Finally, season 7 picks up with an episode that’s really worth watching!
On last week’s True Blood:
- Eric and Pam found Sarah Newlin and the Yakuza in Texas.
- Bill discovered the first signs of a Hep-V infection.
We finally have an episode worthy of True Blood‘s final season thanks to Lettie Mae, Sarah Newlin, and one bomb of a plot twist.
Catch the final season of True Blood Sundays at 9 PM ET on HBO or any time on HBO GO.
Now, episode six: Karma.
Communication 101
The Compton clan could definitely use some lessons in communication. Like the fantastic father-figure he is, Bill decides not to tell Jessica about his looming death and, although she overhears his admission, Jess decides not to call him out on this tactic. It’s purely ridiculous that a several-hundred-year old vampire would be unable to tell his progeny of his impending doom, but I’m actually more taken aback by the fact that Jessica just let him leave the house without any sort of confrontation. As she spent most of the last season reminding Bill of his humanity, it seems strange to me that she would even entertain his bullshit right now. Maybe it’s the shock of learning he was sick, but I feel like Jessica’s been made to play the victim a little too much in this season and would prefer to see her step up instead of step aside.
Back at Jason’s house, Deputy Stackhouse is prepared to apologize for his unfaithfulness to Violet. What he’s not prepared for is Violet’s Take Back Your Man plan. With lit candles and rose petals, the ambience of the scene does everything to suggest a night of romance between the estranged couple, but when Violet initiates, the awkwardness stemming from Jason’s guilt is palpable. Inevitably, Jason leaves to collect his sister and bring her to the Compton residence.
Violet is none-too-pleased when Jason chooses Jessica over her yet again. In a rage, she trashes their house and leaves Jason a break-up note, but we’ve all seen those crazy eyes before and there’s no way Violet is going to take this embarrassment lying down. Instead, she tracks down Adilyn Bellefleur and Wade Cleary, who’ve spent the entire episode trying to get busy despite the fact that they’re soon-to-be siblings by marriage. Violet promises them a safe place where the faerie and her boyfriend can get it on outside of the prying eyes of their parents, and they accept the offer. Now, I haven’t been a huge Violet fan but I’m actually excited to see what kind of havoc she creates here. With only a few more episodes left in this season, I’m hoping that Violet’s wrath and unpredictability will continue to redeem this season’s intensely meh episodes thus far.
Meanwhile, Jess informs Sookie and Jason about Bill’s unfortunate illness. As Sookie’s been the only human Bill has fed from this season, she hurries to a clinic to get tested for Hep-V. Guess what? Sookie’s plan to bait the infected vampires earlier this season failed on a monumental scale, as she’s now a Hep-V carrier and certainly the culprit of Bill’s illness.
Bill spends his day in an attorney’s waiting room, intent on updating his will to make Jessica the sole proprietor of all his assets. However, through the course of only a few hours Bill’s illness has advanced rapidly from stage one to stage two. He’s lethargic and dizzy and it just seems to keep getting worse. Even another vampire admits that he’s never seen Hep-V act as quickly as it is in Bill. My thoughts? Sookie’s faerie blood combined with Hep-V has created some sort of new, mega-strain of the virus and it’s relentlessly eating its way through Bill’s system. When he finally gets to see the lawyer, she notices his desperation and tries to extort him in order to move his claim to the front of the line. Thankfully the virus hasn’t kicked all the badass out of Bill yet. He stabs the lawyer with her letter opener and struts out of the room, which is basically his equivalent of dropping the mic.
The Mystical Tara Thornton
Shit is about to get real with Lettie Mae. She and Lafayette head back to his home and find James waiting for them. Lettie Mae easily convinces James to give up some of his blood in pursuit of her deciphering Tara’s message from beyond the grave and Lafayette basically just gives in to her plea as well. He decides to join her on the journey so he can call his aunt out as a drug addict when they both come down from that high. This is probably not the best course of action for someone with Lettie Mae’s reoccurring demons, but I’ll take it if it gives us more Lettie Mae screen time.
After only a few drops of V, Lala and Lettie Mae go on a journey back to those creepy woods from earlier this season. Tara is still speaking in tongues; still strung up on that cross with a python wrapped around her shoulders. Lettie Mae helps her daughter down from the giant crucifix only to watch her run off into the woods, and promptly follows her daughter to their childhood home. Tara is just on the cusp of digging up something in their front yard when Reverend Daniels shakes his wife out of her stupor.
Fed up with Lettie Mae’s self-destructive behavior, he gives an ultimatum: the drugs or him. It’s heart-wrenching to watch Lettie Mae, calmly and with a relatively clear head, inform her husband that her dead daughter is more important to her than him. Lettie Mae’s struggle to make amends with Tara has been a season-long epidemic and despite the fact that Reverend Daniels has his wife’s best interest in mind, I believe she made the right choice. I will always want to believe that Lettie Mae has changed for the better, but even just the little bit of screen time she’s had has been such a redeeming factor in this otherwise lackluster season that I’m already eager to see what’s in store for her next. I’m thrilled we’ll be seeing more of Lettie Mae and her intense, crazy journey to follow Tara’s instructions and unravel another True Blood mystery.
The Bomb Drops
After an unsuccessful attempt to kill all Yakuza at the Republican gala, Eric and Pam are captured and escorted, Tokyo Drift-style, to Yakonomo Corporation headquarters. Unceremoniously, they’re dropped into two seats facing a giant window and shown a clock, slowly ticking down the time until dawn.
With only three minutes left before the true death, Pam and Eric meet Katsurou Ryouichi, or “Mr. Gus Jr,” the North American president of Yakonomo Corp. After a lengthy scene where Eric and Gus Jr. come to verbal blows over who gets to kill Sarah Newlin, an arrangement is made and Pam spills her intel on Newlin’s whereabouts. As part of the deal, Eric and Pam accompany Gus Jr. and his gang of Yakuza members to Sarah Newlin’s sister’s house, bent on revenge for infecting thousands of vampires and destroying the Yakonomo Corporation’s good name, respectively.
Sarah Newlin breaks into her sister’s home for refuge and comes face to face with her sickly sister. Upon seeing her sister’s state, Sarah drops the biggest bomb of the final season to date. During the revolt of vampires at her torturous Vamp Camp last season, Sarah drank a Hep-V antidote. Coincidentally, she drank the only antidote there is and as such, has come full circle. She’s now both the destroyer and the savior of the vampire race.
Sarah is one intense character. She so whole-heartedly believes that she’s already achieved redemption for her misdeeds by consuming the antidote that she seems to feel no guilt whatsoever for the fact that she created the Hep-V virus in the first place. While she explains the antidote to her sister, you see how severely cracked she is as a person. She’s managed to absolve herself of any guilt for the eradication of a race simply because she has the cure pumping through her veins. It’s a complete 180 shift from where she was last season, but she’s no less crazy than before. All in all, I’m still in love with her twisted mindset.
Sarah has been smart enough to stay alive this long so it makes perfect sense that she hadn’t revealed all her cards until now. I’m sure Sarah will use this to her advantage, bartering for some sort of security so that the vampires don’t just murder her once everyone is healed. I’m also curious to see if Sarah has more information on Hep-V and any nuances we might not now yet. The antidote seemed to work just fine on her sister’s normal strain of Hep-V, but will it suffice for Bill’s advanced type?
After six episodes, it finally feels like this season is picking up. I have a feeling that the next episode is going to be heavy with Bill’s impending death, which I could do without. In the upcoming episodes, I’m more interested in Lettie Mae’s journey (seriously, what is hidden in their yard?) and Sarah Newlin’s survival tactics.
