SPOILER WARNING!!! Do not read ahead if you have not seen the fourth episode of True Blood's Season 7 "Death Is Not The End".
This episode was the most action packed, emotionally exhausting and enjoyable piece of television that True Blood has pulled off in years. The cast, crew and everyone involved in producing the show managed to bring together an episode that could easily stand side by side with the very best episodes of the shows high quality earlier seasons.
The episode began with Sookie and Jason calling Alcide's father and Hoyt respectfively, to inform them of their loved ones death's in the previous episode. It was a nice surprise to see Hoyt again, and this episode was particularly good at slipping in some old characters subtly and naturally, which helped to make a great episode even better. Alcide's death seemed somewhat brushed over, with Sookie barely acknowledging his passing, similar to Tara's death in the season premiere. I'm holding out hope that the pair will receive some sort of memorial in one of the episodes still to come.
With Holly having been rescued, albeit glamoured into forgetting everything about her ordeal, it falls to Sookie to use her fairy powers to retrieve the battered Wiccan's suppressed memories. In a superb performance by Lauren Bowles, Holly breaks down as she recalls the entirety of her traumatic experience at Fangtasia, and Andy refuses to leave her side and help the rest of the gang storm the abandoned vampire bar. I have a feeling these two will be married by seasons end; Holly certainly deserves a happy ending after what she's been through in the last few episodes! On a side note, I feel if the writers had of brought out this aspect of Sookie's powers more often, viewers may have been more receptive and interested in her fairy storyline, which in my opinion was for the most part a waste of time.
After learning about Nicole's whereabouts from Holly, Sam stupidly decides to attack Fangtasia on his own and is only talked out of it by a gun-wielding Jason, who is apparently now the voice of reason in town. Sam has felt like nothing more than a superfluous secondary character this season, possibly because the writers understand that the audience is completely uninvested in his relationship with Nicole, considering the spontaneous beginning of their "serious relationship" mere days after the death of his true love, Luna, last season. Once upon a time Sam was one of the most important characters in this show, however, now, he is by far the most expendable of the "core" players that remain.
Elsewhere, Jessica is still suffering from the bullet wound she received from Maxine Fortenberry, and we finally learn the reason her vampire healing isn't working: she hasn't fed in months. James recruits Bill to help convince her to drink, however, it is an unsympathetic Sookie who manages to sway Jessica by declaring that her guilt over killing Andy's daughters doesn't matter, only saving Arlene and the others does. Jessica feeds from Lafayette, who receives several smouldering and emotionally intense looks from James, particularly when he mentions killing Jesus whilst possessed by Marnie back in Season 4. Even with little interaction beyond a few stray lines and James' intense stare, I find the budding relationship between Lafayette and James really interesting: it feels natural as we are able to watch the pair slowly grow closer, something that has been missing in other relationships due to True Blood's tendency to make use of sudden time leaps in its storytelling.
En route to Louisiana, Pam and Eric reminisce about what originally brought them to Shreveport. In another surprise character return, the deceased Magister reappears via flashback to 1986, where he sentences Eric and Pam to running a small video store as punishment for openly flaunting their vampiric nature whilst living in France. This was a lovely touch to explain why these two powerful vampires live in such a small town. The Magister's cameo was also a nice touch, and brought a reminder of when the vampire hierarchy was still mysterious and threatening in seasons past. The relationship between Eric and Pam continues to be by far the most interesting relationship in the series to the point that I could go on watching this show for years if it was simply the "Pam and Eric Show". It was interesting to see flashback's of the pair from 1986 up to vampires coming out of the coffin in 2006, including the revelation that it was Ginger who came up with the entire idea of Fangtasia. In a particularly touching scene, the intensity of the pairs relationship was showcased with a few stray lines of dialogue, where Pam cheekily says that Eric loves her to which he implies with absolute certainty: Always.
Eric and Pam drop by Bon Temps en route to finding Sarah Newlin so that Eric can say a final farewell to his abandoned second progeny, Willa. However, he happens to swing by the Compton Mansion and shocks Sookie with the revelation that he has contracted Hep V. The pairs intense reunion is cut short by an enraged Willa who berates her maker for leaving her when she was no more than two weeks into her vampire life. Eric commands her to wait until after the attack on Fangtasia to discuss his abandonment of her and volunteers himself and Pam to join Sookie and Bill's planned assault. It was nice to see Willa recieve some worthwhile screen time and I am eager to see the fallout of her and Eric's future discussion.
In order to rescue Arlene and co. a group of vampires, led by Bill, attack Fangtasia. This was a great sequence, full of action and suspense. Although I fully expected for Jane to be killed after the trio gets word from Sam that the vampires are on their way to rescue them, when the camera pans back it is revealed that it is Arlene who has been selected by the infected vamps and dragged upstairs to be fed on. Whilst a battle rages around them, Sookie tearfully pleads with Arlene to stay with her, and uses her telepathy to hear Arlene and the spirit of Terry converse as she slowly slips away. This was one of the most emotionally charged scenes I've ever seen on True Blood, causing a couple of tears to appear in my eyes. Thankfully, one of Bill's vampires manages to feed Arlene his blood in time to save her. Thank God! Arlene is one of the best characters left on this show, and Carrie Preston's portrayal of this red-neck waitress is absolutely flawless. Additionally, Anna Paquin's performance in this episode was her strongest in a long time, particularly during Arlene's near-death scene. Sookie felt like a useful player during his episode, and even managed to do so without being idiotic, frustrating or causing the death of one of the people she cares about most.
And finally, the vigilante townspeople storyline is brought to a bloody end, when a group including, Vince, Rosie and Kenya, appear during the battle, causing nothing but trouble for Bill and his group. Thankfully, the vigilantes are all killed, neatly tying up this storyline, along with that of the Hep v vampires, who are all destroyed by Bill and co. These plot lines have been mildly interesting, however, I think this episode was the appropriate end point for both plots, in order for the show to move forward and focus on the other storylines that have developed.
Overall rating: ★★★★★
This episode was by far the absolute best of the season. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was the best episode the show has produced in several seasons! I think the main reason the episode was enjoyable was that it focused on the elements that were the strongest points of the show in its earlier years: intensely emotional character relationships, fast paced story-telling that resulted in a progression of the key plot points and suspenseful action sequences! It was a relief to see this after a season that has been plagued by useless character deaths for nothing more than shock value and story lines that have had little progression. Rather than killing characters, this episode reintroduced some old favourites, and some old antagonists, which gave the whole episode a great nostalgic vibe! Perfect score!
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