TRUE BLOOD
Season Two, Episode Seven
"Release Me"
Written by Raelle Tucker
(Warning: Spoilers abound from this point forwards)
Let us all quietly applaud the most accidentally heroic character on the show – none other than Detective Andy! He really is a Cassandra figure. Half the time he notices connections no one else does, is suspicious about those who actually do have secrets, acts in ways to save others. But no one believes him. The fact he’s an obnoxious drunk and sometimes just gets the wrong end of the stick explains why. But as this week’s teaser demonstrated, he also saves the day. I worry about him.
Oh, and aren’t you glad Sam got to clock Daphne as he escaped?
Meanwhile, in the basement of the Fellowship of the Sun, Hugo shows his true colors. Frankly, he’s a creep. Claustrophobic, he doesn’t even make a stab at bravery, spilling all kinds of beans once the ever-slimy Reverend Newlin makes ready to ask. What is really special is the Reverend’s face as he hears Sookie’s last name. The implications frankly seem good and bad. Fundamentally, he opened up and promoted Jason so much without doing a background check of any kind? Anyone chatting up locals in Bon Temps would soon learn who Sookie is, especially in terms of her love life. Plus the rumors of her mind-reading. Okay, stupid is the way most people like their violent fanatics, but in the short run this makes them even more dangerous.
Lorena’s response? “Its true. You’re in love. With a human. That is so tragic, its funny.”
A word that rhymes with glitch comes to mind.
Never.
Back in Bon Temps, Tara wakes up on the couch next to Eggs, with no memory of how they got there – and worried. Mary Anne comes in, looking filthy and happy, with a large dead rabbit in hand. She slept outdoors, she explains. Pretty soon it is clear that none of those “possessed” by Mary Anne the night before remember anything at all. Arlene is worried that maybe she took advantage of Terry while drunk, but cannot remember any details. Later in this same scene Lafayette (now again selling his Vee with great skill) meets Eggs – a hilarious scene, full of omen. Lafayette utters words of wisdom amidst all the witticism and self-justifications, in this case that there’s something dark about Eggs, something attractive and dangerous.
Permit me to strut a few moments. I suspected that Hugo was the traitor. Turns out I was right. When Isabel and Erik do a tiny bit of recon near the Fellowship compound (the millennium-old Viking is vastly unimpressed), Isabel notes no fear from Hugo, save a flash of something (pretty clearly his claustrophobia). Later, Sookie gets a flash from Hugo’s mind and the truth comes out. He is bitter at how addicted he’s become to Isabel, and how she won’t turn him so they can be equals.
I’m impressed by Sookie’s smarts here. She has every reason to come to pieces, not least at how Bill isn’t showing up to rescue her, and finding out her one “ally” in this place is a traitor. Yet she does the gutsy, clever thing – using her powers as never before to broadcast a cry for help to Barry the ex-bellboy. She also uses a term guaranteed to get the attention of vampires other than Bill: The Sheriff is here.
Amidst all this fear and angst, let us also consider a touching love story.
Jessica and Hoyt spend the night cuddling and talking. Amidst all this Hoyt confesses to being a virgin. The dialogue at this point is very funny, showing how Jessica’s mind works. Not least is her outright offer/request to be Hoyt’s first, as he will be hers. But not right this second, because the sun is coming out. She invites him to stay and cuddle but please don’t get too upset is she looks…well…dead.
She wakes the next evening to a room scattered with rose petals and lit with red candles. Hoyt wanted everything to be perfect for her, because she is perfect.
You know, vampire/human love stories nearly always involve male vampires and female humans. How refreshing that dynamic turned around! And for my money, Jessica and Hoyt are way cuter than Bella and Edward, Sookie and Bill, Vicky and Henry, or Roxanne and Barnabas. I love all of those, but these two are cuter and sweeter by far.
And who but Jessica could make the line “Take off your pants” sound almost naïve?
Sam confronts Daphne at the creek where they once swam together. According to her, Mary Anne is a Maened – but has been called Kali and Lilith and many other names. Truly immortal, she says (and evidently believes), handmaiden to a kind of energy known as Dionysus or Satan or something else. Daphne cannot be possessed by Mary Anne, no more than can any supernatural. She worships her through an act of free will, and worship is the operative word here.
Sam is impressed, but not in a good way. Nor does he seem overly pleased to learn Mary Anne wants him because he got away once. His tentative offer to sacrifice himself to save others won’t work, according to Daphne. Mary Anne is having too much fun.
Not good news, any of this.
Nor is it good news when Sarah finds Jason, who is still running and trying to get away from the Fellowship (he still has no idea why Steve wanted him dead, since it evidently had nothing to do with Sarah). Sarah raises a gun and fires it at Jason.
Even less good news is when Mary Anne meets with Daphne, kissing her devoted follower and thanking her for loyal service. A possessed Eggs then stabs Daphne to death with a dagger, as the Maened smiles and looks on.
More not-good news. Gabe, his masculinity challenged by losing in a fight, comes to the cellar to beat Hugo up. Then he decides to rape Sookie.
You’d think this would be enough of a cliffhanger, wouldn’t you? It would be. But something else happens instead. Rather than end on a note of upcoming violence, what we see is another piece of the mystery. Gabe, trying to force himself on Sookie, is suddenly pulled away with vast speed and strength – easier and faster than you or I might pick up a kitten.
Godric makes a re-appearance.
TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE EIGHT
