Inching to True Blood Weekend

New promos

Ep. 46 Clip - Jason's Guilt

Ep. 46 Clip - Holly and Tara Got Some Rage

Ep. 46 Clip - Andy Gets Caught

Alan Ball Reveals Season 5 Storyline

While Alan Ball’s not giving away any plot points, any Trubie knows that a peek at the guest star line-up sometimes reveals a secret or two -- and Ball has confirmed that Scott Foley will be making an appearance in this season’s finale on Sept. 11th. 

Ball confirms that Terry Bellefleur will be getting a visit form his former platoon leader from Iraq, “Patrick,” played by Foley.  Further confirmed? That Patrick and Terry will be spending more time together in Season 5. HBO's Inside True Blood Blog

•   True Blood's Facebook Page has new screencaps up-

The look on her face juxtaposed with the girl behind is just too funny, that's the one who tried the door/got burned  after Tara.

                             This is weird because Antonia never needed props before.

                         I can stand here and do nothing, have you seen my butt? Nuff said.

Love the new do btw,

                                                 Have you seen his butt? Hell yeah!


Collider has an interview with Stephen Moyer on "The Caller" read it all at the link.

With all the things that Bill Compton has had to go through, in Season 4 of True Blood, what do you think has affected him the most?

MOYER: I think he’s had to learn very quickly from being in this position. It’s not necessarily a position that he would have put himself in voluntarily. I’m sure people have different views of this, but I don’t think Bill wanted to be king. I think he had nothing left. He lost Sookie (Anna Paquin) last year, and the only thing that he had left was really Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll). For me, what’s been really great to play this year is the relationship with Jessica, and that father-son type of stuff. We always love working together. Me and her have a real bond, and I love that.

And, this position of power and having to make decisions that you don’t necessarily want to make is always good conflict and good drama. He has to do things that he doesn’t want to do, but knows are going to be for the best, even though they might not necessarily have the best fall-out. That’s been one of the interesting things for me to do. Ultimately, being a politician ain’t fun.

Is one of the great things about True Blood, for you as an actor, the fact that the show always keeps you guessing and never having to play the same thing, from season to season?

MOYER: One of the great things about Alan [Ball] is that he’s never going to have me repeat something. I am always, constantly in a position where I get to do new things, and that’s just amazing. How many people can say that? There are lots of procedural shows that I love, but I never really wanted to be a doctor on E.R. – which I’m just picking as an example – or be on a crime procedural. Getting to doTrue Blood, you literally don’t know what you’re going to be doing, from one week to the next – fucking your great-granddaughter, or breaking somebody’s neck while you’re fucking them. It all tends to do with sex, somehow.

NY Mag's Vulture Blog does a report card on season 4 so far, read it at the link
True Blood's fourth season has three more episodes left, which is plenty of time for the epic witches versus vampires versus people versus werewolves maybe versus other people showdown the series seems to have promised. But it's not been all scary Latin spells and sexy amnesia so far; there have also been plenty of missteps, a lot of random and seemingly pointless magic, story lines that went nowhere, and characters spiraling off in their own directions. It's time to take a careful look at how the citizens and species of Bon Temps have fared so far this season, assigning midterm grades, giving praise where it's due, and also noting areas in need of improvement. It's not too late to get straight A's, True Blood.


MTV's Hollywood Crush had a video interview with SM at the link. I can't think of anything more infuriating than seeing the Maenad again, a pregnant Crystal or Queen Mab, in that order.

"Obviously I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end of this season, but it's very much heading towards already what is going to happen in season five," he said. "And it sounds amazing."

 If they go where they're going, it will be amazing and upset a lot of people, which we always like."

Amazing because our favorite bloodsuckers, werewolves and humans will have to contend with yet another supernatural something. "I know there is going to be an omnipresent power in season five," he hinted. "I know what it is. I think we could be heading towards an even greater season."

And by great, he really means totally infuriating.
We can't even begin to guess what Stephen's teasing here, but suffice it to say, we'll totally be along for the ride. (Unless this "omnipresent power" commands Vampire Eric to never take his shirt off again. Then we'll have to reconsider our loyalty.)


HBO's synopsis 

Episode #46 (S4, Ep. 10):  “Burning Down the House”

Debut:  SUNDAY, AUG. 28 (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

As all hell breaks loose in Shreveport, Sookie summons her most potent powers yet to save Bill, in the process breaking a spell and leading Marnie/Antonia to re-evaluate her mission.  Jason urges Jessica to glamour him for Hoyt’s sake; Terry (Todd Lowe) drags Andy to “Fort Bellefleur” for an intervention; Alcide reconsiders his allegiances after Marcus’ fight with Tommy; Jesus, accompanied by Sookie, Lafayette and Jason, tries to breach the Moongoddess Emporium’s defenses to liberate Tara and Holly, while Bill leads a brigade of vampires committed to blowing the place to kingdom come.

Wetpaint has 8 spoilers for the finale-
1. Alcide makes an appeal to the woman he loves!

Will it be Sookie or Debbie?

2. Bon Temps fills up with ghosts!

It’s Samhain (aka Halloween), so naturally the spirits of the dead rise up and start floating around town. Welcome back, Rene, Sophie-Ann, Gran, and all of Jason's dead booty calls from season one.
3. Lafayette gets possessed!

Lafayette’s no stranger to the occasional possession, but this time his split personality threatens to ruin his relationship with Jesus. Considering that Jesus sprouts horns for no reason, you’d think he’d be understanding about Lala’s quirks.
4. Jason finds confession good for the soul, but bad for the body!
Who else thinks Jason tells Hoyt that he boned Jessica in the back of a truck, and then Hoyt beats him up? Just a guess.

5. Bill and Eric kick Nan out!
 Nan might be strong, but surely she can’t out-fang Bill and Eric if they double team her!

6. Sam and Luna imagine a happy ending!

If this is anything like the time Bill and Sookie imagined they were kindergarten teachers, we don’t see these two staying together.

7. Terry gets a visitor!

This must be Terry's old war buddy, played by Scott Foley. We can’t wait for think hunk to hit up Bon Temps — though Sookie will probably just end up crushing on him. Sigh, men just aren’t safe.

8. A familiar face returns to Bon Temps!

Does Russell Edgington finally make his way out of the cement and avenge Talbot’s life?!

In the Middle of True Blood Episodes

Oh noes! If this is true it could be Crystal coming back or any character that was run out of town. I dont want to think a certain Maenad, please let this be misdirection and it is the king, at least getting his cement cracked.

An HBO spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter that Denis O’Hare doesn’t appear this season.

As recently as earlier this month, O’Hare told THR that fans should “never give up” on Russell’s return. He also reiterated what series creator Alan Ball had told fans, “Russell’s not dead.”

When HBO released the episode descriptions for this season’s finale episode, it stated "the denizens of Bon Temps brace for a new crisis with a familiar face" and we thought for sure it was referring to Russell.

When we spoke to exec producer and writer, Alexander Woo, before this season’s premiere about the character’s reprisal, he told us, “He’s been locked away, so he’s kind of a time bomb. He could come back in any moment.” So, that moment won’t happen this season.


Ausiello has some info on Scott Foley's appearance on TB. Remember last Sunday when Terry was looking at Hoyt and said he had someone all big like him in his platoon? He didn't  say it like he liked the guy (seemed to almost growl), so I wonder if this will be that person.

“He was Terry’s platoon leader in Iraq,” series creator Alan Ball explains of Foley’s character, Patrick. “So they [share] a military history.”The Felicity grad’s arrival — captured in the exclusive first look below — will tee up a major Season 5 storyline involving Terry and Patrick (Foley will have a major recurring presence next season).

Bon Temps’ population will climb by one in the Sept. 11 season finale when Scott Foley makes his debut as an old friend of Terry’s (Todd Lowe).

The TB gig isn’t expected to impact the actor’s current day job on Grey’s Anatomy, where he’s playing the husband of Kim Raver’s Teddy. We have him around for a decent amount of time,” confirms Grey’screator Shonda Rhimes. “We’d keep him around forever if we could.”


Askarsgard.com has the scans of this TVGuide Mag article
Now for the spoilers. The True Blood Season finale is the #1 show to watch for the weeks of August 29th to September 11th. The picture (shown below) says that “Sookie finally chooses between her vamp lovers when the war against Marnie the witch gets bloody deadly.”On the featured article on page 70, TV Guide tells us: Hankie up, True Blood fans. Not everyone survives the Halloween clash between vampires and witches in the fourth-season finale. “There is a body count by the end,” says creator Alan Ball. “It’s more than one death – people we know and love – and it’s pretty shocking.” Alan also says that Antonia is the toughest foe that Bill, Eric, Pam and Jessica have ever fought; that Sookie’s decision choosing between Eric and Bill is her toughest decision she’s ever had to make and two major past characters return. (Says Alan, “One is beloved, the other despised. One reveal is terrifying, and one is emotional and powerful.”) And finally, Alan says, “A lot of things that seemed like they were happening outside of the witch story find their way into it. You’re going to think things are finished when they are not.”
Seems the characters we see in the fun-ale are Gran and King Russell.


Alan Ball talks to Pedestrian, read more at the link.

That’s good to hear. Well I guess we're talking because you'll be discussing your work at the Sydney Opera House later this year and I was wondering if you’d ever done something like that before? I’ve done tonnes of things for print and camera but I’ve never done just me, myself and my work in front of a live audience. I’ve appeared on panels and I’ve certainly done a lot of things with the cast of both True Blood and Six Feet Under but it will be the first time for me with it being just all about me.

Does that scare you at all or are you excited by that prospect? Yeah I’m very excited to come to Australia because I’ve always wanted to come to Australia. It’s at a perfect time because I’m right between seasons four and five of True Blood so I don’t really have anything on my plate so I hope to really experience the country and the continent as much as one can in a short amount of time. In terms of am I scared of the event itself? Not really. I’m assuming that everyone coming is kind of interested.

In the writer’s room when you’re blocking out and breaking a season where does it start for you? What are you trying to achieve and where is the usual starting point in the writer’s room for a new season? For True Blood? Well we start with the book, with the source material. And when we come in for the season we’ve all read the book, we talk about what works, what we feel doesn’t necessarily work, and then we start going from there. The books are all Sookie’s story because Sookie is the narrator of the books, we have a lot of free reign anyway because of all the other characters that we have on the show. And then it’s me and five others and we just sort of very slowly map everything out. We spend a lot of time just talking about what we want the season to be about: Who’s the big villain? How is it going to engage our characters in a way that we haven’t seen before? We have two columns and we start giving little one line descriptions of what happens to each character in each of those episodes and then we start breaking those episodes more individually and we come up with two or three beats for each character or each collection of characters or whatever way they are combined at that point in the story and then we map those out chronologically and then we make an outline and somebody goes off and writes the first draft.

Is there a logical end for you for True Blood? I’m sure there will be, I just don’t see it yet. I mean, everything ends. And I don’t want it to be one of those things that goes on for more seasons than it actually could. You know what I mean? But I do feel like there’s definitely a fifth season. I’ve signed my name on a piece of paper committing to it. And I would imagine that it could go beyond that. Whether or not I will be a part of that is another question because there’s only so much you can do and I’m not as young as I used to be...On the other side of that I’ve never had as much fun on a job and it just keeps being fun, so, who knows.
Is it important for the non-antagonist characters to be likeable? Someone like Tara for example, who can be quite self-loathing and spiteful, is it important to balance a character's likeability with how they serve the plot? I mean I am much more forgiving with characters than a lot of people because I like them all. There is not a single character that I don’t like. I know that a lot times when I was working in TV like the question would be, if she does that then she’s unlikeable or if he does this thing then we’re not going to like him, and I’m like, ‘really? I like him, I think he made a big mistake and he screwed up but that’s the story’. I think it’s important for me for the characters to be strong and to be recognizable and I guess that’s just different wording for likeable. If you can understand why people are behaving a certain way, the seed or the root cause behind it, I mean, it all falls into the Buddhist notion of compassion, and the idea we should have compassion even for our greatest enemies, that we should be able to see their human side, the pain and the suffering that they feel. That’s a tall order. That’s a tall order for most people, including me but I do feel that it’s important to treat fictional characters with the dignity of being a genuine human being and not just like, ‘we need someone to come in and be evil’. I don’t think anyone gets up in the morning and thinks, 'wow, today I’m going to be evil. I am so hurt by everything that’s happened to me and I’m going to make somebody pay for this.' And they may very well do something that is easily classifiable as evil but I think ultimately, everyone's a human being and that’s part of the joy in the work that I do. Even though they’re fictional characters, I get to peel back the layers and see what it is that screwed them up or that turned them dark or made them a bitch. It’s hard to deal with, but for me that’s the interesting thing.
Who has been the hardest character to kill?

True Blood is different, I mean, it was certainly hard to kill Gran, but Charlaine had killed Gran in the book so I knew that was coming. And True Blood exists in a different world. It’s got such a gigantic body count and death doesn’t really, I mean it’s a very pulpy, heightened story so it doesn’t have quite the same emotional effect as Six Feet Under when it comes to death.
Having said that, once a True Blood character dies, it seems as if they enter some other kind of pantheon in the audience's mind. Godric comes to mind as an example of that.
Oh yeah. And they can always come back in flashback. After season four, people will know there’s a different way for them to come back. I guess True Blood can exist in this world where nobody really dies, ever. [Laughs] You can blow them up and behead them and explode their guts across the screen but they’re not really dead.

Blood Work! "True Blood Recap 4.9: The Monster Box

And no, I'm not just referring to the uncomfortable side-effects of Sookie's dream threesome with Bill and Eric ... (#stillgotit!) In honor of another extra-busy episode of "True Blood", this week's Blood Work! celebrates potential threesomes (dreamed or actual), puts to rest wandering spirits (with ice and a twist of lime), and suggests the formation of a Forgotten True Blood Character Softball League. Join Brian and Andy as they tackle Jess and Jason's tailgate party, Banana Flanagan's shenanigans, Alcide's tendency to carry people around, and much more. From CampBlood.org!


Mark Blankenship's Sucker Punch has some good points but seems he is getting tired of some plot repeats. So happy for me to read that someone else likes Scrappy Doo, besides me.
This is another reason I love Sam and Tommy: Their stories keep surprising me. Tommy keeps making irrational decisions that piss people off, but deep down, he loves his brother and wants his brother to love him.
When Tommy shifted into Sam a few weeks ago, it was a reckless gesture, but when he shifts into Sam this week, it's a selfless one. This isn't the same as Tara going back and forth between extremes. It's an example of honest-to-god growth in Tommy's character: He's learning from his mistakes and trying (in his way) to atone for them. He shifts into Sam and goes to confront Marcus, who is furious that Sam is with Luna. He's trying to protect his brother, to keep him safe. But he's also trying to protect Sam's relationship with Luna, which Tommy himself almost destroyed when he shifted into Sam last time. There's a wild nobility there. Tommy's not being thoughtful, but he is trying to be loyal.

Tuesday's True Blood Bites, Now with Added Earthquake

Meredith Woerner has her pros and cons up, read it all at the link (extra lulz this week).

Pro: Hey Alcide! The wolf giant is carrying Sookie to safety, only to be pushed down by Beeeell. Take that dogboy!. The dog makes...I guess we can technically call these "angry puppy eyes" now? Because they kind of look like the plastic buttons we all chewed on that made up our stuffed animals' dead amber eyes. And then, once inside, Bill adds insult to injury and screams at poor Alcide, "Werewolf, I'm gonna need you to shut the fuck up!"

Pro: ANTONIA GAVILAN OF LOGRONO! actually screams out, "MY NAME IS ANTONIA!!!!!" when someone calls her Marnie. It's like they're reading our minds!

Pro: Debbie, SURPRISE FLOWERS! HA HA HA HA HA HA NOT A GUN LOL LOL Sookie's face. They proceed to have a nice talk and you think that Debbie's heart might be in the right place. The world hopes it's not. Also, kudos to Debbie, she's just amazing at playing a struggling train wreck.


From Bookies Facebook page
Episode #46 – 4.10: 'Burning Down the House' As all hell breaks loose in Shreveport, Sookie summons her most potent powers yet to save Bill, in the process breaking a spell and leading Marnie/Antonia to re-evaluate her mission. Jason urges Jessica to glamour him for Hoyt's sake; Terry drags Andy to "Fort Bellefleur" for an intervention; Alcide reconsiders his allegiances after Marcus fight with Tommy; Jesus, accompanied by Sookie, Lafayette and Jason, tries to breach the Moongoddess Emporium's defenses to liberate Tara and Holly, while Bill leads a brigade of vampires committed to blowing the place to kingdom come.


Skarsgardfans has caps up from the promo for "Burning Down The House", more at the link.
                                     Nan does damage with a pencil, you don't mess with her!

                    I don't want Marshall to leave the show but this doesn't bode well for Tommy

                       I don't know if this is Tio Luca but I think it is, I hope they are walking towards                                                                   Antonia!

From BuddyTV
True Blood is riding higher than ever, and Sunday's episode, "Let's Get Out of Here," is proof. The episode was watched by 5.53 million viewers, the highest rating in the history of the series. The previous high was 5.44 million viewers with the penultimate episode of season 3.

Cinema Blend has some ideas on what's to come, oh yeah!
HBO released the “Behind the Episode” video for True Blood’s “Let’s Get Out of Here” episode. It addresses one part of the episode that I really didn’t love, and another that may actually be a major clue to how this season is going to be resolved, so read on with that in mind.

Episode writer Brian Buckner and director Romeo Tirone discuss the episode in the video below. One of the things they talk about is Sookie’s dream. Much like the V-trip last week, I didn’t love the dream scene this week. I thought it broke the pace of the episode and took too long to play out, all to get to an issue that was sort of already implied. Sookie wants both Eric and Bill. That’s an interesting non-twist. I just think it could have been demonstrated in a less obvious way. Then again, TB's not exactly known for subtly.

Moving on, there may be a big clue to how things are going to wrap up. Pay attention to what’s said about Lafayette and Jesus, and what went on with Mavis. The story of the woman with the lost baby seemed sort of a tangent, but maybe not...

“This thing that Jesus finds that he’s able to do, and this thing that Lafayette finds that he’s able to do is going to prove helpful to the people of Bon Temps."
Right now, Marnie is possessed with Antonia’s spirit. Perhaps Lafayette being a Medium and Jesus having the ability to extract a spirit from a medium’s body will play a part in getting Antonia out of Marnie’s body and sending her (and her magic) away.
Speculation time!
If I were going to theorize, I’d say that at some point, Antonia could end up in Lafayette's body. Maybe something happens to Marnie that sends her spirit out and into the nearest Medium, after which, Jesus has to get Antonia out (hopefully without hurting or killing Lafayette). If this is how it plays out, it would certainly get Lafayette and Jesus off the hook for what happened to Eric, and it would justify all of this medium-business, which has taken the duo off the path to undo their part in Eric’s and Pam’s witch-problems. 


From WeGotThisCovered

There are tragically only three episodes left in the fourth season of True Blood, the most outlandish and diverse season yet of the HBO drama. What once seemed to be a program simply about vampires has blossomed into a smorgasbord of shapeshifters, werewolves, faeries, werepanthers, witches, and mediums. Fret not, dear viewer, HBO has released the synopses of the last two episodes to hold you over, and season five will be here soon enough.

Episode eleven, Soul of Fire, will be airing on Sunday, September 4th. Here’s the description:

As the Wiccan-vampire standoff reaches a critical juncture, Sookie (Anna Paquin) summons her faerie powers to prevent Marnie (Fiona Shaw) from bewitching Bill (Stephen Moyer), Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) and Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) into a suicide march, while Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) casts a secret spell designed to un-bind Marnie/Antonia and break the witch’s deadly defenses.  Sam (Sam Trammell) settles a score with Marcus (Dan Buran); Alcide (Joe Manganiello) confronts Debbie (Brit Morgan) about her allegiances; Andy (Chris Bauer) finds unexpected passion in the forest; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) is consumed by the past.

It’s about time that Sookie used her faerie powers to help Eric and Bill, both of whom she allegedly loves despite the fact that she’s done nothing but silver one of them down when Marnie/Antonia tries to make him see the sun. And clearly, it’s no surprise that there will be Debbie-related drama.

Episode twelve, the season finale, And When I Die, will air on Sunday, September 11th. Description is as follows:

It’s Samhain, Wicca’s greatest holy day, and spirits of the dead surface in Bon Temps, giving Sookie valuable allies to combat Marnie’s newest incarnation.  Lafayette’s latest medium encounter imperils his relationship with Jesus; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) finds confession good for the soul, but not the body; Alcide makes a heartfelt appeal to the woman he loves; Terry (Todd Lowe) receives an unexpected visitor at Merlotte’s; Sam and Luna (Janina Gavankar) envision a storybook ending, for once; Nan (Jessica Tuck) wears out her welcome with Bill and Eric.  Debbie confronts Sookie and Tara (Rutina Wesley) with deadly consequences, and the denizens of Bon Temps brace for a new crisis with a familiar face.

Sounds like the holy witch day “Samhain” will be a perfect backdrop for the finale. Obviously the standout from this description is the last clause, “the denizens of Bon Temps brace for a new crisis with a familiar face.” Familiar face, huh? Well the serial killer from season one is dead, the maenad from season two is gone as well, but Russel Edgington (Denis O’Hare), the bad guy from season three, was only cased in cement. Not to mention the fact that writers have spoken about his return in the past…hmmm.

Monday's True Blood Afterglow

                       Don't you just hear the Mighty Mouse theme? Here I Come to Save the Day!
More Blog Roll Bits
From The Atlantic-
Antonia is practically becoming a vampire herself, hitting almost every point on the checklist of vampire crimes she listed off in her debut: She is walking around despite being long dead, has supernatural powers, is holding innocents captive, is controlling the actions of others, has killed, and intends to kill more. Her thirst is for revenge rather than blood, but the distinction is probably not very soothing to her victims, and the people she has sworn to protect are meanwhile burning their hands into giant lumps of blisters trying to escape her Moon Goddess Emporium prison.
The Washington Post-

 If you just started watching with the last two episodes, you would think that helping Mavis was Lafayette and Jesus’s motivating event this season, rather than avoiding death at the hands of an ancient Viking murder machine.

Seriously, how did anything they (lafayette and Jesus) did in Mexico help them resolve the problem that sent them to Mexico in the first place? How, in any way shape or form, do they think they are any safer than they were when they fled to Mexico in the first place? Has Lafayette even called Tara since they got back?

AV Club, (they're still calling this ep Run, I have to give them a pass because they usually are spot on)-

On the vampire front, there was something else I really liked in "Run," and that was Sookie's dream sequence with Bill and Eric. As a rule, I really don't care too much about the love triangle or who Sookie ends up with or how soft the focus should be on their unending love scenes or what non-bed locales they should pick next for them. I really do not mind. I understand some do, and that's fine, but whatever. But I really liked that for once, Sookie stood up for herself, even if it was just a blood-fueled hallucination, and exacted some real control over her suitors. Sure, she's always objected when Eric or Bill have claimed her as "mine," but the objection has largely fallen on deaf ears. Not this time, as Sookie convinces them they're going to have to share.
WSJ
After in a bit of a welcome twist, a betrayed Debbie heads to Sookie’s house not with traditional vengeance in mind, but nursing her love-sick heart. Vulnerable and worried she’s losing her man, Debbie asks Sookie if she can help to make things better so she can have some peace with Alcide. Initially wary, Sookie listens into Deb’s desperate brain and buys her story. Sookie also reassures Debbie that Alcide loves her which seems to forge a tentative alliance between the women. Together, they plan a search and rescue operation to the Moon Goddess to try and save Eric from Antonia’s clutches. With Debbie running interference at the front of the store with the witch, Sookie sneaks in the back and finds Eric under a spell that has him prepped to kill Bill at the vampire Festival of Tolerance media event. When she tries to set him free, Tara appears with a gun. Through Sookie’s telepathy, Tara communicates they are all being held hostage and that Sookie needs to escape. The two scuffle and Sookie runs away to warn Bill of the impending trap. Debbie is waiting as her driver and they head out. Are they now allies? It’s all deliciously unclear for now, but never forget that Pelt is a wild one.

Bit of a Denis O'Hare interview at BuddyTV

Denis O'Hare is one of those actors that has his hand in everything.  I approached him at the FOX All Star Party to talk to him about a couple of my favorite roles of his, including the ruthless Russell Edgington from True Blood and liberal-minded Judge Abernathy from The Good Wife.  Funnily enough, he wasn't even there for either of those shows.  His new series, Ryan Murphy's new anti-Glee, American Horror Story, premieres this fall on FX.  
I first asked O'Hare about what was most important to me:  Any chance of him coming back to True Blood?  O'Hare said, "I'll repeat to you what I've heard Alan Ball say to others.  Russell is not dead.  If they wanted him dead, they would have killed him.  They mention his name so many times in season 4, I still feel like he's alive!"  Okay, so even if Russell is alive, would O'Hare make the time in his already demanding schedule to come back to True Blood?  "In a heartbeat," O'Hare quickly replied.  He loves the show, the cast, everything. 
Mavis: "Thank you for everything."Lafayette: "You got it, bitch."
Wetpaint has the top 13 quotes from this episode.

Ausiello reposts the last episode synopses, you know the ones from IMDB Rhoswen7? 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 4 “Soul of Fire”
As the Wiccan-vampire standoff reaches a critical juncture, Sookie (Anna Paquin) summons her faerie powers to prevent Marnie (Fiona Shaw) from bewitching Bill (Stephen Moyer), Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) and Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) into a suicide march, while Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) casts a secret spell designed to un-bind Marnie/Antonia and break the witch’s deadly defenses.  Sam (Sam Trammell) settles a score with Marcus (Dan Buran); Alcide (Joe Manganiello) confronts Debbie (Brit Morgan) about her allegiances; Andy (Chris Bauer) finds unexpected passion in the forest; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) is consumed by the past.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 11 “And When I Die” (Season Finale)

It’s Samhain, Wicca’s greatest holy day, and spirits of the dead surface in Bon Temps, giving Sookie valuable allies to combat Marnie’s newest incarnation.  Lafayette’s latest medium encounter imperils his relationship with Jesus; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) finds confession good for the soul, but not the body; Alcide makes a heartfelt appeal to the woman he loves; Terry (Todd Lowe) receives an unexpected visitor at Merlotte’s; Sam and Luna (Janina Gavankar) envision a storybook ending, for once; Nan (Jessica Tuck) wears out her welcome with Bill and Eric.  Debbie confronts Sookie and Tara (Rutina Wesley) with deadly consequences, and the denizens of Bon Temps brace for a new crisis with a familiar face.

"We're only in episode 9, so things have to go worse." Writer Brian Buckner and director Romeo Tirone heat things up at the Festival of Tolerance.

FromHBO's Inside True Blood Blog

Perhaps most importantly, there are only three episodes left this season:

Body Snatched Interview

Nelsan Ellis shares what it's like to play a character within a character, what's up with Lafayette's hair, and who he thinks Sookie should settle down with.

Possession is really the word of the season, and Lafayette gets a major dose of it in ‘Let’s Get Out of Here.’ How did you prepare to play the restless spirit of a murdered Creole woman?

Study the actress who’s playing the role. I was studying her dailies, and then she and I got together to work.  I talked a lot to Fiona and tried to figure out what “possession” meant to me. I realized that I don’t become the person – the person becomes me. They get into a body where the mechanics are already there. Mavis has this funky little swish to her walk, but I was like, “No, my hips can’t move like that.” But I’d have something subtle that suggested that that was the direction that my hips wanted to go in. So, I tried to figure out what subtle nuances I could take from her that would remind the audience of who she was inside of me but also stay true to what Lafayette is, what his body does and the fact that he’s still in there.

He always seems to be at the mercy of this insane world around him – why is it that trouble always finds Lafayette?

Because he knows what to do with it … Lafayette is a survivor. Trouble comes, and then he surmounts it and moves on. I don’t know why he has all these problems. He got on this moving train that just won’t stop, and it just takes him deeper and deeper. I just hope he calms down next season.

After LGOoH, Post Episode True Blood News

Ep. 45 - Recap

Ep. 45 - Inside the Episode

New Baby Vamp Blog, Poor Jess-

The Stuff of Life

I kept a diary when I was human. I wrote silly little girl things in it, about the boys I had crushes on or the fights I could hear my parents having or what I wanted for my birthday. The stupid stuff that feels so big when you’re young. And I remember, I kept this list in it, I called it “MY STUFF.” Like a catalogue of all the things I owned. The mix tape my friend Stacy made me, with that Backstreet Boys song. My headband collection from Claire’s. The postcard my cousin sent me from New York City (she called it “The Big Apple” and said she’d never had pizza so good in her entire life). The Aerosmith CD with all the nipples on it, which I nicked from a garage sale and never told my parents about. 

But now that I’m a vampire, and I’m gonna live forever, it’s weird to think about owning things. That STUFF would ever be mine. Possessions come and go. They’re found, lost, they deteriorate or lose their value. Even sentiments fade away eventually. Look at me and Hoyt. We used to be as real as anything on that list, and now, well, we’re just a dusty ol’ memory being stuffed in a box.

Skarsgard Fan's has caps up, here's some, more at the link.

                          Like a little kid with Chocolate all over their face, except it's not.

EW's Inside TV's Blog-Stephen Moyer talks about Bill's and Sookie's future together, if they have one that is.

“This season has been difficult for Bill, because it’s been all about how he’s having to learn from his previous mistakes,” Moyer told EW. “If there’s anything that Bill has been guilty of in the past, it’s probably that he hasn’t been very truthful, because he’s trying to protect the person he loves and he felt Sookie wouldn’t be able to accept that truth. If that isn’t a lesson in love, I don’t what is.” Thankfully, Moyer has a little relationship advice: “If there’s one thing he could learn, it’s that it may hurt to tell the truth, but in the long run it’s better to tell it straight up rather than hide it. Bill has to man-up—or rather, vamp-up—and do the right thing.”

That’s all well and good, but what about that Eric-Sookie hookup? “We’ve seen Sookie tempted by Eric for four years, and it was just like, ‘For f—k’s sake, just get it on already,’” Moyer says. “It was the longest foreplay I’ve ever seen.”

So does that mean that Bill and Sookie are officially finito? “It comes down to whether Sookie can forgive Bill for his past, though I think she realizes that he made some of his mistakes trying to protect her. She might be able to forgive him, but the idea of seeing herself together with him is something else.”

Still, Moyer hints that Bill partisans have reason to take heart. “The great thing about our show is that it gives you what you want. It might not give you what you want for very long, but it does eventually give everyone what they want at some point.”

Bon Tempers, are you digging the direction True Blood’s taken in its fourth season? And do you think Bill and Sookie have any future together?

Recap Round-Up, as usual full reviews at the links

Rolling Stone-

In "Let's Get Out of Here," emotions are running high, and more dream sequences help us dive deeper into everyone's inner psyche. While a jarring reminder of the differences between reality and subconscious desires, the dreams have thus far served as a glimpse at the carefree camp that True Blood has slowly shifted away from. And, in the process, Sookie gives one hell of a performance as a seductress, feminist and supernatural heroine. "Let's Get Out of Here" is one of the most entertaining episodes of the season, all the more so for giving us a vivid reminder of the social commentary True Blood has been making since day one via the treatment and tangled interaction of its various supernatural species. Except for that one scene where the Lafayette storyline accidentally turned into an episode of Ghost Whisperer.

Jethro's Review is up at THR

Vampire blood-driven dreams have been an effective narrative tool in HBO’s True Blood. And Sunday’s episode gave viewers another example of that when Sookie (Anna Paquin) had to drink Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) blood to survive the gun shot that hit her during last episode's Witch War II.

As a result, Sookie had a very telling dream that brought Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) and Bill together for a talk. And wearing red lingerie doesn’t hurt when trying to plead one’s case to two men, either. What unraveled was Sookie’s decision that she loved both men and would like to find a way for them to be OK with that, as well. Ah, dreams. That would never fly in the real world, but it does reveal where Sookie’s mind is when it comes to the two men. Or does it?

TVFanatic- Too Much of a Bad Thing

True Blood offered up one of its greatest mysteries this week: How did Jason and Jessica end up in the back of his pickup truck?!? I can imagine a few scenarios:Perhaps that's where Jason keeps his condoms... Maybe he got a flat tire, Jessica assisted and then he couldn't help but give her a few pumps, as well... They may have believed Bill was home and wanted to keep their affair a secret... Or possibly it was simply there and, hey, Alan Ball figured: why not!?

IGN's Review-

First of all, why did it even matter that Alcide rescued Sookie last week and carried her off wounded if Bill was just going to break free of all that silver and just rush in to grab her from Alcide because he's faster? I suppose it worked to help make Debbie more suspicious later on, but it also totally negated the set up from last week's final moment. And that's always been a big problem on this series; taking things back too quickly. Making us think someone's in danger when it's all either a big trick or the situation just resolves itself with little fanfare. And again, like I mentioned last week, no one in their right mind would ever think Sookie would be in mortal danger. This whole thing just led to Bill saving her life so that he could once again be brought back into the romantic mix. Except that I think the thing that most of us liked the most about Bill this season (aside from being made King) was that he was out of the mix.