Possessing Ghosts. Confused Mediums. Witchy Necromancers. Restless Werewolves. Angry Humans. Ambivalent Vampires. Horny Shifters. Horny Sookie. True Blood is hugely crowded this year. And busy. There's as many plot elements as characters.
You dropped something.
True Blood Season 4 has thrown a lot of balls in the air but remarkably the only one it seems to have dropped is the one it needed to (were-panthers). All hell broke loose on Sunday night's episode so now the show is not only juggling but juggling while running at vamp speed.
"Spellbound"
"Did I do that?" Jessica asked over the bloody body of Bill's guard Bucky after Jason saves her from self-immolation (see last week). Yup. Another thing for her to cry those bloody tears about. In many ways, Jessica is the most human of all the characters this season, continually plagued by self-doubt, regret and romantic confusion. She thinks about her actions and their affect on people. Like Hoyt.
Poor little-boy Hoyt...
Or is it... Cruel big-man Hoyt?
Jim Parrack gets to play both in two break-up sequences as Jessica dreams of leaving him and then actually does. The first time he plays it raw and embarrassingly needy and Parrack's acting is just heightened enough that you can question its reality. When the scene is actually happening, you can still see the needy boy inside the cruel man. This doubled rejection sequence gets mirrored for Jessica who is then expelled from two houses where she was previously welcome.
While Jessica's arc is becoming the most interesting of the season, Sookie's is growing stale. Seriously, does she ever think about her actions? She has no impulse control. Not that many people wouldn't consider the marathon love-making with Alexander Skarsgård but would they be up for it in a surreal snowstorm even if he was muttering inane continual declarations of love? What the hell with that winter/fantasy scene?
"Why is there a bed?" Good question. GET OUT OF BED. YOU'RE BORING.
Sookie & Eric were such fun in the first half of the season and now they've become tiresome, like bad friends who dump their friends once they have a new crush.
Oh my gravy* I'm going on and on....
These three things go down: Lafayette gets possessed by that ghost that's haunting Arlene's baby and we finally find out why; Tommy pretends to be Maxine and sells her property for money (uh-oh); Bill tries to broker peace with Marnie/Antonia and all hell breaks loose with the fighting with casualties on both sides. Pam nearly kills Tara (again) but Bill stops her.
The happiest turn of events in the episode is that the werewolves -- who are worried about the witch/vamp war -- are finally joined with the other plots, in ways both "duh!" and "ooh". The ooh being Marcus, the alpha, turning out to be Luna's (Sam's new girlfriend) ex which also helps yanks the underutilized Sam back into the thick of it. At least we hope.
Luna: Do not start anything Marcus. It's bad for Emma. It's bad for me. It's bad for you.
Luna doth protest too much. It'll be good for the show.
*"Oh my gravy" is but one example. This show has the most hilarious exclamatory phrases. See also: week's funniest moment below.
Body Count: 3 (2 human, 1 vampire) that we see but who knows in that foggy battle; Sex Scenes: 2 both with Eric & Sookie. Yes that mutual feeding counts. Sookie needs a sassy gay friend. She's a stupid betch; Fresh Meat: 'hot dog' Chuck (Drew James), a werewolf who is obviously going to get himself killed; Best Sookie Moment: Sookie's echoing of Eric's "my liege" to Bill with great discomfort. "my... Bill";
Trashiest / Funniest Moment: Jason and Andy reunited over a dead vampire.Andy would seriously eat a dead pile off Buella Carter off the ground!
Andy: Jesus, Tits, and God America, Jason! What the fuck is happening to me? I'm only good on the V dude. It's the only time I ever feel like I'm not watching myself not living up to people's expectations and hating those people for having expectations and then thinking about hitting them in the head with a bat.
Jason: [pause] oh sorry man -- I stopped listening about halfway through.
Episode MVP: It's hard to miss how much fun Fiona Shaw is having with Antonia/Marnie: her inability to deal with technology, her lazy spell-like hand gestures even when she isn't casting them, her mad delight in her power and contempt for all things vampiric... except, one suspects perversely, when she's possessing them.
The hilarious Dale Raoul playing Tommy playing Maxine.
But I want to give this one to the Fortenberrys, Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Maxine (Dale Raoul). The mother & son team may be estranged but the actors responsible were united in excellence in "Spellbound" bringing the drama and comedy respectively. People obsess over the randy bodies and the bloodlust but, honestly, True Blood would never have been the huge hit it is without its very colorful second and third tier players who make the show so damn fun and lively. Episode Grade: B+ (almost an A- but that Sookie/Eric mushiness is getting old fast and this Lafayette storyline is sloooooo slow.)
4.1 "She's Not There" MVP: Marnie; Grade: C
4.2 "You Smell Like Dinner" MVP: Eric; Grade: A
4.3 "If You Love Me Why...?" MVP: Eric; Grade: B+
4.4 "I'm Alive and On Fire" MVP: Sookie; Grade: B+
4.5 "Me and the Devil" MVP: Arlene; Grade: A-
4.6 "I Wish I Was the Moon" MVP: Pam; Grade: B
4.7 "Cold Grey Light..." MVP: Jessica; Grade: B-