Recap 6.9 True Blood “Life Matters”

Jason: “How dare you speak for God?”

This was the best episode of True Blood I’ve seen in years.

One of my constant complaints about this show is that they try to jam too many story threads into an episode, and end up giving full justice to none of them. Not this time. This episode centered on two and only two stories — Terry Bellefleur’s absolutely wonderful and deeply touching funeral, and the strange ascension of our favorite vampires into creatures of the light. Both storylines were about love, family and sacrifice, but in different ways.

Arlene gave her husband Terry the funeral he deserved. Lettie Mae’s husband was the perfect minister, and every eulogy and flashback got to me — Andy and Terry at Fort Bellefleur, Sam showing such kindness by hiring a strange man in camo who looked like maniac, Lafayette teaching Terry how to cook French fries.

I didn’t think it could get more touching, but it did — when Sookie “came out” as a telepath in front of everyone so that she could tell Arlene that Terry was crazy for her from the moment they met. All of these people helped Terry because he deserved help, and loved him because he was a lovable man. But I think I was touched the most by Arlene talking about how she and Terry took turns being strong for each other. That’s what a good marriage is really all about.

The other half of the story was just as good — so much so that I can’t really choose which was the A plot. Bill became the vampire Jesus, sacrificing his body and blood for his people and saving them all (although not from sin). Is it permanent? Did Bill just create a whole new breed of daywalking vampires? Wouldn’t it be awesome if he did? (I kept expecting them all to start smoking as they were drunk on the sunshine, but no.) And how lovely that James was the one who offered to save Bill. He certainly just endeared himself to Jessica forever.

And Eric, an old and powerful vampire in a state of complete rage, was awesome. He took terrible vengeance on the people who victimized the vampires, and it was practically biblical — blood and body parts everywhere. The doctor who killed Nora suffered the most; tearing off his genitals and tossing them in front of the guy? OMFreakingG. I thought Eric would be the one to save his family. And then I thought Eric would be the one to save Bill. But no. Where did Eric go at the end of the episode? Come back, Eric!

One more highlight for me — Jason was absolutely awesome. No malaprops, no comedy, he caught Sarah Newlin and told her exactly what he thought of her. I knew he wouldn’t be able to kill her. For a moment, I thought she was going to find a way to kill him. Thankfully, no.

RIP, Steve Newlin. At least he had the last word. “I love you, Jason Stackhouse!”

Bits and pieces:

— Sarah running up to the roof to expose the vamps to the sun reminded me of Godric’s death, another excellent TB episode.

— Maxine Fortenberry attended the funeral, and said that Hoyt had moved on to a human woman.

— I kept thinking about the fact that Andy just lost three daughters. No funeral for them.

— Does Lettie Mae even know that Tara is a vampire now? I honestly don’t recall.

— Lafayette’s funeral outfit was glorious. Loved the fake eyelashes with the purple tie and hat band.

— And finally, there was one more good thing about this episode. We only got about two minutes of Warlow.

Quotes:

Sookie: “Eric took our deal and fucked it in the ass.”
Seriously, Sookie?

Eric: “You’re free. Go forth and kill the humans.”

Eric: “Help me remember. Have I ever healed you before?”
Jason: “I don’t think so.”
Eric: “Well, you are in for a treat. And when you dream of me, dream of nice things.”
I want to see Jason having sex dreams about Eric. Does that make me a bad person?

Terry: “Every life matters. Throw it back.”
What a gentle soul he was.

Finn: (to Eric) “I fucked your progeny.”
Jason: “You did not just go there!”

Ginger: “Well, if it isn’t my knight in shining armor.”
Lovely. And if she screamed once, she screamed three times. Love Ginger.

Eric: (to Steve) “Every time I’ve lost someone I loved, you were there.”

Eric: “I saved the therapist for you.”
Pam: “You take such good care of me.”

Sarah: “What’ll become of your soul, Jason?”
Jason: “I don’t know. But at least I got one.”

So on the one hand, we had death. And on the other, we had death. Completely different, but both great. Four out of four catfish,

Billie Doux

(Billie Doux and her friends review their favorite shows at Doux Reviews.)