Season Four started tonight with an interesting twist….Sookie’s been gone for over a year in fairy land and things are quite different now that she’s back. Apparently, time in fairyland doesn’t equate to time on earth. As we quickly learned when Sookie bumped into her grandfather Earl (played by Gary Cole) and he said he felt like he was there just a few hours. Turns out it was 20 years! Needless to say, that was our first clue that Sookie’s “quick trip” wouldn’t be so quick when she got home. But let’s talk about how she got home. This woman, who I assume is some head fairy lady, is pretty pissed and she wants to start harvesting humans. She’s also not happy that a vampire invaded her realm due to drinking Sookie’s blood. She tries to make Sookie eat the glowing fruit but she refuses. As a result, she zaps the head fairy lady into a tree and turns into some Grimm fairy tale looking creature and the scenery transfer from being sunny and lovely to dark and dreary. My question is, if those are how fairies look, then why didn’t Sookie turn into one of those creatures as well if she is a fairy? Is it because she didn’t eat the glowing fruit? I’m a little confused. But one creature decides to help her as the head fairy lady flings glowing fire balls at her. There is a portal back to the human world and while head fairy lady tries to close it, Sookie jumps in with grand daddy Earl and they zap back to the human world. Because he ate the glowing fruit, he starts to die. He gives Sookie a pocket watch to give to Jason and then passes away, leaving Sookie to break down at her grandmother’s grave.
As she heads to her house, she realizes things are completely different and a contractor threatens to call the police if she doesn’t get off the property. She tells him to go ahead. He does and Jason shows up in full uniform. He hugs Sookie asking her where she has been because he thought she was dead. She tells him but she said she was only gone about 15-2o minutes. She asks what day it is and she wonders what the big deal is because it was only a couple of weeks. He tells her it’s been 13 months. Oops! Jason tells Sookie not to tell anyone about the fairy business because they will through her in the loony bin (he’s right!) She then gives him the pocket watch which you can tell means a great deal to him. We also learn that Jason has sold the house to some people from a company called A.I.K. Sookie goes outside for some air and next thing you know both Bill and Eric arrive sensing that Sookie is back in town. Bill is really happy to see her and is glad she’s ok. Eric also is happy to see her and wants her to know that while everyone in Bon Temps gave up on her, including Bill and Jason, he never did. He NEVER did. Point taken Eric. We get it! He leaves and Andy Bellefleur shows up yelling at Sookie for being gone and taking up lots of time and money from the police station looking for her. We learn that everyone accused Bill of killing her. Bill makes Andy a deal…he’ll reimburse the station for the money they spent looking for Sookie if Andy clears his name. Wouldn’t that naturally happen if Sookie is alive and well? Anyhoo, everyone leaves and Bill and Sookie are left alone. Bill is being very sweet to her but Sookie reminds him that no matter how much time has passed for all of them, for her, only about an hour has gone by since he broke her heart so she is not ready for niceties and such with him yet. He understands and leaves.
What proceeds in the episode, is seeing where everyone is at this point…13 months later. So let’s break it down for all the major characters and storylines:
Bill
Bill is now the King of Louisiana and possibly Mississippi. Say what? You heard me right. Bill is the King. Now I get the impression he is living in Russell’s house so that’s why I’m throwing in the Mississippi part but I’m not 100% sure. We just know that Bill has a lot more power than he used to 13 months ago. When last we left Bill, he was about to have a Kimbo Slice type fight with Queen Sophie Anne. Would it be fair to say he won that fight? Did he kill her? Did he beat her so badly that he made a deal and now he is in charge? Did he marry her like Russell wanted to and they are both in power? I guess we need to wait see what happened as a result of that evening and where the Queen is, if she’s still alive.
Bill also seems to have become a politician in Bon Temps and the people in the community seem very receptive to having him as a political leader. Not sure what’s going on there but I’m curious to know how that came about. He also appears to have started a relationship with Portia Bellefleur (played by Courtney Ford) who is Andy and Terry’s sister. I immediately don’t trust her. I don’t know why. I love Andy and Terry and they are good guys (even though Andy seems to have developed quite an addiction to V) so the Bellefleurs are typically good people. But there is something about her I don’t trust.
Eric/Pam
Eric is his typical hot self and he is working with Nan to try to help restore the reputation of the vampires after Russell destroyed it last year with his stunt of killing the TV anchor live on the air and then threatening to kill every human he sees. God I miss Russell. He was fantastic!!!! Nan had originally enlisted Pam’s help but in typical Pam fashion, she could have cared less. So Eric took over.
It surprises me a bit that Eric and Bill seem relatively civil considering Bill did betray his trust and tried to kill him by burying him in cement along with Russell. So something must have happened there for them to be able to co-exist. I hope they show it. I also can’t understand how Bill would become King before Eric. Isn’t Eric older and therefore more powerful? Again, we need to see the results of that battle with Sophie Anne to figure out what the hell is going on.
The last scene, Eric goes to see Sookie (while she is undressing of course) and tells her that he is the one that bought her house. “Why” she asks. Because he knew she would return and when she did he wanted to own her house so that he could own her. And then he flashed his fangs. What is going on with Eric? I’m not sure why he would want to “own” Sookie but he has to know that a comment like that and a thought process such as that, won’t sit well with Miss Stackhouse!
Hoyt and Jessica
Hoyt and Jessica are living together and are having some growing pains. Hoyt wishes that sometimes she could have dinner ready for him when he got home and she thinks he needs to understand that as a vampire, human food grosses her out and makes her sick. They have a very funny scene about domestic bliss and end up laughing at the ridiculousness of what just went down (culminating with Hoyt eating raw eggs.) It really proves something we all know, whether you watch True Blood or The Vampire Diaries, humans and vampires have a very hard time figuring out how to live their lives together, long-term. Their lives are so different and there are so many obstacles in the way of these couples trying to move their relationships to the next level. I can’t see how it would ever work but these shows keep trying none the less!
At Fangtasia one night, Hoyt and Jessica are there, and Jessica is distracted by a very attractive young man. Pam notices this and decides to have a chat with her to egg things on. She basically tells her that she and Hoyt will never work out and that she should just be living her life the way a vampire should. Jessica resents her suggestion saying she doesn’t want to just have sex and feed off random people all the time. She would rather go home and be with the man she loves. Pam laughs this off. It’s in Jessica’s nature to want to feed and fornicate. And I think Pam sees that at some point, Jessica’s true nature will over take her desire to want to be with Hoyt. I can see Pam becoming a pseudo mentor to Jessica but that will only work if Jessica wants it to and she starts to trust her more. If that happens, that could spell trouble for Hoyt and Jessica.
Lafayette and Jesus
Jesus has been bringing Lafayette to a witch support group where they get together and chant and try to bring back dead birds. They also connect with people from Lafayette’s past to freak him out. This is the storyline I am most curious about right now. What is going on here? Is Lafayette a witch? Is Jesus up to no good here and using Lafayette to achieve some end game? Is it just a man bringing his boyfriend into the loop so he can get to know him better? I have no idea. But something is wacky here. And it’s not just the audience that feels this way.
At the last séance, when the crazy lady was trying to bring back her dead bird and everyone thought she was taking things too far, she yelled at Lafayette to join in. He begrudgingly joined hands and an energy flowed through the circle. The next thing you know, the bird wakes up and starts to fly. As soon as Lafayette drops his hands, the bird drops dead again. Everyone in the circle is dumbfounded as to what just happened. But the head crazy lady seemed to expect this result. This results in Lafayette getting even more freaked out. Me too.
A somewhat interesting twist at the end was that one of the witches (one of the first girls to welcome Lafayette to the group) leaves the dead bird séance and goes right to Bill to have a meeting with him. Hmmmmmmm. I wonder what that is all about. In watching The Vampire Diaries, it seems to be very common for vampires to have a witch on their side or a connection to a witch. So if Bill teams up with this girl, it doesn’t seem all that strange. But I would like to know what Bill is up to.
Tara (Toni?)
So Tara is a cage fighter and a lesbian now? When did that happen? Oh and her name is no longer Tara….it’s Toni. Wow when Tara went to start a new life, she wasn’t kidding. Good for her I guess. If she’s finally happy, it’s about time. And if she continues to be on my screen that short a period of time, even better!
Sam and Tommy
Tommy was allegedly shot by Sam in the leg and now he is hanging out with Hoyt’s mom? Ok. Sam is still angry and is paying for Tommy’s recovery. I have no idea where this story is going and frankly, I don’t care. At least Sam has found some friends he can hang out with…including the DA from The Good Wife and the nurse from HawthoRNe.
Arlene and Terry
Baby Michael is born and apparently likes to pull the heads off of dolls. Arlene was already panic-stricken in regards to Michael since Renee is his biological father and this certainly can’t calm those fears. I hope it turns out the kid is just fine and Arlene is just overly worried for no reason.
Miscellaneous
Jason is still helping the misfits that Crystal asked him to but someone isn’t as happy about it as the children are. I don’t know if Crystal’s boyfriend is back or if it’s someone else, but someone just hit Jason over the head and locked him in a freezer. So that can’t be good for him!
That wraps Season Four, Episode One of True Blood. What did you think? Good season opener? I thought it was. I think there are some good story lines coming this season with lots of questions that need to be answered. I’m still not interested in Sam’s story but I am slightly more curious about how Tara has gotten to where she is. I know the next episode is ready to be viewed on HBO GO, but I’m going to wait until next week to watch Episode Two.
For The Love of TV! 