Smallscreen Features

True Blood recap, Everything is Broken, how's the weather?

By April MacIntyre Aug 16, 2010, 17:56 GMT

07/24/2010 - Nelsan Ellis, Joe Manganiello, Rutina Wesley, Charlaine Harris, Kristin Bauer and Denis O\'Hare - San Diego Comic Con International 2010 - Entertainment Weekly and SyFy Party - Hotel Solamar - San Diego, CA, USA © Alan Hess / PR Photos

Last night's episode of True Blood's “Everything is Broken” - number nine of season three - is setting up the last three episodes as a mega showdown between the vamps, humans, werewolves and a race to seduce our heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, a beacon of light and power.

Sookie's blood offers vampires the ability to exist in the light by the powers for her special superhuman blood.

Last night we had Franklin (James Frain) return from a head bashing to stalk Tara (Rutina Wesley). Poor Tara has been traumatized to no end this season, its no wonder she is the most sinewy, ripped character next to our muddled mesomorph, Jason Stackhouse, whose dumbass routine is starting to grate. We get it, he ain't smart, and he has deplorable taste in women to boot.

Tommy Mickens (Marshall Allman) is setting his unlikable self up for a draining too, as he is out to make enemies and drive brother Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) nuts with his consistently anti-social, chip on his shoulder act.

Which takes us to Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher), completely unappealing and quite frankly, annoying. The whole HotShot storyline is not hooking me. The whole manky cast of these "wrong side of the tracks" gang are nowhere near as compelling as bitchy Ms. Nan Flanagan (Jessica Tuck) and her RoboCop looking Vamp police, or Russell's ongoing fatwa on humankind. Loved how she threw an incredulous Eric under the bus regarding the Russell confession. Just like in real life, he who has the gold makes the rules, and the big check Russell wrote to Flanagan's political arm trumps the truth.

Fans of Anna Paquin naked had a good time last night, as Sookie and Bill (Stephen Moyer) had a bloody shower and kissed, fanged and made up. Bill, now infused with her blood, has the vision of Claudette and the nether world bathed in water and light, and learns what Sookie is.

Fans of Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) get to see our short order cook/ drug dealer happy and sans makeup for once.  Even his crazy mama (Alfre Woodard) approves of the good Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) is doing for her boy. It's nice to see two gay men having a slow building romance that isn't hyperviolent or cartoon queen. They have real chemistry.

Fans of Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Jessica's (Deborah Ann Woll) love affair get to see the adorable baby vamp have to wait on her estranged beau and an atrocious woman he is dating. She brings dolls to Merlotte's and natters about nonsense. Hoyt can't stand her, we can't stand her, and Jessica and he share a moment when the insufferable stumpy girlfriend goes off to the bathroom.  Jessica is one of my favorite female characters in the series.

Hands down, this season is owned by Russell (Denis O'Hare), whose dramatic moments make for great vamped up smallscreen scenes. His grief over Talbot's death, rolling around in his red gooey innards, his surprise TV news appearance and subsequent spine ripping moment on the air, horror mixed with humor, Russell's "f*ck the authority" attitude is just what the series needed. Now that psycho vamp Franklin/ Frain is truly gone (Jason killed him with wood bullets) we need someone larger than life to keep Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) and Pam (Kristin Bauer) on their toes,

Russell's bloody segue on the air, “And now, for the weather.  Tiffany?” was the perfect ending to a fun episode on a series that promised to end on a howl and a bang.