In the best episode yet of the season, we get a whole lot of everything we love about this show: gore, sex, and a wtf moment so wtf I really hope it’s not all this great episode gets remembered for. Really, besides the still fairly meh storyline with Sam and his family and the under whelming hookup of Tara and Franklin, everything about 303 ‘It Hurts Me Too’ was entertaining as hell and left me wanting more.Eric and Sookie’s relationship is evolving nicely, and it’s good to see them steering away from the clichéd sexual tension between them that has been present since season two. Of course it’s there, and it needs to be, but their interaction during this episode saw them bantering more as friends, with some occasional teasing and light flirting (the fact that everyone knew that line about bullet sucking was coming didn’t make it any less snicker-worthy). I think it was a refreshing change. The very cinematic opening with the bullet in slow motion was pretty cool, and it was awesome seeing angry, snarly Eric demanding information. The list of unfortunates who have had their throat ripped out by our fave sheriff has now grown by one, with Rob Zombie looking biker-were joining Royce, aka Aidsburger. Spare a thought for poor Sook, she seems to constantly be cleaning bodily fluids from her floors.
These two also had some nice moments with other characters. Eric had yet another unannounced visit to Lafayette, where he presented him with a seriously sweet ride (for $1 of course, to avoid that pesky gift tax). There is something about these two that makes them always entertaining together, probably because Eric seems to flutter between being completely condescending and reluctantly admiring. Sookie and Tara seem to be friends again, which is the way it should be dammit! Sookie also had another important encounter with new character Alcide, a werewolf who is employed to protect her. I was really looking forward to seeing him as he has been hyped up as a main character for this season, and it was a promising debut appearance. Joe Mangianello and Anna Paquin seem to have a good chemistry together (their little chat over tea was cute) and Joe is rather easy on the eyes too. I guess there weren’t enough beautiful people on the show already?
But in my opinion this episode was all about Bill, both as a character arc and the acting job of Stephen Moyer. The whole situation with Russell, and Lorena in the mix too, is starting to get very juicy indeed. There’s secrets and switches of allegiance and promises and fake promises and a whole lotta vampire politics, and you just know it’s gonna explode real soon. And those flashbacks? Beautiful in every way. Visually, with the darkness of the era captured, fantastic and powerful acting (Shannon Lucio was very good as Caroline, Bill’s human wife) and extremely effective for both revealing the distant past and furthering current happenings. They were gripping scenes and quite heartbreaking to watch, especially the first one with Bill seeing his young son dead of the pox. To me they were the best parts of the episode.
It seems as though the writers have taken a break from tormenting poor Sam for a little while and have stuck their nasty little claws into Bill. He really is between a rock and a hard place- turn Sookie and rob her of her humanity like he was robbed of his, or leave her mortal and be subjected to the dangers of the vampire world, including being used as a pawn by Russell in whatever it is he has planned. It’s all enough to make a good vampire snap, and boy oh boy did Bill do some literal and figurative snapping. Now, there have been reactions to the closing scene from everywhere, and I’d be very surprised if you hadn’t heard about or seen it yet so I won’t go into the grotesque details. My thoughts? After getting awfully blasé about everything in season 2 I very much enjoyed Bill just getting overcome with the bullshit of it all and losing it. Do I think there could have been a different, less controversial way to show this? Of course, but a) I’m thinking there may be a reason why he did this to be explained in the next episode, and b) this show isn’t afraid of controversy and may have wanted to be intentionally provocative. And I’ll leave it that because it’s been debated to death and like I said, it’s one scene from a very high quality episode.
Best quotes:
-Eric after killing the were: ‘I got your rug all wet.’
-Russell about Talbot’s dramatics: ‘It’s like Armageddon in here every time somebody chips a dessert glass.’
-Sam’s redneck mom to his even more redneck dad: ‘Down the sink! Jesus H, you ain’t seen your son in over 30 years and you can’t cork it for one night?’
-Pam to Jess about body disposal: ‘Did you call the hypothetical hardware store and buy theoretical chainsaw?’
-Lorena giving some hurtful truths: ‘The only way to show your love for a human is stay away. Forever.’
-Franklin doing severed head puppetry: ‘You sure got some pretty lips girlfriend!’
-Bill getting all angsty on Lorena again: ‘You have deprived me of my freedom. My home. My humanity. I will never. Ever. Love you.’
For everything starting to come together and the amazing flashback scenes, ep 303 gets a near-perfect score of…
9/10.
