Archive for True Blood Episodes
I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Alan Ball is coming out with a cookbook based on the many fun food items we have witnessed on the show. Now I know that there will be plenty of teasing, but come one, Southern cooking is a big part of the culture and so you know it is also part of the whole True Blood culture, even if our vamps can’t enjoy it.
The word is that this top vampire book has recipes that all tie into the show; some are based on food actually named in certain scenes, some on the well known tastes of the characters. I wonder if that means we get to see how to make some of those yummy looking cocktails from Merlottes? I sure hope so!
Alan Ball has a credit on the top vampire book for cooks though it is hard to say how much input he has in it. But there are to be 85 recipes and over 150 pics from the show so my guess is he probably came up with the idea and then gave Gianna Sobol who is an associate producer on the show the go ahead to put it together. She has co-credits on the book along with Marcelle Bienvenu who is a well-known Cajun cook and writer.
Each recipe will have an introduction from one of the characters from the show, so it will be fun to try and guess just who will introduce what kind of food. True Blood vampires may not be able to truly eat but they seem to still enjoy many sensual pleasures. This could indeed be a very fun book, especially if you are someone like me who cooks as a hobby to relax. What a fun True Blood party this would be to make treats from the book for you and all your friends to enjoy while watching the show.
The book won’t actually be out until August, right at the tail end of the show. So be sure and pre-order yours now so that it will ship out to you the day it is ready to go! You know you are gonna want it in time for that post-finale party at the end of Season 5.
It was a banner week for fans of Sookie Stackhouse, both in the books and on the television show. For those fans that have been waiting anxiously for news of when the fifth season of True Blood would once again grace their screens, the date has been announced. June 10th is the day to set your set boxes to record as it is announced as the date of the return of the very popular vampire series.
For the true fans who not only watch the show but also read the Southern Vampire Mystery Series, the latest book to come out is Deadlocked, which has been talked about on fan sites for several months now. Author Charlaine Harris let fans know through her website that the final edits had been done in December and everyone was simply waiting for word from the publishers when the book was scheduled to be released. That date was announced this week as May 1st, and order have been pouring in on all the various sites and brick and mortar bookstores for the twelfth title in the series.
For fans who just cannot wait to get the May bite of Bon Temps mystery, there is a sneak peak at the second chapter of the book on the authors site here. And for fans of the True Blood show, we have a wonderful little trailer for the first episode, titled “Turn, Turn,Turn” that will have your head spinning for sure! Could our Sookie want to see Tara make that lethal turn into a vamp? We will just have to keep watching for clues and not miss that wonderful first of the season episode on June 10th. In the meantime, here’s the trailer:
Ooooooo! This is looking like a very fun season!!
True Blood Season 4 Ep 12: And When I Die
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The season finale of True Blood starts out with Jesus talking with Lafayette outside as they eat breakfast. Marnie has possessed Lafayette and Jesus figures that out a second before she jabs a fork into his hand, pinning it to the table.
Sookie and Tara are at her house recovering from the horrors at the emporium and Sookie is seeing images of her grandmother dead on the floor. They have a discussion of death and the after-life, wondering if her Gran is in heaven. Sookie remembers that when Marnie channeled her Gran, she warned her against giving her heart to Eric. Tara is in full agreement.
Sam is standing over Tommy’s grave when Mrs. Fortenberry comes to pay her respects. She says Tommy was a devious little son-of-a-bitch but he had a good heart. It’s not surprising that Mrs. Fortenberry is telling it like it is. You can tell she really cared about him though and it appears that she is going to transfer her mothering instincts over to Sam. He looks a little taken aback when she offers to bring over her pork rind casserole – yummy. I suspect that’s a heart attack waiting to happen in a pyrex pan with cheese on top.
Jason has a misplaced sense of guilt over his affair with Jessica and he drives to where Hoyt is working to let it all out. Hoyt takes it like you’d expect – he hits Jason a few times and then kicks him while he’s on the ground. The friendship looks irretrievably broken. Feel better now Jason? I doubt it.
Poor Jesus is tied to a chair and he tries to talk Marnie into letting Lafayette go. She blames Jesus for the loss of Antonia and she wants what Jesus’ grandfather passed down to him. Marnie is bitching about the ruination of Halloween by the vampires and he agrees, saying “vampires suck”. He’s desperate to save Lafayette but he tells her that you can’t trade magic like Pokemon cards. Marnie ends up killing Jesus and taking his demon into herself.
Everybody in Merlotte’s is dressed up for Halloween (Samhain the witches call it) and Sookie arrives, it’s the first time she’s been back since Tommy (in Sam’s skin) fired her. Sookie tells Sam she’s sorry about his brother and he realizes that Tommy must have been the one to fire Sookie. They agree to let bygones be bygones.
Sookie is chatting with Alcide at the bar and he tells her that Debbie is out of his life. He wants Sookie to try and think about being with him – to use her brain instead of her heart. Just then, Alcide gets a call and he’s got to go visit a job site.
An old army buddy of Terry’s – a man whose life he saved – shows up at Merlotte’s. His name is Patrick. He strikes me as a little off as they walk away from Arlene to go get a drink and celebrate their reunion. Arlene goes outside to take out the trash and the ghost of Rene is waiting for her. He doesn’t want to hurt her, he wants to warn her about Terry and the ghosts of his past. Rene tells her to run before he disappears and Terry comes outside and joins Arlene. A little foreshadowing for next season.
Tara finds Jesus dead at Lafayette’s house. She runs over to Merlotte’s to tell Sookie and Holly that Marnie killed him. The three of them drive to Bill’s house looking for the two vampires. Holly is busily pulling things out of her purse – a big container of salt, sage, a lock of her Aunt Josie’s hair – it’s like a wiccan first aid kit she says.
Bill and Eric are tied to a stake on the front lawn of Bill’s house. They are in fine form as they bitch at each other. Bill has a great line – “I liked you better when you were brain damaged.”
Marnie sets the two vampires on fire and the three girls join hands and start chanting as Bill and Eric are burning, calling on all their friends, family and ancestors to help them. Antonia shows up and she wants to take Marnie home. Marnie wants none of it but Sookie’s Gran is there to enforce it and she pulls Marnie out of Lafayette. Antonia is now a peacemaker and she convinces Marnie to go on to the other side as Bill and Eric smoke on top of the pyre.
The ghost of Jesus appears to Lafayette and he gains some comfort from it. He now knows that his lover will always be near him.
Bill and Eric are taking blood from Sookie to recover from their burns. She is brutally honest as she tells them both that it is over. Neither one wants that to happen and they both looked crushed. Although later, when Nan shows up with orders to kill them, they once again look like the killing machines that they really are when they kill both Nan and her cadre of guards.
Season four ends with Debbie Pelt pointing a shotgun at Sookie. Tara runs in and takes the shotgun blast for her and Sookie ends up killing Debbie. Sookie is holding Tara as she begs for someone to come help them. It will be weird to not have Tara on the show anymore…will a vampire zip in at the last minute next season and turn her into the very thing that she despises?
True Blood Season 4 Ep 11: Soul of Fire
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It’s the next to last episode of True Blood and the vampire gang is ready to blow up the Moon Goddess Emporium and get rid of Antonia once and for all. As they are about to shoot, Jason stops them, telling everybody that Sookie is inside with the witches. They start cussing at Sookie for interfering once again and Jason jumps on everyone, telling each vampire how she has helped them out in the past.
Marnie has gone into full dictator mode as she kills one of the witches inside Moon Goddess. Casey just wanted to get away but Marnie threw a knife in her chest. Jesus convinces the group that Casey is still alive and asks Marnie to give him a chance to save her and she agrees. Jesus and Lafayette take Casey’s body to the bathroom and that’s where Jesus explains his plan to try to out-magic Marnie by using his inner demon and Casey’s dead body.
Terry left Andy at the treehouse and drove away after the intervention, adding walking home through the woods as part of his recovery but making Andy very angry. He’s muttering to himself and getting madder as he goes when he suddenly sees a light through the trees. Next thing he knows, there’s a beautiful woman standing in front of him and she smells the V on him, causing her to hit him with a bolt of fairy magic because she thinks he’s a vampire.
Debbie is in the bedroom with Marcus, wearing very little. He’s brought Emma to her house and he wants the three of them to run away together and make a whole new family. Sam’s at Marcus’ shop looking for the pack leader when Emma calls Luna and they see the call is coming from Alcide’s house. Everybody races over there.
Marnie leaves Moon Goddess with Sookie to talk with the vampires. She’ll release Sookie if Bill and Eric kill themselves. What kind of deal is that? Apparently one that Bill and Eric will accept as Eric drops to his knees and Bill aims a gun at his head, telling Pam to shoot him after he kills Eric. Sookie is distraught and Pam can’t believe they are doing this to save a human. Pam refuses to accept this and she grabs a giant gun and shoots it at Marnie even though Eric tells her no. The explosion blows back onto the vampires because of the protective shield and Jason gets badly burned. Jessica saves him with her blood and he thanks her for it instead of being disgusted by it like Hoyt was. You can tell this means a lot to her.
Alcide and the shapeshifters arrive at his house to get Emma and Alcide goes ballistic when he finds Debbie in the bedroom with Marcus. Sam and Marcus start fighting and Sam kicks his ass but leaves him alive which gives Marcus a chance to grab the gun. Alcide intervenes and ends up killing the pack leader. After which Alcide tells Debbie he is done with her and they will never be together again.
Andy wakes up to find a fairy on top of him and she seems to be very interested in him as a man. She’s rubbing his chest and asks him to protect her from the things in the woods and Andy pledges his protection. I think this will come back to bite him later but for right now, all his wants is to have sex and that’s what he gets.
Angry that the vampires shot at her, Marnie pulls everyone into a circle – even Sookie – and they start to chant. Their chanting forces the vampires to start walking toward the protective shield which will kill them if they touch it. Sookie figures out what is going on and she sends a blast of fairy energy through the circle which stops the spell and releases the vampires. Her betrayal sends Marnie into a angry frenzy and she traps Sookie in a circle of fire that is going to burn her alive. Eric and Bill sense her terror and they are desperate to get in.
Lafayette urges Jesus to hurry up with his spell and pull Antonia out of Marnie in order to save Sookie. The demon takes over Jesus and his magic works, setting Antonia free and releasing the emporium from the protective spell. As soon as that happens, Bill and Eric run in, ready to shoot everybody. Sookie stops them, saying the other witches were not involved, only Marnie. Roy jumps in front of Marnie, poor thing, because Eric pulls his heart out and then Bill shoots Marnie.
Jesus and Lafayette are back home falling asleep, grateful that they are both alive and safe. And it’s the end of the show when Lafayettes looks up, shocked to see Marnie hovering over him. She smiles and zips into his mouth and it looks like Lafayette is possessed once again. Poor guy, two possessions in a row, nobody deserves that.
The destruction of the Tolerance Festival is still underway as episode ten of True Blood begins. An Antonia controlled Eric moves in to kill Bill but Sookie intervenes with one of her light shots. This basically ends the killing spree but much to Sookie’s chagrin, Eric remembers everything about himself and his intense relationship with her. It looks like bad Eric is back and Antonia is out an automaton.
On the balcony looking down, Antonia is overcome with grief at the devastation and death she has caused. She disappears with Roy while Nan tries to work one of her public relations miracles. She was smart enough to knock down all the cameras as it started so now it is time for some damage control. It will take some major glamouring to make everyone forget this fiasco.
Tommy is not doing so well after Alcide intervenes in the fight with Marcus and his buddies. He’s obviously dying and he tells Alcide to take him home, which is Merlotte’s. Sam watches Tommy die and immediately asks Alcide to go with him to get revenge. I was surprised Alcide agreed but he did. Little do they know that Marcus is at Alcide’s house trying to put the moves on Debbie whose appears to be more than happy to oblige.
Antonia returns to the trapped witches back at Moon Goddess with two vampire captives. It is here that we learn that maybe it is not Antonia that has gone off the deep end but Marnie. Antonia wants to stop killing but Marnie talks her into continuing their quest to kill all vampires. Meanwhile, the trapped witches want to try a spell to get away but Tara is not sure she can do it.
Sookie and Eric are not too comfortable together now that Eric remembers everything. He tries to reassure her that nothing has changed but she cannot get past the “I love you both” thing with Bill and Eric despises that – how is it possible that she loves both of them? He insists that she is his and he loves her. Pam shows up happy to see the old Eric back but she’s none to happy that he did not call for her immediately – it’s obvious he prefers Sookie and Pam does not like that.
As most addicts do, Andy has gotten sloppy with his V and Arlene and Terry found it. Terry decided enough is enough and, being that he is an ex-addict himself, he decides to pull an intervention and take him to their old tree house called Fort Bellefluer. They begin the therapy with gun shooting which seems a bit unwise but it gets Andy talking about his problem. They eventually come to an understanding and a crying Andy swears off the V.
Nan questions Bill on Sookie’s powers and he dismisses her. All the vampires go back to the basement chained up in case the witches try to kill them again but their bickering continues. Sookie, Jason, Lafayette, and Jesus go to the Moon Goddess and try to use Sookie’s telepathic powers to understand what is going on inside. Jesus thinks he can reach Marnie and that she just needs help. He does not know she has become the mastermind and she convinced Antoinia to stay inside her body when Antonia was appalled at the earlier carnage at the festival. Jesus goes in first but the protection spell around the store is too strong to pass through until his demon helper pops out long enough to get him through. Antonia is impressed with his magical skills.
Tara and Holly are actually able to pull off a spell to escape and just as Antonia notices, she goes after them. Sookie and Lafayette run forward to help and as the four meet, Antonia casts another spell that makes everybody disappear except Jason who gets left behind. The end of the episode has the vamp squad (Jessica, Bill, Eric, and Pam) all decked out in black leather and pulling up outside of Moon Goddess ready to kick some serious butt. It will be interesting to see who wins this latest round – can ammunition beat out magic?
True Blood Season 4 Ep 9: Run
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True Blood’s last episode left viewers with another cliffhanger as Sookie got shot in the middle of the vampire witch battle. Bill knew it had happened immediately but his fear for Sookie allowed him to be trapped by the witches wielding silver chains which they wrap around his throat. Eric is under Antonia’s control so he was no help, he only does what the witch tells him to do. Will this be the end of Sookie?
Thankfully Alcide saved the day. The conundrum though was Alcide’s girlfriend, Debbie, was in the shadows watching right after she and Alcide agreed he would never help Sookie again. So, as episode nine begins, Alcide has made it back to Sookie’s house to try and save her but Bill arrives at super vampire speed to try and give her some of his healing blood. She is not drinking though and there is a moment of fear for Alcide and Bill as they actually think she might die. Enough so that Bill mentions maybe they should pray.
Having Bill’s blood again does finally save her but there are some interesting consequences as she later starts to have dreams of both Eric and Bill having their way with her – basically it’s a threesome – and Sookie is the one in control. It seems at least in her dreams she wants to have her cake and eat it too (no pun intended…).
Alcide finally washes his hands of Sookie when she recovers and demands everyone start looking for Eric. She never seems to learn but it certainly makes Alcide angry. Debbie shows up at Sookie’s door and forms an uneasy alliance with Sookie. Debbie’s job is to break into the magic shop with her to try and rescue Eric.
Lafayette has been possessed by the ghost woman, Mavis, and she stole Arlene’s son right out from under the nose of Andy, Terry and Arlene. Lafayette/Mavis also took Andy’s gun during the kidnapping process and ends up shooting at Jason and Andy when they come to get back Mikey. This leads to a showdown outside the house where Hoyt lives because that was the house the ghost lived in when she was alive.
Jesus arrives and tries to convince Mavis that she has taken over a man’s body and that it is not hers to keep. This whole side story with Mavis confused me at first before I finally realized that all Mavis wants is closure for herself and her baby who was taken away from her. She simply wanted to see her son again and she finally understands what she has done – taken another’s woman’s baby away – and she gives baby Mikey back to Arlene. Jesus and the crew find Mavis and her son buried under a tree and they hand the skeleton of her son over to her. She cradles the baby skeleton and this gives Mavis some closure and she disappears. I guess that’s the end of that storyline. Will Mikey be normal now? Will we have to see that ugly baby doll again?
Jason goes to visit Hoyt and finds him packing a monster box for Jessica. All of her belongings are in it and Hoyt tells Jason to give it to her. Jason is reluctant at first but finally agrees. His primal side cannot resist Jessica as they get it on in the back of his truck. Whew – I was worried there was going to be a woman in Bon Temps that Jason hadn’t slept with, I guess that worry is over.
Tommy impersonates Sam to meet with Marcus and gets his butt whooped for his brother. I suppose this is his way of atoning for sleeping with Luna when he impersonated Sam. He looks pretty bad, they kept kicking him when he was down. If Alcide hadn’t intervened, I’m sure they would have killed him.
The Tolerance Festival begins and I have to admit even I was sort of glad when the witch attack began, this episode was getting kind of boring. Sookie shows up screaming Bill’s name to warn him but she’s probably to late since Antonia has Eric on her side now. Can Bill survive this latest attack?
True Blood Season 4 Ep 8: Spellbound
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True Blood opens up with Jessica well on her way to becoming a big pile of vampire ash. She’s under Antonia’s spell and it’s driving her into the sun. She throws open the doors to the daylight and Jason tackles her back away from the sun. She’s pissed and she starts growling at him – don’t ever get between a vampire and what they want, even if it is the sun. She’s about to rip his throat out when the witch coven stops chanting and the spell is broken. Now Jessica and Jason are all lovey-dovey with each other.
Like the other vampires who work for Bill, Eric is down in his cubby wrapped in silver chains to stop him from going into the sun. As night approaches, Sookie joins him and he tells her to rip the silver off of him quickly in order to get it over with. She resists but he says to do it so rip them off she does. It’s pretty gross. And now he needs blood to recover his strength. Sookie offers him her blood but only after admonishing him to not hurt her.
The leader of the werewolves in this area is Marcus, the scraggly haired pack leader who used to be married to Luna. He’s the jealous ex-husband that she has told Sam about. He instructs his pack to not engage in the vampire – witch conflict. Their fights do not concern the werewolves.
Luna is still mad at Sam for his brother’s bad behavior. He tries to apologize and let her know that Tommy is no longer in his family but she’s not going for it. It’s not until her daughter pulls Sam into the house that Luna relents and it looks like he is forgiven. The three of them are having a little family party when Marcus comes by unannounced and he’s pissed to see another man in Luna’s house. Marcus challenges Sam to a future fight as he unwillingly leaves.
Jessica is pretty busy in this episode. She breaks up with Hoyt and he’s crying and whining and begging her to love him again. That he will die if she leaves him. And she replies, “then DIE”, whereby she smashes his head against the counter, killing him. Wow – sweet, vulnerable Jessica has turned into one hardass bitch. Oh wait, it’s just a dream, which you find out when she is woken up by a blood donor that Bill sent down to revive her after she almost met the sun. I didn’t think they would kill off Hoyt quite so quickly.
The police are investigating the apparent suicide of a local vampire. Andy wants some of the vampire goo for himself to get his V fix but Jason talks him “off the ledge”. Andy bonds with Jason, talking about how the only time he is successful is when he is high, to which Jason replies, “Huh, I stopped listening.”
Unlike her dream, when Jessica does finally end it with Hoyt (no dream this time), he just yells for a bit then rescinds his invitation and she’s thrown out of his house. She ends up on the porch crying bloody tears everywhere.
Sookie and Eric exchanged blood and now they are having all these hallucinations of snowing in the shower and a bed in the woods. Either way, they don’t care because they are all about having sex, sex, and more sex. They are chatting in bed after yet another marathon sex session and Eric tells Sookie he just wants the two of them to run away. Sookie says that they have to stay and pledge their allegiance to Bill. So they go visit him and they both do their little pledge thing.
The ghost who is always visiting Mikey comes to Lafayette in a dream and he sees that she was a beautiful young woman from the past who was having an affair with a married man. The woman had bought her child a baby doll (now we know the origin of that nasty baby doll that keeps turning up) in town and she was returning from the store when she finds out the man killed her baby and it looks like he killed her too. Now, the woman’s spirit possesses Lafayette and he goes to where Arelene and Terry are staying, at Andy’s house, to take Mikey for her own.
The fight is on when the vampires meet the witches in the Bon Temps cemetery at midnight. But, it looks like the witches win this round as this episode of True Blood ends with Antonia making Eric into her lap dog and Bill getting silvered around the neck. When Sookie gets shot, that’s icing on the cake for the witches. She slowly collapses to the ground and you wonder who is going to save her. Surprise, surprise, it’s Alcide who swoops in and saves her and he’s now involved in the war against his pack leader’s express order. We wrap as Debbie watches her lover carry off the woman he swears he does not care for…yeah, right.
Storylines are finally coming together on True Blood! Although there was a little too much talking for my liking on this week’s episode titled ‘Cold Grey Light of Dawn,’ it was still very exciting! One of the best villains on the show so far has officially made her appearance; one of its key characters may most likely be dead; and another one of the protagonists seems to have shifted their loyalties!
Antonia, the witch from the 1600s that possessed Marnie from time to time is back and she’s back with a vengeance. Antonia has now completely taken over Marnie’s body and is planning a full fledged resurrection! This can’t be good for the vampires of Bon Temps! If she does manage to resurrect it only means that this time around she’ll end up finishing what she started in Spain all those years ago.
I especially liked Bill’s perspective on the situation. “Answering killing with killing is what led us to this,” said Bill. He seems to be the only level headed lead character at this point and it’s interesting that he can understand why Antonia would want revenge on all the vampires – “She was driven to this by the acts of vampires.” So he’s not completely power-hungry yet after all. We got the slightest hint of the erstwhile Bill with lines such as: “I’ve lived for 175 years and I’ve accomplished so little good.”
I even liked the way the show used conversations among characters to familiarize the situation to the audience. I thought that Bill and Jessica shared a nice moment this week with the former giving the latter some much needed advice. In fact, these moments were very rare between Jessica and her maker.
It looks like True Blood is finally got the nerve to make some bold moves! Killing of a character like Jessica just might not land well with her many, many fans, but I guess it’s about time the time down-sized on its character base. Well, it still might be too early to be making this comment. After all Jessica is not dead yet… After her chains break loose, she is forced by Antonia’s spell to step out in the sunlight. She opens the door and steps out despite Jason’s futile efforts to stop her and the episode ended there. I’m sure it takes more than just a few rays of sunlight to finish off a vampire. 
Tara on the other hand receives a rather tempting offer from Antonia. After surviving Pam’s attack, and losing a lover (not to mention three seasons of torment from the vamps) it’s no wonder she saw value in what Antonia was offering. “I can avenge our torment,” says Antonia, and Tara (only too willingly) switches sides. It’s going to be interesting to watch one of the lead characters play the villain’s aide.
Lafayette and Jesus’ story line too somewhat connected with the rest of the happenings in True Blood. Lafayette realizes (after what happened in Mexico) that he is a medium. He also starts seeing the dark woman that Arlene’s baby saw last week. Pam seems to have fixed her face quite nicely although I’m sure she had to pay quite a price… I’m guessing tearing off one’s skin and then injecting the area multiple times a day can’t be fun!
Sam and Tommy’s story however is the least interesting among all others. Will their story ever intersect with what’s happening in Bon Temps at all? Anyhow, Sam finds out that Tommy did his girlfriend pretending to be him. So, Sam kicks Tommy out and I guess this means they are going back to being enemies again… Or maybe not, Tommy did feel sorry for what he did.
