True Blood - Hard-Hearted Hannah

May 15, 2017

True Blood - Hard-Hearted Hannah

Infiltrating the Church [Fellowship] of the Sun is an idea that reeks of disaster. In fact when True Blood left us, Sarah was masturbating Jason Stackhouse in his bath so the whole marital situation with the Newlins is a bit of a mess. In fact Steve Newlin isn’t some holier-than-thou man-of-the-spirit. He’s far from it. To read from his thoughts we hadn’t been able to do, but judging by the way he’s been dismissing his wife lately—and his relationship to Gabe (Greg Collins) seems far more trusting and significant—there was something dark and sinister about him that until Sookie arrived (with another vampire-loving-human named Hugo (Chris Gartin), attached to vampire Isabel (Valerie Cruz), agreeing to go with her as a fake husband) wasn’t altogether known to us. At the beginning of Hard-Hearted Hannah, Steve and Sarah unveil their plan to have Jason and Luke build a platform to be used to crucify a vampire on a cross as the sun hits it in a special ceremony. That vampire could very well be Godric, but Sookie soon realizes that Steve knows she was to arrive at his compound, having Gabe assist him in dragging both her and Hugo into an underground basement. So the episode leaves us with the knowledge that Steve (who swears like a sailor including his use of the word, cunt, and even taking God’s name in vain, revealing that he’s not perhaps the holy reverend he so advertises) could be preparing for some very bad things in store for these “vampire lovers”. Sarah seems upset that Sookie has been drug away, begging her husband and Gabe to stop.

The show up until Hard-Hearted Hannah has been shuffling around the Jason character as he seeks to find himself. He has been embracing the Fellowship of the Sun philosophy in the hopes that “salvation” will correct his wayward life path up until this episode. Instead he’ll be submitting to sexual urges with Sarah as the two accept that “God wants this”. Good excuse to embrace the obvious sexual tension by cutting through it with a good fuck. While building the platform, Luke gives Jason a ridiculous lesson in “which sins are worse than others” claiming that being a gay vampire man is the chiefest among sins. Adultery is on par with bestiality and incest according to Luke. He seems to just be making it up as he goes along. Just the same, Jason isn’t sure abstinence is for him as Luke claims to have sworn off sex for three years until marriage. Jason’s experience in the bathtub continues to weigh on his mind. Well after no longer being able to resist Sarah (and vice versa), things between them might get even more awkward. Sarah has the grand realization that it isn’t Steve who is supposed to be her great man but Jason! I think she’ll be in for a great surprise…and letdown. This is the creation of some delusion that allows for two sexy people to no longer avoid what they want…each other in sexual embrace.

I think this episode’s two most fascinating subplots include Eggs realizing that maybe what he has believed about himself for some time now is a lie. As he and Tara are driving in Maryann’s Jag to get a part for Sookie’s home’s broken down water heater, Eggs realizes that this location he notices on the trip is familiar to him. Tara is told to pull over, the two get out, and they follow a path to what appears to be a crime scene. A rock with dry blood, bloody clothes, and what appears to be a dead bonfire leave Eggs concerned, bothered, and in grief. It is as if he’s been here before and whatever happened there is closed off within his mind…perhaps Maryann has something to do this? It is a hint that those in Maryann’s entourage are compelled by her. She uses and some grand plan is shaping with Eggs and Tara returning home to find Sookie’s house in disarray with items scattered as well as clothes. Clothes all over the place, Tara and Eggs follow the path towards a bonfire and bodies fucking—all the folks in Bon Temps seem to have decided to stop by to partake, with their eyes black and seemingly lost in a fog that keeps them lost to Maryann’s will—soon hypnotized by Maryann themselves. The second subplot involves Bill Compton and his past with the vampire who turned him, Lorena (Mariana Klaveno). Eric purposely brought Lorena to the Hotel Carmilla (cool name for the hotel which caters to vampires!), where Bill and Sookie were staying so that she could break them apart! Eric is eyeing Sookie for himself and believes Lorena will be the perfect device to separate her from Bill. What I found especially interesting was Bill’s hideous behavior in 1926 Chicago, quite different than the Bill you see with Sookie in Bon Temps. What had changed over the years to transform Bill from where he was with Lorena to this point now?

Among Chicago’s elite are a couple willing to “fuck prohibition” together with Bill and Lorena. Lorena, however, had very special plans for them…to drink their blood and leave them for dead. It wasn’t just feeding from them, but torturing them. The lady has a hunk of her neck ripped open and allowed to spill all over a bed as Bill encourages Lorena to go right at it while she bleeds out! The neck wound and how it just bleeds like this tap turned on is grisly. Seeing Bill and Lorena just fuck with absolute lusty passion in all that blood is equally repulsive. Or perhaps it is sexy to those who find that sort of behavior kinky. It still calls to mind Bill in a different view. I admit that after I watched this episode I will never see Bill the same again. It was quite unsettling. With fangs extended and this face of pure delightful savagery, Bill looks nothing like the man Sookie has fallen in love with. Lorena surprises Bill as he awakens to Sookie’s cries for help, unable to move thanks to his maker. She hasn’t seen him in 70 years and thanks to Eric, Bill has been reacquainted.

Lafayette will never fully recover from the trauma of being held captive in the basement of Fangtasia. Eric’s treatment of him, too, has not left. When Andy plays tough cop with him during an unwarranted interrogation Terry undermines (thankfully), Lafayette sees Eric talking down to him in a voice of authority that scares the shit out of him. He cowers and folds into a scared position of sheer terror. Terry, which shows why he is the kind of friend you could use in a time of need, shows Lafayette affection, and offers a hug, with comforting words to ease him out of his anxiety attack. Later, Pam drops the bombshell that Eric wants Lafayette to start selling V again. Why the sudden change? All Lafayette knows is that he’s called on to do what he’s told…or else.

Jessica awaits a conversation with Hoyt but his phone had been cut off by his busybody mother always butting into his affairs. Hoyt takes a stand, even telling her that Jess was a vampire. Although their story is minor, we do get to see Deborah in just her undergarments, fully able to recognize how well she's maintained a delectable body.

Meanwhile Sam is all giddy about his new fling with Daphne, and even though she continues to be a horrible waitress, because she’s a sexual dynamo it doesn’t really matter. But she will abandon her façade and Sam will be in for a rude awakening. The tell is when the two are in animal form. Daphne is in the form of a pig, and it recalls when Tara had that wreck when encountering Maryann (and the pig) back in the first season. Andy recognized the pig in Maryann’s possession. So Daphne’s betrayal and Maryann’s weird behavior starting to reveal something disturbing in Bon Temps could be to Sam’s detriment. The close of the episode was a magnificent hook for viewers to tune in for the next episode. Sam looks to be in serious trouble.