True Blood 4.11 "Soul of Fire"
Monday, September 5, 2011 at 11:45PM The penultimate episode of Season four played just like a Season Finale with nearly every storyline reaching conclusion. Or at least like one of those season finales that precedes a haunted stand-alone episode. I'm thinking of Buffy's Season 4 two-fer "Primeval" and "Restless" where all the story threads are sewn up but then the heroine begins to fray in mysterious ways.
Show me future."
Soul of Fire
Not that True Blood is Buffy's equal, I hasten to add. Nor could Sookie fray in mysterious ways since her dramas are always "who to sleep with?" related and never any deeper. Even her "what am I, exactly?" identity crisis resulted in no character growth or behavioural change. And anyway, the pre-credits twist (glorious!) punishes you for thinking things are sewn up and tidy. Did I just negate these first two paragraphs? Uhhh, damnit. May I glamour you and wipe them from your memory?
The penultimate episode begins with the great album cover ready shot of the four lead vampires in black leather ambush gear heading for Moon Goddess Emporium and we stay there for nearly all of the episode with all eyes on Marnie. She admits that she likes it that way... and so does Fiona Shaw, don't you know.
We learn that Marnie's forcefield is impenetrable and actually composed of solar power and thus deadly to vampires. But the death count doesn't stop there. Marnie kills one of her own with a telekinetic knife throw marking her for certain capital punishment within the moral laws of True Blood the series. Though Marnie wouldn't be pleased to hear it only vampires can slaughter innocents and maintain anything like redeemable moral ambiguity in the show's relative value system. Sure enough by episode's end, the future that magic pool of blood showed her, has come to pass and she's dead with a bullet through the brain.
The best thing one can say about the episode's frequent action is that nearly everything is one part resolution and one part set-up for future episodes, which can't be an easy thing to pull off as a show runner or team. Consider the two subplots: Andy meets a fairy as he's kicking V (resolution) and swears to protect her (set-up). Alcides and Sam attack and kill Marcus (resolution) which leaves Debbie dangling and the werewolf pack without an alpha (set-up). And even within the vamp/witch war you've got this two-fold approach to story. Jessica and Jason rescue each other again and accept their feelings (resolution) but still don't know what that means for their future (set-up... or continuation. Something needs to happen there. They can't just keep having this conversation for another season). Pam saves Bill and Eric from their terrible negotiation skills -- the worst mankind or vampkind have ever seen (seriously? two deaths to free someone who is locked in a shop?) -- which is resolution but this pisses Eric off and he basically banishes her from his presence (set-up).
Body Count: 3 vamps, 3 humans, 1 werewolf; Sex Scenes: 1 Andy seduced by (and sworn to) a fairy; Fresh Meat: Marella the new fairy in town and down Andy's pants; Best Sookie Moment: Her reaction shot at episode's end when Bill and Eric are seen talking to each other but neither of them come to console her. Ohmygod, Sookie. You're going to have to finally sleep with Alcides if they both won't put out; Trashiest Moment: Eric sucking on a fresh heart just to gross Marnie out.
gif via Foolish Flower
I don't know about Marnie but it sure grossed me out;
Funniest Moment: There were quite a few very funny beats amidst all the mayhem including Fiona Shaw's hilarious awkward high five to her most annoying acolyte. Lafayette's and Tara's deadpan quips ("that ship done sailed" and "a regular huminatarian"( but the one that actually made me LOL was Arlene's simple concerned "Andyyy" when he tells her that he was just in the woods shtupping a fairy after swearing to her finger light after which she vanishes in a ball of light.
MVP: Marnie (Fiona Shaw) for my money the best Big Bad from all four seasons or as good as Maryann within a better season; Episode Grade: B+ Honestly this would have been an A episode for all the excitement and the beautiful story cohesion were it not for a too much repetition like Marnie coaxing everyone back into the circle with "but they want to kill us" speeches (and that was just one example) to a couple of enormous leaps in character motivation logic like Sookie joining the witches circle (and that was just one example). Regarding the latter, couldn't she have refused but still interrupted their spell with her fairy powers and thus stayed in character without the plot changing at all?
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
4.7 "Cold Grey Light..." MVP: Jessica; Grade: B-
4.8 "Spellbound" MVP: The Fortenberrys (Hoyt & Maxine); Grade: B+
4.9 "Let's Get Out of Here" MVP: Sam; Grade: B
4.10 "Burning Down the House" MVP: Marnie; Grade: A-
Reviews, TV, True Blood
Reader Comments (8)
I think you're forgetting one human death. There was Marnie, the girl she stabbed, and the guy who got his heart ripped out.
This episode was actually pretty funny. I can't remember a time when i laughed so much. 'gash in a sundress'. 'Marnie puked up a bitch', Marnie's quip about Pam's lips and more. Plus, the vamps being sucked towards the sunlight protection barrier was hilariously awful!
My only problem is that i don't know if Nelsan Ellis can really pull off having Lafayette being possessed by Marnie. I love him as Lafayette, but his Creole ghost was shaky at best. Plus, i want more Fiona Shaw! Can't we just make her undead for one episode? Zombie Marnie really isn't that big of a stretch for this show.
With these past three Big Bads, you can clearly see how much fun the actors are having, which makes for such great TV.
and i totally sympathized with Pam this episode. Sookie is NOT WORTH IT. If it wasn't for Jason, she would've killed all the vamps! seriously, she would be Sassy Gay Friend's magnum opus.
What, what, WHAT are you doing, Sookie?
The structure of this show is getting pretty tiresome. The Villain of the Season thing works better for something like Dexter when you can play off his dynamic with the lead character (though they've had some pretty dumb ones even there), but it's just murky on such a (needlessly) ensemble show. The only way I'll accept this season is if the finale features a cement covered Russell returning and yelling something like "DADDY'S BACK" to a bunch of wolves.
"Ohmygod, Sookie. You're going to have to finally sleep with Alcides if they both won't put out" - hee.
I had to laugh so hard when Marnie's "most annoying acolyte" (so apt) said something like they have to go through him before killing Marnie and within a blink Eric ripped out his heart.
Ivonne -- i KNOW. Boyd was so dumb/annoying. that was his name right, Boyd?
Derreck -- omg that needs to happen quickly. I always am wishing "sassy gay friend" on all sorts of characters but that's the only suggestion i've recently heard that's mainstream enough for "sassy" to actually do. GO FOR IT SASSY
Jasper -- corrected.
ALL -- i've updated with an Eric gif because GROSS but also how can Alexander Skarsgard ever leave the mirror in the morning?
DiscoNap -- hmmm. i guess the seasonal Big Bad is such a common structure now i'm forgetting there are other ways to approach it. I think the first season was more stand alone episodes right? Such a vague memory now.
I really enjoyed this episode, especially Jason telling the vampires off and the twist at the end. I am going to assume that Bill and Eric were going to use silver bullets and not really commit suicide. If not, then they are both idiots in love. Alcide is free to date Sookie and Debbie is free to go postal on Sookie now that she is back on V full time. I am not sure what to make of Andy and his midnight encounter except that the fairies are trying to increase their ranks. The finale is the Wiccan New Years Eve so the dead came alive for one night. I wonder who all is coming back to haunt Bon Temps?
that knife trick reminded me of Marcia Gay Harden in The Mist. now there's another actress who'd fit right in as a Big Bad or kooky seasonal cameo.