"I Found You" - True Blood Season 7 Episode 2 review

SPOILER WARNING!!! Do not read ahead if you have not seen the second episode of True Blood's Season 7 "I Found You".

This episode kicked off with a bang (literally!) with Jason finally suffering the after effects of drinking Eric's blood last season. This scene was clearly aimed at pleasing True Blood's vocal gay fan base, and certainly didn't disappoint. Although gay myself, I found this scene more humorous than erotic, which I suspect may have been the intention of both the writers and Alexander Skarsgard and Ryan Kwanten. 

Aside from Jason's Eric orientated sex dream, very little happened in this episode. Although Sookie appeared much more prominently than in the premiere, helping Sheriff Andy, Sam, Jason and her boyfriend Alcide to track the infected vampires by joining them on a road trip to nearby town Saint Alice, her storyline did not seem to move forward in any significant manner. The only information worthy of note to come out of this adventure was that Saint Alice had been entirely wiped out by the Hep-V ravaged vampires. After reading the diary of a girl who fell in love with a vampire just like her, Sookie predictably snuck off on Alcide to go and see her first love Bill, and cryptically asked whether he can still feel her fear.

Whilst the entire Bon Temps Sheriff's department, aside from Kenya, is off searching an abandoned town, Sam's new nemesis Vince manages to persuade the townspeople to take matters into their own hands by marching on the Sheriff's office in order to arm themselves. Andy's daughter Adilyn manages to get to Kenya before the mob, however, surprisingly Kenya turns on her and arms the mob, fed up with playing second fiddle to Andy! Although Adilyn is captured, Jessica swears to help Andy rescue her when the sun goes down. The townspeople storyline seemed uninteresting to me initially, however, Kenya's betrayal did serve to surprise me, and with her training and a cache of weapons, the townspeople led by Vince could serve as a more threatening antagonist for this season than the Hep-V infected vampires. Additionally, I enjoyed watching the relationship between Jessica and Andy grow, almost as much as I enjoyed the Jessica-Adilyn combo last week.

Elsewhere, Arlene, Holly and Nicole are still held captive by the Hep-V vamps. However, Arlene and Holly see a light at the end of the tunnel when they recognise one of the vampires as Mrs. Betty Harris, a teacher that had a big impact on their children in earlier years. They manage to convince Betty to help them escape, however, when the time finally comes to leave Betty has become so weak from her infection that she suffered the True Death (all over Arlene), snuffing out the captives one ray of hope. Carrie Preston is absolutely fantastic as Arlene. When given the right material, Preston manages to make this simple waitress shine, and the viewer really feels every emotion that the character goes through. Similarly, Lauren Bowles has created both a likeable and interesting character with her portrayal of Holly Clearly, who serves as the calm voice of reason throughout the trio's ordeal, but still manages to invoke emotion where necessary.

Unfortunately, Tara's storyline is going in the direction I suspected it would; after convincing the always-naive Willa to let her drink more of her blood, Lettie Mae immediately experiences a strange vision of Tara, strapped to a crucifix and wrapped in a snake. It is a giant slap in the face of Rutina Wesley that she is being so under-used after portraying a character for 6 seasons to a very high standard. I really hope the writers surprise me by taking this storyline in another direction, however, I highly doubt that this will happen. On the plus side, I really enjoyed Lettie Mae's interaction with Lafayette; it felt like we we're watching a Thornton family feud from back in the earlier seasons.

And finally, the always sassy Pam appeared right at the end of the episode and as the episode title suggests, she found Eric, however, there is a catch; he has somehow become infected with Hep V. I am always excited for any storyline involving Pam and Eric, I feel that the actors have a chemistry when working together that is often missing from other relationships on the show. However, I did not find the revelation that Eric had contracted Hep V to be particularly shocking, and do not expect him to meet the same sticky end as his sister Nora or the unfortunate Betty.

Overall rating:  ★★★

I felt that this episode helped move in the right direction with several storylines; Holly and Arlene managing to invoke both emotion and humour during their ordeal at Fangtasia, Kenya betraying Adilyn by arming the angry townspeople and Eric being found so early in the season are all elements that worked really well. However, the V-induced visions of Tara are predictable and not worthy of the character or the actress who portrays her, and Sookie and co's search for their friends should have led them to Fangtasia approximately one minute after they had been abducted. Additionally, I find the idea of Hepatitis V particularly unthreatening, especially now that a character as indispensable as Eric has contracted it, as there is now no doubt that a cure will be found. Here's to hoping that the storylines move further along next week!

Thanks for reading,

Mark ♕♕