Recap True Blood 4.02: “You Smell Like Dinner”

Eric: “Why do you smell so good?”

I enjoyed this one as much as the premiere. Some licking and biting, a lot of nudity, a little amnesia, what’s not to love?

Sookie and Eric

"I will never be Eric Northman's puppet."

Eric’s exotic cubby in Sookie’s house made me laugh out loud. I’ll say (or say again) that Sookie has calmed down a lot; she just doesn’t seem as upset about it as I thought she’d be. I thought she’d explode at him. Maybe, as Pam pointed out, Sookie has finally realized that she does need protection… after three seasons of being in constant danger.

Of course, Eric may need protection now, too, now that he’s a vampire amnesiac. Vulnerability is a good look for Eric, and probably a lot more appealing to Sookie than “You are mine!” Strip away a thousand years of vampire arrogance, and Eric might be a nice guy. He did fix up her house and keep it for her. That’s a rather huge romantic gesture. Or maybe I’m just projecting because I like Eric, and I really want Sookie to go for him.

King Bill

After all, Bill moved on, didn’t he? Sookie walked right in on him with another woman. And again, she didn’t seem all that upset, did she? Dare we hope that it’s really, truly over for them? I’m not saying Bill doesn’t still care. He didn’t tell Nan about Sookie’s value to the vampire community, and I bet that will come back to bite him.

My favorite scene this week (after Eric’s cubby) was Bill as a punk in 1982 London. Way too funny. (Actually, way too Spike on Buffy; was that deliberate?) Do you see, True Blood writers? Bill as a character works even when he’s not Sookie’s love interest, doesn’t he? And now we know how Bill became King of Louisiana, and what happened to Sophie-Anne. I was rather sorry to see her explode into goo. She was nothing like the character in the books and she certainly wasn’t sympathetic, but you gotta love a monarch obsessed with Yahtzee.

Jason, Crystal and Felton

If I ever liked Crystal at all, which I didn’t, I sure wouldn’t like her now. You don’t see Jessica trying to turn Hoyt, or Bill and Eric trying to turn Sookie. I understand Crystal’s motivation, yes. The infertility and inbreeding in Hotshot is a survival issue (as well as gagworthy). And yes, Felton is keeping Crystal high on V and she can’t make a considered decisions. But really, Crystal. Poor Jason. Although I have to say, making him a werepanther would be an interesting way to go. If it works.

Shifting

Sam had a shifter girlfriend before and it didn’t work out, but Luna, his new prospective honey, has some interesting depth. I often wondered why a shifter couldn’t turn into another human, and that intense little story about Luna shifting into her dead mother must be story set-up. What other shifters do we know who are related, hmm? Maybe Luna was wrong about the Navaho skinwalker legend that the person has to be a relative you killed; what if it’s just relatives? I could definitely see Tommy shifting in to Sam in order to fool around with Luna, or to try to turn Sam’s new Shifters Anonymous group against him. Probably both. I’m not sure I believe that Tommy truly wants to reconcile with Sam. Too much bad blood under the bridge. (Is that a mixed metaphor?)

Does that “shifting into a family member” apply to weres as well as to pure shifters? Crystal and Fenton are half-siblings. And speaking of shifting, Marnie’s face kept changing as she was cursing Eric. Is she a shifter, too? Did she kill a family member? And who is she planning to raise from the dead? Anyone we know? I thought at first that it was Eric, since he’s technically dead, but I’m pretty sure he’s still a vamp. He didn’t know Sookie when she stopped on the road, but he did say, “Why do you smell so good?”

We all know our Lafayette wouldn’t voluntarily do black magic, so it was a smart move by the writers to bring Tara back and in danger from Eric. Lafayette has always been afraid of Eric, too.

And yet more biting

Jessica fell off the wagon and picked up a fangbanger. Not a surprise. She’s powerful and beautiful, but she’s so young and was brought up in such an oppressive household, and her first adult act was to move in with a tree in plaid who had trouble leaving his mama. It was inevitable that she’d rebel. Did Jessica pick a fight with Hoyt deliberately? I bet she did. She had a sexy top on under her flannel, didn’t she?

Bits and pieces:

— I liked Stephen Moyer’s accent in the flashback. His own, I assume?

— Tara came back for Sookie, after all. I forgive her.

— Louis Pasteur was a vampire. 🙂

— Andy is a disappointment. He’ll never put in the effort to find Jason. Let’s hope Sookie realizes Jason is missing soon; she’ll find him. She found Bill last season.

— I thought it was fun that Sam and Tommy carried on an entire argument stark naked.

— I’m starting to think Arlene is wrong about the baby. I bet the stress she’s feeling caused that blood vessel in her eye to pop on its own. At least baby Mikey has one sane parent.

— How do we know Luna is not appearing as her mother right now?

— I have to say again that Pam’s leather outfit is a super wow. Of all of the leather outfits I’ve seen on vamps (and being a Buffy/Angel fan, I’ve seen a lot), that one may be the best.

— I liked Sookie’s new ponytail. I wish my hair was long enough to do that.

— There were a number of comments last week about the inconsistencies with the passage of time when both Bill and Sookie went to the fae dimension last season. Yes, I think the writers blew it. Maybe we’ll get some sort of convoluted explanation later. Or not.

Quotes:

Jason: “It’s not that I don’t appreciate all the licking, ’cause I do. But I’m more of a band-aid kind of guy.”

Eric: “Your blood tastes like freedom, Sookie. Like sunshine in a pretty blonde bottle.”
That was a bit poetic, wasn’t it?

Sookie: “Your snipers didn’t mention you had company.”

Lafayette: “I’ve never been accused of being overly light before.”

Sookie: (about Eric) “Psychopathic frat boy.”
That’s one classy cubby. Not very secret, though.

Eric: “I remember the Inquisition. I was around back then.”
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! And we had an ex-parrot in the premiere. Is there a Python fan on the writing staff?

Nan: “Now clean yourself up. You’re covered in Queen.”

Sookie: “I will never be Eric Northman’s puppet.”
Pam: “Shame for you, then. He pulls good string.”
Eric pulls good string. 🙂

Jessica: “I can eat who I want.”
Love the decorations in the ladies room. Like Alice in Wonderland by way of Tim Burton.

Three out of four snipers. Or should it be three out of four not-so-secret cubbies? Okay, the snipers were about Bill and the cubbies were about Eric, so let’s make it cubbies,

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