Talk us through itSookie isn't having a good night, besides getting splattered by gore and blood from a vampire bartender that Bill stakes, she arrives home to get splattered by blood from her cat hanging beheaded from the chandlers. This of course brings back memories of her Gran who was brutally slain in the kitchen earlier in the season. Meanwhile Jason and Amy are taking advantage of Vampire Eddie, the dude they have kidnapped and are keeping tied up in Jason's basement. And if that's not enough to whet your appetite for destruction Tara is visiting Miss Jeanette to find her own exorcism is going to cost $799.95. Jason is developing a relationship with Eddie, who informs him that Amy isn't the clean cut Yankee hippy she appears to be. Sam loans Tara the money for the exorcism, and Bill has to face the consequences for killing a vampire to save a human. Bill enlists Sam to look after Sookie while he's away, and we learn Sam's deep dark secret.
Review"If you're their poster boy, the mainstreaming movement is in very deep trouble." - Eric NorthmanEvery now and again a show surprises you with something out of the blue, True Blood episode nine managed to side swipe me with the share intensity of the vampire being staked at Fangtasia. We're talking fountains of blood and gore hitting a high note. It was as unexpected as Sookie finding her grandmother in the kitchen in terms of how down and dirty things got with the claret. While True Blood is generally pretty sanitised in terms of violence on occasion it really does go to town with the nitty gritty. Guess rule of thumb here is not to get too complacent in what you think you are going to be watching. On the vampire front we learn Bill really digs playing Wii golf, guess that's meant to be one of those humanising moments that separate mainstreaming Bill from the more traditional bloodsuckers Eric and Pam represent. Also, on the interesting is going to have a bearing later in the season front, we learn from Eric that vampires are aware of those who have wronged them. Both Royce's crew and Amy could be headed for a day of reckoning with Eric's clan over current and past indiscretions. There are a couple of surprises in Plaisir d'amour that once again lift the bar in terms of share quality and are a welcome update to the season after a generally disappointing episode 8. Both Sookie and Jason are having a hard time with their continued involvement with Vampires and things are starting to impact in their personal relationships. Sookie takes out her frustrations on her workmates at Merlottes, while Jason is almost at blows with the road crew he works with due to a new found sensibility towards the environment. Seems both Stackhouses need to reassess their lifestyle choices. One of the more intriguing aspects to the episode was Vampire Eddie's assertion that Jason shouldn't even consider Amy as being "the one" due to her being a psychopath that is far more dangerous to Jason than Eddie himself. Was it luck than Amy meet Jason at Fangtasia or are waters running a little deeper here than we had previously assumed? The season is getting steadily better as each episode adds to the puzzle that is the Bon Temps Universe Sam and Tara's relationship is starting to develop into an interesting enough sub plot on its own. Clearly they both want something more than being just "sex buddies" but how exactly this is going to work out remains a mystery. Without going too chick here, Sam has feelings for Sookie and Tara carries a candle for Jason, will love tear them apart? Speaking of Sam and his dark and shady secret I'm sorry to disappoint readers but we are not talking lupine carnage here. In fact Sam is somewhat further down the food chain and I'm fanging to find out what that's all about in the next episode. Actually Detective Bellefleur is also somewhat interested as Sam's story about being raised in a nudist colony didn't check out and the Detective is still hunting for clues as to the identity of the serial killer hunting the back roads of Bon Temps. Clearly, given Sam's infatuation with Sookie, we can discount the Bar Owner as being our resident Dexter at this time. There are still a number of suspects but Sam isn't one of them. 
Lafayette hasn't been getting a lot of screen time just recently, which is a disappointment for yours truly, but I'm wondering if perhaps this is building up to something. Considering Eric's assertion that vampires know who has wronged them and his increasing interest in the residents of Bon Temps there could be storm clouds on the friends of Dorothy's horizon. Something to keep in the back of our minds as True Blood has never been a series that allows plot ideas to sit furrow for any length of time. The major episode cliff hanger is of course Bill going off to face the music for his actions in saving Sookie. What this may involve is anyone's guess but I'm picking it's not going to involve beating his previous best score in Wii golf. You get the feeling that Eric was more concerned by Bill stating Sookie must be protected than he was over Longshadow's demise, clearly Bill has stepped over the line and the consequences will probably be something completely different to what we are expecting. Okay think I have the episode covered from head to toe, but would just like to point out that the weirdest scene yet in season one goes down when Pam picks "vampire" out of Sookie's cleavage in the Fangtasia bathroom. Now that's not something you see every day and I was certainly taken back by the scene. A slight hint of things evolving revolves around Pam stating in the same scene that she now sees why everyone is taking an interest in Sookie, is there something more there than meets the eye and what exactly is Pam eluding to? As promised last episode the soundtrack listing for Plaisir d'amour, and before I forget to the person writing in about availability of the music no idea mate, but Little Feat for sure hasn't been featured yet. Okay this episode we get "Plaisir D' Amour" by Joan Baez, Amy's hippy credentials being backed up there, Ike and Tina Turner "A Fool In Love", The Mother Truckers "Kaki's Song", "Lay Back Down" Eric Lindell, and "Swampblood" by Th' Legendary Shack Shakers. However the prize for the most amusing use of a song in the soundtrack for season one goes to Rufus Thomas performing "Walking The Dog", well okay it brought a wry smile to my face. Carrie Preston goes all down home with her Arlene Fowler character and proves to be a winner in a role that I guess we the audience aren't meant to feel to highly about. Preston backs up the major cast members in nailing the requirements and adding a tad more realism to the Bon Temps universe. Excellent stuff, we be jamming, actually enjoyed Preston's work here yo.
Summary ExecutionI was slightly disappointed with episode eight due to not enough being made of Bill's supposed demise but am right back onboard the good ship True Blood with Plaisir d'amour hoisting the mainsail and hitting calmer yet more treacherous waters. Simply an excellent episode that had me whistling to the tune and being left clambering for the next episode.Finally have found a decent enough fan site to get the goods on all things True Blood, sorry it's taken me a while to wade through the 101 sites that simply pay lip service to the show and then expect you to buy merchandise from them. If wanting in depth coverage then check out trueblood-online, be careful as this is a yank site and as such is likely to have information on characters and developments that we haven't seen as yet Down Under. Like for about the ninth time a huge recommendation on True Blood if you haven't got into the whole Bon Temps thing then you are missing a whole lot of goodness. Check it out you won't be disappointed.
ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ... Solid episode that keeps things moving in the right direction.
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