True Blood Review – “Everything is Broken”
Last week’s episode of True Blood was a bit of a let down considering how many great and/or ridiculous episodes the series had managed to rattle off in a row. In what’s been an otherwise terrific season – already much better than last – last week’s episode was slow and didn’t get into anything really new. That all changed this past week, though, and while we still don’t know exactly who or what Sookie is, True Blood is going in a direction that I didn’t foresee. Russell, ladies and gentlemen, is done screwing around. Keep reading for the full review and, as always, there will be spoilers.
Eric knows he’s in deep trouble after ultimate donkey punching staking Russell’s lover Talbot, so he flies back to Fangtasia to warn Pam about the impending showdown with the Vampire King of Mississippi. However, Nan Flanagan arrives with her silly-looking Authority soldiers, and announces that she’s there to get an official statement from Eric with regard to the disappearance of the magister. You’d think the Authority’s soldiers – who must presumably be vampires themselves – would look a bit more threatening. And what’s with the guns? Pretty useless unless they’re loaded with wooden bullets, which, as we see later on, isn’t such a far-fetched idea. Anyhow, Nan transmits Eric’s statement directly to the headquarters of the Authorty, wherever that may be, and it’s clear that these vamps are well-connected. I’m guessing that we’ll find that vampires are much more controlling and embedded in human civilization than humans have ever conceived. Eric – smartly – comes clean about the magister’s murder by Russell, Russell’s plan to rise to power and destroy humanity, and Eric’s own desire to avenge his family. Nan takes this all under consideration and instructs Eric and Pam that they’re on lockdown until the Authority can render a decision. Fortunately for Eric and Pam, the vampire “government” functions a lot more expeditiously than our own.
Later, Nan returns and informs Eric and Pam that the Authority wants to wash its hands of the whole situation, which is really just a diplomatic, clandestine way of authorizing Eric to dispose of Russell himself. Naturally, Eric is pretty happy about this. Eric versus Russell for the big Season 3 showdown? I’m pumped. But how will Eric defeat a vampire that is three times his age? Russell’s going to be plenty motivated, too, not only by his desire to wipe out humans, but to exact revenge on Eric for his murder of Talbot. Yes, it was disgusting to see Russell writhing in agony in Talbot’s remains, but I also thought it was a pretty powerful scene – losing someone you love is hard enough; losing someone you have loved for hundreds (or thousands?) of years must be beyond painful.
Bill and Sookie are back in relationship mode (for now, I guess), which means that Bill is once allowed to drink Sookie’s sweet, special blood. He does this in a shower scene – Anna Paquin’s boobs! – and we get a nice little Hitchcock homage at the end of the scene as the blood spirals into the shower drain. Sookie later calls Bill out on the chart he was keeping on her and her family – as she should; it’s definitely creepy stalker-esque – but he responds that he needed to know what she was in order to protect her. Of course, Sookie buys this. Whether it’s the truth or not, it’s still pretty lame.
And so, just what is Sookie? True Blood insists on dragging this revelation out, but hopefully we’ll know next week. Sookie’s cousin Hadley knows, Eric knows, and now, thanks to drinking a ton of Sookie’s blood and finding himself in the same metaphysical paradisaical realm in which we saw Sookie and gallivanting beings in white a couple weeks ago, Bill knows.
Speaking of Hadley, she contacts Sookie and asks her to meet her at the local aquarium (how big can a Bon Temps aquarium be?) with her son. Hadley is freaking out because she thinks that if her son is a telepath like Sookie, Queen Sophie-Anne and possibly a whole gaggle of other vampires will come looking for him, what with how valuable telepaths are. Sookie has a telepathic conversation with Hadley’s son, confirming Hadley’s worst fears. She takes her son and leaves the aquarium in a panic. Speaking of telepaths, whatever happened to Barry, the telepath from the vampire hotel last season? I wonder if he’ll be back once it’s revealed what Sookie is.
Jesus and Lafayette continue their romance; the only significant thing stemming from this is that Lafayette’s mother, seeing how happy Jesus makes Lafayette, seems to be cool with her son being gay. There’s definitely a message here (and why not? True Blood was all about allusions from Day One), but this wasn’t nearly as heavy-handed as Arlene confessing to the new Merlotte’s waitress, Holly, that she doesn’t want the baby Rene put inside of her.
As for Hoyt and Jessica, it’s clear that they still have strong feelings for one another, and I don’t know anyone who watches this show that doesn’t want to see the two of them together. What I didn’t like, though, was making Hoyt’s new girlfriend so unbearably annoying. His decision to leave her and be with Jessica should be a little tougher; right now, it’s a no-brainer. Lazy writing, I suppose, but to me, that’s a rarity on this show. It gets a pass.
For whatever reason, Tommy continues to be more and more of a dick, not only to Arlene, Hoyt, and whoever else happens to cross his path, but to his brother Sam, too. Seriously, how are you going to be a dick to Sam? There’s gotta be something going on with Tommy, but he manages to get under Sam’s skin and convince him that he’s been walked on by so many people for a long time. And the thing is, he has a good point. Sam is always putting others before himself – Tara, Sookie, Bill, and Sam’s entire family come to mind – and it was only a matter of time before he snapped. Well, snap he does – when the scummy Calvin barges into Merlotte’s looking for Crystal (who’s with Jason), Sam beats him to a pulp. Oh well.
Speaking of Crystal, despite Calvin abusing her, she accompanies him tot he hospital, telling Jason that Calvin is her kin and all she has. The question remains: what is this family? They’re obviously pretty rare (or endangered?) to be sticking together this long. And speaking of Jason, he had some classic moments this episode. Coming up with probable cause was one, but the best was when he asked Crystal if the guy they tied up needed medical attention. I think I could watch a Jason Stackhouse spinoff comedy show. For real.
Moving on, I guess that bashing a vampire’s head with a mace doesn’t kill it – Franklin came back, crazier than ever. Tara has seemingly become stronger and stronger every episode and refused to back down from him, but luckily for her, Jason was on the scene with a gun loaded with wooden bullets. Suffice to say, Franklin is gone for good. He’ll be missed.
Finally, the show ended with what may be the greatest scene of the season. During a live news broadcast on the issue of vampire rights, Russell appears in the news studio and literally rips out the anchor’s spine. He charmingly explains to America that he is the true face of vampires and that he wants to eat humans and, echoing the great Mike Tyson, their children, too. Russell doesn’t see humans as equals, but then again, why should he? And showing that True Blood always has a sense of humor about itself, Russell ends his diatribe with, “And now for the weather. Tiffany!” Great, great scene, and I’m excited that the show is moving in this direction.
What did you guys think?
I hate that there’s only 3 episodes left!
When they first brought in Russell I was prepared to hate him, he’s creepy in the books too, but he’s grown on me. That last scene is epic!
Great episode but you got the Jessica Hoyt relationship dynamic wrong. Hoyt never gave up on Jessica. She dumped him. As he said himself he is with the midget solely because it beats seating around thinking about Jessica. So it’s up to her to get over her fears and continue with Hoyt. He is ready for a realtionship
You may be right, but he clearly moved on, no?
Anyway, I think we all want them to be together.
Who is Pam going to “make,” by the way? Lafayette?
I’ve been reading your site now for over a year. It’s wonderful and I just want to start by saying cheers. The whole reason I began watching True Blood, my now favorite show, was because of the positive reviews you guys kept throwing up here every week. Anyway, I agree that this season is already much better than the last. The whole Mary-Anne story line wasn’t so interesting that a whole season be devoted to seeing it come to fruition, in my opinion. I really want to see way more Sookie/Eric sexual tension. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’m just not a fan of Bill.
On the aquarium: I think it was in Monroe or maybe Ruston. Either way, it definitely wasn’t in Bontemp.
On Sookie: Would her being a fairy or something of that nature be too far out of the question? It doesn’t really explain the hand-light power or her ability to read minds, but those scenes in that ethereal world of hers screams fairy to me.
On Crystal: Because Sam and Tommy were so piqued by her family’s visit to Sam’s bar, maybe they are some sort of shifter, too. It would explain Sam’s almost instinctual hostility and ability to smell something strange about them. Also, when Crystal tied up her fiance this week, she tied him up like an animal. I don’t know, maybe some kind of were-animal?
Thanks for clearing up the aquarium situation. That males more sense.
Maybe Sookie is a fairy, maybe she’s a goddess…I don’t know. I think we’ll find out real soon.
I definitely think Crystal and her family are shifters, especially considering their reaction to Sam and Tommy and how they came into the bar sniffing around for Crystal’s scent. Definitely were-animals of some sort, I agree.
Thanks for reading!
AND DEAR GOD IT WOULD BE AWESOME IF PAM MADE LAFAYETTE INTO A VAMPIRE.
Yes, the aquarium was said to be in Monroe. But, that was odd because I live in Monroe and there is not one here. They hit the nail on the head a couple of weeks ago though, with mentioning the dogfighting in Union Parish.
I think I would be a bit sad if Lafayette was made a vampire. I like the fact that there are characters on the show that are with out powers. (Unless you count that Lafayette is Super-Gay. Fabulous is a power right?) He is one of my favourite characters on the show, and I don’t think that him becoming a vampire would add a lot to the character, and actually hurt his character. Especially if you view the “Vampire Rights = Gay Rights” issue that is very easy to read into the show I think Lafayette serves as a good counter to that. Especially when you consider how little regard is given towards his sexuality as being an issue that effects how people respond to him. Outside of his mother, no one seems to bat much of an eye at the issue of his sexuality.
I loved the final scene of the episode. It was classic. However, my favourite Russel scene was actually him holding and talking to the jar of Talbot. I think it is interesting how the typically calm and reserved Russel went completely off the rails in this episode.
That’s a good point, and I don’t want too many supernaturals running around. Still, Lafayette does have a connection to Pam and Eric. It could go either way, I guess.
And Russell was this episode’s MVP by a lot. He may be the season’s MVP.
Is Alcide done for the season? I sure hope not…
I thought it was pretty sweet that Eric cares so much for Pam…he rarely shows it, but when he does it sure is amazing. And I found it unsettling how Tommy was almost smiling as Sam went to down on Crystal’s dad. Super weird.
For some reason I kept thinking Franklin was just in her imagination and even after Jason shot him, I was still waiting for him to come back. It just feels weird with him gone so suddenly.
I wish they didn’t kill off Franklin Mott so quickly. He still shows up in the books. Then Mickey. Whose probably worse.
And good God, I wish they would just tell everybody what Sookie is already! They are really dragging it out, and it’s really grating on my nerves.
(Also, I can’t wait ’til they get to Mr. Cataliades and Diantha. Even though that’s about…three seasons away.)
Crystal and her family i believe are jackals. Eric made mention of them briefly during his statement to the AVL. Can anyone verify this?
@candee well in the books franklin wasn’t horrible to tara–he bought her a lot of stuff and basically made her a kept woman. but then he gave her to mickey, who acted like they portrayed franklin in the show. i think the writers didn’t have time to make tara develop a relationship with two vampires and instead just turned franklin into mickey.
and re cataliades–it seems like they’re jumping around and just pulling the best stuff from all the books to combine it in the show. doesn’t matter on the order. like the events with bill being taken happen in book…3 i think, but they don’t find out what sookie is until a much later book, and the stuff with hadley’s kid happens in the second to last book thats out right now. who knows–they might make the events with cataliades happen in a much earlier season too *shrug*
i’m personally interested in seeing what they do with eric/sookie now that bill and her are back together…
I have to watch the scene again, but did anyone notice when Nan told Eric to take care of Russell that Eric mentioned that Russell was three times his age but he also said something to Nan like “let me have it” in reference to something that would help him defeat Russell….
Could this be some sort of weapon or maybe the authority has a limited supply of blood from an older vampire? Has it been discussed if drinking from an older vampire makes a younger vampire stronger like it does with humans?
@ turtle – Crystal and her family (and the entire community of Hotshot) are Were-panthers, and there’s a lot of inbreeding too…was kinda hoping they would have some of that in the show…they still could, it’s still early.
I want Mr. Cataliades too! and Claude…just to see their interpretation of ‘gorgeous beyond gorgeous’ (which they constantly mention)
@ Jorge – Eric asks “What resources are you going to give me” to Pam, he does not ask for a specific thing.
This season rocks! I’ve been thinking that perhaps Lafayette may be a “witch.” The Shrine in his house appeared for the first time this season.
I have also been wondering about Barry from the last season. I wonder what happened to him.
@ Carmen, I remember that part of the scene, but what I am referencing is after she denies him any resources he kind of just blurts out “let me have it” as she is walking away.
I’ll watch it again tonight.
Awesome awesome episode! The ending was amazing.
@ Jorge, I just re-watched that part. Eric goes like “What resources are you going to give me?” and Nan goes “None. You can’t have it.”
I’m curious as to what ‘it’ is.