Smallscreen Features

True Blood, Hitting the Ground, a Mickensectomy, three murders and a marriage

By April MacIntyre Aug 3, 2010, 6:05 GMT

"Lorena" - Mariana Klaveno - Hollywood, CA, USA © David Gabber / PR Photos

This is the moment in the season that the story turns on its ear and Sookie (Anna Paquin) once again becomes the center of the universe.

Her prophetic aquatic, light-filled dream while in a coma, brought on by Lorena's savaging and subsequent "rescue" by a near starved Bill who all but drains her, has revealed to us that there are bigger fish to fry for the Bon Temps waitress.

A waitress we learn who was born on a kitchen table, and who has never been ill, and has no blood type.

Bill's (Stephen Moyer) maker Lorena (Mariana Klaveno) is now dead, as is Cooter (Grant Bowler) who tried to stop Tara (Rutina Wesley) from stealing Sookie away from Russell's manse. 

King Russell (Denis O'Hare) is a megalomaniac and has no respect for "the Authority."  Which brings us to the sadist Magister who has had Pam (Kristin Bauer) in his clutches far too long.  The King suffers no fools or sass, and after his hasty nuptials performed under duress, the Magister is dispatched in front of a horrified Eric (Alexander Skarsgård), Queen Sofie-Anne (Evan Rachel Woods) and Pam.  Side note, Denis O'Hare is deserving of an Emmy nomination for outstanding scene stealing consistently.

A moment of praise for Mariana Klaveno, whose voice purred like suede and her languid physical approach to the role was pure feminine wiles and wickedness. She did an outstanding job as the scorned and embittered maker of a man she could never possess, despite her superior strength. Rejection sucks, even for vamps.

Poor Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) is tossed like flotsam and jetsam from one calamity to the next, and the latest is his sister's imminent death. Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) gives him support to help him take over the vigil for Sookie, as we see who Sookie's true family is, all of them broken souls.

Lafayette's heart is revealed in a profound poem said bedside, and Bill shows up on the scene to Tara's rage and Jason's resignation so that Sookie may live from an infusion of the V blood that revives and revs the human system.  Sookie's dream happens here, as she is warned that the dark is the vampire presence in her life, and she must shun it.

Alcide (Joe Manganiello) will be around for awhile, and he seems to play the most stable and levelheaded of the bunch.  He is team Sookie for sure, but the mystery for me is how his story will spool out in the rest of season three and into four.

Now, last week I asked Alan Ball nicely  that I never wanted to see Joe Lee (Cooper Huckabee) in those nasty tighty whities that were all stretched out and grey from dirt. But nooo! You had to have him standing there with the wedding tackle nearly falling out.  Sam (Sam Trammell) saved Tommy from his dog fighting sentence, and I hope never ever to see any of the Mickens again.  Side note: Nice to see wardrobe getting that mileage out of Eric's perfect fitting v-neck robin's egg blue sweater, blood stains and all.

Franklin (James Frain), despite his bashed in head, hopefully comes back from this setback for more fun with Tara, his psychotic obsession.

Never doubt for a moment that our Eric isn't plotting and planning around the King and his own fixation he won't admit to out loud: Sookie. Queen Sophie-Anne's human toy girl Hadley, Sookie's cousin, tells him some insider knowledge about Ms. Stackhouse. 

Remember that Eric previously discovered that the King killed his own father, a real King, and stole Eric's rightful crown as an artifact bauble to be displayed in his stately home.

This will not end well. I can't wait to see it.