Talk us through itBill lays into Sookie for allowing Jessica to visit her family, our favourite vampire had to glamour said family to within an inch of their lives in order to avoid unnecessary attention. Sookie isn't best pleased and storms off 20 miles out of Bon Temps. Jessica knows Sookie wants Bill to follow her but Bill is adamant he isn't going anywhere. This ends when Sookie screams after being attacked by what appears to be a Minotaur. Sookie is unable to be revived with Bill's blood so in desperation he takes her to Fangoria seeking the help of Eric. Later, having been saved, Sookie discovers Lafayette is being held in the nightclub's basement and agrees to help search for the lost Vampire in Dallas in return for Lafayette's freedom, plus $10K cause she needs a new driveway. Meanwhile Jason is in the Church of the Sun's boot camp, nothing good can come of that. Tara is in the hands of Maryann, some demonic possession going down around that party gal. And Hoyt meets Jessica, with love starting to bloom. Drop your linen and start your grinning, another bursting at the seams episode ensues.
Review“You know Sarah doesn't whip out her pudding for just anybody.” - Steve NewlinAnother episode and a whole bunch of new information is coming our way from multiple sources, they sure do like to keep True Blood as complex as possible while maintaining the major story arcs that we have dialled into the episode for. We learn there are werewolves, a seemingly throw away line by Eric that will no doubt come home to roost sometime in the future. When do the Writers of this excellent series ever use throw away lines friends and neighbours? We also have what appears to be a Minotaur charging around the outskirts of Bon Temps. And the topping on this particular ice cream treat was the increased interest Eric has in Sookie tasting his blood. As we all know, if you taste a Vampire's blood then the blood donor will always be aware of where you are at. Bill leaps in to avert trouble here, but we are left wondering why Eric is more than ever focusing on Sookie. What webs we weave, especially if we are members of the undead and have standing within our clan. What never ceases to amaze me with True Blood is where exactly series creator Alan Ball manages to find the Writers and Directors to go forward with each episode. There's plot arcs galore, some complex character relationships, and any number of time lines to keep track of. Yet each episode has a new Writer and Director who manage to keep the high standard of the show rolling week in week out. The only other series I can think of that matches this standard would be either Dexter or Supernatural, and neither of those shows has the complexity or texture of True Blood. I would imagine Alan Ball has whiteboards galore plotting overall developments and keeping everything under some sort of overriding control. The show could descend into total chaos otherwise. Guess we started to develop a trend last review of looking under the bonnet of True Blood and discovering there's far more happening here than would meet the eye. Once again we have some pretty solid movie making, with the comparison between party girl Maryann's orgy of self indulgence with the prime and proper WASP like Church of the Sun boot camp. Jason you would think would be well down for Maryann's scene yet he's sort of keeping himself under control at Fundamental world. Our boy is still not the sharpest tool in the shed, but could well turn out to be the fly in the ointment of the religious extremists. There's something truly satisfying in the comparison of the two diametrically opposed worlds, and given the dark eyes of Maryann's guests the fact that the Church and the Vampire nation might be better off allied against a far darker threat. There's a sort of comparison going down each week that makes you wonder if the series creators aren't perhaps having a slight dig at organised religon. Stephen King once mentioned the true nature of horror is the introduction of chaos into orderly lives. If for the moment we can supposed the various shenanigans around Bon Temps are sort of orderly in a Southern Gothic fashion, then True Blood is signing off on that during season two. Maryann has really put the Dionysian into the picture and one wonders where this could be heading, considering we have Minotaurs on the loose, and about everyone in sight dialling into the mayhem. Actually taking the Greek mythological comparison further could Jason be our classical hero? Anything is possible I guess. Considering True Blood has been centering around the Southern Gothic while keeping us in tune with the relationship between Vampire Bill and Sookie, it was only a matter of time before the Paranormal Romance element of the show would assert itself once more. We have three additional relationships going down that are clearly aimed at keeping the female fanbase of the series happy with proceedings. Tara and Egg are getting real close, though I have this idea Tara might be our tragic figure so am expecting a shock development to happy there real soon. Sam and Daphne look to be finding some mutual attraction, and for sure Daphne was attacked by the same thing that came after Sookie. And Hoyt and Jessica are in the throws of young love, much to the displeasure of Bill, and I can hardly wait for Hoyt's Mum to give her opinion. Clearly the PR element is being ramped up slightly this season to compensate for the claret that has been flowing in some episodes. Lafayette down cellar for example was sidetracking into gorenography for mine, and I'm surprised they got away with that plot element. 
Surprisingly things haven't really heated up on the main villain of season two and we are three episodes in. Guess this follows season one when our serial killer was more of a background danger to Jason's love life than a front and center focus. Things are moving toward some sort of confrontation but that would be at glacial slowness. While this may be a problem for some outings, get to the good stuff already! - it works as an advantage in True Blood, possibly due to the convoluted, feed us some more, plot arcs. I can wait on the big nasty and am grooving to the beat here long time. For the T&A aficionados amongst us, get out of your parent's basement stat, plenty of boobs on show this episode. Maryann sure can throw a party, where's my invite? Guess if we are going to have gore then you really are expected to fill out the exploitation dance card. Jim Parrack plays down home boy Hoyt Fortenberry and has gradually been getting more screen time as the show progresses. Believable as the boy next door, Parrack plays Hoyt as slightly naive and out of his depth in most situation way. It's quite the engrossing performance and I'm expecting the relationship with Jessica to bring Parrack much more screen time through the course of season two. Can't wait till Mom weighs in there! Soundtrack listing time kids:
Summary ExecutionGuess I should just mention when I don't like an episode as once again I was enthralled. Scratches just kept me rocking along without a care in the world. Things are progressing, albeit at a slow simmer, and we could be in for a rocking good time by season's end. There was enough new juice in the episode to keep me hanging around like a stale bottle of beer at the end of a party.Seems there's some bad blood between True Blood fans and Twilight devotees over whom is copying whom. Reminds of the idiot Twitard that sent the email to Universal complaining about The Wolfman stealing ideas for Twilight. Which one originated in the 1941 folks? For the record Charlaine Harris' first Sookie Stackhouse novel Dead Until Dark was published May 2001, while Twilight happened in 2005 after being rejected by fourteen agents it should be noted. The case for the defence rests, clearly Stephenie Meyers hasn't exactly been breaking new ground here, besides which both series owe something of a debt to Buffy The Vampire Slayer which kicked off in 1997. Twitards should perhaps do a little research before putting their foot in it. Haven't caught Scratches yet? Go and seek out episodal goodness.
ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ... Things are developing.
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