Review

Bill rescues Sookie from the clutches of Pam over at Fangtasia, unfortunately at the same time Eric is making a deal with the devil in the form of offering Sookie's blood to Russell Edgington. Eric has a plan that involves sacrificing himself to defeat Russell via "day walking", hence the hybrid faery blood thing.

Jason is coming to terms with Crystal being a were-panther, Hoyt and Jess are getting hot and heavy, Arlene is trying her best via Holly magic to terminate her pregnancy, Sam is drunk and yelling at everyone down Merlottes, and Tommy is aiming to grab the cash from Sam's safe and run. Needless to say Tara is still coming to terms with her recent vamp experiences coupled with Andy and Jason's deception over the death of Eggs. Just another day down Bon Temps then, with things verging on getting completely out of control, add in Lafayette and Jesus getting all druggy and spiritual on us and another good episode rolls out.

For the best part of two seasons Eric has been if not the central villain of the piece then at least waiting in the wings to take central stage as the main protagonists. Gradually the character has been softened, while retaining his bad boy vamp persona, and we are now started to see Eric in a completely new light. He's quite prepared to sacrifice himself for the common good, and remains at least faithful to his closest allies, quite often at a personal cost. Pam is definitely far more cut throat and predatory, but then Eric likes that part of her personality. We're still working out our game plan in terms of Eric and Sookie, but there appears to be a different agenda to what we may have thought right up to Fresh Blood.

Bill on the other hand continues to be a complete enigma. He clearly cares for Sookie, but for what purpose, and whose commands is he obeying? Sophie-Anne clearly knows a bit more about Sookie than we first expected, but since her demise at the hands of Russell Edgington in a figurative sense, Bill is less likely to be following her orders. Things remain intriguing, not quite clear, and this all adds to the impetuous of the franchise that is still keeping things to itself rather than throwing them on during seasons, or even worse as features of season ending cliff hangers. I still think Bill is playing to a different piper, it's just not clear at this stage who is pulling the strings.

Got to say the Hoyt/Jessica thing has run its course to a natural ending and is now starting to irritate as the viewer is left to endure various pronouncements of undying love, no pun intended. Don't know, maybe this aspect is working for the female demographics and we're all just making up viewer numbers. Actually not quite sure where they can take these characters as Jessica has evolved from the new vamp character and Hoyt is standing on his own feet.

The final episode is set up and the plot arcs are still spinning a wide net

Jason continues to intrigue as more moral depth is given to what might have become a framing device for his Sister Sookie. Local college football star Kitch looks set to break Jason's passing record, which proves to be an affront to our boy's sensibilities. It's not so much that Kitch is set to breakdown any athletic achievements Jason has left from his college days, it's more that Kitch is set to do so through the use of "V". When Jason threatens shining some light on Kitch's drug enhancement he learns that Kitch isn't concerned, the football coach is supplying the "V" that Kitch's parents are paying for while the School Principal is using "V" to enhance his sex life. The frustration Jason is feeling over the cheating going down is palatable, it's a digression from the major plot arcs but serves to underline Jason's moral code.

Another aspect of True Blood that is really rolling is Sam's relationship to his half-brother Tommy. It's a doomed and therefore a tragic situation, neither Brother seems to get it completely right, one or the other is always pulling in another direction and failing to cement any of the possible strengths they might share. While drunk and out of control Sam fires Tommy, who desperately tries to atone for being something of a little bitch to no effect. Tommy isn't going to take this lying down, unfortunately he's now embarking on a path that I can see very little coming back from.

Arlene and Terry have their own problems, with Arlene deciding to go down the Wiccan earth mother path, a diametrically different religion to her own down south Christianity. This perhaps shows the desperation Arlene is feeling in the face of a possible resurrection of Renee. Holly warns that if a soul wants to be born badly enough then nothing can be done to stop that, which of course underlines the dramatic possibilities when Arlene doesn't lose her unborn baby.

The penultimate episode of the season sets things up nicely with Eric prepared to sacrifice himself in order to stop Russell Edgington, though how much of that sacrifice is Eric's self-sacrifice and how much is due to Nan Flanagan's ultimatum remains to be seen. With a likely cliff hanger coming in the final episode things should be taunt and hitting the afterburners. I've missed a few of the sub plots going down as True Blood remains tightly packed with current and future plot arcs even at this late stage of the season, so if you haven't followed the stories from the beginning of the year then you are likely to be all at sea with what is going down in Fresh Blood. Another fine episode that has me rocking on.