TV Review: True Blood 5.4, "We'll Meet Again"
It’s hilarious what parts of this show I choose to have problems with – vampire shadow governments are cool, but a werewolf crushing on the chick that murdered his ex isn’t.
rating: 3
Sorry for the late arrival of this review everyone. Last weekend I moved and had a hard time getting back in touch with the world via fancy electronic media like premium television and the internet. That being said, lets get right to it, shall we? So as we all saw coming, Pam rescued Tara from her agonizingly slow attempt at suicide by tanning bed. Granted the UV torture is something the show is clearly pushing on the audience, do you really think Tara would choose such a torturous way to go? I know she hates vampires but that just seemed so unnecessarily masochistic. Anyway, its been nice seeing Pams awesome turn of the century flashbacks actually tie in with another plot thread instead of just hanging there like the emperors invisible robes. Now that Pam and Eric have tearfully severed their Maker-Progeny connection, which as far as I can tell really only means Eric cant force commands on Pam anymore, not that he ever really had to, the torch has been passed and Pam is ready to be all vamp-motherly to the newly fanged Tara. The fact that this story is actually progressing makes me hopeful that we may see some interesting things come from Tara embracing her new existence. Progress was not really a top priority though for the rest of the episode. Sookie is still the worst, confessing to everybody and anybody that she killed Debbie Pelt, the woman whom broke into her house and tried to kill her so I dont know why the cover-up was concocted in the first place. Coming in at a close second after Sookie though is Alcide of all people, a character of who I generally like and approve. After doing right by all parties concerned by giving Debbies parents some closure on their daughters demise and keeping both Sookie and Lafayettes names out of it (something Sookie shouldve known to do), the man then goes and has sloppy make-outs with the absolutely hammered Sookie, the woman whom killed his ex-lover. This sort of felt weird to me. Its hilarious what parts of this show I choose to have problems with vampire shadow governments are cool, but a werewolf crushing on the chick that murdered his ex isnt. Dont get me wrong; Debbie was a U-Haul of fucked-up baggage and dating the woman could not have been much fun so mourning her/celebrating having put all that behind him isnt what bothers me about Alcides actions, its the way in which he does it by hooking up with Debbies killer. Its not that its immoral or even just plain bad etiquette, I just dont buy it. Best part of that scene? The fact that Bill and Eric totally saw and are ready to use Sookie and her faerie blood as bait for Russell Edgington YES. The Authority did finally find their Sanguinista sympathizing traitor the little kid. Roman stabbed the shit out of him with The Judas Tree a fancy stake carved from the bow from which Judas hung himself. Pretty badass in the moment, as was Chris Melonis blood-soaked speech afterwards, but I cant help but feel this death, as well as the multiple, lengthy interrogations that led up to it, wouldve been more meaningful if, I dont know, we knew the name of the character that was killed. This is one of those examples of True Blood trying too hard in the wrong places and ending up with weak results. I suggest providing more context to The Authority versus The Sanguinistas instead of the endless speculation and speeches weve seen thus far. Another meager miniscule of plot development which was pretty colorful and splashy was Lafayettes brief foray into demony witch-doctor territory when he cursed Sookies car into wrapping itself around a tree, unfortunately sans Sookie. Not only did Lafayette unknowingly try to kill Sook, but he called her peach pie ass the angel of death. Lafayette 3, Sookie 0. By the way, we still dont know where Jesus body went. We also finally got to see the flashback which presumably is the root of Terrys PTSD. For the past three weeks Ive been hoping the show would treat Terrys time in Iraq with all the dignity and solemnity a veteran (fictional or otherwise) deserves. What we got instead was Terrys company tripping balls and shooting a bunch of civilians. I had hoped for more, but I suppose it couldve been worse. Terry and Patrick also finally found their firebug that nobody ever asked about, but of course them being held up at gun point was the dramatic conclusion so nothing else actually occurred. Why this story needs to be dragged out and most likely given a supernatural spin is beyond me. Meanwhile, Sams old shifter friends, the ones he met with Luna, who Arlene referred to as Barack and Hillary (really True Blood? We know you want to be politically minded but thats not the way to do it), stopped by to give Sam a break from all the Luna-werewolf craziness, that is until Sam found them each shot in the head presumably by crazy werewolves. Or something. I have no idea where this is going or why. The fact that these random pieces of a story were the only ones dropped into this episode should give the shows writers serious pause as to the structure of their episodes. Maybe instead of doing tiny pieces of a thousand stories per episode, maybe each episode should only focus on big chunks of a few stories at a time. Just sayin. Finally, because as mentioned True Blood needs more plot lines than it knows what to do with, Andys clichéd southern judge takes him and Jason to the local Faerie burlesque club where Jason learns from his cousin, Hadley, also a faerie like Sookie, that Sookie and Jasons parents were also faeries and were killed by vampires dun, dun, dun. By this point, with all the other craziness thats befallen Sookie and company, the fact that she and Jasons parents were killed by vampires feels like too little too late. Who cares? What difference will this make? Also, since time behaves differently in Faerie land, if Jason, Andy, and the judge, who attends this VIP club every weekend, were there for a half hour doesnt that mean theyve been gone for like a month in our world, or something? UGH. So despite seeing Christopher Meloni take a blood shower, LaLa Hulk out, trippy fireworks through Terrys glassy eyes, and Sams friends with a couple extra holes in their heads, Well Meet Again didnt really do much. That sentence makes it seem like things happened and they did, but until True Blood can successfully weave these things that happen together in a manner which is graceful and makes sense, as opposed to simply jabbing us in the face like we made fun of Mike Tysons tattoo, these episodes will continue to struggle to hold themselves together.