E8
Sookie risks her life for Bill; Eric reconsiders his options; Lettie Mae gets closure.
UPDATE:Debut: SUNDAY, AUG. 10
With his prey in sight, Eric reconsiders his end-game strategies against Sarah. Sookie puts her life at risk in hopes of saving Bill. Lettie Mae and Lafayette urge Reverend Daniels to join them in their V-fueled search for Tara. Violet eyes payback against those who betrayed her, while an old love is reborn for others (Jess and Hoyt? Sookie and Eric, Sookie and Bill, Sookie and the gas meter reader?). castings and spoilers
First up for the recaparama is ArtsBeat NYTimes Blog, whole bits at the links- In the present, a grinning Eric rang the bell at Bill’s house, not knowing that Bill was sick. When Sookie saw that Eric was cured, she was understandably excited, but now Eric was in a pickle: Gus Jr.’s business strategy was to delay if not outright prevent the development of a true cure from Sarah’s blood, which meant Bill was out of luck.
Sookie wasn’t having any of that, of course. Intrepid as always, she drove to Fangtasia, read Gus’s mind, broke into the basement with a fairy fireball, found Sarah Newlin and deduced that she was the cure. She then fetched Bill and Jessica and brought them back to the basement so that Bill could feed directly on Sarah. But at the crucial moment — with Sookie and Jessica overjoyed that he would be cured and Pam and Eric terrified that the yakuza upstairs would hear them — Bill said: “No. I don’t want the blood.”
Sookie wasn’t having any of that, of course. Intrepid as always, she drove to Fangtasia, read Gus’s mind, broke into the basement with a fairy fireball, found Sarah Newlin and deduced that she was the cure. She then fetched Bill and Jessica and brought them back to the basement so that Bill could feed directly on Sarah. But at the crucial moment — with Sookie and Jessica overjoyed that he would be cured and Pam and Eric terrified that the yakuza upstairs would hear them — Bill said: “No. I don’t want the blood.”
Gotta go, Gotta go, let's do this Pamstyle.
Brian at The Backlot checked out this episode- So I gotta ask, what the hell is going on in this fool town? Is there still a vampire crisis? Are there still only 2 cops left? Did they ever get their guns back? Where is the mayor? Is Rusty still in the Navy?
The Tara mess is incomprehensible. So Tara has been lingering because she felt guilty for not killing her daddy and hiding his gun, which led to his leaving them? And this is important for Lettie to know… why, exactly? So that she can stop being an addict because it was never her fault that her abusive husband walked out? Which it never was to begin with.? This show has never known what to do with Tara, but this was just weak – the only things saving the whole mess were young Tara and Lafayette and Adina Porter’s performance, which has always been better than it probably needs to be.
Violet’s final scene was like something out of an uncharacteristically rapey Austin Powersmovie. At least she’s gone now and we can get back to giving Hoyt and Jessica a second chance at happiness (only because he will never remember how shitty Jess and Jason were to him – how romantic!) and throw Hoyt’s girlfriend at Jason like a Jerky Treat.
Now all that remains is for Bill to almost die next week so that Sookie can save him in the finale and there can be a big mass wedding (Bill and Sookie, Lala and James, Hoyt and Jess, Jason and Bridget, Holly and Andy, Arlene and Keith, Eric and himself) that will be attended by the only two people who aren’t allowed to bang anymore because they’re now siblings. And everyone else is dead, right? Right. Sounds like a plan! More
The Tara mess is incomprehensible. So Tara has been lingering because she felt guilty for not killing her daddy and hiding his gun, which led to his leaving them? And this is important for Lettie to know… why, exactly? So that she can stop being an addict because it was never her fault that her abusive husband walked out? Which it never was to begin with.? This show has never known what to do with Tara, but this was just weak – the only things saving the whole mess were young Tara and Lafayette and Adina Porter’s performance, which has always been better than it probably needs to be.
Violet’s final scene was like something out of an uncharacteristically rapey Austin Powersmovie. At least she’s gone now and we can get back to giving Hoyt and Jessica a second chance at happiness (only because he will never remember how shitty Jess and Jason were to him – how romantic!) and throw Hoyt’s girlfriend at Jason like a Jerky Treat.
Now all that remains is for Bill to almost die next week so that Sookie can save him in the finale and there can be a big mass wedding (Bill and Sookie, Lala and James, Hoyt and Jess, Jason and Bridget, Holly and Andy, Arlene and Keith, Eric and himself) that will be attended by the only two people who aren’t allowed to bang anymore because they’re now siblings. And everyone else is dead, right? Right. Sounds like a plan! More
Don't like Gofuckyourself's sad look but later we see all is well.
a little queezy at first then...
nom nom noomi.
The Lone Ranger looks like he is leaving and it's all cool with Eric, but they dont trust each other.
NOW this is Pam's Happy face.
That's at least what the cliffhanger finale of "True Blood" Season 7, episode 8 "Almost Home" would have viewers think. And with only two episodes left until the show's series finale, chances are that's enough time to say goodbye to Bill instead of convincing him to live.
Is that what all of the very repetitive flashbacks to Bill's Civil War-era human life were all about? Did he already have the life he wanted, and there's no hope for that in the future -- as evidenced by his flash-sideways to Sookie holding a child of darkness?
Whatever his reasoning for not wanting to take Sarah Newlin's blood as a cure, it's annoying to everyone involved. Sookie, Jessica and likely even Eric and Pam won't let Bill go without a fight, as they've proven time and again in the past.
But maybe it is time to let him go, for the audience at least. The real question is: Who is Sookie without Bill? That's not to say she can't live a life on her own and flourish, but for so long, whether she realized it or not, her life has been entwined with his. Just like he would be less without her in his life, she is less without him. That's why the show always comes back to them together.
I don't feel so good. Sookieitis?
As my name is Sookie Whatever I will find a cure Bill, I will!
Take that you piece of wood, best use of fae powers yet, breaking into the basement of Fangtasia. That basement sure has been invaded often this season and it's still unsecured.
Bill's dream of Sookie with a baby that turns out to be a burnt mark on a blankie. Bill has a big case of the guilts and thinks she's better off with him dead.
Another visitor? We know for sure one is Eric when she wears that black silk robe. It is Eric come to see Bill, he tips her off that there is a cure and she of course goes Nancy Drewpid to Fangtasia and listens to Mr Gus' mind with Eric's help.
As expected, Sookie didn’t listen to Eric’s demand to stay away from Fangtasia. She returned and found Sarah, who was the last person she expected to see.
Sarah pleaded with Sookie to help her escape. Sookie read her thoughts and realized she was the cure. “Even as the cure, you’re still the f**king problem.” (Amen to that!)
Sookie ran to Jessica to tell her about the cure. There was finally hope for Bill! However, Bill had a flash forward to Sookie with a baby, except it wasn’t a baby. Sookie was just holding a black mass. Weird.
Mr. Gus Jr. headed to Dallas for the night and told Eric NOT to do anything stupid. (Oh, Eric.) Sookie brought Bill to Fangtasia to receive the cure from Sarah.
But there was just one problem. Bill said no! “I don’t want the blood,” he confessed. WHAT?!
Is this a happy face?
Can I get the fuck outta here, please?
The people in the background are the homeowners, who probably just think they's crackheads.
Go to the light Caroline.
A Nip of EW's long recap-The next day, Hoyt comes to Bellefleur's where Arlene is now dressing like Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham (a little excessive for the Carolina League, but it makes her happy, so we're happy). Hoyt saddles up next to Jason at the bar, and with one exchange, we're reminded why these two were such good friends: Bubba will obsess over serious things, and well, Jason doesn't. Hoyt admits it's thoughts of Jessica that kept him up all night, and Jason, proving he's really putting an end to that love triangle in his mind, assures Hoyt that he and Jessica are not an item.Jason tells Hoyt about Bill's condition and how hard it is on Jessica, and Hoyt delivers another poignant line: Good things getting destroyed is the definition of unfair. Next we see Hoyt, he's trying to secretly leave a note and a bag of his Hep-V negative blood outside Jessica's door for Bill. She invites him in, and he explains that thinking about what she's going through suddenly made him aware that maybe not knowing his mother's time was coming was a blessing, and he just thought he should try to help Jessica out if he could. Such a good man.
One of the best moments of the hour is Hoyt turning back around with tears in his eyes when Jessica asks him if he misses his mother. "Yes and no," he says, honestly. "It's just no matter how grown up you get, or how well you can stand on your own two feet, the death of a parent just makes you want to go back, just go back to when you were a little kid and knowin' that you were loved was all you needed. Just go back, you know." If you've lost a parent, you burst into tears and wanted to hug Jim Parrack. At least I did. It could be his finest moment on the series. Perhaps because he was just so exhausted and emotionally raw: He shot his True Blood scenes on Mondays, flying to LA from New York, where he was appearing on Broadway six days a week in Of Mice and Men.
Our children will look like Alfred E Neuman.
I think you made an error in judgement Missy, we ain't that close.
A call comes in from Andy, Violent Vi has the kids and Jess. Jason is followed out of Maxine's by Hoyt's girl, or almost ex at that point. Run Jason RUN!
TVLine- VIOLET IS BLUE | The more Violet lets her freak flag fly, the more I find myself endeared to her — I invested nothing in her relationship with Jason — so imagine my delight this week, as the madwoman welcomed Jason, Jessica, fairy girl and that other guy to her world of pain. The following is a breakdown of the torture she planned to inflict on each member of the motley crew:
1. Wade: Violet would begin by crushing his skull, small as it may be.
2. Adilyn: Violet had a special contraption for ripping off Adi’s “sweet, barely formed t—s.” Violet has such a way with words.
3. Jessica: Violet was going to rape Jessica every 10 minutes with a red-hot dildo. (And because she’s technically an eternal virgin, it would feel like the first time. Every. Single. Time.)
Fortunately, we’ll never have to hear any of her words ever again, because Indiana Jones Hoyt crashed the party with his plus-one, a wooden bullet aimed right at Crazy Pants’ forehead. Bang! Dead. I will miss my ride or die Vi.
AVClub's Almost Home review teeny bit- Stray observations:
Poor Rutina Wesley.
Violet’s entire story seems to exist to get Jessica and Jason back to a place where they might end up together. Let me gently suggest this could have been done in a different way. Any other way, really.
Sarah Newlin truly believes she is the next coming of the Messiah. I kind of want this show to end with Sarah starting her own Guilty Remnant-esque cult.
Pam’s face when Sookie Stackhouse’s name is mentioned by the Yakuza flunkies gave me life. Never change, Pam.
I am not sure if Bill’s backstory regarding the Queen Sophie-Anne business actually tracks, but it didn’t fully track in the books either, so I’ll give the show a rare pass on this one. Retcon away!
Only two more episodes. We can do this.
EW's Postmortem with writer Kate Barnow, lots of goodies in the interview at the link-
I know the writers want to make Sookie more active this season, so after Eric shows up to tell her he’s cured, she follows him to Fangtasia even though he tells her he’ll come back to her.
The idea was that Eric would feel kinda at a new place emotionally, which is that he has, to some extent, acknowledged that he has compassion for Sookie, even though she’s a human being. So with this new lease on life, for him to say, “I really want to reassure you that I’m not gonna die”—his whole plan is completely stymied when he gets there. He went with one thing in mind and learns something completely different. And then it’s this conflict of the enterprising Eric up against the romantic Eric. He’s like, motherf–ker, this keeps happening to me: Every time I let my guard down and care for Sookie, it gets in the way. But for Sookie, of course, she’s desperate, and there’s no way that she’s not gonna go after Eric when she finds out there’s a cure. She was just a little bit behind him because he can fly, which, you know, is an advantage. What is truly fun is watching Sookie see the Yakuza standing outside of Fangtasia and just being like, “Okay, I’m doing this anyway.” It feels new, but it’s kinda the same old thing: Sookie’s pursuit of trying to get what she wants, and usually it has something to do with Bill, is gonna mess Eric and Pam up in a big way.
Tell me about deciding that Hoyt would save them all.
We knew we needed to reunite Jessica and Hoyt, and it was sorta meant to be this moment of love at first sight all over again, except that for him, he didn’t know it was the second time that it was love at first sight. It was kind of a wild way to end what’s already a very wild scene—lots going on there. But I think that [Deborah Ann Woll and Jim Parrack] did an amazing job of bringing that feeling back of, like, the magic’s happening all over again. That’s juxtaposed against the insanity of Jason and Violet. I think you’re supposed to start to see that Jason wants something more, and you’re supposed to start to see that it’s not just a triangle, it’s a quadrangle that’s beginning between Brigette and Hoyt and Jessica and Jason
1. Wade: Violet would begin by crushing his skull, small as it may be.
2. Adilyn: Violet had a special contraption for ripping off Adi’s “sweet, barely formed t—s.” Violet has such a way with words.
3. Jessica: Violet was going to rape Jessica every 10 minutes with a red-hot dildo. (And because she’s technically an eternal virgin, it would feel like the first time. Every. Single. Time.)
Fortunately, we’ll never have to hear any of her words ever again, because Indiana Jones Hoyt crashed the party with his plus-one, a wooden bullet aimed right at Crazy Pants’ forehead. Bang! Dead. I will miss my ride or die Vi.
AVClub's Almost Home review teeny bit- Stray observations:
Poor Rutina Wesley.
Violet’s entire story seems to exist to get Jessica and Jason back to a place where they might end up together. Let me gently suggest this could have been done in a different way. Any other way, really.
Sarah Newlin truly believes she is the next coming of the Messiah. I kind of want this show to end with Sarah starting her own Guilty Remnant-esque cult.
Pam’s face when Sookie Stackhouse’s name is mentioned by the Yakuza flunkies gave me life. Never change, Pam.
I am not sure if Bill’s backstory regarding the Queen Sophie-Anne business actually tracks, but it didn’t fully track in the books either, so I’ll give the show a rare pass on this one. Retcon away!
Only two more episodes. We can do this.
EW's Postmortem with writer Kate Barnow, lots of goodies in the interview at the link-
I know the writers want to make Sookie more active this season, so after Eric shows up to tell her he’s cured, she follows him to Fangtasia even though he tells her he’ll come back to her.
The idea was that Eric would feel kinda at a new place emotionally, which is that he has, to some extent, acknowledged that he has compassion for Sookie, even though she’s a human being. So with this new lease on life, for him to say, “I really want to reassure you that I’m not gonna die”—his whole plan is completely stymied when he gets there. He went with one thing in mind and learns something completely different. And then it’s this conflict of the enterprising Eric up against the romantic Eric. He’s like, motherf–ker, this keeps happening to me: Every time I let my guard down and care for Sookie, it gets in the way. But for Sookie, of course, she’s desperate, and there’s no way that she’s not gonna go after Eric when she finds out there’s a cure. She was just a little bit behind him because he can fly, which, you know, is an advantage. What is truly fun is watching Sookie see the Yakuza standing outside of Fangtasia and just being like, “Okay, I’m doing this anyway.” It feels new, but it’s kinda the same old thing: Sookie’s pursuit of trying to get what she wants, and usually it has something to do with Bill, is gonna mess Eric and Pam up in a big way.
Tell me about deciding that Hoyt would save them all.
We knew we needed to reunite Jessica and Hoyt, and it was sorta meant to be this moment of love at first sight all over again, except that for him, he didn’t know it was the second time that it was love at first sight. It was kind of a wild way to end what’s already a very wild scene—lots going on there. But I think that [Deborah Ann Woll and Jim Parrack] did an amazing job of bringing that feeling back of, like, the magic’s happening all over again. That’s juxtaposed against the insanity of Jason and Violet. I think you’re supposed to start to see that Jason wants something more, and you’re supposed to start to see that it’s not just a triangle, it’s a quadrangle that’s beginning between Brigette and Hoyt and Jessica and Jason
He broke her heart but damn she is going to kill with this outfit.
Things are looking dire for our damsel Jessica
Jason's attempt to stop Violet take a left turn, but then...
BAM, new hero alert! He is still sweet on Jess, nothing says lovin' like a blood donation for your dad. Jess is all head over heels and confused.
Hoyt looking rough, maybe some memories will help and some vamp turning too??? I hope.
IGN's recap-DRINK THE BITCH. "Almost Home" closed off a few more story threads - crazy Violet, Eric's Hep V - while also making us sit through more long, "meaningful" conversations between its regular players, as everyone is allowed sneak in their final clarifications/farewells. Not that deeper, connective conversations have no place on this show, but Jason's already taken a hard look at himself and sworn to make better choices in life. Tara and her mom hadalready come to terms with one another's flaws and forgiven each other. It's just that now, they're being made to do it one last, final time.
None of these are new conversations, is my point. And it became clear last week, with Jason's goofy gawking at Brigette, that the show was going to force "the switch" - if you'll allow me to borrow a Seinfeld term. Jason and Hoyt are to swap gals. Now I don't mind Hoyt seeing Jess and developing feelings for her. Not at all. She's awesome and I'd totally buy that, despite being glamoured, he'd be drawn to her in some way. The way that people who get Eternal Sunshine'd still wind up finding each other again.
Sarah she might or might not be turned before Gus takes her away for his plan of doling out NuBlood to make the most $$ and monopoloze the cure.
Everybody DANCE!
Thanks to @TBobsessed on twitter for this.
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