True Blood S4 E5 "Me and the Devil."

Spoilers Ahead

Vampires can't get along with anyone, can they? Humans, fairies, shifters, weres, other vampires, witches, even spirits... you'd think people would learn to just leave them alone. Why did they want to come out to the world again? Maybe they just had the burning desire to pay taxes.

Whatever their reasons "Me and the Devil" begins not with vamps but with our not-so-favourite shifters: Tommy and Melinda (and Joe Lee, shifter by association). They're still where we left them last episode, with Joe Lee beating the hell out of Tommy while Melinda proves how completely useless she is. Once Tommy passes out, his parents move away to discuss the "big money" dog fight coming up the next day. That's when Tommy throws the chain around Joe Lee's neck and returns the favour. What's really annoying (to me anyway) is that Melinda, who stood by while her husband tortured her son, suddenly starts fighting Tommy to protect Joe Lee. Nice. But Tommy fights them both off until he finally kills Joe Lee. Melinda then attacks, saying she's going to kill Tommy. Ah, motherly love. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment Tommy hits her a little too hard and accidentally kills her. She was worthless but she was still his mom so his subsequent devastation is understandable.

Elsewhere, Marnie wakes up after her latest possession by dead necromancer Antonia. Marnie tells Jesus, Lafayette and Tara about Antonia taking her over and they're horrified. But she's convinced the spirit is their protector. The others realize it's time to get going. As far away from Marnie, Eric, and Bon Temps as possible. For the boys that means paying a visit to Jesus's brujo granddad in Mexico (even though the man scares the shit out of Jesus). For Tara it's back to New Orleans.

Eric and Sookie, meanwhile, get up to all kinds of interesting things this episode, starting with a visit Eric pays to Sookie's room as she lies sleeping (minds out of the gutter, please). As he looks in on her suddenly Godric is by his side. While Eric holds back, Godric has no problem getting close to Sookie. At that point Eric steps in and tells Godric not to touch her (he also asks who Godric is). Godric wants them both to drain her and walk in the sun. Eric refuses. So Godric grabs him by the throat and forces him to his knees. He then tells Eric that there's no redemption for him and he needs to stop fighting his nature (odd since Eric could never have been accused before of fighting his nature. If anything, Godric was disappointed that he didn't fight it when he was torturing Russell). A minute later Eric pops fang and attacks Sookie. As she starts screaming Eric wakes up in his own room. This time he enters Sookie's room for real (looking appropriately monstrous, I was happy to see). As he creeps up to her bed, fangs out, she wakes up. Like a little kid caught doing something bad he covers his tracks by telling her he had a bad dream. He really is upset, though, and Sookie comforts him.

As for Bill, it's one headache after another. First Portia shows why the South has a bad name when she shows up with a list of reasons why incest is no big deal. Um, ew. (And if it's true about the majority of states repealing incest laws then that is truly disturbing, especially in light of all the opposition to gay marriage. Maybe it would be considered okay if the gay people involved were siblings :P). Anyway, Bill has sense enough to most definitely not want to get groiny with his descendants. Unfortunately the only way he can get her to back off is by glamouring her into being terrified of him.

Bill then gets paid a visit by Pam who's covered under layers of black lace. He's lighthearted about her appearance until he sees her rotting face and realizes she defied his orders and went to see the witch. Pam wants permission to torture and kill Marnie but of course Bill can't allow that (the Authority would put Pam to the true death for harming a human). But as pieces of her face come off he assures her he won't ignore the situation.

When daytime comes around Sookie finally puts her telepathy to good use! I guess the writers remembered that this show was supposed to be about a telepathic waitress. Sookie listens in on Holly to find out about the spell cast on Eric and the witch that did it. She then pays a visit to the Moon Goddess shop where she meets Marnie and convinces her to do a psychic reading on her (apparently being completely insincere will convince someone to do whatever you want). Marnie ends up contacting Gran and Sookie is lucky enough to hear Gran directly via Marnie's thoughts. Gran warns Sookie not to give her heart to the new man in her life because the situation is only temporary. She also tells Sookie that Marnie poses great danger and to run. Sookie wisely listens to Gran and gets the hell out of there.

Afterward Marnie gets a visit from pseudo-witch "Kitty" (of Bill's security staff). Kitty pretends to be concerned about what's going on but she only does so long enough for Marnie to be grabbed by Bill's commandos. See ya, Marnie. Not that she disappears or anything. She ends up in a cell in Bill's mansion (and we know he's not going to hurt her). As she prays in her cell she has another vision where she's transported to another cell in which Antonia is locked along with a bunch of other witchy ladies. As they huddle in a corner, chanting, the Inquisition priests come in and forcibly select one of the women. Turns out vampires are big in the priesthood and the witch they chose is dinner. Back in the present, Bill questions Marnie over the intercom and then face to face (he glamours her). It's clear she really doesn't know anything about the spells she performed or how to reverse them. Pam and Eric are screwed.

When Sookie gets home again she also gets a visit. Tara decides to stop by and whine about how her girlfriend found out she was lying about her name (among other things) and about how much she hates Bon Temps and everything about it. Then she asks to spend the night, at which point the sun sets and Eric comes out. That leads to Tara completely freaking and storming out after declaring "Fuck the both of you." Really? Aren't these people too old for this kind of drama? She and Sookie are bffs, then they hate each other, then they're bffs, then they hate each other. Jesus. And you'd think knowing that Sookie hated Eric she might pause to think there's a good reason why Sookie is hiding him now. I'm really ready for Tara to just go. She was good for the first couple of episodes of the show and since then it's all been pointless melodrama.

Anyway, Sookie gets to comfort Eric yet again as now he's upset by the nasty things Tara revealed about him in her anger. He decides to leave rather than risk hurting Sookie. But Sookie runs after him and asks him not to go. He comes back and we finally get the big kiss we've been waiting for. Yet somehow it's... underwhelming. Maybe there was too much build-up, I don't know. But even though the kiss disappointed I am glad the inevitable finally happened.

Back to Tommy. Where do you run when you've killed both your parents? To big brother, of course. And despite their numerous differences it's nice to see that Sam is there for Tommy when he really needs it. They head out in Tommy's van with the bodies in the back. Unfortunately Tommy is already freaking out when Andy decides to pull them over. Sam makes him hide in the back while he deals with Andy. Sam is perfectly calm and reasonable but Andy, despite having no good reason, insists on seeing what's in the back of the van. Inside Tommy waits, clutching a shovel to add to the body count if it comes to that. At first Sam refuses to let Andy into the van but Andy isn't taking no for an answer. Grabbing the keys from Sam he throws open the door and finds... a rather pissed-off gator. Yes! Don't you love when supernatural characters use their powers in a smart way? It's a nice change (not that they haven't done so before but it's been pretty rare). Andy back off in a hurry while Sam explains that he found the gator by the Dumpster and is taking back to the swamp where it belongs. After Andy takes off they do head to the swamp, where they feed the bodies to some real gators. RIP Melinda and Joe Lee.

Jessica and Hoyt's troubles seem to be continuing. After healing Jason and getting him settled at his house, Hoyt moves in to kiss Jessica. She pulls away. It's obvious something is wrong but when Hoyt questions her she insists she's just tired. He ends up staying behind to watch over Jason while she goes home. I really wanted it to work for those crazy kids. Sigh. By the way, does Jessica work at Merlotte's anymore?

Hoyt later tries to talk to Jason about his problems with Jessica, but, as usual, Jason is too obsessed with his own problems (like the full moon the next night) to care. At least Jason is smart enough to realize that everything bad that ever happened to him was because of sex (or rather, his selfish need to get him some). Of course now that Jason has Jessica's blood in him and is already enjoying sexy dreams about Jess it's difficult to believe that he won't be getting into yet more trouble due to sex.

As for possessed baby, Terry and Arlene don't think it's the baby that's possessed so much as they believe Rene is haunting them. So they bring in the only "holy" people around who will cleanse the house for them: Reverend Daniels and his new wife, Lettie Mae. Between the chanting and the smudging the evil is sure to be chased away. Unfortunately as Terry and Arlene later enjoy some quiet snuggle time a pack of matches nearby spontaneously combusts. As if a little sage would really chase away evil.

And it seems Alcide is being set up for future trouble with the Shreveport pack master, Marcus Bozeman. Bozeman is pissed that Alcide's been living in Shreveport for a few months already but never registered with the pack. Sigh. More werewolf drama.

The episode ends with Bill meeting with the rest of the Louisiana Sheriffs, as well as Pam. We find out exactly what happened during the Spanish Inquisition (you won't expect it) and how dangerous necromancy can be. They then all get into an argument about how to deal with the situation. That's when Pam lets slip that she knows what happened to Eric. Bill is infuriated and demands to know where Eric is. She finally admits he's at Sookie's. I never expected to see Pam crumble under Bill's glare. Apparently neither did she. As Bill takes off for Sookie's (can't wait to see what he storms in on) Pam apologizes to Eric.

This wasn't the greatest episode ever but it was decent and had some fairly awesome moments. It was definitely nice to see paranormal characters acting paranormal (when was the last time Sookie used her telepathy for anything useful?) This episode also has the feeling of being the calm before the storm. Get ready for the show.

Fang Files

Appearance: Human with long, snakelike fangs that extend or retract at will (and also when the vampire is excited). Cry tears of blood.

Strengths: Ability to glamour humans. Super speed. Ability to heal wounded humans with their blood.

Weaknesses: Sunlight, blood lust, magic.

Mythology: Vampires have a strong bond with their makers, which apparently extends even beyond death. The Authority is a mysterious organization that all vampires must answer to. Historically many vampires became priests and nuns in order to blend in and have a hand in human power structures. When a human drinks vampire blood it creates a bond between the two that leads to, among other things, sexual dreams.

Sound Bites

Tommy: Remember what I once said? I'm going to be free the day you die?
Joe Lee: Worthless piece of shit.

Marnie: What...what happened?
Lafayette: Hooker, you pissed off another vampire and then you took a goddamned nap.

Godric: [to Eric] You are incapable of love. You are damned.

Bill: [seeing Pam in a big hat and veil] Oh good--the world needs more beekeepers.

Tommy: I fucked up, Sam.
Sam: I see that, Tommy.

Eric: [to Sookie] There's a light in you. It's beautiful. I couldn't bear it if I snuffed it out.

True Blood. Season 4 Episode 5 "Me and the Devil." Written by Mark Hudis. Directed by Daniel Minahan. From HBO.