Review

Sookie asks Bill, who she finds is the King of Louisiana, to help out with Eric owning her house. Bill is pretty much hand tied, but does his best. Speaking of Eric, the Norseman is sent to sort out the Coven, necromancers aren't tolerated by Vampires, but runs into more than he can handle when Marnie channels something. We also get some back story on how Bill became reagent. Rounding out the vampire content Jessica and Hoyt are having domestics leading to Jess heading to Shreveport to suck on down on a fang banger at Fangtasia, she is discovered in the act by Sookie who has arrived to protest Eric's construction of a hidden underground room in her house.

Meanwhile Jason wakes up tied to a bead, Crystal and her boyfriend Felton have plans for the dude. Sam is attracted to fellow shifter Luna, who is part Mexican and part Navajo, who just happens to have morphed into her own mother. Arlene decides her baby is evil, blaming father Rene, and she may not be far off the mark. Lafayette and Tara, returning to Bon Temps, join Jesus in visiting the Coven for more magic mayhem. Marnie decides to reanimate a dead human, but is thwarted by the arrival of Eric who wants the Coven disbanded. As stated Eric chews off more than he can handle, with Sookie returning home from Fangtasia finding the vampire walking down the road shirtless and apparently with no memories, after having a spell cast on him by Marnie.

It's only taken two episodes but we already have the stuff we all enjoy in True Blood being established for the new season. The Vampires are up against a new foe in Marnie's Coven, which will provide the major plot direction for the season. There's a whole bunch of sub plot's going down to keep things interesting, especially looking forward to the resolution of the whole Jason versus the were-panther thing. And of course T&A is back in heavy breathing fashion, for both male and female viewers, True Blood is an equal opportunity employer.

The season has already kicked into gear with all the elements in place

For horror fans the darkness is being really worked on this season, we're talking possession, vampires naturally, and a feeling that no one is going to be safe. I'm still not sure the Producers of the show are ever going to kill off a major or secondary character, would be cool if they did and would bring a whole new tension to things, but people sure are being put in danger's way and given every opportunity to shake off the mortal coil. I really do think they need to make things slightly more edgy than they have so far, in terms of ensuring the show continues to rate it's knickers off. Still I'm very much enjoying the horror elements thrust into the mix this season and think we might have some real nastiness going down prior to the final credits in episode twelve.

If we know anything from the first three seasons, we know that True Blood hits the beginning of each season building intricate and complex plot points that go off in all directions, eventually they will be resolved or at least build a foundation for events in future episodes. Particularly liking the harkening back to season one with Arlene's baby, nice touch for mine, and fingers crossed that will go in an interesting direction. Anyways there's already a zillion plot arcs going down, haven't mentioned Tommy spying on Sam's changeling group or Tommy really pushing the whole wounded leg thing, which should pretty much fill out our Bon Temps dance card for the season.

While the season is in full swing there is still the hint of things being built up for next season, Mab (the head Fairy) surely isn't going to be left high and dry. True Blood always builds continuity between seasons and keeps something back for the future to ensure it's a warm home coming every time you dial into a new season. I would expect some more Fairy build through the rest of the season with no doubt some sort of intriguing plot arcs to be built. We still have the whole Sookie blood issue, with even this episode hinting at interest from higher echelons of the vampire world, and Bill for sure having to take Sookie's back in the face of Nan Flanagan's interest.

Besides moving things along the episode spends some quality time on Bill's back story, and we learn there's been a sort of vampire conspiracy to replace the existing Monarchy structure with more forward thinking members of the blood sucking community. The episode flashes back to 1982 with Bill in a punk stage in London where he runs across Nan. She delivers quite the information, not reproduced here as some people haven't seen the episode, which piques Bill's interest. We flash forward to our Boy confronting former Queen of Louisiana Sophie-Anne, that doesn't end up well and I for one would hate to be paying the bill to clean the room the confrontation goes down in. When vampires meet their maker, actual that makes no sense, when vampires face the true death it ain't an afternoon tea party! So Bill has been playing a lot of sides against each other as it turns out, but surprising comes up to the plate to protect Sookie when the chips go down. Colour me intrigued, there's a lot more to the character than can simply be covered by lust for power.

Guess we're still playing some intro stuff, it takes a couple of episodes to get the pieces in place, but rest assured the directing, background music, sets, and about everything else is outstanding. I'll spend more time with those elements in coming episode reviews.

Strangely You Smell Like Dinner plummeted to 2.9 million viewers when aired in North America, there were extenuating circumstances that I've already forgotten, so more on viewer numbers next review. Count this one as an anomaly.

I as normal had a hoot down Bon Temps way and am now well and truly in True Blood mode and ready to rock over the next ten episodes of mayhem. Chief question floating around the bunker already is whether or not Jason is going to become a were-panther! Enquiring minds need to know. If that question seems slightly strange then you for sure need some remedial viewing, full recommendation, get some Southern comfort into your viewing diet.