True Blood recap S1E6 (10/12/08)

With my humblest apologies for the delay, I give you the latest episode recap of True Blood, cusswords and all:

There is blood everywhere. Gram is in the middle of it. Sookie falls to her knees, shaking, until Bill appears and grabs her up. She doesn’t recognize him at first and then she clings to him fiercely. There are footsteps outside and Bill fangs up: it’s Sam, and he doesn’t appreciate Bill’s hand around his throat. Sookie tells Bill to let Sam go (his fangs retract ridiculously). Sam sees Sookie’s legs covered in blood and wants to know what happened.

Next time I buy music on iTunes I’m so getting this theme song.

Later, Sam is solicitous as the police do their thing in the kitchen. Sookie can’t help but listen in to all their minds – I got blood on my boots; must’ve been stabbed thirty times, throat wide open; them damn crazy Stackhouse kids didn’t deserve this; we got a serial killer in town – and decides she should get some air. Sam follows her onto the porch and tries to apologize for losing his temper, but she is not in the mood to hear it right now. Anna Paquin looks really gorgeous in these scenes, by the way. Sookie asks for Bill and Sam goes inside to find him, taking advantage of the situation to tell Bill to stay away from her. Bill tells him this is not the time for him to mark his territory. Sam misses the reference, doggone it, and threatens Bill, saying that he’ll stake him if anything happens to Sookie.

The coroners and the cops bumble around, amazed at the violence of the crime. Detective Andy Bellefleur thinks Jason Stackhouse might have done it; the sheriff is suspicious of Bill. They ask Bill if they can ask him a few more questions, such as: what are you doing at the Stackhouse home so late? Did you see or hear any other vehicles coming from the house? Isn’t it interesting that all three dead women, Maudette, Dawn and Adele, were “gracious” towards vampires? Bill doesn’t think that Gram was the murderer’s intended victim.

Still on the porch, Sookie thinks she should call Jason but Sam offers to do it for her. A sleeping, drunk, nekkid Jason, facedown on black satin sheets in a king-size bed with a facedown blonde, throws his ringing cell phone through the window.

The coroners and police take the dead woman away (the coroner’s assistant worrying in his head that Sookie might recognize him from the vampire bar, the sheriff thinking that she’s lucky it wasn’t her). Bill has to go because it’s almost sunrise and Sam struts about, “I’ll take it from here.” After Bill leaves, Sookie asks Sam to fetch a mop for her: her grandmother took a lot of pride in her home and wouldn’t want it to look like it does. Alone, she starts to wipe up the huge puddle of blood – I might have soaked it up with towels or newspapers first before starting in to scrubbing.

The wake is hoppin’. Tara and Lafayette are not impressed with the quality of the casseroles arriving. When a busybody pulls a half-eaten pecan pie out of the fridge to make room, Sookie freaks out, screaming that “that is Gram’s pie!” and the woman is not to touch it. The crowd murmurs until Tara sweeps Sookie away upstairs for some girl time: “C’mon, Lafayette!”

Upstairs, it’s slowly sinking in that Sookie’s grandmother is gone. Tara says that it doesn’t matter what those people downstairs think is appropriate behavior – “this is not an appropriate event” – and she should just feel what she feels whenever she feels it. Sookie is struggling with hearing all the homefolks’ thoughts and Lafayette says he can help with that, pulling out a baggie of pills. When she demurs that she doesn’t do drugs, he chuckles, “This ain’t drugs; this is Valium.” Heh. He gives her one to put on her bedside table just in case.

Radio blaring, an oblivious Jason blows into town, ready for some road crew work. Rene asks him what he’s doing here, then realizes that he hasn’t yet heard … Jason storms into his house, up into Sookie’s room, and slaps his sister across the face, sending her reeling. “It’s your fault Gram is dead!” he shouts, “It should have been you … screwin’ a vampire!” Tara pulls him off his sister and kicks him out. Sookie shakes, and then takes the Valium Lafayette left for her.

Detective Andy is waiting for Jason outside the house, wanting to know where he was last night. Jason doesn’t really remember and asks Andy if he thinks he killed his own grandmother. Then he shoves the detective, hard, sending him flying into a car before driving off in his own truck. “You’s a stupid bitch, Jason Stackhouse,” mutters Lafayette, seeing this display of V strength.

Shortly thereafter, Tara kicks all the folks out of the Stackhouse home, insisting that Sookie needs to be alone. “That means you too, Sam.” Later, as they survey the ruins of the buffet, Lafayette marvels: “what the fuck is it with white people and Jell-O?” Upstairs, the floor creaks and then two male hands clutch at Sookie’s throat. Choking, she whispers Bill’s name, and he hears her in his own house – but it isn’t quite sundown and he can’t rise yet, even though he can hear her. As soon as the sun goes down, he flashes at superhuman speed to her bedside, shaking her awake. But she’s fine: it was only a dream – which he was having.

Bill stands guard outside. Watching him, Tara wonders if vamps are capable of lovin’ a person. “Who knows what they’re capable of?” muses her cousin. There’s another shot of watchful Bill and this time the dog is standing guard with him.

The funeral: Some old guy in a wheelchair is brought to the graveside. Sookie whispers, “Uncle Bartlett, what are you doin’ here?” The old guy pouts that Adele was his sister but Sookie spits that he hasn’t been part of the family for some time. Then it’s her turn to speak about her grandmother. Unfortunately, the townfolks’ thoughts come crashing into her consciousness as she tries to express herself, mean and nasty thoughts. Sookie finally snaps. “All of you, just shut the fuck up!” she shrieks to the silent crowd and then runs off. Jason runs after her.

When the preacher asks if anyone else would like to say some words, Tara’s mother staggers to the front over her daughter’s protests. “Oh my fuckin’ word, girl,” moans Lafayette, “this about to get ugly.” Tara’s mom says Adele was nothing but kind to her, a good, God fearing woman who took care of Tara when she herself was unable to. After the funeral, her mother tries to reach out to Tara but the daughter pushes her away.

Jason catches up to his sister. She wants to know if he’s going to hit here again, tell her she should be in the coffin. She also wants to know why he invited Uncle Bartlett. Jason protests that he has a right to be here and that any enmity Adele and Bartlett had between them doesn’t matter anymore. His sister shouts that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Jason pleads with her, saying family is all they’ve got now but she replies that they’ve got nothing.

Sookie walks aimlessly through the cemetery and finds Bill’s gravestone. She finds that to be a little off-putting. Later, Sam finds her as she watches her grandmother’s coffin get lowered into the grave. He offers to walk her home and she takes his arm. She thanks him on the porch, saying she needs to be alone. He meets Tara coming up the driveway: she does not want to be alone, and neither does Sam.

Jason, meanwhile, is struggling as the townsfolk stream past him, paying their respects. It appears that he’s coming down off the V and it’s a bit rough. He rushes to his truck and almost takes the last tab of V from Lafayette before trying to stay strong and throwing it out the window. Then he changes his mind and scuffles around on the ground, trying to find it. He can’t, and shakes and sobs. He’s looking bad.

Sookie takes the pecan pie out of the fridge and sits at the kitchen table. She eats, crying and crying.

Tara and Sam go to her place (a motel) and she offers him a warm beer. He thought she was staying with Lafayette; she laughs, saying that her cousin has a web cam in the bathroom. Sam says she should have told him she needed a place to stay but she is prickly and defensive when he tries to be nice to her. He isn’t in the mood for teasing and tries to leave but Tara backs down, asking him to stay. Sam doesn’t want to play games: he wants something real in his life. “You think I don’t?” she replies. They start to kiss and this time they mean it.

Sookie has finished the pie. She’s not crying anymore. She changes into a flowing white nightie that raises her boobs up under her chin and, at sunset, runs to Bill. He senses her approach and meets her outside, scooping her up and kissing her.

With a loud gasp, Tara and Sam fall back on the bed. “Holy shit!” exclaims Tara, and Sam, grinning, decides to take that as a compliment. They can hear voices through the walls, another couple making up after a fight. Suddenly, she freaks out and says she’s got to go; she goes back to her momma’s house and embraces her mother. Back on the black satin sheets, the blonde floozy from the last episode is riding Jason for all she’s worth, while he squinches up his face and wishes for a drop of V.

At the Compton mansion, Bill undresses Sookie in front of the fire. He is gentle with her, but his fangs pop out uncontrollably. He is embarrassed by it but she reaches out and draws him back to her. (Anna Paquin’s boobs are real – good girl!) Sookie offers her throat to Bill – “I want you to do it” - and after a slight hesitation, he plunges his fangs in. Blood spurts and he laps at it, hungry.

Next time on True Blood / previously on True Blood