True Blood Recap: “In the Beginning”

by Sarabeth Pollock:

True Blood Recap: “In the Beginning”
Original Air Date (HBO): Sunday July 27, 2012
Season 5 Episode 7

Wow.  Oh wow.  Well, Fang Nation, I don’t know about you, but I feel exhausted about tonight’s True Blood.  On the one hand, it looks like we were right that Salome was the one who freed Russell.  But on the other hand it seems like Roman really is dead.  I don’t get it.  Christopher Meloni was at Comic-Con last week.  I was there.  I saw him.  He can’t be dead already…can he?

We begin exactly where we left off last week.  Russell has sent Roman to the True Death (sigh), and then he jumps onto Eric. Dieter calls for emergency protocol, and suddenly the authority board room becomes an ultraviolet light disco.  In her cell, Nora is also being bombarded by the UV rays, but she sees it as a sign of Lilith’s return.  In the melee, Bill keeps calling out (rather frantically) for Eric to make sure he’s ok.  His concern is touching.  The soldiers capture Russell in a silver net, and he laughs.  Apparently silver doesn’t do much to stop the former King of Mississippi anymore.  When the lights come back up, Bill scours the room to find Eric tied to a column with a band of silver around his neck.  “The view from here is spectacular,” Eric notes drily.

At the fairy nightclub, the fairies test Sookie’s luminescence.   Jason hovers nearby, asking for an explanation of fairy mysticism in layman’s terms.  When Sookie wakes up, one of the female fairies assures her that she’s safe.  “Like hell I am,” she retorts hotly, “you’re one of the bitches who zapped me!”  Claude explains that as a half-human, half-fairy, her powers are finite.  Her power has been depleting, and she herself realizes it when she thinks about how she has been off her game as of late.  Jason suggests that they plug Sookie back in to be charged up.  Claude warns that if Sookie uses up her power, she will no longer be a fairy.  While Jason contemplates the other “shit she can do,” Sookie ponders what life could be like without her powers that make her different from everyone else.

Deputy Kevin is at the Stake House interviewing Andy about Junior’s death.  Andy asserts that he didn’t see the gun until Sam had already shot him.  Kevin admonishes him, telling him that this isn’t the way they operate, and Andy gets more and more aggravated.  Coroner Spencer arrives, having left his lady friend’s house, and he is upset that Junior is already bagged up.  He wanted to see the crossbow in his chest, he sighs in disappointment.  Meanwhile, Kenya has Sam in the storage room.  Sam picks up a scent in one of the boxes, and he asks Kenya to get it down.  Inside, there are dozens of the Obama masks that they shooters had been wearing.  “The bigots bought in bulk!” he exclaims.

Speaking of bigots, Hoyt’s “rescuers” have returned to their base of operations.  Hoyt expresses regret that they’d witnessed him being bitten.  At that point, we start to see why these guys are so anti-supes: they believe that all of the craziness in the world happened when vampires went mainstream and started acting like they’re better than the lowly humans around them.  Vamps make it seem like a crime to be human.   Hoyt, feeling the bitterness of Jessica’s rejection, starts to feel like a kindred spirit to this group: “there’s more love and acceptance in this hate group than there is in church.”  The group convinces Hoyt that Jessica date raped him, and that they are there to hate Jessica with him.  Hmm.  The Sanguinistas are upset about having to go mainstream, and these guys hate the vampires for living out in the open.  Interesting.  While Hoyt integrates with his new friends, they get a phone call that supes killed Junior at the Stake House.  Uh oh.

Back in New Orleans, Bill and Eric are back in a holding cell contemplating their situation.  Bill believes that they were used as pawns to deliver Russell to the Sanguinistas.  Eric insists that he never told Nora about Russell’s whereabouts.  They both want to know why the silver didn’t work on him.  They ask Molly if she is one of the Sanguinistas since Russell’s iStake didn’t work.  She says she isn’t.  Then the messenger comes in—Salome wants to see Bill and Eric.  When they enter her room, Nora greets Eric.  He tells her to fuck herself.  No love there.  Russell makes an entrance, suggesting that they let bygones be bygones.  It’s “olive branch time,” he says.  To prove his intentions, he points out that he could have killed Eric, but he didn’t.  Nora starts to say that she was trying to save Eric and Bill from the Authority, but Eric won’t hear it.  Salome admits that she followed Eric and Bill when they went to bury Russell.  She knew that Russell was the only vampire strong enough to take out the leader of the Authority.  Bill doesn’t buy her tears for Roman—you can’t be a grieving widow and the leader of a coup.  Nora urges Eric to join them.  Eric delivers one of the best lines ever—“Never, you Bible-banging cunts.”  Bill agrees, asserting that mainstreaming is the only way.  Salome withholds judgment, requesting Bill and Eric’s presence at a ceremony the following evening.  Wow.

Alcide spars with his prospective second-in-command, Rikki.  He’s wearing basketball shorts and a Rambo-esque headband.  She accuses him of not taking their training seriously (he says it’s halftime).  They need to be ready to fight wolves high on V, and they also need to be ready to lose.  Alcide won’t even consider taking V to level the playing field.  He likens it to swallowing death.  So they’ll continue to train…and tussle on the ground in the hay.  Martha walks in and chastises their efforts.  Her husband used to be the pack master, she explains, and when he died JD was supposed to take over.  But JD instead focused on making Marcus a great leader.  She tells Alcide to let JD have his turn.  They are interrupted when Wolf-Emma runs in.  Martha leaves to get her grand-wolf something to eat.

Back in Bon Temps, Arlene watches her wedding video.  She hears the messages from her friends: Andy, Holly, Jason (who wishes Sookie could be there to see it…before running after one of the attractive out-of-town weeding guests), Hoyt and Jessica, Lafayette and Jesus, and finally Sam.  They all wish nothing but the best for Arlene and Terry.  Holly walks in when she’s giving her message on the video.  She cautions Arlene that crazy and PTSD are two different things, and that after all they have been through hearing that a smoke monster has cursed Terry isn’t that farfetched.  It doesn’t mean that he is crazy.  Holly asks if Arlene can live with herself if she gives up on the man she loves?  Arlene knows she is right.  “Fuck you and your tough love,” she tells Holly.

Jason brings Sookie breakfast in bed even though it’s after noon (he doesn’t know how to cook lunch, he admits).  In one of the most touching moments of the season so far, Jason tells Sookie that it wasn’t her fault that the vampire went after her blood in their parents’ car.  For years Jason thought that their death was his fault somehow, but Sookie never treated him like it was his fault.  Now it’s his turn to shoulder the burden, and he won’t let her take on this guilt.  Though he’s probably late for work, he stays and shares her bacon.

Andy, facing a crisis of confidence (and conscience) seeks out advice from former Bon Temps sheriff Bud Dearborn.  Though Bud doesn’t welcome Andy into his home, Andy manages to blurt out that killers are attacking “shit” he “doesn’t understand,” and he needs to know what to do.  He wants Bud to tell him he’s doing a good job.  But Bud reminds Andy that he never told him to come see him for advice.  Bud has a date with a hot tub and a woman who isn’t his wife…and an experimental male enhancement ointment.  O-kay.

Lafayette seeks out Don Bartolo.  He goes to the shack he visited with Jesus, and he finds the door unlocked.  Once inside, he finds Jesus’ head sitting on a chair shaped like a hand.  Then he hears the gun cocking behind him.  Don Bartolo says that Jesus had a gift, and he wants to take it back.

At the hospital, Sam convinces Luna that she’s safer there.  Sookie comes to provide Sam with backup.  She brings magazines and junk food to Luna, who devours the Sonic like she hasn’t eaten in years.  While she’s eating, Sookie buys Sam a coffee and tells him that the word around town is that he’s a bulletproof superhero.  Sam doesn’t feel like a superhero, especially not when these thugs are shooting at an eight-year old.  Being a superhero was never something Sam wanted.  Sookie asks if he would give up his powers if it was possible, to give up being special to become a normal human.  On this matter, Sam is thoughtfully resolute.  He wouldn’t give it up, but he acknowledges that it will take work to keep his loved ones safe.  The world would be safer without the special powers, but they are part of him.  As Sookie buys herself a coffee, Sam senses that something is on Sookie’s mind.

Back at Fangtasia, newborn vampire Tara has wasted no time in shedding her old attire and donning a risqué leather bikini that must have come from Pam’s closet.  She’s up on a pole doing a very provocative number (we got a preview of Tara’s moves at the True Blood panel at Comic Con) and Pam looks on proudly, while also proudly rocking crimped hair.  Suddenly Lettie Mae, Tara’s mom, enters the bar.  She sees Tara and demands to know how Tara could do this to her—she’s married to a minister and it’s a disgrace to have a daughter who is a vampire.  She has come to let Tara know that she considers Tara to be dead now.  Tara takes it in, promising that it won’t be the last time Lettie Mae sees her.

The following evening, Bill and Eric, along with the chancellors, gather with Russell, Nora and Salome in the chamber that holds the vial of Lilith’s blood.  Salome announces that Lilith forgives Russell for killing Roman (it was for the greater good, Russell points out) and so Russell offers praise for Lilith.  There is a chorus of “praise her” around the room.  Lilith died by human hands, and her blood was captured in the vial.  Salome says that they will all drink the blood together.  Dieter, who until now has been struggling not to flip out, says that this is blasphemy.  He’s been a member of the Authority as long as Roman…but Russell decapitates him before he can say anything else.  Russell contritely asks for Lilith’s forgiveness, which Salome grants.  Around the room the vampires prepare to receive her blood.  Steve Newlin is there and tells everyone that he’s just happy to be included.  Eric and Bill exchange worried looks.  What will this powerful vampire blood do to them?

The answer, it would seem, is Vampires Gone Wild, Bourbon Street edition!  Russell is resplendent in a dark suit and fedora.  Steve is totally jealous of his outfit; Russell tells him he needs more seniority in the group before he can challenge Russell’s wardrobe.  The vampires walk down the street like they own it.  When a taxi honks at them, Bill and Eric verbally attack the driver, scaring him senseless.  They’re out of control.

Back at Fangtasia, Pam tells Tara that she looked good up on the pole.  She tells her that her mom is a bitch, and though Tara agrees, she is still crying in spite of her hatred.  Pam assures her that in a hundred years her mother will be an afterthought.  Tara hugs Pam, and Pam returns the embrace before announcing that Tara’s break is over and it’s time to get back on the pole.  But the message is clear—the pole is just a metaphor for what Tara is going through.  It might be hard right now, but she just needs to get back on the pole and keep going.

Lafayette is actually quiet for once, and it’s not because he doesn’t have anything to say.  Don Bartolo has stitched his mouth shut and is going to drain his blood to feed it to his pregnant wife.  She’s carrying his son, and with Lafayette’s blood he will grow up to be as strong as Jesus.  He cuts Lafayette’s head…but then his wife jumps up from the floor and takes the knife, stabbing Don Bartolo several times.  She spits on him and calls him a bastard (in Spanish), and then she uses the knife to cut Lafayette’s mouth open.

JD is back in the barn telling everyone that his vampire supplier says that the end of days is coming, and that there will be a way between the humans and the vampires.  Werewolves need to join with the vampires, but they must drink the blood in order to prove their trust.  Emma walks in and JD offers her the blood.  Martha intervenes, shocked, and tells JD that “I don’t know you no more.”

Russell joins a young woman on stage at a karaoke bar.  She’s singing “You Light up my Life,” and at first she seems confused by his presence, but then her mother recognizes Russell from the news stories and the other vampires in the bar attack the patrons.  The young woman cries out for her mother…and Russell advises her that she should be worried about her own life.  Then he sinks his teeth in her neck.

Remember Terry and Patrick?  They’re sitting in a field in the dark.  They can’t light a fire for fear of summoning the Ifrit.  But the Ifrit comes anyway, and Terry becomes enraged at the notion that it’s toying with them. That isn’t what Terry signed up for.  Terry takes the gun and puts it under his chin.  Patrick reminds him of the loving family he left behind.  He apologizes for issuing the order that killed the old woman.  “But you did,” Terry reminds him.

At Chez Compton, Jessica is in the middle of feeding on a man’s femoral artery when Jason knocks at the door.  He’s been drinking and he’s confused about his parents.  He tells Jessica that vampires killed his parents.  She asks if he knows who it was.  Across the cemetery, Sookie arrives home while pondering all the times people have questions what she is.  Is it a gift or a curse?  Suddenly Sookie starts shooting out fairy lasers, trying to deplete her powers.  Jason tells Jessica how fucked up it all is.  Jessica responds by kissing him, but Jason tastes the blood on her lips.  He becomes enraged that she was feeding on a man she doesn’t even know.   She bites Jason, and Jason shoots her in the head.  Bill’s security team rushes the scene (where did they come from and where have they been all this time?) and point their guns at Jason.  Jason laughs.  You’ll heal, he tells her as he wipes her blood across the bite on his neck, “and so will I.”

Back in the Bourbon Street club, the vampires are feasting on the humans they have trapped.  A drop of blood falls into a pool, and suddenly a very naked woman rises from the bloodied water.

Lilith has risen.

She walks through the room, and her blood-tinged breath encourages the vampires to continue their feast.  She sends Nora into a feeding frenzy all over again.

Godric appears to Eric, telling him that this is wrong and that Nora can’t see the error of her ways.  Godric tells Eric to save her.  Slowly, Eric looks upon the room as if realizing for the first time what they have done.

Remember that scene from Jerry Maguire when Tom Cruise goes to bed after eating bad pizza and wakes up with a conscience?  It looks like Eric is experiencing the same thing.  I find it fascinating that Eric will be the one to fight the Sanguinista movement.  Of course he will follow Godric’s request, but Bill seems the more natural choice.  Now that Roman is truly dead, nothing surprises me anymore about this show.  But that’s a good thing.  Tonight we also saw Hoyt ride out with the hate mob, and Sam tracked down one of the shooters in the hospital.  I can’t even imagine what is coming our way after this week’s episode.  It would seem that things are heating up in Bon Temps!  As always, I want to hear your comments.  Post them here or send them to me on Twitter.  Until next week, Fang Nation!

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DarkMedia contributor Sarabeth Pollock is an avid writer, reader, and pop culture fan.  Follow her on Twitter at @SarabethPollock and check out her blog at http://sarabethpollock.wordpress.com.