True Blood - I Don't Want to Know / To Love is to Bury / You'll Be the Death of Me

So Bill must face a magistrate (Zeljko Ivanek) for killing Longshadow. Eric does admit to the magistrate that Sookie was valuable and served as his help. Bill must atone for killing Longshadow, his sentence being the turning of a kidnapped Christian girl into a vampire. In this episode, the show casts a negative light towards the vampires which I found interesting, because for most of the series so far, the humans are the ones not favorably presented. We understand as Bill must obey his masters and turn an innocent girl pleading for her life, and praying to the Lord, that the fears of the humans regarding vampires are accurate..the vampires could, at any time, do whatever they so please to humans, and it's only feasible that a more powerful being opposite our own would never be fully trusted. It's refreshing, though, to see the dynamics and conflicts of Bill, adding weight to the dramatical story arc of his attempts at a peace with humans, as he deals with his kind who do not share his sentiments for the living. Zeljko Ivanek is chilling as the vampire Magister, whose authority is sacred with his kind, as he passes down sentences to those who commit egregious(according to the vampires' own code of "ethics")mistakes towards each other. As we see with Bill's punishment, if a vampire is killed, another must take his place to even the odds.

Sookie learns of Sam's shapeshifting abilities and is upset that he had never trusted her enough to share such a secret. We see that Sam's adoptive parents left him all alone after discovering his shift into a dog.

True Blood up until I Don’t Wanna Know was a bit vague regarding Sam’s past. His sniffing all over the sheets of Dawn at the end of Escape from Dragon House, running around naked with Andy and Terry fishing as he passes by, and then found naked on Sookie’s bed at the end of Plaisir d’amour; there was a build up to his revelation to Sookie that he was a “shapeshifter”. When he’s confronted by “social worker” Maryann (Michelle Forbes), a beacon of hope for a lost and listless Tara, and told he couldn’t get away from her, it creates a brand new thread for the second season. Sam continues to pursue Sookie while trying to figure out what he and Tara even have.

Tara receives her exorcism, but learns that Miss Jeanette (Aisha Hinds), the voodoo priestess, may not be who she proclaims.

Tara has indeed been concerned about her mouth and her attitude, how she seems to push people away and run off harsh words towards others, seemingly out of some impulsive place she can’t control. Learning of Jeanette’s fraud, and the whole ridiculous façade of the “demon cleansing” (including snake juice) just encourages her wrath and eventual boozing and stuffing her body in a clinging blood red prom dress. Tara is driving under the influence when she just misses hitting a naked woman and her hog!

Arlene's party is arranged by Sam and the killer who has been causing such destruction in Sookie's life attempts to attack her in Merlottes bar. 

Amy's dark side emerges when Jason attempts to free Eddie, the vampire..Jason had a run-in with a disgruntled Lafayette over Eddie which spurned his decision to release Eddie(the release itself going awry, to say the least). 

We see in the vampire tribunal the little regard they have for human life, considering them inferior in every way, feeling no pity or emotion for anyone among the living. Bill, in retrospect, does seem to be an anomaly among his kind, in that he looks at humans from a different perspective. 

I do hope that, as hinted at subtly, eventually werewolves will participate into the show somehow (when asked by Sookie if he believes a werewolf killed her gran and cat, Sam doesn't disagree with the possibility).

While looking for the murderer of a waitress Sookie saw in an image from the killer attempting to assault her in Merlottes bar, she and Sam drive to a nearby town to find out this mystery victim's identity, discovering this murdered girl had a brother who fled shortly after. 

Bill must contend with a recently turned Jessica who doesn't react to her vampire conversion as he expected. Bill talks Eric into taking Jessica off his hands so he can return to Sookie, finding her kissing Sam. Miss Maryann Forrestor seems to be a saving grace for Tara, perhaps a support after Lettie Mae refused to bail her out of jail for drunk driving. 

The strangler pays a visit to Amy and Jason while they are under the spell of V, and his picture arrives into the Bon Temps sheriff's office a little too late. It is a nifty set up for the finale after Sookie provoked a response from a deputy to send a photo of "Drew Marshall" to the police department in Bon Temps.

Again, we see that Bill recoils anytime he is about to threaten Eric in regards to Sookie's well being, because of a real fear. It's clear that Eric's power and command are quite intimidating and imposing. Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) is this girl who was raised in a strict repressed Christian environment and now that she has been turned into a vampire, a new found freedom makes her a bit off-putting and hard to handle. Yet, when Eric shows his ability to control Jessica as Bill cannot, we see why he's so feared and in such a lofty position as a 'sheriff' of his domain.

To Love is to Bury shows Sam and Sookie almost intimating their enjoyable time together through a passionate embrace only for an angered Bill to spoil things with his violent return. When Sookie "rescinds her invitation", Bill, as evident by the look on his face, seems horrified that after all he has done to keep her safe, it could be in vain. 

Meanwhile, we finally have a face for the strangler and poor Jason yet suffers the pains of being with the woman this psychopath (obvious vampire racist) targets once again. Will Jason finally be put away for the strangulations he didn't commit? Or will the real strangler's identity be discovered before it's too late? Jason anguishing in the sheriff's office as Andy seems to relish his dilemma with the sheriff not too convinced he's the real killer is a definite moment where it appears he's just at the crossroads.

We can see here that Tara might just be a pawn for Maryann who seems too good to be true..Tara, vulnerable and emotionally fragile, is perfect fodder for Maryann to manipulate; it's obvious there's something not quite right about this woman.

As True Blood's first season opened, the town of Bon Temps was rocked by a strangler whose targets seemed to be females who had consorted with vampires. At first, vampires were the obvious suspects along with the man sleeping with them, Jason Stackhouse. It has come full circle and the same killer could've been responsible for the savage murders of Sookie's gran Adele and her cat. In You'll Be the Death of Me, Sookie will be in the same house with the killer and we wonder how she'll escape from the very one who has caused her such grief, his goal all along to kill her. 

Arlene finds her kids watching a tape featuring a vampire and murder victim having sex, along with a tape perfecting the Cajun accent. It all comes crashing down and Arlene soon must accept that her fiance isn't the man she thought he was. In fact Sookie could hear his thoughts without the Cajun accent.

Sam hearkens back to a smell he encountered at the first crime scene, a distinctive aroma which ties the sheets he was sniffing passionately to the vest of Rene, and the startling discovery that he in fact is the strangler puts Sookie's life in grave danger.

You'll Be the Death of Me ends relatively similarly to the conclusions to slasher flicks as the final girl is pursued by the killer, as his secrets become known, his real identity surfacing. Rene has gained Sookie's trust, successfully (for the most part) concealed his crimes and vamp-racist thoughts, and the memories of his violence towards "fangers". Having driven her to the house (after causing her own car not to be operational), Rene seems to be closing in on his main target, but Sookie does attempt to get away, nearly suffocated at a gravesite, near a tombstone. With Sam in dog form attempting to save her, as well as a frying Bill who actually leaves his bed to fare the torment of the sun, Sookie will need all the help she can get against Rene.

Bellefleur looks like a jackass after pretty much considering Jason guilty before all the true facts could come to fruition, which doesn't bode well for him as he is now an embarrassment.  Meanwhile, Jason will become blinded by the brainwashing ideals of a church called Fellowship of the Sun (another scathing Hollywood satire on Christians and their church) who spread the word against the evils of vampires. 

Lafayette seems to be the next victim of a vampire(this not long after subtly threatening a Senator against his political hypocrisy, who visits him for homosexual sex). Lafayette had been quite adamant that Jason not interfere in his affairs, especially concerning the retrieval and sale of V. But Jason had been influenced by Amy, and kidnapping Lafayette's vampire blood supplier (the tap that kept on giving...) wasn't helping matters.

We see that Maryann is somehow linked to Sam(who we see cleaning out his safe as if his secret hiding place had been uncovered and how he must flee). And, as the episode in concluded, Bill is stuck with the unenviable task of keeping Jessica which shouldn't go over well with Sookie. As one storyline comes to it's close, multiple others open, so it'll be interesting to see how character arcs evolve over the second season.