Editor's note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 5, Episode 4 of HBO's "True Blood," titled, "We'll Meet Again."
I'm still reeling from what an insane episode this was. Eric releases Pam, Lafayette's demon has it out for Sookie, Sookie gets plastered and hooks up with Alcide (!!!), and Jason and Andy travel to fairy land that doubles as "Moulin Rouge" meets "Magic Mike" crossed with Cirque du Soleil. Let's chat about this jam-packed episode for a second.
To start off, the episode was written by "True Blood" regular Alexander Woo, who has been writing for the show since Season 1. He took the storylines that were presented in the first three episodes and put them into overdrive. If you thought the season was getting stale already, it is quite certainly stale no longer. And he made Terry's plot interesting. That's no easy feat. Terry's army flashback was so un-supernatural (I suppose that would just be "natural"), that it seemed like a completely different show. A show I would watch, nonetheless, but quite the opposite of the regular "True Blood" shenanigans that we're all so used to. Back when Terry served in the Middle East, he and his troops decided to trip on drugs and drink loads of booze. Responsible, no? Then, one of his comrades goes ahead and kills an innocent civilian, leading to numerous other civilian lives being taken. Flash forward to today and you'll see Terry and buddy Patrick (Scott Foley) discovering that their old friend is far more crazy than they ever could have thought.
While on the subject of crazy, let me just say that this episode was an emotional rollercoaster, never once settling in on a set tone. After Sookie confesses to Alcide about killing Debbie as we saw in the previous episode, she runs over to Jason's house and tells him to arrest her. "She came into my house with a shotgun. I turned it around on her, blew her head clean off. I can take you to the body, Jason. I'm not making this up." Then, she decides to drink herself to oblivion. Drunk Sookie may just be my new favorite. After she's well and drunk, Alcide decides to pay her a visit to let her know that he covered for her in regards to Debbie's death. They proceed to knock a few back, and things get a little too frisky. Excuse me, but do you have a butter knife? This sexual tension is being laid on thick. And you just know that they're going to hook up, because booze will do that to TV characters. As Bill and Eric watch on ("Awkward time for a drop-in, Bill."), they've lost this battle. But who will win the war? Only time will tell.
Incredibly, there wasn't a single thing I outright disliked about the episode. The only thing that caught me off guard was the sheer strangeness of it all. Bill, Eric, Pam, and Tara all hanging out in the same place? What what? Maybe I was wrong to shrug off vampire Tara so soon. She was enjoyable during this hour. "How many of us have nearly died just to save [Sookie's] sorry ass? Well, I did them all one better." Oh, Tara, I'm glad you're back to your snarky self. Her and Pam's blossoming relationship is one I look forward to exploring in future episodes, but they will always pale in comparison to the awesomeness of Pam and Eric, who shared quite the emotional break-up. Here's a refresher: Eric and Bill were released by the Authority so that they could find Russell Edgington. Only four people knew that he was still alive and buried, and they include Eric, Bill, Alcide, and Pam. They already nixed Alcide off the list, so Eric had no choice but to go to Pam and ask her if she had anything do with his escape. She rightfully declines any involvement ("You're my maker, Eric. And I would die for you, gladly, a thousand times before I would ever betray you.") and goes as far as to tell Eric that if he can no longer trust her, that he should just release her already. He doesn't at that moment, but later on, he tells Pam that he wants his legacy to live on through her and through Tara, and therefore, their bond needs to be broken. How many tissues did you use up for this scene? Oh, only a few dozen. Don't worry. I have plenty.
Back at the Authority, Roman (Christopher Meloni) continues to interrogate Nora about her involvement with Russell's escape. She doesn't budge with names and even offers herself up to the true death. But when presented with the app that will automatically stake Eric and Bill, her mind changes and she gives up Alexander Drew (the kid member of the Authority). Roman stakes him and the gory leftovers are sprayed across the table. I was nervous that Rosalyn Harris ("Cougar Town's" Carolyn Hennesy) was a culprit, but alas, I was relieved that it wasn't. Also, Christopher Meloni's line delivery here was killer. Okay, I'm officially sold. I wasn't before, but Meloni is bring some heavy duty badassery to the table, and we can all appreciate a good badass.
If I had to pick a weak link in the episode, besides Sam, whose story doesn't even warrant an explanation at this point (two of his shifter friends were murdered), it was probably Andy and Jason's. But it was still strong in relation to where these two have been in the past in terms of strong stories. They're taken to a burlesque party in fairy world, where Jason runs into his cousin, Hadley. She lets it spill that a flood didn't kill Jason and Sookie's parents, but rather vampires. It wasn't that big of a revelation, but I'm loving the whole "refugee" bit.
Overall, a very strong episode that moved things briskly along. Let's just hope that this pace can be kept up over the next eight episodes. Fingers crossed!
Extra bites
Who else was feeling a callback to Season 1 when Sookie's telepathy was getting uncontrollable?
Pam's pink track suit. That's all.
Tara finally gets rid of those bloody clothes that's she's been roaming around in since last season's finale. I've never been more thankful for an oversized Fangtasia shirt. I hope she burned those flair jeans.
Season of Pam continues going full throttle as Kristen Bauer shines as the bright star of the cast and is probably delivering some of her best work to date. Is an Emmy nomination on the horizon? Probably not because he Academy doesn't look too kindly on fantasies. Whatever, Academy. Your loss, but let a dreamer dream.
"It's your home, too. You can take care of yourself. But this is low-quality shit." - Bill to Jessica after he finds an old joint
"Let bygones be bygones, and bi-girls be bi-girls." - Pam
"Seriously, three days old and she has an eating disorder." - Pam, re: Tara