Recap 5.4 True Blood “We’ll Meet Again”

Pam: “I made her while you were gone. Congratulations, you’re a grandfather.”

Surprise. I’m finally on board with Tara as a vampire. Maybe I’d just had enough of the old Tara; making her a vampire might be the re-set the character needed. I loved the way she finally said she’d had enough of dying for Sookie.

Of course, the best part of her revamping was tying her to Pam, a character that I love very, very much. In fact, the real strength in the series these days are the vampire stories and relationships. The best scenes in this episode by far were Pam swearing she was loyal to Eric, and Eric releasing Pam from her fealty to him. Pam is Eric’s only vampire child, and he loves her. He let her go to protect her, and she allowed it out of respect and love for him. That second, quiet scene in the basement at Fangtasia actually brought tears to my eyes.

The Bill/Jessica relationship is also just lovely, and I thought it was sweet that their scenes reflected Eric/Pam to some extent. Bill didn’t release Jessica or say goodbye, but he praised her, treated her like an adult, and allowed her to make her own choices. Jessica is a good vampire; she’s even being a good friend to Jason. Bill raised her well.

There were some good character moments for Sookie, too. I enjoyed seeing her melt down and get stinking drunk; it’s not surprising that she’s finally had enough death and mayhem and couldn’t bounce back from this one. I didn’t hate seeing her smooch with Alcide, either, which surprised me. Maybe it was because Alcide made points with me by managing to deflect the Pelts without betraying Sookie. And maybe it’s because I’m enjoying this Bill/Eric bromance. They’re bonding so beautifully over shared deadly danger from Authority and shared rejection by Sookie, and I’m loving it.

The other interesting part of the episode (for me, anyway) was the interdimensional fairy strip club. What the frilly heck is going on there? I thought at first that they’d be distributing light fruit Jason shouldn’t eat and that Jason and Andy could be gone for a year, but the Judge said he went to the club every weekend, so that’s out. Morella, the fairy that seduced Andy, was there. Cousin Hadley was there. Lots of very strange dancers were there. I’ll admit that I was intrigued; I have no idea where they’re going with this one. Especially with that parting shot that vampires killed Sookie and Jason’s parents. Gee, do you think it’ll be someone we know?

(If Hadley and her son Hunter are living there, are there apartments? How much for a two bedroom in a fairy dimension?)

Meanwhile back at Authority headquarters, Nora is now praying? I’m still confused about what’s going on with Nora and where her allegiances lie. Was she guessing about another chancellor being a traitor? The wild-eyed Roman staking the kid chancellor was actually fun. So much for the kid. I don’t think I even got his name.

Salome said that she and Nora had been friends for a long, long time. Somehow, I don’t think Nora can trust Salome. You know, I bet Salome is the big traitor, the secret leader of the sanguinistas, the one who let Russell out. It fits somehow.

Way too many plot lines, recapped:

— Lafayette’s inner monster just tried again to deep six Sookie. So much for Sookie’s yellow banana car.

— What happened to Sam’s two shifter friends, “Barack and Hillary”? Who shot them? Angry werewolves?

— Jessica glamored Andy to forget the Pelt case. Now that Alcide has shifted the blame to the late, unlamented Marcus, I wonder if the Pelts are gone for good? (I doubt it, somehow.)

— Bill thinks that there might be a bug in his office, and that’s how someone (at Authority? Salome, maybe?) knew about Russell. Makes sense.

— Terry and his buddy are in South Dakota looking for their scary third buddy, and they found him. And we got flashbacks to Iraq. Is it wrong of me to prefer 1905 San Francisco?

— The last shot was Andy and Jason getting fairy zapped. Are they dead? I doubt it, somehow.

Other bits and pieces:

— They seem to be retconning exactly how dead Tara was in the season finale. As far as I’m concerned, if her brains were on the floor, she was dead dead deader than dead.

— A Judas tree stake? Really?

— Sookie drunk and singing a vampire version of the pina colada song was funny.

— While bartending at Merlotte’s, Tara invented a drink called the “orange marzipan”. Gag.

— Roman pulled off the face completely covered with blood look. Not everyone can.

— I love Pam’s clothes. That black purple leather lacy thing was spectacular. And she sleeps in a pink track suit that goes with her pink coffin. Love it.

Quotes:

Pam: “As your maker, I command you. Do not try it again. Ever.”
Tara: “Goddammit.”
And Tara had to obey. Too funny.

Sookie: “If you do the right thing, it’ll be okay.”
Lafayette: “Oh, yeah, baby. You survive. You always do. But goddam you leave a trail of bodies behind. You know what? You the fuckin angel of death.”

Eric: (looking at his own iStake) “Well, apart from these, your escape ploy worked brilliantly.”

Sookie: “I’m turning myself in.”
Jason: “Into what?”
Hilarious.

Tara: “How many of us have nearly died just to save her sorry ass? Well, I did them all one better.”
Tara finally seemed like Tara. Only with even less of a filter than ever.

Dieter: “Wake up, sister. It’s just a book. I know the guy who wrote it, and he was high the whole time.”
He’s definitely my favorite chancellor. Okay, I’m partial to the actor because he’s been in everything, but still.

Andy: “They wouldn’t be telling me to call off the dogs unless them dogs smelled a rat.”
Jason: “What if there is no rat? What if the dogs are just tired of looking?”
Andy: “I’m the dog in this analogy. I ain’t tired of looking for a rat ’cause I know something’s fishy.”
Hilarious again. Mixed metaphors, with fish.

Lafayette: “Your car is wrapped around a pole like a giant banana split and you got no airbags. What the hell happened?”

Sookie: “The bar’s open. And it’s fruity.”

Tara: “Who’s she?”
Pam: “Nothing. And Melanie. She’s here because someone needs to feed. (to Melanie) Seriously. Three days old and she has an eating disorder. Why me.”

Congratulations to True Blood which just got renewed for a sixth season!

Three out of four pina colada songs,

Billie

(Billie Doux and her contributing writers review science fiction, fantasy and cult television shows at BillieDoux.com.)