Review

In the aftermath of Eric's attack on Claudine the vamper is as drunk as a skunk and goes hurtling off into the woods, after taking a distinct liking to Sookie's bum. With dawn not that far away Sookie enlists Alcide's help in catching the wayward vampire before he can go up in flames. Jason meanwhile is still dealing with the were-panthers but manages to escape with a little help, Felton is soon in hot pursuit. And to round out our were, Sam Merlotte goes to Luna's house and meets her daughter, while Tommy is re-united with his mum Melinda but things turn sour as Joe Lee Mickens is still in the picture.

Lafayette, Jesus, and Tara convince Marnie she should try to reverse the spell on Eric to avoid vampire retribution, which is something Vampire Bill seems hell bent on, separately he discusses an historic Spanish event and the Salem Witch Trials with Nan Flanagan. The VLA representative forbids Bill from taking a human life over the coven. Marnie attempts to reverse the spell but Pam pushes it way too far, who would have thunk, with a flesh devouring spell cast on her in the process. Think that's about it for the episode, almost forgot Jess feeds Jason some of her blood to save his life, now that's got to a disaster waiting to happen.

Alexander Skarsgård continues to impress with his portrayal of the geeky Eric. This episode we get to see Eric in playful mode, drunk mode, and remorseful mode. The Actor is right across the role earning a lot of sympathy for what up to now has been a pretty blood thirsty and quite possibly evil creature. It should also be noted that a plot arc is gradually being built where Sookie will fall for the former Viking Prince, well I guess we know Sookie's type then, dead.

The big question is whether or not Jason is going to change at the next full moon!

I was surprisingly less impressed with Downunder Actor Ryan Kwanten, who while knocking it out of the ballpark normally in his portrayal of the challenged Jason Stackhouse doesn't seem to have the firepower to handle the harshly treated Jason. I wasn't buying Jason being close to death, or Jason becoming increasingly desperate, Kwanten simply didn't sell me on the concept.

I'm really enjoying the Marnie plot arc this season, and the unleashing of Lafayette on the coven with typical bling insanity. While Marnie is being all new age and the Wiccans are focusing on the spiritualist religion angle Lafayette is dropping the f-bombs and generally being as flamboyant as possible, it's a cool meeting of sub-culture that has me smiling. Equally I'm also enjoying the generally off the planet Marnie suddenly going all possessed and deadly when called upon as Eric and now Pam have discovered. Excellent presentation of the possessed angle, Marnie's character totally changes each time the spirit takes possession of her. I'm really looking forward to some further exposé there.

Did I note a few other sub plots building in the background that might have slipped under our radars previously? Okay Arlene's baby and possible misogyny of the blood thirsty kind isn't exactly sneaking up on us but dug the doll in one scene. There has to be something going down there but guess we'll wait and see. Jason has escaped the clutches of the cats but with a full moon rising will he be going through a change? Jess feeding Jason her blood, which was required to save the dude, is going to come back to haunt everyone, I might be reading too much into this but Hoyt and Jess are having problems hence Jason is going to be dragged into the mix. It might just be me but Bill seems to be on a collision course with Nan, the thin edge of the wedge perhaps shown in tonight's episode. And finally what to make of Tommy running into Joe Lee again, will Sam be called upon again to throw off his anger management and take on the Mickens. Almost forgot, Sam is probably going to have some lupine problems in his future considering Luna's Ex is a possessive werewolf.

As is probably indicated by the above the show certainly isn't getting any less dense, would hate to be keeping up the storyboards for a season of this show! One of the strengths of True Blood for mine is the plot arcs going in all directions with even minor characters not standing still waiting for one of the major character's dragging them into their circle before they can advance their situation. Leave a character alone for a couple of episodes and chances are they have got into all sorts of new situations. Life is fluid folks, True Blood recognises this and no one is letting the grass grow between their feet.

I completely keep forgetting to mention the locations and sets in True Blood. Over the course of four seasons the backgrounds have been awesome. Pretty much we either go from down South grunge or Southern mansion, both of which add to the overall Gothic feel of things. I'm having a good time with the locations and am nearly always excited when we hit a major new location, including Dallas in season two.

Viewing figures this week were just a tad above 5.1 million, as the season continues to keep the audience built up previously. Fingers crossed it can be built on from here with a view to the future. There's pretty much something for everyone if we can get people over the paranormal romance aspects.

I'm just rocking out to the season and am happy enough to be working my way through the episodes each week. One of the things I really dig with True Blood is having a major antagonist each season but not allowing that antagonist to dominate a season, thus far at least, I honestly believe this was what caused Buffy and numerous other shows to crash and burn before their time. We're a third of the way through the season with things coming to the boil nicely, I'm getting ready to really rock on from here.