Sucks So Good: True Blood 4.11, "Soul of Fire"

Let me start out with a huge THANK YOU to all of you who stepped in for me and took over recapping duties while I was out on Irene leave. After five days without power, I have finally caught up on all of my soaps, both daytime and primetime, and am ready to dive back into the happenings in Bon Temps (and Port Charles and Pine Valley, but those are substantially less exciting).

And we only have ONE MORE WEEK of excitement in Bon Temps before a cruel, cruel autumn and winter and spring. Why must that always happen? We spend twelve glorious weeks peering into the zany brain of Alan Ball and then, abruptly, it's over. It's downright depressing, is what it is.

After the gratuitous Northman, click after the jump for "Soul of Fire".

Let's Just Get This WTFery Out Of The Way...
Forced by Terry to get home alone, Andy walks through the woods talking to himself and is visited by a fairy who, with only a few seconds of smalltalk, straddles him and asks him to make love to her (demerits for the use of Becca's least favorite phrase; she doesn't even watch this show and yet I could sense that she cringed to no end when that line was uttered, not knowing why). There's a fairy light and a brief, funny line about Andy cutting back on carbs, but mostly: the fuck? Why is this happening? Is the fairy trying to get pregnant? Is this going to be a big story next season? Did anybody else experience SEVERE secondhand embarrassment while all of this was going on?

 

Brotherly Love...And A Brotherly Thirst For Violence

Can I talk about Tommy for a second? Damn, that was heartbreaking. More often than not, the character of Tommy Mickens in general made me roll my eyes or screech with hatred; still, there were times that I really did feel for the kid and I credit Marshall Allman with that, because he's a really good actor. And he was so, so fantastic during Tommy's death scenes. My heart just broke for him and for Sam, when he told Sam that Sam was the best part of Tommy's life. Sniff!

This week, Sam is out for blood; specifically, the blood of Marcus. He and Alcide go to confront one of Marcus's wolves to find out where he is and I can't help but wonder exactly how much Sam Trammell cringed when he found out he'd be sharing so much screentime with Joe Manganiello because he looks like a garden gnome. Anyway, the wolf is not exactly forthcoming with details when in rushes Luna, completely hysterical: Marcus took Emma out of school and now they're both missing. Sam has to switch gears pretty quickly, going from murderous rage to calming influence.

Where is Marcus? Oh, at Alcide's. Seducing Debbie with the bedroom door wide open, so that Emma can come upstairs and cheerily ask for her mother, which she does and then he still doesn't close the door which is a TV pet peeve of mine that just makes me crazy. Privacy, people! Marcus tells Debbie that they make sense together which...they totally do, on account of the crazy and lack of impulse control. Marcus tells Debbie that she needs kids and Emma needs a real, wolf mom, but she says she loves Alcide; that doesn't stop her from hesitating when Marcus suggests that they run away with Emma.

At the garage, Emma calls Luna and doesn't know where she is; Sam suggests that she check the caller ID and Alcide is surprised to see that Emma was calling from his house. I predict that things will not end well for at least one person here...

At Alcide's, Sam has Luna take Emma outside and he and Alcide run up to the bedroom to confront the skanky sociopaths (I'd call that as a band name, but I feel like it's probably already taken). Debbie swears up and down that nothing happened, while Sam points a gun at Marcus; when Marcus says it's the cowardly thing to do...

Sam: You hid behind five men when you murdered my brother, you fucking insect. I'm not going to hide behind anything Marcus. You want to fight like honorable men for the first time in your sorry life? Fine. No shifting either.
Marcus: I don't need to shift to kill you, brother.
Sam: You're not my goddamn brother, my brother's dead. I'm going to snap your neck with my own hands.

Debbie shrieks and tries to intervene but Alcide throws her--literally--against the bed. They fight. Debbie squeals. A brutal crack about Tommy gets Alcide pissed enough to intervene, but Sam waves him off. Marcus accuses Sam of trying to steal his family and, kneeling on Marcus's neck, Sam tells him just how pathetic, weak and small Marcus really is, offering "Live with that" as a nice parting shot.

Proving Sam right, Marcus immediately jumps up and reaches for the gun, leading Alcide to tackle...and then STRANGLE HIM! WHAT? I KNOW! I WASN'T EXPECTING IT EITHER! BUT IT WAS SORT OF AWESOME.

Sam, Alcide and Debbie are all shocked and horrified for different reasons. Alcide, furious, abjures Debbie, who cries and begs and is TOTALLY going to go fucking nuts next week, while Sam stands there uncomfortably, before awkwardly grabbing the gun and leaving.

I...am so excited for Debbie's breakdown, I can't even tell you. Especially because I get the feeling that she is not going to get out of this season alive, so she might as well go all out. Fingers crossed for the return of mall hair!

 

An Epic Battle To End All Epic Battles...Or a Conflict Wrapped Up In Less Than An Hour (Seriously, Why Was This Episode So Short? I Feel Cheated)

Clad in black and carrying weapons, Bill, Eric, Pam and Jessica continue their stroll up to the Moon Goddess Emporium for some quality demolition, although this time they are not strutting in slow motion, nor are they accompanied by the fitting tune of "Burning Down The House". What they lack in awesome soundtracks, they more than make up for with one-liners, though.

Jessica: I'm sick of silvering myself all day, every day. I'm pissed off all the time. This is what PMS used to feel like!

Pam: Can we blow up these Wiccan dipshits already? I've got a mani-pedi at 4:00.

Marnie scoffs at the vamps and their weapons, and Sookie tries to explain to her that they're ready to totally blow everything and everyone up. When the other Wiccans start to panic, Annoying Roy makes a "Hotel California" crack that serves to (a) irritate everybody and (b) remind them that they are under spells and enchantments and basically fucked. Marnie (who, as we learned last week, is totally in control of these increasingly crazy plots) claims that they can leave at any time, but when a girl tries to do just that, Marnie has a knife stab her right in the stomach. Holly and Sookie watch these goings-on and realize that they had absolutely no idea how horrible this situation really is. I have so many Harry Potter jokes taking place in my head right now that my brain could short circuit.

While Casey dies, Antonia shoots herself out of Marnie (...sometimes, the things you type when you're writing about True Blood are JUST TOO WEIRD) and is shaken.

Lafayette--and only Lafayette--can see all of this and I'll let him do the play-by-play.

Lafayette: Marnie just puked a bitch out...
Sookie: What do you mean, puked her out?
Lafayette: I mean, she came right out of her motherfucking mouth.

Jesus recaps that Lala is a medium. Tara, and I don't blame her at all except for how I blame her for not hightailing it out of Bon Temps and going back to New Orleans, is perplexed and a bit peeved that yet another person she knows is supernatural.

Antonia is horrified that Marnie would kill one of her own, but when she attempts to leave, Marnie performs a binding spell and, in the words of Jesus, "[They're] all fucked".

Outside, Jason sprints up to inform the vampires of the numerous reasons that their plan is an awful one:

1. Sookie will die because, well, she's in there.
2. They will all blow up, thanks to Marnie's protection spell.

Bill and Eric immediately respond with identical "Fucking Sookie"'s and Pam adds her own irked version to the chorus. Jason is appalled, and goes into big brother mode, lecturing them in an impassioned and f-bomb filled speech about all of the good Sookie has done for Bill and Eric and how dare they even contemplate risking her life. Bill agrees to abort the mission, which makes Pam hate him even more than anyone thought possible.

While Bill and Eric try to come up with a Plan B, the two bewitched sheriffs fly out of nowhere to attack them. Gee, I wonder if the show's male leads will survive!

Back inside the Moon Goddess Hostage Emporium, Jesus claims that Casey still has a pulse in order to get her body (and Lafayette) away from Marnie in order to do some, to quote Lafayette from last week, "Latin thangs". Marnie's surprised to hear that she's alive, but declines Roy's offer to shoot her and tells Jesus to do whatever he needs to do in order to save Casey. While he scurries around getting the appropriate ingredients, Sookie and Holly talk to Marnie; Sookie tries to relate to Marnie, saying that she understands how it must feel to be an outcast for so long and then to finally get respect and fear. Fiona Shaw, as I have said about a thousand times this season, is so good at showing the jumble of feelings going on inside of Marnie's nutty little head and she lights up when Sookie tells her that, this time, Marnie has all the power.

Outside! Having disposed of one possessed sheriff, the vampires plan to kill the other. Bill beckons Antonia, who walks out with Sookie to "negotiate". And by "negotiate", she means "sucks the sheriff into the protective shield, blowing her the fuck up, and also promising Sookie's safety in exchange for the deaths of Bill and Eric". Yeah. When Marnie dangles the "Suicide for Sookie" idea in front of Bill and Eric, Pam scoffs (which pisses off Marnie, who reminds her that she can control Pam's flesh) and Jessica rolls her eyes, because she knows these two bozos will totally die for Sookie. And they agree to do just that! Sookie is horrified.

Bill: I have your word? You'll set her free.
Marnie: Free as a resurrected bird.

When he confirms that everyone Marnie has ever known will be killed if she reneges on this offer, Bill very calmly decides to shoot Eric, and then have Pam shoot him.

Sookie cries as Eric gallantly (and hotly. OH, COCKY ASKARS, I HAVE MISSED YOU SO) drops to his knees to be killed, but Pam decides to blow everything to hell by firing a grenade into the protective forcefield against Bill and Eric's wishes.

Marnie rages inside and is angry that the vampires think she's too weak to negotiate with (but not too angry to give Roy a high five, albeit a reluctant one. Hee.) and then checks out the future in a pool of Casey's blood. She sees an image of herself, dead, and orders everybody to join hands in a circle. For some reason, people are seriously leery about doing so. Imagine that!

Outside, Eric reams Pam out for putting Sookie's life in danger. Another Stackhouse is in danger, too: Jason is fried almost to a crisp. And blind, too! Jessica gives him her blood and takes care of him quite lovingly.

Inside! Marnie forces Sookie to join her circle and the Wiccans start to chant.

Outside! While the witches cast their spell, the vampires are all of a sudden drawn to the protective shield. It's in slow motion and they are moaning and can you imagine how weird it must be to act that out against a green screen? Bizarre. I feel a little uncomfortable watching it and have to echo Jason's "What the fuck, folks?" As they all head to the light, Jason's thoughts alert Sookie of the impending vampire doom and....

Inside! Fairy fingers destroy both the spell circle AND the spell calling for the vampires.

Outside! Safe from doom, the vamps are pissed.

Jessica: I am SO SICK of this necromancy shit!
Bill: When I get that witch, I am going to rip her heart out.

Eric is pissed, too, at Pam and orders her out of his sight before he kills her. Which is way harsh, Tai!
Inside! Marnie is LIVID that Sookie betrayed her. Tara leaps to her friend's defense, hilariously.

Roy: Shut up, Tara!
Tara: Fuck you, you Uncle Tom. Yeah, I said it!

Marnie casts aside the rest of the group and places Sookie right in the middle of a ring of fire. I don't know if I have issues with fire that I haven't come to terms with or what, but these few moments deeply upset me. Anna Paquin's screams were so realistic and her terrified body language--panic and horror and covering her mouth and crying. ACK, it just got to me.

Luckily, Jesus's spell worked and Antonia was freed from Marnie, Sookie was free from her certain death, and the rest of the group was freed from their binding.

Tara: I quit this fucking group.

Ha!

With the protective spell destroyed, Bill and Eric zoom into the Moon Goddess Emporium with a quickness. Sookie explains to Bill that the rest of the Wiccans are innocent and Bill, pointing a machine gun, agrees to just kill Marnie. Roy won't let that happen and offers himself as a human shield. It takes about a second and a half for Eric to speed over to him and, literally, rip his heart out. He calmly drinks blood from one of the arteries like it's a juice box and Bill glances over at him as if to say, "Nice touch, man". To be fair, it was sort of amazing. They share a couple of more meaningful looks before Bill empties all of his bullets into Marnie's body, fulfiling her vision and putting an end to this story forever. Haha, just kidding, that doesn't happen on True Blood.

The Aftermath

Jessica and Jason have a state of their relationship talk; he confesses that he thinks about her all the time, even without her blood, and neither of them have any idea of what to do. I'm guessing more hot sex is in their future, though.

Sookie watches Bill and Eric have a serious discussion. They both look at Sookie a few times but, mostly, only have eyes for each other. Oh, the fanfiction that could be written...

At Lafayette's, Jesus feels horrible about what happened to Marnie, but Lafayette tells him that he was a hero. That is a lovely sentiment and all, but then he had to go ahead and tempt fate.

Lafayette: We're alive, we're safe. Be happy for that.

LAFAYETTE! Putting that out there is basically daring the universe to do something horrible to you, like have a cackling Marnie possess you. Which is exactly what happens! Isn't that just a FANTASTIC way to lead into the season finale?!

Let me just say, though, that if Lafayette dies this season, I am going to...be angrier than an angry thing, angrily. Yeah. So watch it, Alan Ball!

What say you, Serial Drama readers? Excited for next week? Depressed that it's all ending? Still feeling awkward about the Andy/Fairy thing?

Comments

[LaTanya]

OK after seeing last nights episode I couldn't wait for your recap. I loved when Bill/Eric zoomed into Moon Goddess with everyone standing around and Bill said "only Marnie!" and everyone jumped out of the way like peace out bitch! I also have to say that Eric's arterie/juice box scene was fantastic especially afterwards when he licked the blood off his fingers like he had just got through eating at KFC. The Andy/fairy thing was just too weird to comment on and even though I want Marnie to be gone I am looking forward to see how Lala/Nelsan Ellis plays this out. I can't believe it's only 1 episode left and only one hour to put it all in (it better be a whole hour too)!

[Sharron]

Marnie didn't suck the sheriff into the shield, Bill threw her into it. :o)

[C]

I love how much of a mini-Pam Jessica is turning out to be ("I hate this necromancy shit!").

I wonder if Holly dressed up like a fairy in the promo for next week means anything regarding the WTF with Andy and the fairy doing it this week.

[Daisy]

I wish this show was as good for all 12 episodes as it always is for the final four. I feel like True Blood has such a limited episode count that I want it to be an exciting and rollicking ride for the entire season but I find that each season there are parts that are wonderful (Russell Edgington the King of Mississippi, Bill's becoming a King, Eric and Sookie, etc.) and some that drag on too long (Maryann, every member of Sam's family,Arlene's psycho killer boyfriend from the first season, etc.)
I also don't like how the characters were all separated this season and didn't get together again until the last episodes. I love to see interaction between Sookie, Lafayette, Tara, Bill, Eric, Jason, Pam, the whole cast but this year they all had their own separate story lines, it was like watching vignettes.
I still LOVE the show, I guess I'm harder on it than I am on others because it can be amazing, I just wish it was consistently amazing. That said, I'll still be glued to my seat for the season finale!

[syd]

I didn't like this episode as well as some of the others. I thought the "pulling toward the force field" was funny and didn't have the suspense factor that it should have.

And I really didn't like the suicide pact between Bill and Eric. I can only think that Bill's bullets weren't wooden and they both would be able to heal or they were expecting Sookie to save them with her fairy powers. Either way, it wasn't presented well and wasn't believeable. I guess the explanation of the plan was in the missing 10 minutes.

Nothing good can come out of story in which Arlene is the voice of reason.

[Linda]

I loved it when both her guys said, "Fucking Sookie." She does seem to be an inconvenience a lot of the time. Will you be watching Dexter when the TB season ends next week?

[Mallory]

Daisy, I am with you: the show is wildly inconsistent when you think about it, but super enjoyable over all. If that makes sense?

They seriously better not stiff us next week. I demand a full hour!

Linda, I don't watch Dexter! Please imagine me hanging my head in shame. But we are going to be adding more primetime shows coming up...

[Ashley]

I know the only reason for the Andy/fairy thing was to push it for next season. But it was just... weird. Random weird.

Eric is my hero (in a really disturbing way) for the whole heart sequence. My husband and I were laughing.

[Linda]

Mallory: Dexter is pretty good, but probably hard to get into if you haven't been watching from the beginning. And thanks for answering my post. I really appreciate it.

[Rene']

First and foremost - MALLORY!!!! GET THY ASS TO NETFLIX AND CATCH UP ON DEXTER!!! It's a phenomenal show - PHENOMENAL - and Michael C. Hall rocks it like no other. That is all.

I do have to say, while the Andy/Fairy frolic was uncomfortable and just - weird and out of place - I do have to say that his recounting of the story to Arlene was hysterical. Her face as he's telling her is just priceless, and then he holds up his finger and says "Her finger lit up, like one of those light sticks you get at the circus." I kept waiting for Arlene to say, "you mean like E.T.?"

Um, anger doesn't even BEGIN to define the feelings I'd have if Lafayette was killed off. Apparently, he's long dead in the books, but I say, if you're keeping him around this long, KEEP HIM FOREVER! Plus I think the Lafayette/Jesus relationship is one of the best gay relationship portrayals I've seen on any show. Plus where will I get all my awesome Lafayette quotes that I use on a daily basis???

Whenever I call my husband or daughter (she's 18, not 8, so it's acceptable), I say, "ring ring, hookah, RING RING!"

"We'll stay five minutes. 10 if they got dranks."

"Place smells like where air fresheners go to die."

I mean COME ON!