantastic Lafayette bypasses the hospital and instead opts to take Tara on an educational visit to see his mother – a spiteful, bigoted loony bin resident played by the magnificent Alfre Woodard. Aside from the brilliant casting, this scene provides some serious character development as the audience begins to learn more about the Thornton/Reynolds history of mental instability. Lafayette’s intentions are to show Tara that they need to stick together and keep their lives in order if they want any hope of avoiding the pattern of psychological turmoil in their family. Tara gets his point, and is also humbled when Lafayette reveals he deals drugs to pay for his mother’s stay in the clinic. This is the first scene in the episode that takes its time to really begin giving true depth to a character who could have turned out as one-note comic relief. Lafayette (along with Nelsan Ellis’ riveting portrayal) is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters and I find his developing storyline one of the more emotionally resonant aspects of the entire show.

Making sure not to completely abandon the campy froth that also makes True Blood such a guilty pleasure, we’re next given an update on Bill and his forced visit to King Russell’s brazenly ornate palace. Attempting to woo him with a hilariously decadent, multi-course blood “dinner” consisting of such delicacies as blood bisque infused with rose petals and blood sorbet for dessert, Russell reveals his master plan. He tells Bill he wants him to become Vampire Sheriff of Louisiana, and asks him to help arrange an impending marriage to Queen Sophie-Anne. Taken aback, Bill tells Russell he’s “got the wrong vampire,” and that living a less-publicized life in Bon Temps is how he imagined spending the rest of eternity. Russell, however, is intent on marrying Sophie-Anne to expand his reign and wants Bill to be a right hand man of sorts to help him reach his goal. When Bill tells Russell he can’t accept his offer to become sheriff or help him convince Sophie-Anne to agree to the marriage, Russell begins to show his true colors and threatens Sookie’s well being if Bill doesn’t comply.

Elsewhere, Jason and Andy continue solidifying their unexpected friendship as Jason still battles ongoing guilt over the murder of Eggs, and Andy gives him a series of pep talks. One in particular consists of telling Jason he needs to “apply himself” in life because he’s “prettier than most girls” and has too much potential to throw everything away by turning himself in. I’ll agree Jason does make for rather shameless eye candy, but as far as “potential,” he’ll only get by on his looks for so long. Jason still has trouble coping and ends up getting so drunk Andy won’t let him drive home and has him tag along to a meth lab bust outside of town. Jason doesn’t stay in the car where he belongs, of course, and ends up following the mysterious Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher, apparently promoted to series regular) into the woods and nabs himself a tweaker to boot.

After a mysterious glimpse of an unknown trespasser sifting through Bill’s desk (finding an interesting case file on Sookie and the Stackhouse family tree – hmm), Jessica’s dilemma with the trucker reaches an all-time high as she comes home with the chainsaw she just rented (with cash from the trucker’s wallet, yeesh) to dismember him and discovers that the body is gone. Uh oh. Whether or not we’ll find out the identity of the snooper in the next episode or the season finale, I definitely think the same person who looked through Bill’s stash also rid Jessica and the house of her victim’s body.

Eric, defying his usual arrogance, next confronts Sookie to confess he had lied to her about his knowledge of the werewolf symbol and his connection to its roots (he even admits he “owes” Sookie the truth considering her past assistance to him). Cue Nazi flashback number two, which leaves off with Eric and Godric in Germany during WWII in conflict with the lady werewolf they just encountered. After spying the symbol in question branded on her neck, Eric lets her feed off of him in exchange for the identity of her master. Godric isn’t having any of this, however, and kills her before she can respond, citing an adherence to vampire integrity as his priority over pertinent information. “A vampire is never at the mercy of his emotions. He dominates them,” he declares to a sheepish Eric. To sum it up for Sookie (and us), Eric simply says, “These are not ordinary werewolves.” No kidding.

Tara has gone back to work at Merlotte’s in a limp attempt to maintain some sense of normality, but tells her only customer she’s not particularly invested in serving anyone this evening. The customer is a visiting vampire named Franklin Mott (The Tudors’ James Frain) and judging from the lingered camera shot on his familiar-looking cowboy boots, I’m guessing he’s the Compton house intruder from earlier. Despite Tara’s initial disinterest, the two have a pretty intense moment minutes later as they tag team a couple of rednecks giving Tara a hard time about the murder of Eggs.

Finally, back on Sookie’s porch, Eric is trying to convince Sookie to invite him in so they can either talk about the Nazi werewolf situation or “have passionate, primal sex” – the man gets straight to the point, I must say. The unglamourable Sookie finally agrees when she and Eric hear a suspicious noise coming from inside the house and Eric demands to be let in to investigate. Upon entering the house, both his fangs and ferocity immediately emerge as a bloodthirsty werewolf is discovered roaming the living room. Just as the intruder is prime to pounce on Eric, Sookie fires Terry’s gun in its general direction – see, Arlene, he is a thoughtful protector! Cut to black.

While this episode primarily served as a shameless set-up to introduce the community of new characters entering Bon Temps, I remain relatively unfazed by the whirlwind structure of the show and its harried attempt to squeeze in as much story as possible. Perhaps once introductions have settled and the viewers are more comfortable with the new characters and plot lines, the overall demeanor will quiet down and there will be a bit more breathing room to focus on the primary situations. Personally, I enjoy the comic relief provided by Jessica’s constant learning curve and Jason’s continuous, dopey haplessness (his inquiry into the existence of Santa upon learning that werewolves have arrived was a high point, humor wise), but I’m ready to sink my teeth into the real problems at hand.

For another opinion on this episode, check out When Werewolves Attack! by Bilal Mian.

Season 3, Episode 2: Beautifully Broken (originally aired June 20, 2010)

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Sundays at 9pm on HBO

Photographs courtesy of HBO and IMDbPro