Posted by Janie Logan Aug 23, 2010, 12:46 GMT
As he comes up with a plan to defeat Russell Edgington, Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) spends some time "signing wills and making out with The Solution." Photo courtesy of HBO.
Trust is a tricky thing--especially on True Blood, where most characters have dark pasts, hidden secrets, and conflicting emotions. And sometimes, if you trust the wrong person, you will end up chained in a basement.
"I Smell a Rat" went from one supernatural revelation to the next, such that it was a little hard to keep up. Bill tells Sookie she's part-fairy, a panther shifts into Crystal right before Jason's eyes, and Lafayette and Jesus take a strange, spinning V trip, visiting a bunch of people who perform magic, including an ancestor for each of them.
For all that confusion, the episode achieved a sense of balance by being grounded in the emotions that characters have been feeling but not saying throughout Season 3. Bill reaffirmed his love for Sookie when she feared that super-delicious, intoxicating fairy blood was the basis of his feelings for her:
"You're mine--your heart, your soul. And I will forswear ever feeding on you again if that's what it takes to convince you of that. You have brought light back into my life, and hope, and gratitude. That is why I love you. Nothing else."
It was a really sweet moment, but we've heard this kind of thing before and it's looking more and more like Bill and Sookie's relationship has run its course for now. Steamy kiss with Eric aside, the girl needs to see what life is like without Bill before she'll ever be sure what she wants.
The declaration of love that made me even happier was the one between Jessica and Hoyt because they are TOO FREAKIN' CUTE. He just shows up at Merlotte's and lays everything out for her. He wants to be with her, and she can't keep him away just because she's afraid he won't like what he finds out about her.
Jessica's worried she can't control her vampire nature, but she barely even hesitates when blood is pouring out of Hoyt's arm from the dog bite. Instead, she gives him her own blood to heal him, and I think we can finally look forward to seeing them give their relationship a try.
Of the confessions we've been anticipating, one of them gets the most perfect response possible, and the other still has unknown consequences. Arlene finally tells Terry that Rene is the baby's father. He's always been a bit peculiar, so during those few seconds of silence I wasn't positive how he would react, but then he says, "I will raise that child as my own. Do you hear me, Arlene? I want to marry you, and together we will surround that baby with more love than it can handle."
Then Jason, in the aftermath of shooting Franklin, admits to Sookie that he killed Eggs. In his mind, he's protecting Tara by lying to her, but when she tries to thank him for being so good and heroic and dependable, the guilt is too much to bear. Jason's life used to be so carefree and simple, back before Maudette, Dawn, Amy, Eddie, Rene, Gran, Eggs…
After his parents died, I think Jason probably forced himself not to feel things too deeply or it would hurt too much, but now everything's spilling over. Through it all, though, he does try to do what's right, even when he fails miserably. Now, because of how traumatized she is, Tara is this completely unknown factor, and I fear what she might do knowing what Andy and Jason did.
I am at a total loss as to what Sam is going through. What Tommy said last week about letting people walk all over him obviously set Sam off against Calvin. Then he starts remembering other painful incidents, including a flashback from before he moved to Bon Temps and became a scruffy sweetheart. He was using his shapeshifting to steal stuff with his girlfriend, until she conned him with her real boyfriend, and then he chased them down and killed them both.
Why is he in such a dwell-on-the-past mode, though? Because he doesn't want to be a nice guy anymore? Because things never seem to work out the way he hopes they will? Sorry, Sam, but sometimes life just sucks.
As for Eric, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is thinking about how to keep Sookie safe. She probably is better off at Fangtasia with him than running around looking for trouble, as she is wont to do. Even chained up there against her will, I like Sookie's odds of survival against Russell, Sophie-Anne, etc., with the 1,000-year old vampire, as opposed to with her dim, shotgun-toting brother, or with Bill and Jessica, who have a collective 150 vampire years between them.
Eric has shown himself to be protective of Sookie in the past, and he clearly tells Pam that giving her over to Russell is not an option. After his conversation with Bill about the effects of fairy blood, he probably arrived at the conclusion that feeding on Sookie will give him just enough of an advantage to go in the sun, if only briefly, to kill Russell while he sleeps. But why not TELL SOOKIE THAT?! She has mixed feelings about him, but it's clear she cares for him to some degree and doesn't want him to die. There doesn't seem to be any good reason to make her feel powerless to him.
What were everyone else's thoughts on "I Smell a Rat"?
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