Director	Adam Davidson
Writers	Kate Barnow & Elisabeth R. Finch	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

Sookie, Jason, and Bill arrive back in Bon Temps to find the town has gone to the dogs, or in this case the possessed crazies. Hoyt and Jessica are doing their best to contain Hoyt's mother, who wants to join the Maryann party. She is distracted by Jason and Vampire Bill's Wii however, lovely bit of product placement right there. Over at Lafayette's crib, our boy and Lettie Mae are attempting to do something with the possessed Tara, thus far they have managed to tie her to a chair. And to round out things Sam and Andy are hiding out from the townsfolk who want to sacrifice Sam to the god who is apparently coming any time now.

In another jammed packed episode, Jason rides to the rescue of Sam and Andy who stupidly get ambushed at Merlotte's bar. It takes the combined power of Bill and Sookie to drive the demon out of Tara. Maryann is somewhat confused by Sookie on first meeting. And Bill realising they are dealing with Bacchus and a Maenad rushes off to seek help from the Vampire Queen.

What I particular liked about New World In My View is that they are clearly setting up some mystery as to Sookie's origins for the third season to explore. We already know that Eric is showing an unhealthy interest in Sook, going so far as to fool her into drinking his blood. But we learn in this episode that Sookie isn't totally human. Maryann is intrigued as to what Sookie is, clearly this is going far beyond the telepathy Sookie seems to be able to control or not depending on script requirements. To back this up our gal also displays some supernatural protection powers of her own, a sort of white light shots out of her hands to send Maryann arse over tit when the brown stuff threatens any fans in the vicinity. With only two episodes to go I'm betting Sookie's special powers will not be the focus until next season.

Having dealt with the Dallas situation the Producers are clearly throwing the last quarter of the season into Maryann central, what with a sacrifice high on the agenda, and Sookie finally coming face to face with the devastation wrought on the old family homestead. The transition from interstate to hometown is handled pretty well with no attempt at wasting time on bridging scenes. Sookie, Jason, and Bill have arrived home by the excellently named Anubis Air, find Bon Temps is a changed environment and are immediately thrown into the action. Sookie and Bill face Maryann, while Jason heads off to check out Merlottes, ultimately helping Sam and Andy out of a pretty sticky situation, (a highlight of the episode is Jason pretending to be an ancient pagan god).

Excellent transition from the Dallas situation to Maryann being the prime focus of our Scooby Gang. Episode rocks!

We also learn there definitely is a Vampire Queen, anticipation high there kids, though the episode finishes before we can meet the monarch. I'm assuming here that we're talking a truly ancient Vampire who has never developed Godric's feelings of remorse for her actions. Whether or not Vampire Bill's journey may prove to be a waste of time we'll find out next episode, though Bill being aware of Eric supplying Lafayette with V is no doubt going to be on the agenda during his audience with the Queen. I'm really looking forward to this part of the plot going down.

Director Adam Davidson kept things rocking with a little stylish flourish here and there to keep scenes groovy. We get some cool possessed POV, the one from Tara's side of the room was particularly effective, done up with a willingness to take the odd angled shot. Davidson clearly knows he has to maintain the whole Bon Temps atmosphere, but does add his own touch from time to time. I would like to see an episode where Davidson is allowed to go buck naked wild behind the camera.

I should also mention Kate Barnow & Elisabeth R. Finch's work with the script that helped maintain the show's ability to go nasty or comedic as required. Surprisingly Mrs Fortenberry adds the humour to the episode rather than the expected work from either Jason or Andy. Though admittedly Jason going all Ash on us at Merlottes was a hoot. Ma Fortenberry wants to go to Maryann's coming out party big time but is being restrained by Hoyt and a very frustrated Jessica, in fact Hoyt's mom comes real closed to being “drained” as she says one to many things about Hoyt's undead girlfriend. Naturally this single minded party urge is curtailed by the arrive of Jason, thankfully our boy has learnt some restraint, and surprisingly by a first person shooter on Vampire Bill's Wii. Bacchus defeated by the dual might of Jason and video games there! Actually I want to check out Bill's game collection, dude has been holding out on us.

Barnow & Finch do approach the nasty with Tara being for all intents and purposes “exorcised” by a combined Bill glammouring and Sookie going deep mind penetration. Notably we know who is under Maryann's control via all black eyes, which I kind of thought was a cool device. Apparently Maryann has quite the effect with Sookie initially being unable to find Tara's essence. Good work there by Bill though effectively he has sidelined Eric, a much older and more powerful vamp.

So I had a pretty good time with New World In My View and got my time investment's worth repaid with interest. With the Church of the Sun having been overcome the stage is set for a final cataclysmic clash between the Bon Temp forces of order and Maryann's forces of darkness. Can't wait to see what further twists are thrown our way.

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