Friday, September 2, 2011

True Blood episode recap "Beautifully Broken" (S3E2)

Bill frigging shreds the werewolf pack, killing one, amputating the leg of a second and ripping the ear off a third.  Before he can go after the last whole wolf, a vampire fop on a white horse comes riding up.  Bill bows low, intoning, "Your Majesty."  The Vampire King of Mississippi tut-tuts the remaining werewolves, who were to have escorted Bill to his mansion, not snacked on him on the way.  The wolf leader, Cooter (hee!), is awfully cranky about the evisceration Bill has inflicted on his pack but the King reminds him who's boss around here by shooting his last pack member, who goes down with a yelp even though he was in naked human form.  The King has Bill mount up behind him on the horse (not a euphemism) and they ride off into the night, leaving Cooter to stare disconsolately around at the pieces of his pack.  On the plus side, Cooter the naked werewolf is a fine figure of a man, so there's that.

Lafayette bursts into the bathroom and digs the pills out of Tara's mouth, forcing her to vomit them up into the toilet.  Lettie Mae comes in and starts shouting about Jesus.  Lafayette picks up his cousin, yells at his aunt that she's failed her daughter for the last time and tells her to get the fuck up out his way so he can take Tara to the hospital.

At Fantasia, Sookie shows Eric a picture of the Nazi werewolf brand they found on the dead were's neck.  Eric seems to recognize the brand but claims not to, and warns Sookie away from the werewolves, saying they're brutal, secretive and territorial - and if they're involved in Bill's abduction, they'll kill her for sure.  Sookie reminds him that she risked her life to help him find Godric - "Bill Compton is no Godric!" snarls Eric - so she would hope that he would at least help her a little here.  She starts to cry which makes Eric uncomfortable enough to flashback to WWII: he and Godric are dressed as German soldiers and come across a Nazi girl werewolf feeding on a U.S. soldier.  The girl wolf has the same brand as the guy Sookie found.  Eric and Godric kill the Nazi werewolf girl, after they learn that her "master" is another vampire.  Eric is particularly irate about a vampire consorting with werewolves and Godric promises that they'll find him.

Note: True Blood werewolves seem to be a variety of shapeshifters who only shift into big wolves, who look like wolves not monsters like movie werewolves so often do, whereas shapeshifters like Sam Merlotte can shift into any animal they please.  Can Sam shift into a wolf as well?  Seems to me like the shapeshifters have the better deal - or at least a more interesting one - than the werewolves.

Meanwhile, in the ladies' room, Jessica asks Pam how to snack on humans without killing them.  Pam tells her to stop when she hears the heartbeat slow down.  "But how do you stop?" wonders Jessica.  Pam: "I think about cryin' babies with soggy diapers."  Then Jessica wants to know what she should do if she can't stop in time.  Theoretically, of course.

Russell, the Vampire King of Mississippi, brings Bill to his swanky home where his consort, Talbot, a rather fey vampire, flits around and gets Bill cleaned up for dinner.  Bill believes he's being held captive but Russell tells him to just wait until he's heard his business proposal.  They close Bill into his silver-lined guest room and Talbot tells the King that he thinks Bill is going to be a challenge.  Russell nods and says he thinks he might have to bring in "the girl."

Tara begs Lafayette not to take her to the hospital, saying she's okay since she threw up all the pills. She's so sad, saying that the one time she thought she was happy she "was a fuckin' zombie."  Lafayette tells her that she has to deal with her problems, same as everyone else does, and she is not allowed to check out early and leave him here alone.  He starts the car, saying that they're going to get something to eat and then there's something he's got to show her.

Sookie takes Jessica home as it's nearly sunrise.  Hoyt is there on the porch, waiting for Jessica.  He's brought a six-pack of Tru-Blood, B+, thinking that she might be hungry.  He says he's sorry for not taking better care of her.  She's stressed about the dead body in her basement and she snaps that it's in her nature to be bad, so he can't help her and shouldn't try.  She runs in the house, crying; Hoyt leans his head against the closed door, sniffling a little himself.  Jessica goes to the basement door and looks at the dead guy: he looks awful, and smells worse, but she climbs down next to him to sleep the day away.

At her own home, Sookie is surprised by Jason and knees him in the "family junk" before she realizes it's her brother.  When he can get his breath back, he says he's here to help her clean up the house in Maryann's aftermath.  As they clean and scrub, she tells him about the werewolves and how frustrated she is by not being able to do anything to find Bill.  Jason offers to talk to Andy Bellefleur to see if there's anything they can do to help.

In the morning, Sam is awakened from sleeping in his truck by a shotgun in his face.  Tommy Mickens brings him into the house where Sam gets to meet his birth mother (shapeshifter) and father (regular guy).  Tommy, Sam's brother, is also a shifter - and they are all of them wicked white trash.  His mom says that she gave him up when she was sixteen, hoping to get him a better life.  Sam says well, okay, better until he turned 15 and shifted and didn't know WTF was happening to him.  Tommy's like, and neither of you thought to tell me that I had a brother?  Later, Sam finds Tommy out working on an old car.  They play a bit of "whose life is more fucked" until Sam says, "Okay, if it means that much to you, you win." And they decide to shift and go for a run to work off some steam.  Sam shifts into his adorable collie mix; Tommy rolls his eyes and shifts into a stocky pitbull.

When Sookie goes to Merlotte's for her shift, she hears the thoughts of a skulking man who wants to grab her.  He bolts without attacking her, however, startled by Terry Bellefleur's arrival.  Terry helps Sookie search in the woods but all they find are footprints, both man and wolf, and the guy's clothes.  When he sees that Sookie is determined to track down that guy, Terry gives her a gun and tells her that he would be sad if she got killed.  Sookie smiles and kisses him on the cheek.

Lafayette has brought Tara to a mental hospital and she is freaking out, thinking he's going to try to commit her against her will.  But no, they're here to see Lafayette's mother, played by Alfre Woodard (!), who's a little bit crazy and a whole lot racist.  Tara is shocked and stunned to see her aunt like this (she didn't know?), and now understands Lafayette, and their family, a little bit better after the encounter.

Jessica is on the phone with the Bon Temps hardware store, renting a chainsaw per Pam's advice.  She takes money from the dead guy's wallet to pay for it.

Back at the Mississipp mansion, King Russell, Talbot and Bill are dressed for dinner.  The first course is blood from a human who ate nothing but tangerines for weeks, according to Talbot.  Russell's proposal is this: he wants Bill to be his Sheriff because he's just about to attempt to join the Louisiana and Mississippi territories by marrying Queen Sophie Ann.  Bill is skeptical and says he has no interest in being sheriff.

The collie and the pitbull run and run.  The pit pauses on a road and just when the collie joins him, a truck comes screaming down the road.  The pitbull changes into a hawk and flies away; the collie lunges for the ditch, changing into a panting nekkid Sam.

Someone in creepy black cowboy boots lets himself into Bill and Jessica's house and starts rummaging through Bill's office, finding photos of Sookie.

Meanwhile, at Sookie's house, she waits in the dark with Terry's gun.  Eric shows up, noting that a werewolf came for her today.  He tells her that he and Godric had been hunting that vampire-led wolf pack for decades.  He also tells her that since the werewolves are now coming for her, he's going to help.  He tells her to invite him in so he can protect her - or have "passionate, primal sex" with her, whichever.

Lafayette brings Tara to Merlotte's because he's got a shift.  She parks herself behind the bar, depressed.  A pale British vampire comes in and chats her up.  She serves him a TruBlood and leaves.  The camera pans back and we see that the Brit vamp is the wearer of the creepy black boots.  Back at Bill's, Jessica fires up her rented chainsaw ... but the dead guy is gone from her basement.  Quoth Jessica: "Shit! Fuck!!"

Andy is driving a medium-drunk Jason home from Merlotte's in a squad car (Jason: "I never got to sit in the front before!") when a call comes in.  While the deputies are tussling with the local meth dealers, Jason (1) sees a pretty blonde girl in the trees who runs off (never good in Bon Temps) and then (2) tackles an escaping drug dealer.

Tara sits outside Merlotte's, sucking on a bottle of Wild Turkey, when a couple of drunkass rednecks come out and start pissing on the spot where Eggs was killed.  The Brit vamp darts up and holds the rednecks so Tara can beat the crap out of them.  She is sobbing as she does so; the vampire gets so turned on his fangs pop out.

At the end of the King's dinner, Lorena saunters into the dining room, the usual smug smirk on her face.  Bill jumps up, grabs an oil lamp and throws it at her.  She screams and falls to the floor, burning.

Eric hears something inside Sookie's house and insists that she invite him in.  The two of them go inside and there's a huge, snarling, slavering wolf coming at them.  Eric's fangs pop out and he snarls gleefully.  The werewolf jumps and Sookie fires Terry's gun.

Previously on True Blood / next time on True Blood

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