Before the spoiler cut, this was the best ending ever. If you hated everything else in True Blood 3×09 “Everything is Broken,” you need to stick through until the last scene. It’s brilliant and over-the-top. Just in the perfect way that keeps me coming back for more.
To launch right into things, I rather sick of every woman’s backstory containing sexual abuse or physical abuse. In True Blood, Sookie was molested by her great-uncle; Tara raped by Franklin; Holly raped pre-series; Crystal abused by her finance; and Pam was a prostitute over 100 years ago.
As much as I’m thrilled that Tara is going to a support group, I’m not thrilled this has become her plot. (When Sam suggested talking to a therapist, I cheered loudly.) It’s tiring. It’s an overused trope to make women “interesting” or give them a “plot.” Come on, writers, we can do it better. These are not the only plots the women characters can have. Rape doesn’t give someone character or depth.
On top of all this, Jason Stackhouse comes riding in on his white horse to save both Crystal and Tara from their abusers. With how quickly Jason ended Franklin’s life, I don’t understand why Tara just couldn’t have killed him back in that bedroom at Russell’s. That would’ve given her agency. Instead, Jason shoots him with a wooden bullet. (Though I was pleased to see some vampire genre show using wooden bullets.) Jason saved her. She would’ve died without him there. Or at least this is what the story told us.
In my head, I was really hoping for Jason to shoot Franklin with regular bullets. Because while regular ones don’t kill vampires, it does injure them. And then to have Tara grab a piece of wood (perhaps rip off a piece of Merlotte’s siding) and stake Franklin. But instead, Jason saves the day. Stupid Jason Stackhouse who would’ve been dead five times over and raped if he was a female character on this show.
Onto Sookie, I don’t understand why she couldn’t have another scene with Claudine to figure out what she is on her own. Why does Bill have to inform her? This frustrates me.
Also why didn’t Sookie try to keep Hadley from taking away Hunter. Hadley basically has a giant target on her back.
I really hate Sookie and Bill being together. And it doesn’t help that the actors are a couple in real life. I find most couples acting on screen like they’re into each other to be unbelievable, especially if it’s supposed to be that fiery passion of new love. (See Shawn and Jules on Psych or that one episode of Angel where Wesley flirts with Willow.)
Okay, let’s talk about the shiny things…
Jesus and Lafayette continue to be adorable together. (Jesus’ tattoo of a jaguar is a total red herring.) And I’m glad that Tara is happy for Lafayette amongst her own problems. Plus, with all the people getting killed or injured, they really need someone with medical training around. Just saying.
Hoyt and Jessica reconnecting and Summer and her creepy dolls. Summer is basically a mini-version of Hoyt’s mother, and with all the antiquing, he’s starting to notice.
Pam. Lots of Pam makes me incredibly happy. I love her and Eric’s relationship so much. I adored how upset she got at him for not sharing about his quest to kill Russell. (Which totally kills the story in my head about Eric, Godric, and Pam hunting the werewolves. OMG, team win right there.) Because Pam would’ve been there, helping Eric out. He is her family.
And I loved the scene between them when Eric doesn’t sleep and Pam wakes up. I have to give the writers credit here for what they’ve brought to Pam. Yes, she’s in the books and pretty cool there. But it’s also clear that Charlaine Harris doesn’t quite know what to do with her because she only sees people like Pam from afar. Pam in “Everything is Broken” shows a vulnerability without killing her reputation or degrading her character.
The moment Nan Flanagan, the spokesperson for the American Vampire League, says that she only drinks True Blood, I knew they were going to show her drinking from a human. And a very lovely human at that.
Russell has gone insane since the death of Talbot. Which after being married to and clearly having affection for someone for that long, I think a temporary bit of grief-induced insanity is allowable. However, Russell being as powerful as he is makes him even more cuckoo and dangerous.
The whole clutching red bits of Talbot at the beginning was rather grotesque and overdone. But I do think the scene nicely played into Russell talking to Talbot’s urn. (Talbot would’ve been proud at his extremely gaudy crystal urn.) Err…does vampire red stuff decompose? Because that could get stinky. (Somewhere, Buffy is happy that in her universe, vampires go poof into dust.)
I really love news media or other media used in stories when done right, and Russell ripping out the spine of the TV anchorman on live television was perfect. Brilliant bit of acting here. I loved him playing right into humanity’s fears about vampires, and how we know he’s batshit insane currently, but the people in the universe don’t.
“Why would we seek equal rights? You are not our equals. We will eat you, after we eat your children… Now, time for the weather. Tiffany?”
I could watch that bit over and over.
Why are they moving the Hunter thing up so many books ahead?
I don’t know. It’s not like they need to give Sookie another reason to be worried. Also, Hadley is still very human. Ball seems to really be rewriting the plots involving Sophie-Ann.