Coon-Ass

True Blood looks to get back on track this week after last week’s train wreck. It seems to be on the right track too as in the opening moments Sam admits to being a shape shifter to Sookie. I’ve been waiting on that one for weeks. Plus as a bonus, Tara is getting an exorcism and LaFayette waxes his chest.

Last week, Jason tried to see the human in Eddie their vampire hostage. Jason even went so far as to defy hippie girlfriend and bring True Blood to their depleted hostage. Amy begins to suggest a plan to Jason. She wants to induce a degree of stockholm syndrome into their hostage, hoping to convince Eddie that he should have sympathy for them and become a willing participant.

It was only a matter of time until LaFayette discovered Eddie’s kidnapping. LaFayette confronts Jason at Arlene’s engagement party. LaFayette thinks that Eddie’s been taken away by vampires and he might be next on their list. Jason is moved and decides to let Eddie free. Amy tries to stop him and in the struggle, she kills Eddie. Its a real shame too as Eddie in just a few episodes had become one of the more compelling elements on the show.

After being discovered, Sam gives Sookie the lowdown on his shape shifting abilities. He can change into any creature, though dogs are his favorite. He takes offense at being called a werewolf so I suppose I owe Sam an apology for referring to him at the “were-tender.” Sookie feels betrayed for some reason and continues to act like a child. No real surprise here, Sookie’s reactions are shallow and glib as usual. For someone who has been hiding a psychic ability her whole life, she sure is hypocritical with others. Her childish behavior is as usual, the weakest element of the show.

Tara’s exorcism seems to consist mainly of voodoo priestess’ spit and that leaf incense you used to be able to buy in the parking lot of Phish concerts, plus, even more projectile vomit. Tara slays the demon inside her and she falls down in tears. She and her post-drunk momma reconcile in the wake of her turn around and go get crawfish. In doing so, Tara discovers the voodoo lady is really a fraud who works at the local drug store. Tara now has to decide if she’s going to ruin her mom’s turn around by telling her the truth or lying to her. She decides to cope with it like most people. She puts on an ugly prom dress, gets drunk and tries to have sex with Sam.

Bill’s tribunal looks pretty bleak since they kick off the proceedings with the ripping of a vampire’s fangs out for the crime of feeding on a human who belongs to another vampire. The inquisition-trained magistrate is clearly going to bring the hammer down on Bill. The real question is how hard. The vampires have kidnapped an innocent girl who snuck out of her parents house and they want Bill to kill her and make her a vampire. Its a pretty brutal scene emotionally and its meant to remind us of Bill’s conflict between being a blood-sucking vampire and being a humanist. We’ll see how it all comes together net week when he has to face Sookie again after he’s engaged in this latest barbarism.