True Blood Season 4 Episode 4

Omghhhhhh

While there's plenty of fun to be had watching Eric scoot about pinching Sookie's behind and declaring himself king of the swamp waters, much like last week's offering, there's very little progress made what with the truck-load of storylines running concurrently this time out. I've mentioned this before about True Blood, but it is such a crowded series that it sometimes allocates too much screen-time for every single plot-thread, meaning we only move forward ever so slightly in the grand scheme of things, which can be really frustrating.

Pacing issues aside, there are a few notable developments here, even if they are mostly blink and you'll miss it stuff. Bill discovers that he had sex with his great, great, great grand daughter. Awkward! Sookie looks straight into Bill's eyes and blatantly lies as to Eric's whereabouts by emotionally manipulating Bill and playing on of his residual affections for her. And Jason, after being continuously raped for days, finally breaks free of that filth infested Hotshot and kills Felton – yay!

Now that Jason has fed from Jessica, will he start having sexy dreams? Poor Hoyt. I know that he has really contributed towards a few headaches this season, but to lose the woman you love to your best friend? Very ouch.

The Wiccan plotline heats up this week as Marnie has an intensely realistic dream of a witch being burned at the stake. The witch looks directly at Marnie while she's chanting and Marnie then repeats the chant herself. I wonder if it's a spell that will somehow bring this witch back from the dead? Marnie's eyes did light up with fire once she had woken up, so maybe it's preparation for Marnie to become this woman's new vessel? Or it could be that she is revisiting a past life.

The episode also ends with a bit of a showdown as Pam impatiently awaits for Marnie to return Eric's memory only to push the witch too far, resulting in a horrific makeover for Pam. Her face literally begins to fall apart. It's a very cool sequence altogether. This is the second vampire Marnie has successfully defended herself from (well, the nameless spirit of the witch did it, but it was still Marnie's physical body); so maybe Tara and Lafayette will cut her some slack now. There's clearly power to behold with this woman, and I hope Tara and Lafayette tone it down a notch. They're rightfully miffed and absolutely terrified, but give the poor woman a break!

Overall, it's another largely disappointing hour from True Blood's underwhelming fourth season. As I've mentioned earlier, there are a few chuckles: watching Alcide growl, quickly followed by Sookie's deadpan disapproval, and Eric drunk on fairy blood is a nice change of pace for the character. But it's hardly what I'd call compelling viewing. There are far too many stories at the moment I simply have no interest in whatsoever.
The cliff-hanger this week sees Joe-Lee wrap a chain around Tommy's neck and strangle the life out of him. This show could use a massacre to sieve out the weaker stories and pay more attention to the ones that truly matter.

Finally, a really good episode of True Blood this season. It looks like the witches are really here to stay as they are showing that they have power that can trump and destroy the vampires, the old form of strength on this show. It was a lot of drama, it was a lot of action, and the show's goofy, over the top version of humor actually worked for the most part today.





People got their wish of more Sookie and Eric scenes today, and I got my wish of the ridiculous Jason being held hostage for sperm storyline over.





Strong episode, good from a character development standpoint. Very enjoyable installment of HBO's True Blood.

Jason, after having to breed with all of Hotshot's women refuses one girl and guilts her into cutting his bindings and he escapes and is pursued by an angry Felton and Crystal. He hides in a tree and sharpens a stick and kills Felton and forsakes Crystal as the worst thing that ever happened to him and is found by Jessica and Hoyt. Terry gets and unlikely surprise when Mikey writes a frightening message on the wall with a marker and she may have a point about Mikey being a bit evil. While visiting the Bellefleur residence Bill receives the worrying news that Portia is his great great great granddaughter and ends their relationship. Eric, after having killed Claudine is drunk off fairy blood and after a daytime swim and the help of Alcide and Sookie returns to the house. Sookie lies to Bill about Eric's whereabouts and Nan tells Bill to leave the Wiccans alone. Marnie attempts to undue her spell on Eric but instead shows Pam that she is a force to be reckoned with. More about Tommy. Sam gains Luna's trust and learns that her ex is a jealous werewolf and she can't make any attachments. Good episode and finally Jason gets away from the Hell-billies in Hot Shot, uh oh the full moon's coming up.

This episode was pretty good but I wish they'd take away some of the side plots and make the good ones longer. I really wish they'd let Tommy be happy with Maxine. I don't want to hear about his psycho parents anymore!!! That's a side plot that they really shouldn't have gotten in to. Eventually it seems like its going to involve Sam and ruin his happiness. The parents should be long gone by now. I like that Sam has a girl and they're not boring us with too much about them. Although I'm worried that now that they've mentioned wolves its going to take up a lot of drama that's unnecessary. I'd rather Sam and Tommy's story be looped together so that we get more time with the main plot for the season. The more characters that have side stories the less time to focus on the main one. Jessica and Hoyt really didn't get any screen time this time except at the end. Even then tho it was nothing.





I'm kinda glad that Bill and Portia are over. They were annoying together. In fact I really don't like Bill at all this season. He's just greedy with power its horrible. I feel like he's going to go psycho on Sookie when he finds out that she's lying about Eric tho. I really don't get what's up with Debbie this season. I don't buy the whole good girl routine at all!! And Alcide does not need to bother Sookie about Eric if he's already got Debbie!!!





Poor Jason getting forced to be a panther against his will!!! I really feel like as Sheriff Andy should have realized that he was missing and done something tho. How did he wonder where his deputy was?? I really hope that this panther stuff doesn't interfere with cop stuff because I liked that he was making good use of himself.





So I think that either Arlene is the witch and she's the one that's making bad things happen OR that potion that she took last season to make her miscarry the baby actually turned the baby evil instead. I'm really pushing for Arlene being the one that is making things happen tho. That poor thing is a baby and having Rene has a child DOES NOT make it evil or give him powers. I hope that they don't end up killing the poor thing off because she's scared of it.





So I'm not really liking Tara this season. I feel like all she does is stand there and point a gun at people. You're not that great Tara sorry. Lafayette used to be one of my favorites but ever since he and Jesus started getting into the magic stuff I've been getting bored with them. Then there's Marnie who I can't figure out if she's evil or she's just possessed and made to be evil.





I LOVE Sookie and Eric they are soooooooo meant to be!!!! This episode absolutely proved it. They have this great chemistry. Eric is so vulnerable and cute and Sookie is so falling for it. I can't wait for more moments for them!!!!!!!!





All in all pretty good episode they just need to cut down on side plots!!! Its taking time away from the main ones!!!

I'm Alive and on Fire was a great episode of True Blood and had lots of great scenes as well as character and plot development. It was interesting to see Debbie continue upon her path of being good, though I wonder what she would do if she knew what Sookie's blood does to vampires. Eric was funny being drunk off of Claudine. I wish we would have seen more fairies. I also think it was cool to see Bill contemplate searching Sookie's house and we found out an interesting connection he has to the Belfluers. We learn a little more about Marnie's spirit connection. Sam discovers Luna's true life and is fine by it. I loved Jason's scenes where he was being bred to death by the panther clan and when he escaped. I thought the characters were awesome and the writers, actors and directors did an amazing job on this episode. I look forward to watching the next episode of True Blood!!!!!!

From the reviews I've read online, it seems people are pleased with the witches taking over the vampires. For me, that says all you need to know about the show up until this point. The writers have been so intent on introducing one supernatural element after the other that it's not surprising to see fans burn out. Obviously, fans of the books will be happy with it, but for me, it seems a bit excessive. What does it say about the show when I connect with Tara the most? I'm just as sick of all the random shifters, vampires, werewolves and fairies as the next person. But these witches? When Marnie's not being occupied by a long dead witch, she's just a normal woman who is into spells that may or may not work. As it turns out, they work. But she, as a human, is just a carrier for that witch in the past, who was also just a human at some point in time. All of this is a long, roundabout way of saying that people seem pleased that the humans are gaining the upper hand on the show, and I must say, the witch plot is becoming more intriguing now. The show still has issues, but I'm hoping the writers can start setting up the rest of the season.





Eric's amnesia so far has been hit or miss. I like the range that Alexander Skaarsgaard gets to show in this mindset, but boy, it sure does give us some pointless scenes to trudge through. Who would've thought we would spend the first quarter or the season watching Sookie and Alcede babysit Eric? That being said, if this is how the show is going to shoehorn Alcede into everything, I'm wondering what the point of him existing is.. also, I don't much care for the Debbie plot.





Meanwhile, for a character who hasn't had much of an impact up until this point, I was actually bit excited to see Tommy getting into trouble. More than anything, I want the show to either figure out the roles for all of these new characters or just get rid of them. It seems that the show doesn't want to get rid of them quite yet, so at least they're doing something with him. I liked how Tommy's mother lead him to believe she was bonding with him when really she was setting him up to be captured by Joe Lee. Not sure if the show has earned the right to make us worry about Tommy in this respect, but maybe it'll get Sam and Tommy to bond and stop the ridiculous fighting the occurs between them ("I hate you, Sam Merlotte!" makes me laugh everytime I hear it, just because it sounds like a little infant saying it).





I'm also glad that Jason finally escape that ridiculous redneck camp. I read somewhere online that people liked the book that this season was based on because it contained one of Jason's better plots involving those people, but boy, the show must've dropped the ball on adapting that because it was pretty lame on screen. At least he's gone, and conveniently, found by Hoyt and Jessica while suffering from a fever that's likely from his panther bite.





And as pointless as the plot has been with Arlene, Terry and her new son, I have to admit, it was insanely creepy what happened with her son. I thought Arlene was just nuts, but boy, this was a big development. But how will it all tie into everything? The answer to that question will determine how patient I'll be.





On the vampire front, Bill learns (in a creepy turn of events) that Portia is actually his great-great-great-great-grand-daughter, which puts a damper on their recent sexual escapades. It's a bit of a random revelation, but I'm glad Bill's getting something to do here other than pine over Sookie. We also see Marnie, in her attempt to bring Eric back to the land of the normal, being possessed by that witch again and infecting Pam instead. Pam is now disintegrating and turning into some sort of a zombie look-a-like, which is pretty insane. Looks like the witches have the vampires number now.





I'm still hoping for True Blood to retain some of that intensity that it had in its first three seasons, and right now, I'm not really feeling it. I have a feeling it'll get better.