Review

Tara escapes the murderous intent of Pam, but decides to send her lover away and face the vexed vampire on her own terms. Easier said than done, especially now that Pam is receiving radical and painful treatment for her decay brought on by the Witches. Meanwhile Sookie and Eric are getting hot and heavy in the swamp, in the lounge room, and finally in the bedroom. We learn that Lafayette is a medium as the flamboyant one and Jesus head back to Bon Temps from their excursion into mysticism south of the border. And Sam discovers Tommy's deceit and kicks him out; I would imagine Luna isn't best pleased either.

Marnie is now possessed by Antonio who wants vengeance in a big way; she escapes from Vampire Bill's mansion and starts recruiting followers. She wants to enact the "meet the sun" curse she used to destroy a whole town of vampires back in Spain. Bill orders his sheriffs to start an exodus of his subjects from Louisiana as he knows what's coming. Eric decides to stay with Sookie while Bill and Jess are locked in the Mansion cells. All three vamps are "silvered", weighed down with silver that immobilises them. Oh and Pam silvers herself as well added to her general pissed off state. The spell duly goes down and Jess breaks free of her prison and heads outside to great the sun. Jason, made aware of the danger by Sookie, rushes to Jessica's rescue, but will he be in time?

Outstanding we have movement at the station on the central plot arc of the season, and I got to say it was a ripper! With Antonio running rampant no vamper is safe in Bon Temps or surrounding communities, finally an antagonist who matches the ruthlessness of the vampires, or maybe she is slightly more vicious than the local blood sucking population. Eric without his memories is pretty much the sort of dude who would normally adopt the hero role. Bill is surprisingly conscious of the fact that the vampires through past actions have brought the current state of affairs on themselves, you almost get the feeling Bill thinks Antonio is quite within her rights. Jessica of course has always been a kitten with a slightly blood soaked claw it must be admitted. We can excuse Pam who is pretty much a wild child in the city, but Nan is clearly not above giving in to her more basic desires in the blood taking stakes. So interestingly we have someone who was victimised by vampires in her past seeking vengeance against modern vampires who might just not deserve "meeting the sun". It's kind of an interesting situation, the sort that keeps me glued to True Blood. Ladies forgot those dick sucking sparkling vampires get into a bit of Bon Temps finest night walkers!

While our major arc is working overtime to add some scares and tension, will Jason reach Jessica in time; the minor arcs aren't being left to fend for themselves either. Jessica admits to Bill she doesn't reciprocate Hoyts devotion, and for any teenage girl that is way too intense, back down a bit Bubba. Lafayette can see the spirit that is apparently stalking Arlene's baby, and exactly what does Jesus comparison of Lafayette to Marnie mean if anything? And I'm wondering at the screen time being devoted to Alcide and Debbie Pelt, I get the feeling there's a collision course with Sookie and no doubt Eric planned prior to end of season. There are a lot of balls being kept in the air but the various Writers and Directors have thus far through the first half of the season avoided dropping anything.

Vampire versus Necromancer! Simply outstanding team, this show simply gets better and better, well except for a few chick moments.

While we're certainly getting some further build on the vampire mythos, necromancers can control vampires as they have power over the dead - such a simple concept but I've never seen or read it prior to True Blood making it a plot point in season four, I'm more intrigued by the shape shifter ability to mimic another human. Tommy has impersonated Sam, to devastating effect for all involved, surely that's not going to be the end of it with five or so more episodes to plough through. I've got the feeling Tommy isn't finished messing with Bon Temps and will leave a parting gift with heavy ramifications. Another cool idea, if you kill one of your family you develop the shifting ability, and nice tie in to Luna's Indian Native American Skinwalker fable.

A bit of fan mail before moving on to viewer numbers, yes we do eventually get around to responding so keep sending them in via the contact page. Anyways seems True Blood isn't universally adored and we're "gay" for covering it as it's not horror. Yeap have to agree what the heck do monsters, vampires, and werewolves have to do with horror! Ron, who clearly knows more about my sexual leanings than I do, hasn't actually watched True Blood - cause he's male and the show will turn you gay or something - but doesn't feel a horror site should cover events in Bon Temps. I'm paraphrasing without the misspelling and f-bombs here. ScaryMinds stated purpose is to cover all horror available to folk Downunder, and hopefully bring our horror community to the attention of a worldwide audience. True Blood travels with the dark pack ergo we cover it, surprisingly it hasn't turned me gay as yet. And before you ask bitch, yes Lafayette is one of my favourite characters.

Almost forgot to add the T&A factor is off the scale even by True Blood standards, there's a whole lot of horizontal action going down this week, surprisingly not involving Jason who is apparently still recovering from his ordeal at the paws of the were-panthers, but who is having naughty thoughts about Jessica.

Cold Grey Light of Dawn attracted 5.14 million viewers on original broadcast which continues a slight drift in numbers during the middle part of season four. While there's nothing to be concerned about, two further seasons were scheduled already, I'm wondering if the move away from developing the central plot arc as the main focus through the first half of the season had an impact on viewer numbers. You sure do need a central focus to keep folk interested would be the pertinent lesson perhaps. The rest of the season should give us more of an insight.

As usual I had a lot of fun with the episode but thought the Lafayette and Jesus experience south of the border was pretty much glossed over and needed a tad more development time. More than pleased we are back on track with the Witches versus Vampire knock down, the season needs that clear and present danger to keep things rocking along. We're almost two thirds of the way through the season, and I haven't turned gay yet - will keep you informed Ron, and got to say the final third looks like it could rock the house down. I'm no longer telling people to go watch this show, you are going to need to buy the season and watch from episode one to fully understand what's going down this episode, if you haven't got your Bon Temps on yet then you really are missing out big time.