Welcome to Sucker Punch, the only blog post that ranks the gaudiest moments on this week's episode of True Blood.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
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Before we dive into "It Hurts Me Too," I need to talk about a recent review of True Blood by Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker. In his conclusion, he wrote:
What show creator Alan Ball has brought to True Blood's pulp-horror trappings is a unifying theme of power versus helplessness: an insistence that victims are capable of toughening, of overcoming their powerlessness to become smarter and stronger. It's a positive message that Ball and his writers and directors smuggle into a show that only seems to revel in decadence, gore, and duplicity. True Blood's dirtiest little secret is that it may be among the most ethical, even righteous, shows on television.
Meanwhile, in his recap of the season premiere, Tucker said, "I like True Blood best when it's fast, dirty, and funny."
These statements clarify my own relationship to the show: Yes, it's full of metaphor, and I certainly enjoy it on that level. However, I mostly like True Blood because it's trashy, bloody, sexy, and funny. It's more valuable to me as candy than as vitamins.
This isn't always how I roll. I like Big Love's sweeping themes more than its individual plots, and as much as I love the campiness on RuPaul's Drag Race, I love its subtle critique of American society even more.
But with TB, I really prefer the Sucker Punches. How do you guys feel?
And now: Back to the episode.
I'd say it contradicts Tucker's assertion that True Blood depicts victims overcoming their problems. Watching "It Hurts Me Too," I notice that almost every female character is passive and needy.
For instance, Sookie not only gets saved by Eric in the opening scene, but also does some foolish crap in a werewolf bar, nearly gets raped, and then gets saved by the hunky werewolf Alcide. That's two gallant rescues in one episode, or put another way, that's two more times that Sookie's relationship to a male character is built around being saved.
Meanwhile, Tara continues to star in Tyler Perry's I Can't Do Anything All By Myself. Lafayette saved her a few weeks ago, and now Franklin the Skinny swoops in to sleep with her (in a very hot scene) then glamour her a few days later.
His mind control antics are particularly frustrating because at the end of their sex scene, Tara actually takes some control. She refuses to tell Franklin her name, and she actually goes to work. And then? Right back to powerless victimhood.
Franklin's also perpetuating Jessica's powerlessness. She's basically been abandoned by everyone in her life---except Hoyt, whom she's pushing away---and now she's trapped in someone else's house, trying to deal with the consequences of her surging vampire impulses.
As usual, I'm touched by Jessica's plight, because recalls every teenager who is suddenly thrust into adulthood and doesn't know how to deal with it. Didn't we all have days where we felt like our emerging sexuality caused us to screw up? Didn't we all feel isolated as we looked for role models to help us understand and deal with our mistakes? Didn't we all end up turning to someone like Franklin or Pam, who ultimately wasn't looking out for our best interests? I mean... I sure did.
And Jessica's going through that, too, and it's powerful. But with Franklin insinuating his way into her life, I have the sinking feeling that she's going to become yet another female pawn. (I initially typed "female prawn." What's up, District 9?!?)
I will say this, though... When Franklin uses that dead guy's head as a puppet, I whoop. How funny and tacky. How facky! And if it weren't for something else that happens in the episode, that would be my Sucker Punch of the week.
Another contender? Pam. Sure, she's filling the "all quips, no character" slot that Lafayette was in before his great emotional flowering, but right now, that's fine by me. Pam is a badass, and her conversation with Jessica about the "hypothetical chainsaw," which interrupts her cunnilingus with a stripper, is a big ole ruby in this show's glittery crown.
I need Pam right now, because I need to see a female character who isn't having a crisis.
What else? Well... as someone who hasn't read any of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, I didn't feel the same jolt of excitement that many fans experienced when Alcide entered the show. Actually, I thought the dialogue in one scene suggested that Alcide's ex was Talbot, and I was all, "Hot gay werewolf! Hooray!" But then the good people at Talk Blood Radio told me that Alcide was actually referring to some lady we haven't met yet. Which suggests that the writers are condensing a lot of information from the books and just assuming we'll all understand it.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all this passive victimhood, I'm really intrigued by the just-under-the-surface menace of Sam's biological family. So far, Sam's mom has been all peaches and apologies, but she's a shifter and a drunk, which means she's got power that she may not be able to control . I'm expecting something wild, and I'm looking forward to it, because when Sam and his mother clash, we could actually see a contest of equal wills. That's so much more interesting than another encounter between a helpless little thing and the Big Bad Wolf.
Speaking of wills, I'll concede that you guys may be right about my reading of Andy Bellefleur's motives with Jason. Maybe he isn't just out to steal Jason's glory. More on this story---and Jason's journey to the police academy---as it develops.
And that brings us to Bill. It is such a pleasure to see another side of this dude. I like his "vampire gentleman" thing, especially since it represents his struggle to tamp down his dark side, but he can sometimes get awfully stuffy. Week after week of soulful melancholy gets stale, so when Bill gets desperately emotional over the flashback-death of his son and vividly passionate about his 1860s wife, it's refreshing. It deepens him.
Also? I'm fascinated by this episode's suggestion that Bill's relationship with Sookie (and Sookie's mortality) may have something to do with his still-burning grief for his wife. To me, his conversation with Russell heavily implies that Bill's emotional motives with his new girlfriend are not so pure after all... and that deep down, he knows it.
And that leads us to his violent sexual encounter with Lorena. Their relationship is engrossing because it's so passionate and so destructive. We learn in this episode that Lorena was there when Bill had to say goodbye to his wife, and she was goading him with declarations about how he had to leave his old life behind. And you know what? She was right. Lorena might be totally screwed up, but she also represents a truth that Bill hates facing: He can't be his old self anymore, no many how many mortal women he pines for.
On one level, she represents Bill's Dark Side while Sookie represents his Light Side, but it's not quite that simple. Despite how they're acting this week, these women are more than just objects to reflect the hero's personality. Lorena, for instance, has a Light Side that's sparked by Bill, and we can see that her behavior is partly spurred by her desire to stay attached to the thing she loves. She wants to kill Sookie because she loves Bill so much... which is disturbing and a little bit poignant. (Meanwhile, Sookie obviously has a Dark Side, too, and Eric is pulling it out of her. But that's for a different recap.)
So yeah... when Bill has horrible sex with Lorena, twisting her head around and basically raping her, he's acting out his own revolted attraction to his dark nature. And when Lorena, in the midst of this attack, says how much she loves him, she is revealing her own twisted relationship to her remaining goodness. It's a dense, provocative scene.
Granted, it continues the theme of "women as passive victims," but it also gives sultry embodiment to this show's bone-deep fascination with the battle between wickedness and goodness, chaos and control.
And that's why the sex scene is this week's Sucker Punch. It's dirty and it's meaningful. Bam!