Short version: a nice balance between tying up loose threads from last season and introducing new threads for this season. spoilers will follow below the jump.
Fans of the series may recall that last season wrapped up with a few cliffhangers – Lafayette the Fruity Fry-cook was attacked by a vampire (maybe Bill) behind Merlott’s, the local police detective found a dead body in his crashed car outside the bar, and somehow Maryann the Pig Lady knows Sam. Tonight’s episode, not wanting to leave the fans hanging after we’ve waived so long, began to answer some of these questions.
1) Lafayette lives! in a dark, damp dungeon that is apparently run by Eric, owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. other dungeon denizens include one of the guys who burned down the communal-vampire-house last season. Why’d Eric lock up Lafayette? He’s after people who commit crimes against vampires, and as we saw last season, Lafayette is a V dealer.
2) the corpse in the cop’s car is the pharmacist who does pseudo-voodoo for extra cash.
3) and Maryann is explained! sort of. she knows sam because he tried to burglarize her house many years ago, so she had sex wit him, and did that weird vibrating thingie that she did with the pig last season. also, she has a mural of Pan by her swimming pool, and is trying to get Tara to have sex with her other houseguest, so apparently sex is a power-source for her, even if other people are having it. I think she’s a maenad, or perhaps some sort of ancient greek witch like the Thessalien character in the Sandman comics.
of course, this season opener raises as many questions as it answers, if not more, with such mysteries to solve as….
1) who put the mutilated corpse in the cop’s car? why? vampires are typically more discrete, and last season’s serial killer is dead (also, not his style – he was a strangler).
2) Maryann isn;’t after sam to return the money he stole from her, so what DOES she want? more sex with the shapeshifter?
3) willikers. Sookie got used to the idea of her boyfriend having to raise a teenage daughter REAL quick. what’s up with that? weird maternal instinct, or is she just glad to have someone else in Bill’s household to spy on him for her?
4) finally, thankfully, vampire-gods be praised, they’re bringing in some honest-to-Dracula HORROR! Eric has a dungeon! and rips people apart! I know this really isn’t a question raised by the season premier, but it’s a thematic element I hope they run with. less soap opera, more horror, wrap it up with anna paquin naked. definitely a good trend there.
Tags: bill compton, eric, review, sookie stackhouse, true blood
