True Blood - Never Let Me Go

During her time on True Blood, it was assumed Maryann was in possession of quite the estate and grounds. It was a paradise Tara was quite taken aback by and welcomed to by Maryann, Eggs, and Karl, under the assumption she’d have a place to stay with all the luxuries and amenities anyone could possibly dream of. But like Maryann, it was a façade. Never more is that apparent than in Never Let Me Go, the episode which finally rents the veil in two and we see that she was just staying at a client’s estate while he was away in Puerto Rico. Tara had went to Sookie’s to stay, with Maryann, Eggs, and Karl soon following suit, much to her shock and surprise. Not anticipated, Maryann lays it on thick with her typical manipulative antics, appealing to Tara’s naïveté, capitalizing on her underlying decency which often gets lost in all of her extreme emotional reactions to everything that bothers her. Sookie offered her home to her best friend, not some scheming mind/emotion/hormone controlling sociopath and her entourage. But Maryann has made a living of surviving as a sojourner, preying on those from broken lives. Tara caves and asks if she’d like to stay, planning to ask Sookie if it will be okay. Maryann has achieved a temporary victory. Eggs, meanwhile, continues to romance her. A night of passionate sex between the two has certainly seemed to indicate there’s serious chemistry.

Sam learning that Daphne is a shape-shifter in this episode has given him a fresh love interest, thank goodness. This is True Blood so romance is a fickle thing. However, for the time being, Sam having someone else to take his mind away from Sookie is a breath of fresh air for me personally. Here lately I have been watching a lot of these shows where characters pine for those they can’t have and it continues with those awkward exchanges and periods of unease that exist when the truth is undeniable but takes time to force acceptance that love isn’t meant to be. Sam dealt with that when Sookie had eyes and libido only for Bill. He tried and failed to gain her affection, but all she wanted from him was friendship. Tara was up next but the two of them were oil and water, sex was good but anything remotely romantic simply didn’t result from their tryst. It evaporated rather quickly. And then Maryann arrives, returning some bad feelings from the past he wasn’t prepared to revisit. She has the power to turn him into a dog if Maryann so chooses. But besides causing behavior influence to folks in his bar, and causing them to go elsewhere for her own amusement and kicks, Maryann could probably have been an even worse nuisance to Sam. Then comes Daphne, walking in to Merlotte’s for a job, fumbling and clumsy, not collecting all the moneys for food and drinks, and just getting on Arlene’s nerves. Arlene and Daphne maintain an antagonistic, rather tense relationship in the bar, seemingly at odds and ill at ease. But Daphne has wowed Sam, and she is quite forthcoming with her own interest in him. This has become immediately hands-on sexual between them. Lots of foreplay and groping.

Jason has been on Sarah’s radar as with other women, with his history of attracting stunning ladies, that impressive track record, once again emerging even when he doesn’t try to gain sexual interest. We see a hint of Sarah’s frustration with how Steve increasingly avoids her advice and confides in his “general of the Lord’s anti-vampire army”, Gabe (Greg Collins). I think viewers are quite aware of Sarah’s interest in Jason, how obvious her attraction to him really is. He arrives to the camp with his panty-wetting physique, and Luke sees him as an immediate adversary. Sarah can’t take her eyes off him and Jason fights off his pangs of lust as well. Sarah takes advantage of her husband being away with his attention elsewhere to give Jason, fully vulnerable in his bathtub naked, his “reward”. Sarah is fully clothed but the way she tongues behind those pearly whites and gives off that intense eye-to-eye contact is as sexy as if she were dancing about with nothing on. It is all about delivery and Anna Camp is an ace at emitting mucho seductive allure behind a disguise of cherubic wholesomeness. Her casting is perfect. Jason is putty, too. His emergence as the star in an obstacle course is no surprise, sealing the deal when he encourages Luke to climb the fence that seems to be his Achilles’ heel. Sarah is all in on Jason at this point. When she had came into his room in the previous episode in her night gown, it was obvious she was establishing interest.

Eric was actually a Viking it seems, go figure. We see that Godric was the vampire maker who turned Eric, noticing how great a warrior he was. Godric, seemingly almost a child when turned, is a fierce vampire, offering Eric a chance to be his companion, ultimately “leef” (well, life in their own period dialect). So why Eric has an invested interest is to find the maker who has went “off the grid”, perhaps held captive by the Church of the Sun. Sookie offers to infiltrate the Church as a spy, using her empathic abilities to help Eric. Bill is uneasy with this. He wants to keep her safe. In Dallas Bill realizes the vampires are much different than in Bon Temps. Talking with area vampires that have great stature, Eric and Bill (and Sookie) realize they are ill prepared for a potential ordeal with humans…in fact, Eric truly addresses their foolhardy reception of just how scary this whole situation is. Jessica and Hoyt share a conversation at a distance, him back in Bon Temps, her in Dallas with Bill and Sookie, the two acting as if teenagers in love. It is that cutesy-pie sort of young love that might not go over well with the audience of True Love if the two weren’t so likeable. Sookie discovering an empath—a bellboy at the vampire hotel in Dallas they currently stay—like her gives her great delight but he’s (Chris Coy; Martin on The Walking Dead) not fond of reading thoughts. He’s indifferent and considers this ability a curse, just wishing Sookie would leave him alone. She tries to encourage him. She tries to urge him to let her teach him how to control all the thoughts constantly flooding his mind. But late in the episode, Sookie goes to look for him, learning he didn’t show up for work. The big cliffhanger bookending this episode shows Bill’s maker arriving, certain to once again put a fracture in the romance of Sookie and Bill.

My favorite scene: Maryann causes the staff at Merlotte's to turn on each other, resulting in everyone snapping and ridiculing one another, with Tara the object of most scorn. "Tara, Tara, Tara." Maryann is assured her work is done when Tara returns to Sookie's offering her the house for a refuge. Also, Lafayette returns wanting his job back with Sam bewildered by his subdued tone and enigmatic nature, not allowing him to know why he's been gone so long. Sam just wanted him to know people cared about him.