RECAP: True Blood 208 “Timebomb”

True Blood episode 208 review by Billie Doux.

Bill: “If you shoot her, everyone here will die. Let her go, now!”
Steve: (to Sookie) “Honestly, what do they see in you?”

What a terrific episode. I laughed out loud so many times that I scared my cat.

Godric completely defused the war. He seems to be quite a guy. Even though he looks like a teenager, he’s so ancient and has experienced so much that he has come to value human life. I could finally understand Eric’s love for him. I assume Godric would have balked at actually “meeting the sun”, though.

There was finally enough Eric in an episode to suit me, and he was in rare form; I particularly liked his redneck impression, which was so good that it nearly fooled them, even though his paleness and black leather practically screamed vampire. (Why do vampires on every vampire show love leather?) Sookie and Eric had something of a detente going on, too. She took the chains off him, and he hinted that he wanted to turn her. Interesting, what Eric said to Sookie about not understanding the word “love,” because I bet it was Eric’s devotion to Godric that made Sookie treat him differently.

With all of this good stuff to choose from, Jason’s scenes had to be the best. Jason told off Sarah. Dashed to Sookie’s rescue. Stormed the church and took Steve Newlin down armed only with a paintball gun. His heartfelt apology to Bill in the backyard was a hoot, especially Bill’s face as Jason was hugging him. (Possible in-laws. What can you do.) Not to be outdone, Sookie’s takedown of the unbelievably bitchy Lorena was very satisfying, although I doubt Lorena will let Bill go that easily. I bet Sookie just made herself a powerful enemy.

Explosive cliffhanger, pun intended. Suicide bomber. Let’s be topical, shall we? Bill wasn’t in the building because he’d left with Lorena, but Sookie, Jason, Eric, Godric… who will live? Who will get blown to pieces? (And for once, the previews didn’t even hint at what would happen. Good for HBO for a change.)

In comparison to the Fellowship plot, this week’s installment of Orgy Central was almost subdued. Human heart for breakfast, some slapping around, and Sam got himself arrested for the heart murders. He should have taken off like he had planned. His best bet is probably to turn into a gerbil, get out of jail, and leave town as quickly as he can.

Young love, first love. Poor Jessica is now an eternal virgin. It’s almost like a punishment her terrible parents would have chosen for her, and one she most certainly does not deserve. I knew this whole Jessica/Hoyt love affair was too good to be true.

Bits and pieces:

— Lafayette told Tara’s cards, and her future was the “Justice” card. I don’t see things working out for her and Eggs. It feels like Maryann has special evil plans for them, over and above all the other craziness.

— Loved the green paintball splotch, centered directly between Steve’s eyes. Although to be honest, it looked like it had been carefully painted there.

— Godric killed Gabe the rapist. No loss to anyone.

— Bill saved Barry from Lorena. Lorena said that Barry tasted funny. What is he? He’s probably whatever Sookie is. For that matter, Bill was also kind to Jessica and Hoyt. Go, Bill.

— Mike the undertaker and coroner (John Billingsley) got locked up for having intimate knowledge of a pine tree. How could they tell *what* kind of intimate knowledge? It was a tree, wasn’t it?

— Congratulations to series stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who got engaged this week.

Quotes (and there were a lot of great ones this week):

Sarah: “You’re worse than Judas!”
Jason: “Why? What did he do to you?”

Sookie: “He’s your maker, isn’t he?”
Eric: “Don’t use words you don’t understand.”
Sookie: “You have a lot of love for him.”
Eric: “Don’t use words I don’t understand.”

Hoyt: “I don’t know what you heard, but those were screams of pleasure.”

Steve: “Kill me. Do it. Jesus will protect me.”
Godric: “I’m actually older than your Jesus. I wish I could have known him, but I missed it.”
I really loved this. Whenever you have an immortal character more than two thousand years old, it always turned out that they saw Jesus. But what are the odds? To quote my favorite vampire: “If every vampire who said he was at the Crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock.”

Sookie: “What were you doing with those people? Are you out of your mind?”
Jason: “Yeah, I was. Just, that sumbitch, it’s like he sucked out my brain and planted all his own babies in there.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better description of religious brainwashing in my life.

Andy: “With claws. A bull in a dress. With claws.”

Jessica: “I can’t believe I waited so long. We’re going to do it every night, whether you want to or not.”

Bill: “Calling in my maker because you couldn’t win Sookie for yourself is feeble and desperate, even for you.”
Eric: (big smile) “Are you picking a fight?”

Godric: “Retract. Your. Fangs. Now.”

I think this was my favorite episode so far,

Billie Doux

Billie Doux writes episode reviews and articles about sci-fi, fantasy and cult television shows. All her reviews can be found at BillieDoux.com.