True Blood Review – “Trouble”

Personally, I think that the past two episodes of True Blood have been the best of the season.  Like it did in Season One, the show is finally hitting its stride after a few episodes or so, putting characters in interesting and, most importantly, unpredictable situations.  Bill’s motives are unclear as they’ve ever been, Franklin has proven himself to be absolutely insane, the relationship between the werewolves and vampires goes back farther than initially suggested, and Jason is pining with a new girl who has got to be supernatural.  Keep reading for the full review and, as always, there will be spoilers.

You can read a review of last week’s episode HERE.

Franklin shows up at King Russell’s mansion in Jackson, Mississippi with the dirt he went to Bon Temps to find and a kidnapped, terrified Tara. It’s clear that Talbot and Franklin aren’t big fans of one another, but before insults turn into a full-on vampire fight, Russell, Lorena, and Bill return home, covered with the stripper’s blood on which they dined last week.  Tara begs Bill to intervene and save her from Franklin, but Bill is in bloodthirsty bad ass mode now (which is totally better than his “Sooooookieeeehhhh” mode) and refuses.  Tara is stuck with the insane Franklin and is rightfully terrified.  Franklin has definitely grown on me as a character, what with his Gollum-esque bipolarity.  One second, he’s charming and affectionate with Tara; the next, he’s grabbing her throat and baring his fangs.  Just what is his deal?  I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.  Based on Talbot’s reaction to his presence, perhaps he was an ex-lover of Russell’s?  Yes, that would make him gay or bi, but as I’ll point out below, I’m not quite sure those labels apply to vamps.

Later on, Eric arrives at Russell’s mansion, looking for Bill, and is repeatedly eye-f*cked by Talbot.  The thing is, Eric seems to enjoy the attention and does his best to return the gawking.  So, was Eric flirting with Talbot as part of a larger scheme to get information or get in good with Russell, or are the older vampires like the Anne Rice vampires in that sexuality is a mortal concept and kind of goes out the window after hundreds of years of immortality?  I think it’s the former – especially from what we’ve seen of Eric – but neither option would surprise me.  Anyway, Eric eventually meets up with Russell and almost immediately, Bill rats him out for selling V on behalf of Queen Sophie Anne.  Eric confesses to Russell and explains that the Magister has threatened to kill his Eric’s progeny, Pam.  Russell understandable despises the Magister and so he invites commands Eric to stay at his mansion, undoubtedly to buy time to cook up a scheme to either foil the Magister’s plans, throw Sophie Anne under the bus, or both.  Significantly, Bill informs Eric that Sookie is no longer his.

Earlier, when Talbot is showing Eric around the mansion, they come upon an old viking crown.  This triggers a flashback scene in which we learn that the crown belonged to Eric’s father, a viking king.  Now, I thought last season’s flashback scene where Eric first met Godric was one of the best of the series, but this one felt very contrived and forced.  I felt it was a hasty way to retcon Eric’s origin; his character was already developed to a point where we knew what he was and how he turned into who he is now; making werewolves responsible for the death of his family does nothing but serve as a convenient way to get him emotionally involved in the dealings of this season.  The characters should drive the story, not vice versa, and I think that True Blood had remained true to that axiom until now.  It’s a shame, really, and this scene was, I thought, the worst of the season.  Totally unnecessary.  But oh well.

Speaking of Sookie, she’s still running around with the werewolf Alcide.  After fighting with his ex-girlfriend Debbie, Alcide tells Sookie that he has to see his pack leader, the alpha male, and tell him about how werewolves are serving Russell in exchange for being fueled by his blood.  Being the manipulative little telepath that she is, Sookie convinces Alcide to bring her with him.  The pack leader, it turns out, is secretly terrified of Russell and thus believes it’s best to let things continue without interfering.  I liked how the pack leader used terms like “obey” to keep Alcide in check; the subculture of werewolves definitely has a canine/lupine quality to it all.

Back at Russell’s mansion, Tara manages to escape from Franklin, but she’s quickly chased down and captured on the mansion’s giant front lawn by Coot in his wolf form.  I have to say, Rutina Wesley (the actress that plays Tara) can RUN.  There was no faking how fast she was going; I was impressed.  Once Tara is returned to Franklin, he reveals what he’s been planning – to turn Tara into his vampire bride.  I, for one, would love to see this happen.  Meanwhile, Russell presents Bill with the Stackhouse genealogy chart Franklin obtained from Bill’s home in Bon Temps.  Russell’s theory – which Bill denies – is that Bill is investigating the origins of telepathy.  Was Bill playing Sookie this entire time?  Or was he originally interested in telepathy and then later fell in love with Sookie?  It seems hard to believe he would risk his life and status on many occasions if he didn’t genuinely care for Sookie.

Back in Bon Temps, Sam helps him deadbeat family move into a trailer while across the way, Terry moves in with Arlene.  Great performance by Todd Lowe (Terry) in this episode.  Sam’s father is still a royal pain in the ass, but it’s clear that there’s something more to the relationship between Sam’s dad and Sam’s brother than meets the eye.  I’m guessing it’ll be more than a molestation after school special type of thing, because Sam’s brother seems like he can take care of himself for the most part.  So there’s that.

Lafayette has a love interest in his mother’s nurse, Jesus, and I’m curious to see if this will end up being a salvation motif.  Regardless, the scene between Lafayette and Jesus was incredibly well done, and it was cool to see Lafayette off his game for once.  This is a guy who can look a vampire in the eye and call her “hooker,” so his being flustered in the presence of another dude is certainly noteworthy.

Jason, too, has a love interest – the mysterious woman he saw the night after he tackled the criminal to the ground.  It turns out her name is Crystal and there’s something very special about her.  Maybe she’s a pixie or a fairy or something like that, but there’s a connection between her and Jason that seems irresistible.  Even more puzzling, Crystal insists that their time together can only happen “now,” and not at anytime in the future.  I theorized a couple weeks ago (or last week?) that Sookie draws men to her because of whatever she is and that since Jason is her brother, perhaps he’s got a similar type of magnetism.  Could it be that Crystal, like Sookie and Jason, has that same magnetism, and that her being with Jason is somehow forbidden?  Just a guess, so we’ll see.

Finally, at the episode’s climax, and after Bill had beaten the crap out of Coot for taunting, he appears at Alcide’s apartment to warn Sookie of impending danger.  Again, I have no idea what his motives are.  Russell and his cronies show up and in the midst of all the chaos, Sookie emits that same bright light that she did last season when confronted by Maryann.  Obviously, she’s much more than a telepath.

Overall, very solid episode that went a long way in setting up the rest of the season.  What did you guys think?