Director	John Dahl
Writers	Alexander Woo	Tweet
Starring	Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Chris Bauer, Mehcad Brooks, Anna Camp, Nelsan Ellis, Michelle Forbes
Genre	Vampire
Tagline	Ready for New Blood?
Country

Review

Godric comes to Sookie's rescue in the Church basement before something "unspeakable" can happen and calls Eric to him, remembering Eric is Godric's “child”. High on Eric's to do list is exacting some revenge for the Church's excesses but Godric wants him to get Sook out of Dodge instead. That goes real well when Eric is captured and chained, silver chains immobilise vamps, to an alter. Steve Newlin wants his morning barbecue and isn't concerned about which vampire should provide the kindling.

It might be looking dangerous for Sookie but firstly Jason, recently shot with a paintball gun, heads towards the church lock-down with rescue on his mind, then Vampire Bill overcomes his maker, while she is distracted with the bellhop, to rush to Sookie's side. What could go wrong?

With Jason firing from the hip and Bill showing fangs, things are looking dicey as the good guys, vamps can be good guys? - are out numbered, thankfully Stan and the Dallas vampires make the scene and the situation is quickly reversed. Just when it's looking like a blood shower, Godric makes an impassioned plea for tolerance on both sides. Damn, was hoping for some Fundamentalist slaughter there!

Deep breath, almost at the end of the episode recount here, meanwhile in Bon Temps Sam finds the body of Daphne in his freezer, minus her heart as apparently that's the food of the Gods. An anonymous tip has Sheriff Dearborne and Deputy Kenya on the scene, with Sam ending up joining some of Maryann's party goers in the town jail. Surprisingly the episode ends with a suicide bomber!

The Church plot arc comes to a satisfying conclusion with Jason learning a few things, apparently not about Judas though

A few turn ups for our knowledge base here that add further depth to our understanding of the Bon Temps Universe. Jessica and Hoyt finally get down to some loving, we learn that Jessica was a virgin when she was turned, and there's one downside to being a Vampire that Jessica discovers over the course of a fateful evening. Vampire society is very regimented with older vampires tending towards positions of power and having far more gas on the go side of things than younger vamps. Stan and the Dallas vampires murdered Steve Newlin's parents, went down way back in early season one kids. And finally older Vamps tend to have a more let and let live attitude than their younger kindred. At this rate I can join the Bon Temps tourist bureau!

One of the aspects of this episode I found interesting was the use of a Church member as a suicide bomber right before the end credits. Great episode break by the way, just who is going to be injured in the blast and what might result? While Westerners would be well aware of Islamic suicide bombers, you have to step over them at the local supermarket to get your shopping done, it was a nice touch to highlight the fact that Fundamentalist extremism is not restricted to any one religion. In the past we have seem predominated North American Christian extremism turn up some ghastly happening, Jonestown immediately comes to minds, nice move by the Producers of True Blood to directly equate Christian Fundamentalism to other religious groups taking the extreme path away from their religon's teaching. Clearly the show will now be banned by religious groups who haven't already banned it due to the sex, as it might just allow their members to think for themselves about what they are hearing from the pulpit.

While this might just be making you all wonder how serious the episode is, rest easy Jason provides the light hearted relief once again. His comment re Judas is worth dialling into the episode for alone.

For gorehounds, well you are getting your fill with this here episode, so lap it up kids. Maryann, who is increasingly turning into a word famous bitch monster to rival anything yet seen in True Blood, makes a hunter's souffle containing Daphne's heart. We get the fill preparation of the ingredients there. Naturally she presents this to Tara and Eggs, and we get to watch, fascinated I might add, as they chow down. Is it just me or has pararomantic gone off the reservation right about here? Does your average chick dial in for this amount of gore or are the show Producers throwing a few tidbits out for other demographics? Or could Hannibal Lector be dropping in for dinner? True Blood once again demonstrating it can go real nasty when it wants to.

On the bright side of the mixing bowl, with the Church of Light successfully limited we can now turn our attention to the real antagonist of the season, Maryann, for the final four episodes. Alan Ball has been successfully building the character and laying the groundwork for some end of season shenanigans and I for one can hardly wait to see what our resident Maenad has in store for us. Or of course it could all be bull, see what I did there.

I've dropped listing the soundtrack for each episode, as it takes time away from site work, and I'm not overly sure that anyone is getting anything out of the listing anyway. Suffice it to say that the soundtrack hasn't deteriorated any, and if you dig Southern rock then you are in good hands. Really must score some of the soundtrack CDs from the series.

What can I say, I was rocking along with the episode and am now totally in my Bon Temps zone for the final third of the season. Sooks and Vampire Bill are in for something of a shocker when they get home, things are going to get a lot more sticky from here I would imagine.

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...