I Found You
True Blood, episode 702
Yeah …
Okay, let’s get the elephant out of the room first. That opening scene.
Jason is having an erotic dream about Eric. Six months and multiple Violet blood exchanges later, but whatever, show …
You know, for the dude who stacks new TV on top of the old TV in his living room, Jason’s got some extensive subconscious knowledge of fine Spanish living. Or, at least, according to the interviews, that’s where that posh B&B-looking place was. What was that place?! WHY was that place? And why is Eric impersonating a bartender there? Never mind, not like these dreams have meaning anymore. Once upon a time, some seasons ago, sure … but now?
Holy queer-bating, Batman! People have had very different reactions to this scene. Some saw it as groundbreaking, the best thing ever, sexy. Some recognized it as pure fan service. Some cringed … I found it ridiculous and, frankly, insulting.
The whole thing played like a Telenovella. With exaggerated looks, strained dialog, and over-the-top action sequence. And while it’s firmly lodged in the realm of the hilarious, the insulting part is what kills any laughs for me.
For the show that has genuine homosexual and bi-sexual characters who never get real love scenes (and often, real storylines) to turn around and do this? Lafayette is stagnating in Lettie-Mae storyline hell, Tara’s dead, and Pam is … what is she, really? An Eric-shaped concern piece that follows his shadow. As someone noted, Pam is one of the few non-straight female characters ever to consistently fail the Bechdel test. Sigh.
But by all means, lets give two dudes -- one of whom is firmly heterosexual -- who, notably, DON’T have an actual relationship on the show save for a few run-ins, a protracted sex scene. As fan services go, this doesn’t work either.
I am not necessarily against the notion of fan service. Rewarding fans is not a bad thing. But rewarding doesn’t equal attempts at pandering to what the writers perceive as the lowest common denominator. This was right down there with the burning penis shots of last season finale. You know, for the “womensez and the geyz.” Thanks for the gift, Buckner. Now, where can I return it?
Parsing that scene for some kind of meaning wasn’t easy. If there was a grain of something, anything, it came in the form of this:
Eric: “What about Violet?”
Jason (with some hesitation): “I love her.”
Is this Jason’s subconscious coming through? Because he is reassuring himself here, talking himself into the notion that he loves Violet. Frankly, the day he realizes that nope, it’s not love, it’s blood servitude cannot come soon enough.
Also, this:
Jason: “I can’t get you out of my head. You probably get that a lot.”
Eric: “For a thousand years, but only twice have I felt it in return.”
Okay, are we to take this as real or as Jason’s whatever? Some of these dreams on TB skated very closely to reality, but who the hell even knows anymore? And if we are to take it as actual Eric’s sentiment, then the “twice” are Sookie and … who else? Pam? Some unknown they are going to bring in ala Nora, out of the blue? Or is Jason projecting himself here?
And I am sorry, Jason, but only in your dream would Eric be a bottom.
Also, they played the Eric/Sookie theme music over the scene. Uhm … okay.
All in all, kudos to the actors for going for it. But I could have gladly lived without this scene entirely. And I say this as a full-fledged Eric fan who is happy to see him back on the show.
*****
“We are here for the guns that are part of our Second Amendment Right not to be fucked over by our Government.”
Okay, normally, a bunch of hicks with guns is a terrible proposition. But … Am I supposed to identify with Adelyn in this particular situation and condemn Vince? Far be it from me to subscribe to “Hillbillie NRA shit,” but how is this it?
Because Maxine and her particular crazy not withstanding, Vince’s group isn’t coming off as all that unreasonable. They have just survived a massacre. They realized it’s not over, and vampires are coming back for more. And their tiny PD, in almost all its entirety, hightailed it out of town on some fact-finding mission. Leaving them to … uh, clean the bar? ‘Cause priorities, man! Sure, questioning Sam the Mayor on the fact that he turns into a dog is not nice, and, frankly, at this point, ridiculous (come on, group! You live in Bon Temps! You know a telepath and vampires. You really are THAT surprised there are other supes? Did you like just join the party?). But questioning Sam the Mayor as the public official who is supposed to protect them? Hell yeah they should!
And the same goes for Andy. Because, come on! They are right he couldn’t protect them. They are right they need to do something to protect themselves! Hell, even the lady pointing Kenya in the direction of Andy’s sexism isn’t out of line here. Kenya’s been shafted professionally since season 1.
And yes, by all means, let’s listen to the girl who was a new-born 7 months ago, whose sisters got eaten by a vampire (but it’s all good, ‘cause it’s been like months, so bygones!), who is standing there telling you all not to arm yourselves ‘cause you all will only hurt yourselves or something …? Because it’s hella better to get hurt by the crazy diseased vamps instead? Or trust in the absent Andy’s and equally absent Mayor’s with newly-discovered unsettling habits abilities to accomplish something they hitherto shown no capacity to do?
I am sorry, but I’m with Vince on this. Normally, a vigilante mob is the last thing I’d support, but here? Why is it a bad thing to arm the citizens against the repeat of the massacre? Why giving them a fighting chance is such a no-no?
Oh, and Andy, you just found another town completely wiped-out. You don’t think it had a sheriff? A mayor? A police force?
*****
“The brutal indifference of the writers life.”
So, what the hell ARE these Hep-V vampires? Why are they so insurmountable? They seem like they are barely hanging on at this point. And how many of them died out already? Or are you telling me, show, that this group in Fangtasia ate the whole town of St. Alice?
No, seriously, how does that work? They still need invitations to come into human dwellings. And they still can’t go out during the day … So, why not stock up on supplies in daytime, and just wait out while they die of this disease or starvation? I mean, I can imagine they could glamour some people, but they could have hardly taken the whole town like that…
The more I think about this supposedly wide-spread disaster, the less sense it makes.
Only 6 months ago the government had the means and enough weaponry to capture and incarcerate vampires on a large scale. Sure the camp got destroyed, but Eric could have hardly burned down all the plants that manufactured those long-range anti-vampire rifles, and those anti-glamour contact lenses, and any number of army-developed devices that the General in season 5 talked about. In fact, it’s been canonically established that, for years, the government and the army worked on solutions to protect themselves against just such an event.
Are they telling us now it’s all gone and forgotten? Because … what? Burrell is dead? It’s one state governor. It’s one facility. We saw “FEMA HELPS US!” signs in St. Alice, so why can’t FEMA help? Why aren’t there helicopters? Why aren’t there DAYTIME evacuation efforts? The whole town ran out of gas simultaneously? And the phones don’t work?
They can order fresh pizza delivery (fresh pizza that’s still clearly being made and sold 2 days prior to the mass graves, et. al?), but they can’t call for help? And no one in town had connections outside of it? In other cities? In other states? They couldn’t reach anyone? Really? Clearly there’s electricity, water, etc. Clearly daytime is still safe. Clearly other towns are reachable within an hour’s drive (so, they can be walked to, as well, during the day). . .
No, sorry writers, this is some massive-scale bullshit.
***
“Fine, I’ll reap, but can we please stop acting like savages?”
Sure. Good point. No matter how bad things get, there’s no call to be uncivil.
Okay, True Blood, but did you have to kill off a good teacher? It doesn’t sound like Bon Temps is awash in them, if Arlene and Holly are to be believed. Not cool! And, you know, this Hep-V posse isn’t looking all that unreasonable. They seem to have some sort of survival logic going for them. Again it begs the question: how mutated is this virus? Nora died within a day. How long do these dudes live? If they have the time to go from town to town and “harvest” … And are these guys hungrier than your average vamp? They seem to need a lot of sustenance.
Aaaand the best line in the episode goes to Jane Boadhouse.
Back in the Fangtasia basement, Arlene won’t let the remaining “harvest” go down without a fight.
Arlene: “You gotta believe me when I tell you that I did not survive four lousy husbands, a serial killer boyfriend, and a sorta suicide of my love Terry, to die in a dingy basement of a fucking vampire bar! I am getting us out of here!”
Okay, so I love Arlene, like a lot. And her plan was half-decent, actually. Too bad it blew up in her crotch. Literally. Way to up the gross quotient, show. Because that’s what we need more of. But I do hope they get out of there, and I do fervently hope Nicole and her baby remain intact. Not out of any special love for her (I STILL don’t know who this woman is, show!), because if you brought her in just to kill her off to give Sam more redundant girlfriend angst, so help me …
***
And speaking of redundant unnecessary angst:
Sure feels like it.
Oh, look! More Lettie Mae manipulating people to get what she wants. Again. Only she is more successful with Willa than Lafayette, because Lafayette knows her tired shtick to a T.
Is it wrong that I hoped for a second there that a suddenly-awakened Willa would just kill her out of pure instinct? No such luck.
Lettie Mae is tripping balls. And she sees Tara. On a cross. Because why wouldn’t she. With a snake (python?). In a white dress.
Lettie Mae: “Speak up, baby. I can’t hear you. Speak up, baby. No, no, no. I need the answers. I need the answers! No, no, no, no, no! I need the answers! Please! I need the answers, please.”
Lettie Mae needs the answer. To what, who knows. Next week’s Jeopardy?
You know what? All this imagery, all this symbolism … screw that. Because my desire to read meaning into it is well and truly kyboshed by the fact that there’s an article out there, an interview with Angela Robinson (executive producers and writer for TB), that all but confirms that Tara was killed off for no better reason than to use her as a plot device.
http://www.afterellen.com/angela-robinson-talks-tara-gay-relationships-on-true-blood/07/2014/
And you know what. Fuck everything about this article. Apparently they shot a scene of Pam acknowledging Tara’s death, but felt it didn’t fit or something?! Are they kidding us with this? What didn’t fit without that context was Pam’s speech of “Everything I touch dies!” that sounded like melodramatic bullshit since they didn’t deign to show that Pam even knew Tara was dead, or gave a shit if she did!
They found the time to showcase Lettie Mae’s whatever, but lets cut off the pertinent reactions by other characters?
Angela Robinson goes on record to admit, basically, that they used Tara’s death as a blatant plot device. That the writers ran out of ideas for certain characters, and also they apparently can’t think of a better way to galvanize other characters into action, so let’s kill off some people!
What does it say about their narrative plans? About their long-term thinking? And why we, as the audience, should trust in these writers to have any kind of a coherent plan for ANY characters, if this is what their process is like?
To heap insult onto already sizable injury: They can’t even capitalize on their own plot devise moves! They kill off a character to cut down on story-lines (Terry). And then they add more characters to that story-line they meant to cut down on by killing off the character. They kill off a character to show impact on other characters (Tara). They forget to show any impact …
Because, frankly, after all the talk of how Tara’s death would be that one catalyst for all … how it’s the one death that affects all the characters: Sookie, Lafayette, Jason, Sam, Pam, Eric … they go on to show Sookie all but numb, Lafayette feeling relief, Jason having his usual attention span of 30 seconds, Sam having trouble remembering his pregnant girlfriend, let alone Tara, Pam’s reaction being cut out for some utterly bullshit reasons altogether, and Eric absent entirely … What the fuck WAS THE POINT AGAIN?!
But we spend inordinate amount of time on Lettie Mae?! We lost Tara for THIS? Right, sure, why not …
****
No, Jason, honey, it doesn’t. The ongoing debate about your undervalued intelligence notwithstanding - and yes, Pizza forensics was funny and all - not being clever does not, in fact, make you a better anything.
And no one is being clever here. No one seems to ask the right questions. Like WHY was this town wiped out so easily, really? Or why did they let in vampires in the middle of a casual pizza dinner, which they were having in the middle of - judging by the chalk “FEMA HELP US” and “SOS” signs on the roofs and ground - what appears to have been an apocalyptic event?
Or why the body of the girl, whose home it was, and whose dairy Sookie so conveniently discovered, has been found all the way in Bon Temps? If they all were “harvested” in St. Alice, and either ended up in that mass grave or in the former “nest” in Shreveport …
Or why neither Alcide the ware nor Sam the shifter smell the mass grave in the first place …
Or … oh, hell, there are a ton of holes here, the size of that grave, and I just don’t have the energy.
They don’t do much detecting there, really. Andy gets teary-eyed and wants to make “an honest woman” out of Holly. Sam suddenly recalls he has a pregnant girlfriend (because, you know, he needs constant reminders in forms of other people’s baby toys and shit) … And Sookie just happens to find that convenient diary.
Written by the dead blond girl. Who, just like Sookie, met and fell in love with a vampire. Who has also taken her to Fangtasia - apparently a popular spot for a romantic first date? You know, what with the strippers and the fangbangers ….
Which leads Sookie to reminisce...
I have no clue how I am supposed to read her memory of getting ready to go to Fangtasia that first time.
Is she being all misty about it? Really? A sweet romantic memory of a date with her abuser, before shit hit the fan? Is this nostalgia? Am I seriously expected here by the writers to drop all incredulity and suspend all reason and buy this as a set up for the future Bill/Sookie reunion? Because if that’s it, I am out. You can tell a tragic story of an abuse victim ending up for the rest of her life with her abuser. As long as you acknowledge that this is a tragedy that, sadly, happens in life. But you cannot sell me on it as anything romantic, good, or palatable. Eff you if you are trying, show.
There’s another interpretation, of course. Sookie, reading the naïve ramblings of the girl and remembering herself, just as naïve, just as eager, and just as blind. And beating herself up for it.
Which, given Alcide’s later lecture in the car, is not an unreasonable take. Alright, I hate the dude, but I have to give it to him here. He is the first one to say it this season, and it’s about freaking time! Sookie, you need to stop beating yourself up for shit that wasn’t your fault! You did NOT create this problem, no more than the dead girl created this problem. And not just in Alcide half-assed way of explaining it as “you couldn’t help falling in love.” As if falling in love was what led to mass killings and is only excusable due to the involuntary nature of it. You know what? I take it back: Fuck Alcide!
Alcide suggest beating it the hell out of Dodge. He really doesn’t know Sookie, like at all. Which point he illustrates again, when she sends him off to shower and he doesn’t pick up on her tone. It’s the “I am about to do something completely dangerous and this is a goodbye just in case” tone.
And sure enough, she goes to Bill. Because why not. Bill to the rescue! The dude who caused it all…
Sookie: “Can you still sense my fear?”
Ugh, they are going to have her take more of his blood, aren’t they?! AREN’T THEY?! Fuck you, writers. No, seriously.
***
“You found me.”
And here’s Waldo Eric! Pam is in an Undisclosed Random Rhone Valley, France, location, and she is not happy about it for some reason. Oh, come on, Pam! Give it a chance! France is not that bad! Eric is, however. Lounging in a high chair, refusing to eat. It’s a good thing Pam showed up, then.
Oh, and Eric’s got Hep-V. So … that happened…
Now, not for a second do I think Eric will die from this. But the emotional manipulation stinks. Let’s use Eric in the opening and closing scenes of the episodes to do just that!
Did I mention: Eff you, Show!
***
Odds and Ends.
Jessica isn’t healing for some reason. Is she getting sick? Did she get infected by the Icky Gooey Dude in the last episode?
One really good thing about this episode: Almost no Bill! Always a positive.
***
Huge thanks to Switchbladekiller (http://switchbladekiller.tumblr.com/) and Mametupa (http://mametupa.tumblr.com/) for making awesome gifs! You are much appreciated!