Review

Alcide is carrying a mortally wounded Sookie from the Vamp versus Witch battle in the cemetery but is intercepted by Bill who eventually gives Sookie his blood. This of course leads to Sookie having an erotic dream involving both Bill and Eric. Speaking of Eric he's under the control of Antonia, who is of course possessing Marnie. And on that subject Mavis is possessing Lafayette, has grabbed baby Mikey, and is evicting Hoyt from his house. Andy, fired up on V, and Jason arrive on the scene for a fairly chaotic siege situation, thankfully Jesus arrives to bring some normality, uhmm whatever, to the situation.

Debbie Pelt and Sookie launch a rescue mission but fail to free Eric, though Sookie learns Antonia is planning to gatecrash the Festival of Tolerance in Shreveport. Marcus shows up at Merlotts with an invitation for Sam to visit him to discuss the situation with Luna, Tommy shifts and steps in to disastrous results, though Alcide ensures things don't get worse. Guess I probably missed a few things in summing up but heck the episode is rocking, let's hit it.

I've got this weird notion suddenly that the season might just be about possession as there's a lot of that mojo going down in this episode. Lafayette is playing host to Mavis, a wandering spirit who just wants to hold her baby one more time, of course Marnie invited Antonia in and that has proven to not be awesome for the local Vampers, and Andy is sort of possessed via his growing dependency on V. Well at least one of those plot arcs is resolved in this episode, catch the show to work out which I'm avoiding spoilers kids.

There's a bunch of new developments on the minor plot front that are keeping me rocking out. Finally Jason and Jess get down and dirty, which I guess we could all see coming, but no doubt that's going to complicate things for both characters in terms of the perennially put upon Hoyt. Tommy, who was going to dial out, gets one more chance to help out his brother but naturally this will end with blood being spilt and surprisingly Alcide going up against his pack as things spiral out of control. Nice juxtaposition to Sam and Lunar getting it on while Tommy is getting a good kicking.

The final confrontation between the Coven and Bill's forces is established by this episode, the gloves are going to come off!

I wanted to make special mention of Bill and Nan not seeing eye to eye when it comes to the current situation with the Coven. Bill makes it perfectly clear that the escalation of hostilities is down to Nan not addressing the issue while Nan holds Bill responsible for not getting on top of the situation. Worsening Nan's mood is Jessica going all girl on her, Nan decides her decision to not sire a vampire was probably well worth it as Jess goes emo in a major way. Nice play on working women and the decision not to start a family to further the career.

With three quarters of the season now behind us it's good to see some of the plot arcs being closed, though the Lafayette/ Mavis one still has me wondering why it was exactly included. For a show with a lot going down True Blood doesn't involve itself much with padding so no doubt the almost throw away aspect will have ramifications as we start on the home street. Either it's all been a red herring and baby Mikey really will attract the attention of his long dead dad, or Lafayette is in for some more unwanted tenants. Fingers crossed we get some closure there without heading into season five with the idea hanging in the air.

Notably with Antonia going full metal jacket, in magic terms, against the vampers a few of her followers are questioning her actions. Tara asks her why exactly she didn't accept Bill's peace offering and quite a number of the rest of the Coven are ready to abandon ship and get out of Dodge before the whip comes down. Antonia show's her true collars pretty much taking the vast majority of the coven hostage and only really having Roy still loyal to the cause. Clearly this isn't going to end well for anyone, though I have a sneaking suspicion that the vampires will come out of it okay, well except for the odd casualty suffered thus far. A fond goodbye to Bucky, it feels like we hardly knew him, oh wait we didn't.

Hold onto your bonnets folks there's a fair amount of T&A on display here, though gorehounds will be disappointed. Blokes get Sookie in her red lingerie, surprisingly a lot less exciting than I thought it would be to tell the truth, and the Ladies get Alcide sans clothes, dig on in there girls. There's also a sex scene in silhouette! Clearly the Rev Fred will have something to say about this gratuitous display of sexuality or will be reaching for the tissues or something. So be warned if planning on throwing the episode on for tweens, they are going to get an eye full.

I'm still preparing a float for the Bon Temps parade on July 4th, each episode is pretty much required viewing for me and this one gets a full recommendation. Yes I know there's a fair slathering of PR on the agenda, but it's mixed up with some strong story lines and some well pass brutal horror concepts. With chaos going down at the Tolerance fling I can't wait to see what the fall out will be. I'm rubbing my hands with glee as the final episodes for the season are lined up to excite, bring it on Baby!