TV Review: True Blood 5.11, "Sunset"
Who would’ve guessed that the master plan of a faerie with faerie Alzheimer’s would fail as hard as it did?
rating: 4
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Sunset demonstrates the benefits of tighter storytelling. The escalating Sanguinista coup of The Authority has now closely drawn Sam, Luna, Pam, Tara, Jessica, and even Sookie, Jason, and the faeries into the fold. Even Alcide had a genuinely kick-ass scene worked into the episode, though I think this mightve had more to do with the character fulfilling his shirtless appearance quota than anything else. Now that things are finally coalescing, the stage is set for what could be a very compelling and exciting season finale and Sunset contributed much to that excitement. An ongoing concern Ive held for weeks now is the authenticity of Bills commitment to being a vampire supremacist and this episode finally provided a clear if not weak explanation for his uncharacteristically sociopathic behavior. Turns out that Pam had the answer all along (we shouldve suspected as much). Once Jessica told Pam what shes seen in her short stay at The Authoritys headquarters, we all learned that this is nest behavior; when vampires exclusively hang out together and drink each others blood over a period of time they tend to get a little nuts and Pam diagnoses Bill as a nest on steroids. Okay, Ill buy it, I guess, because weve been seeing the powerful influence Liliths blood has on vampires, but it doesnt feel like a very sturdy foundation for so much of this seasons wackiness. So Bills not evil so much as suffering from a kind of super-Stockholm syndrome. Eric is still way better. In fact, let me just put it out there that Eric, Pam, Tara, and Jessica should probably just slaughter everyone else that isnt Lafayette or Sam because these are the only characters with any brains or personality. I thought the scenes in Sunset that worked best mightve been those which let the camera do the talking instead of the characters. The opening sequence in which Bill is disturbed by the hallucinations caused by Liliths blood was solid and creepy and finally gave the audience a decent look into Bills psyche. The scene where Nora goes from evading Salomes suspicions to panic-fucking Eric was very well done and also did well illustrating these characters perspectives without clogging up the episode with the clunky dialogue or endless speechifying that plagued the first half of the season. Eric promises Nora that hell get them out of The Authority headquarters and thanks to some convincing acting on both their parts and a well placed neck-snapping (General Cavanaugh, we hardly knew thee), he actually comes through. Im excited that he and Nora have each woken up to the insanity of The Authority and are at this very moment zooming around the night sky getting ready to reluctantly save the day like a boss. It really was too bad that General Cavanaugh had to go as it was great to finally see some of this mysterious governmental infrastructure thats been implied by the series for years. Not only did we learn the man had balls of steel (how did he walk around with those things?), but we learned also that the U.S. government knows The Authority is responsible for the TruBlood factory explosions, has video of Russell and Steves Greek night, and probably also has a decent amount of new weaponry to take out vampires across the globe. I really liked hearing that last part because it makes sense and things that make sense dont get enough attention on this show. You know that as soon as the full extent of vampires power became known to the arguably most powerful military on the planet they started working on weapons, its what they do. So hearing even just the suggestion of this gives me hope for True Bloods future. That it might include some logical progressions and exciting speculative experiments rather than more love triangles. Speaking of love triangles and world building details that inspire hope, the second new character to hold the distinction of finding their demise in the same episode as their debut appearance, the faerie elder (whose name appears to have been Elder, or was it Eldress?) hit both nails on the head when she simultaneously had trouble focusing due to being so old and existing on so many different planes (faerie Alzheimers?) and called Sookie out saying, Theres a reason you slut your heart out to every cute guy out there with fangs. Awesome. Unfortunately she didnt get into that reason; only that it has something to do with her, Sookies, and Warlows destinies being intertwined. With only the finale left in the fifth season, Im really hoping we actually meet this Warlow guy. Maybe hell stop Russell from drinking Sookie as dry as the Mojave. Anyway, who wouldve guessed that the master plan of a faerie with faerie Alzheimers would fail as hard as it did? Oh, everyone watching? Okay, gotcha. Thats what she gets for having such terrible aim. Poor Jason. Faeries were generally just making a mess like nobodys business as Marella, the faerie that translated Sookies contract/receipt thing, stopped by Merlottes to remind everyone that, oh yeah, Andy and her totally had sex a week ago (in True Blood time) and now shes pregnant with his child (I dont know how long faerie pregnancies are usually supposed to take but I think the writers decided to bring back that whole temporal displacement thing that theyve been ignoring). I always forget that because each episode of the show leads immediately into the next, each season takes place in a matter of a few weeks or something. This hurts my head to think about as it was handled much better in Lost. Anyway, Marella warning Andy that breaking faerie promises is an act of war will somehow factor into next season, but I really wish it wouldnt. Theres no need to create plots between the C-listers of Bon Temps, True Blood, I thought we already discussed this!? In other news from Merlottes, Terry and Arlene are super cute despite losing all credibility for me. Im glad theyre happy together again, but the fact that they can so suddenly revert back to a state of normalcy after all the bullshit they pulled throughout this season just highlights what an inconsequential waste of time their plot was. Also, apparently Lafayette is a bitch, not a snitch love it. Like I said last week, I hate seeing Lala so little, but its better to see him being snarky than traumatized. His sole appearance in Sunset, however, just felt gratuitous. Theres a fine line between a character being charmingly facetious and a one-note punch line. Another one of the season five plots that turned out to be a giant waste was Alcides wolf pack business. I thought JDs V addiction would somehow get tied into at least some sort of confrontation with everyone else thats now chilling at The Authority headquarters and I guess it technically still might but it appears that was just good ol fashioned True Blood filler. I like Alcide, but if hes not going to add anything of consequence to the proceedings, maybe its time we say goodbye for a while, eh? Or just turn him into a one man (wolf) baby vamp hunting slice of awesome. Did I mention how smart Jessica is? Well, she is. She immediately saw through Bills psycho-babble and even though he called her bluff on turning Jason, she still got around it. And on top of that, she made up with Tara. I know Pam was being sarcastic when she suggested the three of them would braid one anothers hair and talk about boys, but for Jessicas sake I kind of hope next episode they do. We dont have to see it of course, but Jess deserves some down time. We didnt get much from Sam and Luna this episode other than them getting caught as soon as they found Emma, but now next episode we can look forward to Sam giving Bill the What the hells the matter with you? speech that will either turn him around (disappointing) or hopefully end in Sam shifting into a lion and biting Bills head off. Maybe. All I know is seeing Sam and Pam randomly running into each other as prisoners at The Authority headquarters was just hilarious, I dont even care if I cant remember how they know each other. Oh yeah, Pam took the blame for Tara killing Elijah whom was the progeny (one of 204!) of that red-headed chancellor, the one with the Texan accent. Im hoping Pam somehow kills her. Then all thats left of The Authority is Salome as Bill popped the other chancellor, the African one, like a water balloon. Thats about all there is this week. Now that its basically the end of the season we can all sit back and smugly judge how well the show worked this year (or didnt) and while it exemplified some of the shows worst traits early on, they eventually got ironed out and ultimately things are looking good for the finale. Whoever takes over as showrunner next season to replace Alan Ball will hopefully revitalize this show as it can still be one of televisions best that is, when it isnt wasting everyones time stretching out interesting plots to tell stories with no consequences or redeeming values.