True Blood Review: Snooki, I mean Sookie Gets A New Roomie

This is definitely one of the episodes that I’d been waiting for since the creation of True Blood, seeing amnesia Eric alive on the screen. Alexander Skarsgård nails it, being able to transform his character into a confused, vulnerable, and uncertain of everything around him – except Snooki, I mean Sookie that is.

When we last left Mr. Northman, Marnie had just done her hocus pocus on him and Sookie comes upon the Viking walking along the road without his shirt. He’s disoriented and wonders why she smells so good. They pick up the conversation and Sookie finds herself talking to a very childlike Eric instead of the normally smooth-talking and self-assured vampire she’s come to know. She ends up helping him against her better judgment, as Eric is clearly not himself at the moment. He agrees to not touch her and not bite her as a condition (but we’ll see how long that will last Sook, you know you can’t resist him!).

Sookie is still trying to get rid of Eric first by asking Pam to take him but of course the other vampire has better sense and tries to appeal to Sookie’s compassion that Eric would be in greater danger if he went back with her to Fangtasia. Pam brings up some good points: the witches would come looking for him first at Fangtasia plus no one can know that Eric is with her because Bill would use it as an excuse to kill the sheriff. Sookie agrees but what does she do the next day? Go and see Alcide Herveaux to try and get him to take Eric instead. Geez louise. So much for keeping promises. Here comes another surprise, Debbie Pelt is back! But she’s clean and sober and back with Alcide. I kind of liked V addicted Debbie more; she was loud, angry and fun.

We get to see different sides of Bill in this episode as well. It was nice to see the “old” Bill so to speak as he offers some fatherly advice to Jessica who’s stopped by after feeding on a man in Fangtasia. It’s a tender moment between maker and progeny where Jessica grasps onto Bill’s arm like she would her real father. He tells her that she needs to tell Hoyt the truth and to explain why she did it. Bill contemplates his own words of how much it would hurt if he heard it from someone else. At the end of that scene though we hear the screams of the vampire who’s being given the “true death” (he had been caught on camera feeding on a human and then it was uploaded to YouTube). No one seems to be paying him any attention.

Bill also picks up intimate relations will Portia Bellefleur. I like her, she’s straight to the point, knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for what she wants. Portia obviously inherited the good genes in the Bellefleur family. Though if you read the books there’s a little tidbit in there that makes this a wee bit disturbing. But for now I’ll pretend that isn’t the case and assume that True Blood isn’t following that particular storyline.

Lafayette especially is still scared out of his mind by Eric’s visit to the Moon Goddess Emporium. He decides to go to Fangtasia and ask for mercy despite Jesus and Tara’s protests. There Pam is all sorts of angry when Tara points a gun at her saying that they can give her the witch that will un do the spell on Eric. Pam gives them twenty-four hours to deliver Marnie.

Back to Jessica and Hoyt, when Jess gets home Hoyt is holding on to this super creepy dirty bald doll that keeps re-appearing in their house even after they’d tried to get rid of it numerous times. It’s extra creepy because we learn that Maxine Fortenberry collects dolls and so could she have placed some cursed Chucky on the unsuspecting couple? Jess decides to give the crazy toy to little Mikey as a gift, which the baby appears to love. Things also take an unexpected turn as Jess glamours Hoyt into forgetting that she fed on someone else. That can’t be good.

The Mickens brothers once again have another spat in their differing opinions on swindling. Tommy is all for stealing money from Maxine while Sam is on the opposite end saying are you nuts? Why would you steal from someone who’s been taking care of you? I am surprised that Tommy would even tell Sam anything in the first place. They’ve been working on trusting each other more but come on, he’s got to know that his older brother isn’t going to go for that. Sam also could have rationalized it more rather than just yelling at Tommy to tell Maxine or else, then listen to Tommy’s “I hate you Sam Merlotte!” emo whining.

Jason is still tied up at Hotshot where he’s in the beginning of his conversion into a were panther. We get to see more of the Hotshot community and how isolated and uncivilized they are. For all the virility that Jason’s displayed in the last three seasons, it’s ironic that now he’s being forced to have sex against his will by a fanatical group (he seems to keep getting himself mixed up with crazy folks). Crystal gets him to take Viagra and then while he’s in a haze from fever has sex with him with the rest of the Hotshot women in the room watching. It sort of makes me wonder if the rest of them are going to have sex with him too. Poor Jason, he’s become the male stud being kept for breeding.

The best part of the episode really has to be Skarsgård’s performance as amnesia Eric. He keeps apologizing for everything and even when he is unable to stop himself from feeding on Claudine and killing her, all he can do after is look like a kid who’s gotten into trouble and apologize. Claudine had appeared in front of Sookie’s house, commanding her to come back to Faery with her. Despite Sookie’s anger at Eric killing her fairy godmother, problem solved!

I’m looking forward to seeing this new Eric as audiences are finally able to see the vampire without the politics. He is the way he is because he’s had to survive the last thousand years. To see him so protective of Sookie even when he doesn’t know her is touching and shows his true feelings towards her, or at least I hope so. Even while normal Eric is manipulative, deep down he has genuine feelings and here’s to seeing more of that this season.

True Blood Season 4 Episode 3: If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’? (Originally aired July 10, 2011)

Photos Courtesy of HBO