The premiere of the 5th season of HBO’s True Blood had a lot to accomplish in an hour. It needed to answer all of the burning questions from last year’s finale, as well as give us a reason to keep watching for the next few months (besides the fact that the entire cast is painfully attractive and usually semi-naked).
How the hell did Reverend Steve end up a vampire?
He shows up on Jason’s doorstep to talk because he has no one else to turn to. Apparently he was turned as a punishment and then abandoned as a newborn. Or so he says. He manages to convince Jason to pity him and then glamours him into an invite. The good Rev’s whole reason for doing this? MAN CRUSH. He’s a gay vampire American.
The good Rev doesn’t take Jason’s rejection well, but before anything noteworthy could happen, Jessica interrupts and claims Jason. As excited as I was for the resolution of this plot twist, I’m left to wonder – what’s the point?
How the heck did King Russell escape his concrete prison?
Beats me. Let’s hope the show deals with this sooner rather than later. This was the one storyline I was truly curious about.
Are Bill and Eric in serious trouble? Does this mean more scenes together for the drop-dead gorgeous frenemies?
After killing Nan and cleaning up the mess, they’re immediately captured by the Authority and locked in a car truck. The car blows up. There’s a touching scene where Eric refuses to leave Bill in the wreckage, but that gets interrupted by the introduction of the first new character of the season, Nora. Apparently she’s Eric’s sister… who he likes to kiss.
They’re given new identities to disappear – Marcellus Clark and Ike Applebaum, but before they can depart, the Authority manages to capture them… again.
With Bill, Eric and Debbie out of the picture, are Sookie and Alcide finally going to hook up?
Alcide invites Sookie to move in with him, for her own protection (suuure…), because Russell is on the loose. Lafayette interrupts her before she can confess to killing Debbie and convinces her that admitting it would be the end of both of them. I’m not really sure what impact that would actually have on Lafayette’s life, but I guess without Jesus and the witches the writers had to figure how to keep him relevant. Anyways – as for Alcide and Sookie – we can only hope. I’m curious to see if Sookie can actually sustain a relationship with someone who is alive.
Is Tara dead?
Kind of? After a few minutes of bargaining, Lafayette and Sookie convince Pam to turn Tara, effectively turning her into the one thing she hates. Here’s to hoping she commits vampire suicide and ends her incessant whining once and for all. But before that can happen, she rises from her vamp grave and possibly attacks Sookie. Guess we’ll find out next week.
The show also dives deeper into some other mysteries introduced at the end of last season – namely, what the heck happened during Terry’s secret army life? The only new info really given was that the fire was not the fault of the mother-in-mourning ghost, but connected to something that happened a long time ago with his platoon in Iraq.
Also, Sheriff Bellefleur finally got some.
The best line of the night goes to Pam: “I’m wearing a Wal-Mart sweatsuit for y’all. If that’s not a demonstration of team spirit, I dunno what is”
