Writer: Chris Offutt
Director: Marcos Siega
Originally Aired: 10/19/2008
Grade: A-
Sookie being molested by Uncle Bartlett could have come off as a cheap, easy way of forcing the audience to empathize with Sookie, but it actually makes perfect sense with her characterization thus far. We already knew she was still a virgin in her 20s, which is fairly uncommon in my experience, so it didn’t come out of nowhere. Sookie’s talking to Bill about her difficulty with sex and the reason why showcased her endearing honesty and vulnerability. I also loved it when Bill tried to comfort her by saying it wasn’t her fault, and she responded very firmly with, “I know that.”
Also, I know Sookie sends out signals that basically say, “Don’t baby me, don’t try to help me, don’t treat me like I’m weak or stupid,” but I don’t think we saw enough of Sookie feeling sad by herself or of people actually letting Sookie know they were still concerned about her in the wake of her grandmother’s death. I mean, she actually said, “Can’t I just be in a good mood without it being a big deal? It’s a pretty night outside, and I’m glad to be enjoying it with my friends!” Really, Sookie? Maybe I’ve just never seen anyone try to project “I’m not wallowing in my grief” quite as strongly as that, but it was somewhat off-putting. There’s good sex and trying to be strong, and then there’s fucking psychosis, girl.
As far as her being all giggly and glowy at Merlotte’s, again, not sure what’s up with that, because it makes her seem fourteen rather than the twenty-five she actually is. I’m just going to have to write it off as being related to her drinking Bill’s blood when they made love, even though we didn’t see that happen, and even though Jason doesn’t act like he’s on X when he does V (wow, that came out unintentionally silly). Paquin’s acting may also be to blame, because I think toning it down A LOT would’ve done a better job of getting across that Sookie’s in a weird place because of the juxtaposition of Gran’s death and the loss of her virginity.
Sam yanking off Sookie’s handkerchief to reveal her bite marks in front of the whole bar was appalling considering that there’s a murderer in town who is preying on women who have relations with vamps. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to even take that. I’d wonder if it was poor characterization for the sake of allowing the murderer to be sure that Sookie is “tainted,” but Sookie was already a target, so while Sam’s actions certainly didn’t help matters, that doesn’t really work. Were the writers genuinely intending for Sam to come off as selfish, impulsive, and stupid? It’s great that all of these characters are flawed, but that’s taking it a bit too far. And of course, Sookie played her own part in that fiasco by flipping moods in an instant and bitchily announcing her sex life to the entire bar, but that still doesn’t excuse Sam’s initial action.
Tara watching her mother try to suck spilled coffee + booze out of her clothing was… god, there are no words for that. I can completely understand why Tara came up with the money to get her mother an “exorcism.” As for Jeanette and the exorcism itself, I’m not sure if she actually did something magical to Lettie Mae, or if she’s just a really good performer. Either way, poor possum, and keep your hands off Tara, crazy hoodoo lady, because I like her fine the way she is.
Bill murdering Uncle Bartlett—right or wrong? Is that question even worth asking, or should we just be asking what his motivation was and how Sookie would feel about it if she knew? It could be seen as him avenging her honor, which makes sense with his old-fashioned persona, but he also hasn’t told her yet, so Bill’s the only one who actually got anything out of it. Bill killing Bartlett didn’t do squat for Sookie.
Amy… Amy reminds me of the past behavior of a friend of mine, so much so that it’s almost painful to watch. The way she saved Jason at Fangtasia doesn’t strike me as being something she did just to be nice; she saw some kind of opportunity there. And the way she started rambling about how awesome his truck was and how “unselfconscious” his house was, trying to get on his good side, to force a connection… she makes my skin crawl already. Still, Lizzy Caplan is great in the role, although I’m not sure how I feel about her very-likely-fake boobs. Fake boobs on characters where it doesn’t make sense for that character to have them is one of my pet peeves because it just pulls me out of the show and forces me to fanwank. I guess I could fanwank that because Amy’s family is well off, she probably could have found a way to afford it before they cut her off and before she got into this hippy Gaia spirituality crap (which certainly doesn’t jive with plastic boobies). But I hate having to make shit up to justify it in the first place. Then again, like I said, Caplan is great in the role, so I’m willing to try to overlook it. It’ll help if she keeps her shirt on more often than not…
I still love Terry.
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