True Blood Recap: Lethal Love, Loss and Lacerations

S03:E08

Night on the Sun

Night on the Sun was one long extended fight (then fuck) scene of an episode – and a good one at that, filled with lots of surprise moves, killings, and O faces.  The episode opened right where things left off last week with Sookie screaming after seeing Bill at her bedside.  Everyone in attendance jumps to give Bill the bum’s rush, especially Alcide, bearing his teeth and looking to tear Bill apart for the awful things he did to Sookie in the back of that truck. 

Sookie asks for a moment alone with Bill which Jason, Tara and Alcide are having none of but Lafayette, who’s maybe still feeling like a bit of a nasty drug dealing monster himself, convinces them to give the tortured lovebirds a moment alone.  Bill flinches when he realizes Sookie’s afraid of him.  Sookie describes their relationship as, “one long, bloody fight” that she keeps waiting to end.  He agrees things will never change.  He wants her to have the life she deserves – with children, sunlight, chicken wings and everything else he could never give her.  They say they’ll always love each other. Then Bill takes the IV of his super healing vamp blood out of her arm. The blood drips into a dark pool on the floor, leaving no doubt that these two are DUNZO, as blood pooling onto the ground seems to be a metaphor for both figural and literal deaths this season.

After the credits roll, Sofie Anne’s being forcibly moved into Russell and Talbot’s manse and Talbot’s none too happy about it.  We already knew he was a bitchy, high maintenance hostess but he turns into Martha Stewart on crack when Russell tells him that in addition to making Sofie Anne their new permanent houseguest for political gain, he’s also gone and killed the Magister.  After spending the night cleaning Franklin’s brains off the walls and tending to the mess Sookie et al left behind, he’s had it.  Now Russell’s gone and surely pissed off the Vampire Authority as well.  Russell brushes off his concerns, saying he’ll send a half million dollar check to the AVL and be done with it but Talbot isn’t anywhere near through.  Lucky for Russell, Eric interrupts to say there’s werebitch in his study. 

In the study, Debbie’s going off about killing Sookie and you know she’s means it when she calls her the C word.  Russell agrees she’s a cunt, given the destructive manner in which she escaped from the manse but takes care to note that she’s a special cunt who’ll be very useful to him in post-Magister killing dealings with the AVL. Eric says Russell should definitely keep that cunt alive but he can’t trust her because she’s human and therefore irrational.  Russell’s more concerned with whether or not he can trust Eric.  To prove his loyalty, Eric mixes a little bit of the truth into a web of lies, saying he’s been waiting a thousand years for a leader like Russell with the courage to kill Magisters and take over entire species. This seems to satisfy the King or at least doesn’t alert him to Eric’s desire for vengeance.

Arlene, on the other hand, is unsatisfied that Rene’s showing up in her nightmares rubbing her already kind of showing belly after… about three weeks of being preg?  Or knowing she’s preg.  I dunno.  Does anyone know how many weeks have passed in Bon Temps real time since this season started?  It’s so action packed with so many new faces that I’m having a hard time keeping track so if you can hip me to it in the comments, I’d be grateful. 

But not as grateful as Jessica’s who’s  relieved Bill’s finally come home. She’s about to confess her truckstop whoring and killing incident when Bill trumps her by saying he’s releasing her as her maker. Then she trumps him by not understanding WTF that means.  When he tries to explain, she says she needs him.  He tells her he can’t take care of her or protect her but she stands firm.  She’s not leaving him no matter what. She doesn’t want to be alone anymore. Bloody tears stream down both of their faces as they tenderly embrace.

Sookie and Alcide are looking awfully cozy themselves over at the Stackhouse place and just when things look like they might get even cozier, Andy Bellefleur and Jason show up, pleading with Sookie to press charges against Bill for the truck assault.  Jason threatens to kill Bill.  Then Sookie starts reading his mind just when Jason’s thinking they need to get out of there before Sookie can read his mind. When Sookie confronts him with the bits and pieces she got a read on, he reacts in typical dumb person irrational style and declares a fatwa against Bill to divert attention away from any killing of his own he could be responsible for.

Talk about responsibility, Tara’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders over at Lafayette’s house.  She won’t tell Lafayette what happened with Franklin but when Lafayette asks if she has a death wish, she says that after her time in Mississipi she realizes how much she wants to live.  Livin’ ain’t easy but it’s especially rough over at Sam’s humble abode, when his birth mom shows up on his doorstep naked post dog-shift.  She’s come to plead for Tommy’s help again. And some cash.  And she does all this while dragging a suspiciously large suitcase out of Sam’s house and leaves Tommy in tears when she goes.

Back to Tara.  She’s now showering, all vulnerable, just like the proverbial girl in the horror movie who doesn’t realize someone’s about to sneak up on her and, wouldn’t you know it, someone does.  She might’ve thought Franklin was dead and gone (and at this point, we’re sadly accepting he is since Talbot was cleaning up his brain bits) but he’s in her blood.  That means she’ll be having hott ass dreams about him for some time.  As the scene ends, we see she wasn’t in the shower at all. She wakes up lying in bed with Franklin’s sexually bonding vampire blood coursing through her veins.  Or maybe it was Lafayette’s mom, Ruby Jean, who woke her up.  The old bat’s out on the porch talking crazy talk about how vampires and witches are coming.  Lafayette looks troubled but no more than usual.

Also untroubled are Sookie and Tara. Sort of.  Now that they’ve shaken vampire boyfriends they’re catching up on some missed sunbathing time.  And what do girls do when they sunbathe?  Talk about boys mostly.  The conversation soon turns to Bill and Franklin and things get heated.  Sookie can’t just turn her heart off.  Tara accuses her of believing in love too much. Sookie says her and Bill aren’t that different.  They both have things inside them that make them afraid of their natures.  Tara points out that while Sookie can make a destructive light come out of her body that destroys anyone in her way, Bill’s more like a rabid animal.  Sookie tries to get Tara to talk about Franklin which just makes her leave in a huff, thankfully right when Alcide shows up in a pec hugging shirt.

The other remaining half of the Bon Temps’ Stackhouses, Jason, is preparing for an all-out weapons assault on Bill when Crystal shows up with black eye looking for a towel and some whiskey.  These two obviously aren’t getting away from each other anytime soon and as much Tara might want to, she’s not getting off the hook from Franklin that easy either.  She’s still having overpowering sexy flashbacks about him at Merlotte’s. They’re so intense they make her break a bottle of True Blood all over the floor, disrupting Arlene’s interview of the new waitress, Holly.  No matter though – Holly’s got the job. It’s confirmed when Arlene orders Sam not to sleep with her.  He can’t be bothered to even check out her rack though because one of the Merlotte’s employees he’s already slept with, Tara, has finally cracked up.  Sam takes her into his arms for some much needed comfort. 

Also wrapped in a comforting embrace are Jason and Crystal.  Crystal’s telling Jason she’s been engaged to her gnarly Hot Shot fiance since she was four but says she’s not marrying him anymore and asks Jason’s truck so she can escape her hillbilly nightmare.  Jason says anywhere she’s going, he’s going too.

Anywhere Lafayette’s crazy momma goes, hottie nurse Jesus is sure to follow.  Sure enough, he shows up at Lafayette’s doorstep to take her back to the nursing home.  But before you can say thorazine, she’s got a knife out and is warning them of all the evil things to come.  Just as quickly, Jesus manages to get her to give it up with promises of TV.  Eric’s promising nothing to Hadley back at the Mississisipi manse but he manages to get her to comply with his demand that she bring a message to Sookie. 

Over at Sookie’s, Alcide’s got to go.  A vengeful werepack has set his sister Janice’s hair salon on fire for killing Coot.   He wants Sookie to come with him.  Talk about bad timing.  These two have it in spades.  They admit they fell in love with the wrong people.  Or, in their case, they fell in love with a 174 year old vampire with an identity crisis and a skanky V addicted werebitch with poofy bangs.  Still, the heart wants what the heart wants when it wants it so right now these two nearly almost kiss and say their goodbyes.

Back at Merlotte’s, Sam’s giving Tommy the lowdown on Tara.  He’s opaque about it but let’s on that she’s had some recent drams.  Tommy’s gonna fit right in with this gang.  He shows he can bring the drams himself when Hoyt shows up looking for Jessica. Tommy tells him Jessica’s too good for him but before the two get into it, Sam calls off his little dog brother, telling him to give trouble a rest.  Why not think about college?

Bill’s putting Jessica through some adjunct vampire ninja community college courses of a sort over at Compton Manor.  Even though he just viciously mutilated both of the loves of his undead life during sex within the past week, he’s really just a big softie when you get down to it. He’s taken Jessica’s pleas for his guidance to heart and is showing her some stealth fighting moves she can lay down when the werewolves show up (which they surely will any minute… ).

Across the field from Compton Manor over at the Stackhouse place, Sookie’s having rape flashbacks as she gazes longingly at a picture of her and Bill in an otherwise empty photo album, leaving me to question, when exactly has she had time to scrap book lately? No time to ponder this now, as Hadley’s just shown up with Eric’s message.  She’s Sookie’s cousin and she’s been in dire straits since before the show even started. Rehab, fangbangin’ – you name it, she’s done it.  The two haven’t seen each other in ages but before they can catch up on things like how Sookie’s gran was murdered by a serial killer, Hadley has to deliver Eric’s message:  Russell is coming for you.  Don’t trust Bill.

Back at the Mississippi manse, Tablot’s having another hissy fit, but not because Marilyn Manson’s girlfriend has come to stay.  Now he’s PO’d because Russell’s gotta leave again to hunt down Sookie.  He accuses Russell of collecting people and things.  To make his point, he starts breaking Russell’s priceless artifacts but when he gets to Eric’s Dad’s Viking headdress, Eric intervenes, saying he’ll be happy to keep Talbot company while Russell tends to business.

Crystal and Jason are still keeping each other company but not for long since Jason has to go out and shoot someone.  10 to 1 that someone is not Bill.  Jason’s got the attention span of gnat on V.  Now he’s going after Crysta’s fiance who’s shown up at Merlotte’s with Hot Shot’s finest, Calvin Norris, looking for her.  Sam tells them to get lost but not before he and Tommy smell something that perks their shifter spidey sense up. 

Lafayette and Jesus are still up after putting Ruby Jean to bed.  Jesus tells Lafayette that his crazy ass momma got one thing right in her maniacal ramblings – Lafayette is powerful and should not be selling drugs because, “all that energy you got, it can go dark if you let it.” Like Sauron, I think.  Then I don’t think about anything because they’re makin’ out!  And so are Eric and Talbot! Well, first they’re playing chess but then they’re making out BIG TIME!  This episode of True Blood is like going to a Yaoi convention.

Until Jason goes out to Hot Shot still wielding his gun and a whole lotta dumb.  Especially dumb is when he sees a trail of blood leading someplace menacing looking. So what does he do?  He goes after it, of course!  He follows it all the way into a nasty rat hole of an abode where he witnesses a scuztastic Hot Shot denizen grubbing on some kind of dead, bloody, furry, gross animal carcass.  It freaks Jason out so hard that he runs out straight into Calvin Norris.  Jason threatens to bring the law down on Hot Shot for Crystal’s black eye and their whole hillbilly freak show, feel ‘im? Norris feels him all right.  He lets Jason go without incident and a knowing smile.  He’ll get him.

Just like Russell’s coming for Sookie, who’s waiting at the window. As she should be, since wolves are afoot and Debbie Pelt is strutting around her property in bad discount store slut wear.  Debbie breaks into Sookie’s house but Sookie’s got a rifle at the ready, cocked and loaded.  The two go at it, first with words.  “Bitch, please,” Debbie taunts Sookie, “I see right through you.  You fuck vampires and werewolves because your own kind rejects you.” Then she calls her a freak and knocks the gun out of her hand.

The wolves are on the prowl over at Bill’s too but Bill and Jessica are prepared.  Bill takes one of the wolves apart no problemo until he hears Russell attacking Jessica outside.  He threatens to kill her and throw her to wolves unless Bill gives up Sookie.  Bill throws some old world manly values down on Russell, essentially calling him a lazy coward to distract him from tearing Jessica apart.  Russell takes the bait and goes to work on Bill, searing silver spurs into his face. Jessica takes off as fast as a baby vampire can with werewolf Gus running after her into the woods.

Over at the Stackhouse place, Debbie and Sookie are whalin’ on each other in the most bad ass girl fight in True Blood history. Sookie finally stabs Debbie with a pair of scissors and gets the gun on her again.  Back at the Compton place, Russell’s doing Bill in even further but nobody gets it worse than Talbot.  He’s all bent over and vulnerable waiting for what’s sure to be the thrill of his undead life from Eric, but instead of a cock rocket he winds up with a stake through the back. Boy will Eric be pissed if he ever finds out that when he killed Talbot, he activated the maker-makee bond between Russell and Talbot and SAVED BILL’S LIFE!  As soon as Talbot dies, the King feels it. He immediately abandons project Kill Bill and flies away into the night to avenge his dead one true love.

Back at Sookie’s, Sookie warns Debbie to, “get the hell outta my house, bitch!” She shoots near her, letting her know next time she won’t miss.  Debbie jumps out the window, shifts into her were-self and scampers off just as Bill shows up.  He and Sookie’s corny song starts playing and after a few sweet nothings are exchanged, they make out.  They’ve got each other again.  And they’ve got me.  I cried at this scene, which is something True Blood hasn’t done to me since Godric met the Sun last season.  I think I might be on Team Bill again, people.  Sookie sure is.

One team Jessica’s not on is Operation Werewolf.  She is totally schooling this pathetic-begging-for-his-V-addicted-life werewolf’s ass!  In a nice touch, she eats Gus alive as Hoyt drives by with tears in his eyes over her, oblivious to the whole scene just off the side of the road.  Sookie and Bill are in no way shape or form oblivious to each other.  They close out the episode fucking each other’s brain’s out.

This was a good one, people.  At least I thought so.  I loved how this episode once again mined the theme of the difficultly of fighting your true nature. And I liked how the writers implied that true love is a function of that. Like attacts like, especially when it comes to dysfunction. But enough of what went through my head, what went through yours?