“This is the worst day of my life. I wish I was dead. Even though I am, it doesn’t even matter.”
Ho, hum, another week, another episode of True Blood. As things go, this might be my favorite episode this season, which is faint praise indeed. The storylines are more compressed, there’s some fantastic lines, Nan shows up, and we get resolution on at least one story arc, while on the negative side, the Eric-Sookie romance looks damned indeed, and the show is so inconsistent, it can’t even decide what to call this episode (it’s listed as both “Run” and “Let’s Get Out of Here” on HBO’s website).
So last week, Sookie got shot in Operation Graveyard and is spirited back to her house by Alcide, until Bill rips her from his arms and finishes the 200-yard job. The situation is so dire that Sookie won’t even swallow Bill’s blood ““ she barely has any pulse, and she might die or something. The he-men put on their worried faces. They might even pray, since there’s a line about doing so. Oh, noes, what will happen? Yep, she just gets up the next morning. It’s like someone in the writers room remembered Sookie is the titular hero of this circus and quickly scrawled in “and then she wakes up.”
Sookie did manage to swallow some of Bill’s blood, so we are treated to a water-treading fantasy sequence that feels like Vaseline-lensed filler. There’s a lot to hate on in this fantasy three-way, not the least of which is the interminable length of the scene. As much as I’d like to excise it from my memory, there are a few nice touches worth mentioning — like the Morticia Addams beam of light across Sookie’s eyes or the snark Sookie lays down about morality. Two things are actually plot important. One, the image of Eric that Sook conjures up is not the passive little amnesia boy of this season, but Real Eric, which is a good indication that Sookie isn’t in love with just Eric Lite. Two, the expression on Sookie’s face when she wakes up is troubled, not cheesy. I hope this bodes well for the development of this triangle.
After being kicked out by both Hoyt and Jason last week, Jessica ends up at the mansion, where she pours out her tortured teenaged soul to Nan Flanagan. Nan Flanagan does not want to hear about your personal troubles. Nan Flanagan will eat your personal trouble’s face. Jessica cries through waiting with Nan, Bill and Nan’s fight in the office, through being tied down with silver, and through more Bill and Nan arguing in the dungeon. I feel Jessica. I believe every horrible, hitching cry.
Since Pam doesn’t make an appearance this episode, all of the best lines get given to Nan, who is, by the way, a boss.
“There have been times, I’ll admit, when it’s occurred to me that maybe I should put my career on hold and become a maker, but these last several hours here with you have erased those doubts forever.”
“I didn’t think it was possible, but you actually make me long for Queen Sophie-Anne. I mean, what the fuck, Bill?”
“And maybe those protests wouldn’t have turned into bloodbaths if they hadn’t been there. Have you ever considered that?”
Hoyt wakes up from his post-break-up bender and throws himself into ridding the house of every trace of Jessica, dumping all her stuff (Twilight novels, Good Housekeeping magazines, hair products, and Taylor Swift CDs) into a box labeled “For You, Monster.” I think the comma was my favorite bit. He’s interrupted by Lala–now Mavis ““ busting into the house carrying Mikey and Andy’s gun. Mavis quickly routes him out.
A good portion of the episode is dedicated to the resolution of the Pretty Ghost Lady story arc. Thanks to Jesus showing up and intervening, we learn that Mavis and her son were murdered by her lover and buried under a tree on the property. She just wants to be able to hold her child, who she mistook Mikey for. Jason, Hoyt, Jesus, Arlene and Terry (Andy is busy feeling bad about being a V-addict and mopes in the car) exhume the two corpses and then are able to send Mavis and her child on to the afterlife. I actually enjoyed these handful of scenes and thought there was some real heart in them. Plus, now we know Jesus can perform exorcisms! Certainly unlikely to come up again this year!
After helping Hoyt fix up the house, Jason gets guilted into taking the Monster Box to Jessica. The two of them have a bittersweet and awkward encounter, and Jason nobly refuses to come in. Between this week and last week, my estimation of Jason had ticked up several notches. I’m firmly Team Friend’s Booty Is Off-Limits Booty, so you can imagine how ticked off I was when there was a cut scene to Jason and Jessica having sex in the bed of his truck.
Marcus, the werewolf pack leader, is also Luna’s ex-husband. When Marcus finds Sam sniffing about his ex-wife and child, he shows up at Merlotte’s to have a man-to-man. Sam’s not there, so he has to make do with leaving a message with Tommy. Sam is actually on a camping date (“I’m a multiple tent owner. I’m kind of a big deal.”) with Luna, so he couldn’t have gotten the message about the meeting even if Tommy had intended on telling him about. Instead, Tommy-Sam shows up at Marcus’, says a bunch of horrible shit, and then gets wailed on so badly he shifts back into himself. Alcide has to pull the other wolves off him. I feel pretty confident in saying I don’t think Tommy wanted to come back from the meeting. He’s one messed up kid.
After the shitshow that was Operation Graveyard, Team Antonia is fractured. Everyone except Roy seems to realize they are in deep trouble, which gets deeper when Antonia shows up at Moon Goddess with Eric in tow. Antonia doesn’t care about their concerns, their fears, or their children. She is going to kill all the vampires, starting with the ones who show up for the “tolerance thing on the 29th.” (Thanks for reminding us, Previously-On!) And no one will be leaving the building unless she says otherwise. She’ll melt your hand off if you try to escape.
Debbie, who stayed up all night watching Cheaters and fretting over Alcide when he was rescuing Sookie, decides that her best course of action involves falling off the wagon, and then descending on Sookie’s house to ask about Alcide. And then tops off her night by helping Sookie break into Moon Goddess, ratting her out to Antonia, and then driving the getaway car to the hotel the tolerance festival is being held in. I think this was a really tough 24 hours for Debbie.
Sookie runs through the crowded hotel, trying warn Bill that Eric is coming to kill him, but Antonia has beaten her there. She’s managed to gain control of the other three Louisiana sheriffs and uses them to create chaos, slaughtering Bill’s guards in full view of humans and video cameras. As the episode ends and Eric leaps out of his hiding place, Sookie does the only thing she can, “Run!”
8 replies on “Recap: True Blood Episode 4.09: “Let’s Get Out of Here””
I thought the Mavis sideshow was way too overdone to simply showcase the witch powers. We have been dragged along all season with this and it could have been easily foreshadowed on the Mexico trip. Mavis coming out of Lafayette was so cheesy. I was happy that Tara helped Sookie and herself and would love to see Tara possess some powers too. Still Team Jessica.
I could not read the last paragraph of your recap because Sookie was screaming in my face and I couldn’t stop laughing at that screenshot.
So much of True Blood is so cheesy now…I can’t stop reiterating it. I imagine it’s only going to get hokier as the seasons go on. I really, really miss the darkness that the show used to have. We need some sense of impending doom that isn’t immediately known. I think I liked it better when there was a magister, and several kings and queens, all of which had their own agendas and were as evil as one another. It made everything seem so much more dark and unpredictable. As it stands now, the show is not really leaving me desperate to see the next.
I’m kind of glad that Jason and Jessica are together because I’ve been wanting them to be, but now that they are…well it can only go downhill.
I love sweet Eric (I like Askars however I can get him) but I’m ready for evil Eric to come back now.
That said, if Sookie ends up with Bill AGAIN, I will lose my lunch. Yes, he’s sexier now that he’s slightly evil, but not sexy enough to dredge up that tired old love story between them one more time. Even if I do miss their durrrrrty sex scenes.
I hope in a future episode Tara realizes she’s a witch too, just like Lala, and blows Marnie/Antonia into next week.
One of the things I like about Anna Paquin is that she’s an ugly crier — the whole screwed up face, blotchy skin, runny nose kind. And I was just as pleased to see she’s an ugly screamer too. It makes the character more realistic, you know?
And as much as I can’t stand Bill, the expression on his face when he said, ‘I’m the King of Louisiana. I don’t share.’ made me kinda love him. If that had been the Bill Sookie was with, I probably wouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem with Ball shoving their romance down our throats. I fully expect that we’re gonna get more of their romance in the coming seasons.
Why was this season so short? Sookie is so annoying sometimes, she isn’t that annoying in the books. Loved the scene with Nan Flanagan. I love Pam too.
Each season has been 13 episodes, so this one is on par. But it either feels shorter because of it’s scattered nature or, in my case, freaking unending.
Nan Flanagan is one of the best changes made to the tv series. I seriously need more Nan time.
The season seems short to me, too. I think, for me, it’s because I spent the last three seasons waiting with baited breath for Sookie and Eric to hook up, and they did fairly early on this season, so that’s out of the way now and I have nothing to look forward to. It does seem like the show is flying by. Then again, most of the HBO series I watch are that way. I remember being irritated that Six Feet Under seemed to end so quickly, and it’s the same with Game of Thrones. They all have a very short window that they air each season. And they pack a lot into every episode.
Ah, I’m still so mixed on this season. That Sookie dream was bunk, but you’re right, the look on her face at the end almost made up for it. I also kind of loved the telepathic exchange between Sookie and Tara at Marnie’s shop. I’m also kind of pleased that the multitude of plot lines are coming together — the gross doll/Arlene’s baby thing makes way for Lafayette and Jesus discovering their powers, which obviously will aid in the whole Antonia thing. Tommy’s bullshit is tying in with Sam and Luna as well as Alcide and the werewolves. Alan Ball has almost redeemed himself.
Slay, do you know how many episodes are left. Because as sucky as this season is, I don’t want it to be over.
3 episodes left, including next week’s.
I liked the telepathy between Tara and Sook too — it’s rare that anyone uses it like the advantage that it is — but her powers are so inconsistent on the show I find it frustrating. I think she’s used it more in the last two episodes than it’s come up at all this season.