Staying true to his impeccable form, Denis O’Hare as Russell Edgington was once again the most entertaining part of the show. Even after being singed to a toasted mashmallow-like black crisp, he was still a delectably devious little power hungry potty mouth. This episode was definitely one for a language warning. Russell set the bar for f-bombs early, but nearly every character got in on the sweary action. King Crispy’s back and forth exchanges with Sookie inside Fangtasia were a lot of fun, and full of the snarky wit that is to be expected from an Alan Ball penned episode. Seeing Sookie lash out at every vampire she is associated with was both expected and somewhat out of character: her swift and ruthless disposal of Talbot’s gooey remains down the garbage disposal, then cackling maniacally at Russell’s anguish was something I didn’t think she was capable of, and I couldn’t help feeling for Russell in that moment despite all horrible shit he has put so many people through. And, oh my god…ric. Oh my God, Godric came back! As a ghost/spirit/figment of Eric’s imagination, but he appeared in all his wisdom-dispensing glory, and it sure was great to see that talented young Allen Hyde again.
Sam came out to
Tara…as a shifter. Yep, just like that. Clearly he’s sick of hiding who
he really is or what have you. A little while after being hit with this
little gem Tara then walks in on her mama and the married reverend
committing a certain sin, and decides she has had alls she can takes
with Bon Temps and it’s cornucopia of supernaturals, rednecks and
assholes. She gives herself a fetching new hairdo, acquires Lafayette’s
old car and apparently drives off into the unknown. Considering the only
time I enjoyed her character this season were her scenes with Franklin
(which had everything to do with him and nothing to do with her) I
certainly wouldn’t be heartbroken in the slightest if she sits out the
first part of next season while Ball and his minions think of something
interesting for her to do, or better yet, a way to bring back the type
of Tara we saw in season 1. And poor Sam is all over the place like a
bipolar on V: unloading the shifter secret on Tara (good), patching
things up with Terry (also good), but then realising that Tommy has
cleaned out his safe (bad) and possibly shooting his own brother in the
back (very very bad!) Exactly what or where Sam shot was not shown, thus
providing I think the only real cliffhanger of the episode. But
needless to say, Sam is in a pretty dark place now and I’m actually very
intrigued to see where it goes. The character of Sam has always had
little subtle shades of darkness and anger below his sweet, dependable
nice guy surface, and Sam Trammell does a wonderful job every week with
such a complex character. I’m sure he’ll do great whatever he has to
bring to the table next season.
The boring and lame Jason/Crystal storyline managed to culminate in a shocking and not-as-lame scene in Hotshot. It certainly was surprising. I did not expect Felton to be hopped up on V and shoot his own daddy, Crystal leave with him to protect her people and then Jason being left to take care of a huge family of inbred hillbilly were-panthers. Um…wtf? Are we going to see Jason trying to atone for his lifetime of pussy chasing, light of day camp and Eggs-shooting by playing father figure to this motley crew? I don’t know, but Jason, like Tara, needs something meaty and consequential next season to make up for his load of meh (meth?) in this one. Other minor characters in brief: Arlene is still preggers, Lafayette is seeing some really freaky shit, Jesus is a brujo (a witch who’s a dude) and Jess and Hoyt are going to get married and live together (yay!) if they can survive Maxine, who has gone gun shopping and possibly planted a freaky doll in their new crib. Phew, sometimes I wonder just how I keep up with this show with so much crazy going on.
Now, onto the big-ass, major stuff. Allow me to backtrack so I can cover all the major developments of our big 4 (that would be Sookie, Bill, Eric and Russell). We opened the episode with Eric and Russell still handcuffed to each other frying in the sun like a couple of fritters in a pan. True to their characters they’re both hilariously stubborn even when facing the true death: Russell still thinks butter wouldn’t melt in his own mouth, and Eric is, naturally, still pissed about his family being slaughtered for a couple of goats. Back inside Fangtasia, Sookie is pissed at Bill for selling her out yet again, Bill is pissed at her for being pissed at him, and then she drags Eric back inside to safety, which pisses him off even more. Everybody’s anger made for some great TV: Sookie got some killer lines in her ‘fuck all you duplicitous bloodsuckers’ mode, and Bill and Eric’s macho posturing always brings the laughs. They end up dragging Russell back inside too (apparently Eric changed his mind after ghost-Godric told him that Russell would only find peace in death) and the vamps go to ground, leaving Sook to guard the special order of crispy fried King of Mississippi. Russell of course believes he can buy his way out of every predicament (with it being America and all, remember that great line?) and he and Sook have an amazing faux-negotiation. In the end, she doesn’t really get $5 million, his mansion and dead Bill and Eric, and he’s still strung up to the stripper pole.
Big, cuddly wolf Alcide shows up after a mini-hiatus, which I was very glad to see. I don’t know why so many people think he’s boring, he needed to be the nice guy character this season to contrast with the snakier, more vicious vamps that are Sookie’s other love interests. And I’ll never know how anybody can be hatin’ on Joe Mangianello, who is a total comic book nerd as well as being darn easy on the eyes. Vote 1 Joe for Superman. Anyway, he’s shown up not only to be Sook’s beer drinking buddy and Bill’s eye-fucking partner (loved that line, and the animosity in that scene), but to provide a truck and a construction site. They didn’t kill Russell. Woot woot, a million times woot. He’s far too amazing to die and not have the possibility of returning in the future. And, to make things even better, they didn’t do something lame like have him go on vacation to the Greek islands or something, they buried him in fucking concrete. Eric is wearing some sweet red sneakers, everybody is still dishing out the insults, there’s heavy machinery, and the scene is pretty damn cool. They claim the silver and concrete will be enough to keep Russell there for about a hundred years wallowing in his own misery, but I’m sure that wily little madman will out of there to entertain us much sooner than that.
But the shocks certainly didn’t end there. Just as it looks like Bill and Eric are finally going to settle their differences with a handshake, Bill pulls the ultimate dastardly act and throws Eric into the concrete too, then calls Eric’s hitman and tells him to go kill Pam! Bloody hell, I was not expecting that. Bill then goes back to Sookie’s house, fesses up to what he’s done and claims it was all to protect her. That Bill voice that makes everybody melt clearly gets to her even though she really doesn’t want it to, and it looks like she may be on the verge of forgiving him yet again. But we’ll never know, because Eric shows up, covered in grey dust but otherwise fine. And he spills everything, crushing the hearts of Bill, Sookie, and all the team Bill fangirls. Readers of the books and fans of the show unable to resist a spoiler knew what Bill’s deal was, and always wondered if the show would go there considering Alan Ball has been friendlier to Bill than Charlaine Harris has and the show has really played up their love story. Well, they went there: Bill was sent by the Queen of Louisiana to ‘procure’ Sookie for her fae blood, and actually let the Rattrays beat the shit of out her back in the very first episode so that he could feed her his blood and make her fall in love with him. Obviously, a la The Taming of the Shrew, he actually did fall in love with her for reals, but nobody can forgive a betrayal that enormous (for a quite a while anyway…)
I thought the scene was heartbreaking (yep, Team Bill here) and the acting was superb. Stephen Moyer’s facial expressions managed to say so many things, and Anna was also great and managed to stay just out of overly melodramatic territory even though the waterworks were required. It was a textbook turning point scene for a season finale, and I think maybe the best scene they’ve had in a finale even though this finale overall may have had a little bit less ‘pop’ than seasons previous. I will admit to having quite the sad face for several hours (yes, hours) after seeing it, but of course I understand it was necessary. No decent show keeps happy couples together forever, and the Eric/Alex fans are ravenous with anticipation to see their boy as the main man. And, also, they can pretty much now do whatever the hell they like with the character of Bill because I’ve heard that after book three his character has a much smaller role. Season three is done, drawing from books 1-3 is done, so anything is possible for Mr Compton, which is exciting for viewers!
In this regard, as well as for other things like the continuing evolution of Eric, Sookie dealing with her new identity and powers and Sam’s darker side, I’m really excited for Season 4. But then there are other things that have been introduced that I’m already not keen on: the continuation of the Hotshot storyline and the Jason/Crystal pairing, witches/brujos, the more ridiculous aspects of the fairies. But, that season is still sadly a long way away, and while it’s fun to speculate we can’t diss anything until we see it happening. As for this season, after viewing all the episodes multiple times I still can’t figure out where I would place it! I don’t know if it would be in the middle, being better than S2 but not as good as S1, or equally good as S1. Actually, fuck it, now that I think about it I’m going to go with equal to S1. S1 was more cohesive and had better storylines for the supporting characters, while S3 had the best villain, more action and more Eric.
So, for my final ratings for True Blood Season 3, episode 12 gets a
7/10
And the season overall gets
8/10.
