Review

Marnie, who has possessed Lafayette, takes Jesus' power to murderous results. She then uses her powers to trap Eric and Bill, tying them up for a little outdoor barbeque. Sookie, surprisingly Tara, and Holly rush to the Boys' rescue, Holly having to use her magic to hold Marnie at bay and call upon the help of the deceased. Speaking of which Arlene gets a visit from the last person she ever wants to see living or dead who delivers a warning.

Jason decides to tell Hoyt about his relationship with Jessica, which Hoyt doesn't take well. Later Jason and Jessica define their relationship, and have wild wanton sex. Jason receives a visit, in a recurrent theme sort of a way, from the last person he wants to see living or dead. Sookie breaks up with both Bill and Eric, in an overly dramatic scene, and arrives home to see the last person she ever wants to see, living or dead. Explosive end to the season with repercussions for Alcide, Sookie, and the Boys who have taken down Nan Flanagan and her body guards, and of course Lafayette who is a bit lost and Tara who may or may not be dying. Finally we bid a fond farewell to True Blood season four.

There's a sort of end of school feeling to finishing an episode guide for a season, regardless of what show is being worked on. Seems like I have been journeying through Season Four of True Blood for the last year, which could be due to going through changes in the real world or the fact that twelve episodes does take a while to write up. Anyways here I am at the end of the journey and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the fourth season and am now fanging for season five. Any dark genre show has the potential to implode, look at the final seasons of The X-Files, but thankfully True Blood continues to delight and amaze though I'm slightly miffed with the final couple of episodes of the season.

Guess the big surprise in the final episode is that a major character dies, which of course doesn't preclude a return in this show - witness Grandma Stackhouse. We then have the final culmination of Marnie's battle with her internal demons and the vampires which ends rather limply to be honest. And When I Die is nothing if not over dramatic, which may work for some of the female demographics but for the rest of us is saccharine sweet. Also being rounded out is Sam and Luna in a relationship, Andy and Holly getting closer again, and the Jason, Jessica, Hoyt issue being resolved to some sort of degree. Chick moments to the fore moving along here before Bobby Singer accuses me of growing Lady parts.

The season stuttered toward the end rather than leaving us on a high note

I have to say this episode felt like a sort of tack on to get the season up to the correct number of episodes, the major conflict was resolved in the previous episode, no need to draw a line through the "season of the witch" we were spellbound previously. Of course with the destruction of the Coven the show needs to turn its attention to what the "big bad" will be in season five and to a certain extent the final episode sets us up with a few intriguing story lines to mull over while we wait for edition five.

There's a whole Were thing that has been left with no conclusion. Alcide is no doubt going to be in major hot water with the Shreveport pack, Sookie might have gone one step beyond, and just who or what was the werewolf Sam was left facing? Bill and Eric have problems of their own; Nan Flanagan mutinied against both the AVL and the Authority and stated the boys were down for termination, how exactly are they now going to explain four Vamper deaths in Bill's mansion? The Reverend Steve Newlin is now a vampire, and looks like Russell Edgington has been freed from his cement prison, finally is Tara dying? And to round out Terry meets an old army buddy from Iraq, Patrick Devins, how does this relate to Rene's warning to Arlene that she should run? Should be one hell of a season coming up, a lot of mileage on that road, and we still don't know who or what the Bon Temp irregulars will have to face down as their major challenge!

Of course there were some cool parts of And When I Die that had me humming the old School anthem. I particularly liked how it was Halloween night, and the dead are very close to the living ergo the number of phantoms the episode seems to contained. Equally both Holly and Marnie voice the Wiccan refrain of how Halloween is special to their faith but has become a gimmick, Conal Cochran would no doubt agree. Halloween also provides the opportunity of a couple of jump scares for Sookie as she initially is unaware what day it is and then thinks a danger from her past has re-emerged. So yeah the episode does have some internal touches that help raise things to the standard we would expect from this franchise.

Naturally, this being True Blood, the season is not complete without a final hot scene and some blood being spilt. Jason and Jessica get down to it in a fairly graphic fashion, what's with modern shows being slightly on the soft core porn side of the equation? And Lafayette while being possessed by Marnie first stabs Jesus through the hand with a fork, they aren't holding back on that one, before closing in on a bit of gorenography later in the episode, thankfully they put the hand brake on there. Of course Lafayette will be left picking up the pieces, finally proving Marnie is a force for destruction rather than some spiritual fluffy bunny.

So we come to the end of season four with an episode that is kind of bits and pieces rather than being a solid advancement. Problem has been of course the major conflict was previously resolved and this episode sort of just hung around with the cool kids rather than doing some moves of its own. Not the best episode I've ever seen but solid enough to warrant at least a half hearted thumbs up. If you haven't seen True Blood before then don't base your opinion off And When I Die.