She hurts him to save him. Unless they're silvered all the vampires will walk into the sun.With Sunday night's episode, fang-bangers are now past the hump. This season's witchy storyline is now on its way to resolving itself. The halfway mark also suggests that from here on out we might have droppings that set things up for Season Five.
Cold Grey Light of Dawn
We begin where we left off with Marnie (Fiona Shaw) wreaking havoc. Controlling vamps, as it turns out, seems to be getting easier and easier for her. With a whisper of "Resurrection" her former rapist Luis (Peter Macdissi) stakes himself with Bill's silver weapon after a scuffle. One vampire down, all the rest of them to go. Marnie wants them all to meet the true death. After the burst of action that opens the show (Tara also narrowly avoids death at Pam's rotting hands), things slow down considerably. We stop in on unhappy couples (Alcides and Debbie) still shaky couples (Sam &) and new ones (Sookie & Eric). Meanwhile, Tara dumps her lover and signs up with Marnie's vampire slaughter plans, Jason tries to avoid Hoyt "I'd rather be cooking then talking anyhow" and realizes (again) that he's hot for Jessica. Most oddly, Bill tells Jessica the Antonia story which seems like a really strange storytelling move. We've heard and seen this storyline via Marnie and Luis so many times now it felt like a "previously on..." in the middle of the show.
But any scene with Deborah Ann Woll's Jessica gives us great visuals. Such a screen face [spoiler image after the jump]
The problem with series television cliffhanger endings like this one, with Jessica walking into the sun, is that they're never as scary as they should be even when they're superbly staged. The scene just kept escalating from Marnie's levitating chanting to the repeated helpless cries of THE SUN THE SUN as the vampires fell under Antonia's spell, and that heat wave glimpse of the door as Jessica desperately yanked herself towards a certain burning death all earned their spookiness. But... But... series television cliffhangers, you know. Obviously Jessica will survive since she's Deborah Ann Woll, a series regular.
Two final frustrations in a so-so episode (up until that great finale): Sam kicks his brother out yet again when he discovers the latest betrayal. Why does this story keep looping? And honestly I don't really get this Jesus/Lafayette storyline. "Tio Rosa", Lafayette's possessing ghost is a bore thus far, though there's an opportunity to mirror "Antonia"/Marnie surely. Will this storyline yield strange fruit or rot from the inside like Pam?
Body Count: 3 a human witch traitor and two vampires (at least); Sex Scenes: 2 ½ a reprise of last week's Sookie/Eric rutting, Alcides and Debbie and a rocky marital bed, and a flashback to Jason's erotic Jessica dream; Fresh Meat: None; Trashiest Moment: Between the "Holy crap. Now there's zombies?" moment as a crowd gathers to gawk at her and the satirical cosmetic surgery "skin peel" efforts later in the episode, its just one indignation after another for Pam.
I can make you look pretty again... or at least what you looked before whatever you call that"
Poor Pam. She's just not handling her new ugly well. Best Sookie Moment: "Eric... shush!" Oh now you're going to worry about privacy, Sookie, immediately after all that epic outdoor rutting?; Funniest Moment: a final humiliation -- Ginger riding Pam's coffin like a bull riding machine --even if Pam is too silvered to notice it.
Episode MVP: UNDECIDED. You should help me out in the comments. Tara's been the most improved character all season and her new moods, combined with the friction of the past baggage, seem to have reinspired Rutina Wesley's acting. Jessica provides great visuals and her storyline compels. Fiona Shaw is definitely having fun with "Antonia's" vengeance demon... but what the hell with that accent?; Episode Grade: B-
Previously on True Blood
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