Cinema Suicide

It’s been two long weeks since the last True Blood and the wait was worth it. True Blood, in less than two seasons has managed to outperform HBO’s previous juggernaut, The Sopranos, which should come as no surprise. A shameless celebration of trashy romance novel-grade sex and the undead nightlife is a sure winner for any occasion. As usual with these True Blood recaps, be aware that this is, essentially, me telling you in explicit detail, what happened on Sunday’s episode. So if you’re not caught up and you’re the kind of person who can’t stand spoilers, you should probably go elsewhere. For those of you with a deep hunger for trashy vampire sex and politics, read on past the break for this week’s episode of True Blood: Shake and Finger Pop.

So what’s everyone been up to?

Jason is still up to his ass in religious zealotry and in spite of his near complete ignorance of scripture, he manages to rise to the top of the ranks at the Fellowship of the Sun retreat, where Steve Newlin declares Jason a member of their elite Soldiers of the Sun. This means he moves in with Steve and his wife Sarah who generates nothing but sexual tension between her and Jason. While talking about Jesus over a couple of beers and barbecue, Jason resorts to typical Jason behavior and finds himself completely absorbed in a hot Sarah Newlin seduction number set to the most grating country music you’ve ever heard.

Meanwhile, Bill, Sookie and Jessica depart for Dallas to begin the search for the missing Godrick. As soon as she’s off the plane, an abduction attempt is made on Sookie, which causes Bill to smash out of his coffin and overpower the kidnapper. En route to their vampire friendly hotel, Bill takes the opportunity to let Jessica hone her powers of glamour on the kidnapper in an attempt to glean a little information. What is discovered is that he was sent by the Fellowship of the Sun to kidnap Sookie, but little else is learned.Right before the episode fades to black, a “blood donor” is delivered to Jessica on room service and Sookie meets a bellhop who can also hear people’s thoughts.

Sam and new waitress, Daphne, seem to hit it off while swimming nekkid and a romantic angle is established. As Daphne gets out of the water, Sam, notices the absolutely enormous scratch scars on her back. It’s unclear if he still plans to skip out on Bon Temps. Daphne manages to soften Sam while at Tara’s birthday party.

Tara is leaving Maryann’s, finally, and, on her birthday, moves into Sookie’s place. It also happens to be the day Sookie is departing for Dallas so she’ll spend her birthday alone, or so it seems. She is ambushed by Maryann, her manservant and Eggs and a huge birthday party erupts in particularly Maryann fashion. There’s plenty of grinding bodyparts and a gradual undressing of the people at the party but Maryann uses her powers, whatever they may actually be, to influence everyone and the scene comes apart at the seems as everyone gorges on everything in sight, some people collapsing into the dirt and acting like animals. Tara and Eggs also get on down, if you get my drift.

Detective Bellefleur, unable to maintain his drinking, loses his badge, but persues the case on his own, attending Maryann’s party. Meanwhile, Lafayette, on the road to a horrifically infected bullet wound in the leg is approached by Eric, who offers his blood to heal him in order to cut a deal that keeps him closer to Sookie. Moments later, the healing effect of Eric’s blood has Lafayette grinding on the air and dry humping the furniture.

The episode strikes a nice balance between the inherent carnal aspects of the show and the progression of the plot, something that season 1 had difficulties with from episode to episode. But it also starts to build on the world that True Blood lives in. Before, we only had the overgrown small town setting of Bon Temps, but a trip to Dallas reveals that an entire specialty economy outside of the fictional True Blood product has sprung up to serve the undead demographic. Vampires have their own airline, a hotel specifically designed for them and vampire porn (I’m pretty sure that Intercourse With The Vampire is a real porno). Jessica is also becoming one of the more fun characters on the show, a character I was certain was going to get old had they left her as is at the season finale of season 1. On the whole, True Blood: Shake and Finger Pop was definitely worth the wait.