Director: Scott Winant
Spoilers. It's amazing to think we're just a few episodes away from the finale, and "I Don't Wanna Know" signals a big change in the show's make-up. True Blood may have started as a semi-realistic look at how the world, but particularly a small-town in the Deep South, would react to the existence of vampires, but now shape-shifters and werewolves have been thrown into the mix…Picking up from last week, Sookie (Anna Paquin) finally learns Sam's (Sam Trammell) secret: he's a shape-shifter, with a similarly dysfunctional childhood as a result of his powers. This finally explains the omnipresence of the mysterious dog -- but more pressingly, how Sam could sometimes be seen with the dog (there's a real dog Sam uses as a "template" for his changes.) It's a shame this surprise had been the primary theory behind Sam for so long, which lost it some of the shock-value the writers probably hoped for. Sam even alludes to the existence of werewolves and admits one could be responsible for the Bon Temps killings (a theory of mine, too.)
Elsewhere, Jason (Ryan Kwanten) is growing closer to the imprisoned vampire Eddie (Stephen Root), which upsets his accomplice girlfriend Amy (Lizzy Caplan) after she finds out he's been sneaking bottles of TruBlood to Eddie to keep his strength up. There's a wonderful tension in all this trio's scenes, and Caplan deserves credit for playing Amy as someone quite complex. She's not quite the "psychopath" Eddie thinks she is, but she's clearly lacking in morals and compassion when it comes to vamps -- and her idea of a compromise is convincing Jason it would be great to keep Eddie around as a live-in pet.
Now that True Blood's universe has expanded to take in other supernatural creatures, it's notable that Tara's (Rutina Wesley) exorcism storyline turns out to be pure hokum. Her $795 exorcism around a camp fire seems to be genuine, as she suffers stomach cramps and hallucinates symbolically killing her adolescent self with a knife, but Tara later realizes she's been conned when she sees the disguised exorcist working in a drug store. Like the reveal of Sam's mystery, the theory that the exorcist cured Lettie Mae's (Adina Porter) alcoholism with a placebo was always an obvious possibility, so the surprise was again dulled.
The most enthralling subplot was saved until the episode's second half, with Bill (Stephen Moyer) attending a vampire tribunal in a junkyard, presided over by the Magister (Zeljko Ivanek), for his crime of killing a fellow vampire. While undoubtedly a nod to the indulgent tropes of vampire lore, it was enjoyable to see the vampire subculture's self-regulation (punishments ranging from fang extraction, to burial in a silver-lined coffin to rot) and to be reminded how much they consider themselves superior to humans.
The excellent Zeljko Ivanek's guest-starring role was great fun, as the Emmy-winning actor has a brilliant, understated, hollow-eyed magnetism as the Magister. Bill's eventual punishment (to "make" a vampire, to replace the one he killed) is a surprising and exciting turn of events, as it will hopefully mean we'll see Bill become a "father figure" to his young victim, Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll). As it's so late in the season, I'm expecting that to feature more strongly in season 2, though. Seeing Jessica's reaction to being "turned" should be fascinating, as that's an angle on vampirism that hasn't been touched on much.
Overall, this was another exciting episode with plenty of developments and gruesome moments to keep audiences happy. We even see the Bon Temps killer for the first time (albeit in shadow), as he attacks Sookie at Merlotte's bar during Arlene's party (a scene that was interesting for three reasons: the killer is definitely a man, it's not Sam, and Sookie couldn't hear his thoughts, but received some visual flashes.)
True Blood's consistency has been excellent after a wobbly start, and it strikes a firm balance between drama, comedy and horror. I certainly can't remember a television vampire series better than this (Buffy was always too snarky for me), although I hope it doesn't lose its sense of identity now the concept's stretched to include shape-shifters, werewolves and who-knows-what-else. It might become too Buffy The Vampire Slayer for its own good -- a comparison True Blood has so far managed to avoid, even with blonde Sookie and her vamp boyfriend having clear parallels to Joss Whedon's '90s classic.
And what's with that half-naked woman walking down the road with a pig, causing Tara to crash? You don't cast Michelle Forbes for a bizarre cameo, do you? Interesting…
9 November 2008
HBO, 9/8c
Cast: Anna Paquin (Sookie), Stephen Moyer (Bill), Michael Raymond-James (Rene Lenier), Carrie Preston (Arlene Fowler), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Ryan Kwanten (Jason), Sam Trammell (Sam), Stephen Root (Eddie), Caleb Moody (Royce), Patrick Gallagher (Chow), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman), Lizzy Caplan (Amy Burley), Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur), Adina Porter (Lettie Mae Thornton), Zeljko Ivanek (Magister), Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica), Kristin Bauer (Pam), Dale Raoul (Maxine Fortenberry), Michelle Forbes (Maryann), Alec Gray II (Coby Fowler) & Matt Leonard (Enforcer 1)
