EPISODE ELEVEN — FRENZY

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER   ALAN BALL   |   DIRECTED BY   DANIEL MINAHAN   |   WRITTEN BY   ALAN BALL

The endgame between supernatural forces heats up as Bill seeks advice from Queen Sophie Anne on defeating Maryann, the maenad threatening to sacrifice Sam Merlotte and destroy all who live in Bon Temps.  Bill finds the red haired vampire monarch feasting on the femoral artery of a woman in her 'day room', poolside in a chamber complete with artificial views and sounds of a sun-drenched seashore.  Bill apologizes for interrupting at a bad time, but the Queen informs him there is no such thing as bad, or time for that matter.   There just might be something she knows that he doesn't.

Coming out of the titles, Hoyt pulls Jessica off his mother as the two scramble on the floor, Jessica having bitten Maxine's neck.  Hoyt is infuriated at Jessica, siding once again with his overbearing mother despite her possession by Maryann's spell.   Hoyt leaves with Maxine, leaving Jessica crying bloody tears and screaming to shake Bill's house.

Bill sits patiently for Sophie Anne to share her wisdom, and she reveals that maenads pre-date even ancient Greece, and are a higher lifeform evolved from humans (just like vampires).  But Bill simply cannot kill Maryann because she is immortal, having evolved and wished herself to be so.  The Queen insists Bill spend the day in her court and return to Bon Temps the following night, despite his impatience to return home  to guard Sookie.

FOLLOW FILMEDGE ON TWITTER

Tara is just as impatient to save Eggs from Maryann's clutches, but Sookie urges her to wait until Bill returns with a plan to defeat the maenad, with Lettie Mae and Lafayette in agreement.  Tara revolts at the unfairness of making her wait to save Eggs while Sookie has endangered herself numerous times on Bill's behalf.   Lafayette handcuffs Tara to the table, as Tara lashes out at her protectors.  Lafayette stands guard on the porch with Sookie, ready to fend off Maryann's followers who may attempt to retrieve her for the mob.

At Merlotte's, Jason proclaims his amazement at Sam's shapeshifing ability but Andy is less impressed that it hasn't solved their standoff at the diner.  Jason goes into soldier mode, insisting they need weapons despite Sam's warning that no weapon can stop Maryann and will only take the lives of their friends.  Jason warns "sometimes you need to destroy something to save it."  Through the window, Sam spies Arlene's kids, hungry and abandoned by their possessed mother, seeking shelter.   Sam takes in the kids as Jason and Andy head to the sheriff station to get weapons, their fragile alliance showing cracks already.

Sookie gets a text message from Bill that he's not returning until nightfall, leaving them to protect Tara on their own all day.  Inside Lafayette's house, Tara engages in a battle of wills with Lettie Mae: is it God telling the mother to protect the daughter, or is it Satan deceiving Lettie Mae to work against Tara?  Tara lays on the guilt thick, bringing up all of Lettie Mae's past failures as a mother, insisting this is her one chance to prove she truly loves Tara by letting her go save Eggs.  Confused and heart-torn, Lettie Mae prays for guidance from above as Tara weeps.  Sookie tells Lafayette what it felt like in Tara's mind — a seductive expansion of all possibilities with an emptying freedom at the core of her being — which he finds appealing given his current state of terror and traumatized insecurity.

Sam tries to explain to the kids what's wrong with Arlene, that's she's caught up in a temporary spell of madness hitting the town and he's doing what he can to stop it.  The kids ask if Bill the vampire can help, but he's gone, so they ask if Sam knows any other vampires.  He realizes he does know one other — Eric. 

Lafayette confesses to Sookie that his leg healed perfectly because Eric made him drink his vampire blood, just as Sookie was tricked into doing so.  They also share incessant dreams of Eric in common, much to their mutual shame and displeasure.  Lettie Mae bursts out of the house, weeping, tricking Lafayette into giving her the rifle.  She then turns it on Lafayette and Sookie, clearing Tara's escape to go rescue Eggs.  Lettie fires a warning shot, sending Lafayette crouching in terror at gunpoint again.  As Sookie unlocks Tara's cuffs under duress, Lafayette sees Eric standing in Lettie Mae's place, holding the rifle and threatening to kill him if that's what it takes for Lettie to win back her daughter's love.  Eric messes with Lafayette's mind, insisting that if he doesn't want to be a vampire, Eric will shoot him.  Lafayette shakes his head in denial and Eric pulls the trigger... click!   Tara and Sookie exit onto the porch and it's Lettie Mae holding the gun again but doing nothing to attack Lafayette.   Sookie warns Tara she's being an idiot by driving back into Maryann's trap, as Tara pulls away in Sook's car.  More crucial friendships and alliances in Bon Temps crumble in the face of confronting Maryann's pervasive evil, just when such unity may prove Bon Temps' only saving grace.

Jason and Andy arrive at the station only to be confronted by Rosie, possessed and proving a horny detour to their plans.  Jason agrees to distract Rosie from alerting others to their presence while Andy gets the guns.  As the former detective loads up on ammo, blank-eyed Sheriff Dearborn tries to square dance Andy away from the guns, but Andy quickly gains the upper hand and resumes arming up.

Sookie plots on the porch with Lafayette to get the rifle from Lettie Mae, and the two escape to pursue Tara.  Meanwhile, Sam arrives at Fangtasia with the kids, bribing Ginger to let them in early and wait for Eric to arrive at nightfall.  Back to Sookie in the car, insisting that Lafayette needs to overcome his trauma and promise he will shoot Maryann when called upon, which he does — though neither seem convinced a gun will truly harm the maenad and doubts linger in Bill's absence. 

Tara arrives to rescue Eggs, still possessed, but Maryann intervenes, insisting that Tara is crucial to her plans because she summoned Maryann on the night of Miss Jeanette's exorcism.  Maryann reveals that while Miss Jeanette was indeed a fake, both she and Tara must pay the price for summoning such dark powers into their world.  A punch to Tara's jaw returns her to Maryann's possessed fold, as Eggs and Tara reunite in evil.  Terry, Arlene and the diner mob burst in, overjoyed that Sam was smote by the God Who Comes and telling Maryann all about it.   Maryann's wrath erupts in an ear-splitting howl at how easily they were duped into letting Sam escape.

With Rosie handcuffed to a chair, Jason interrogates her about obtaining any hidden grenades or flame-throwers, wishing for Steve Newlin's illicit armory of Armageddon weapons.  Deputy Ellis pulls a pistol on Jason and Andy counters with a shotgun, but Ellis spins to fire first.  Jason disarms Ellis but Andy stops him before Jason fires, revealing he's wearing a Kevlar vest which just saved his life.

Maxine concocts a disgusting casserole of junk food to honor the God Who Comes, but Hoyt insists he won't let her leave the house, fulfilling the promise to his late father that he's care for his mama.  Maxine, her mind unfiltered by possession, lets her true feelings fly like daggers at Hoyt: that raising her son alone kept her unfulfilled, and worse, that her husband killed himself instead of living up to his responsibilities as a father.  Maxine only invented the lie about him being shot by a burglar so she could collect the insurance money.  Hoyt is devastated.

Sookie fares little better as she observes her Gran's house being defiled by Maryann's debauched followers.  She wonders why there are so many people willing to do bad things and hurt others in the world, and Lafayette says it's because people are weak.  Sookie insists that she is not weak and she's going to kick Maryann's evil ass and Lafayette is going to shoot her in the head to save Bon Temps.  Arlene and Terry intervene, but Lafayette quickly distracts them by offering drugs while Sookie heads into the house.

Back at Fangtasia as night falls, Eric asks Sam why he should bother helping him defeat Maryann.  Sam insists that alliances of trust must be formed lest Maryann defeat them all as single targets who alone cannot stop her.  Eric alludes to knowing another vampire who may know more about maenads, but promises nothing.  Eric toys with the kids who wish to see his fangs but show no fear of him.  Pam is comically disgusted by the children, but Eric insists these 'teacup humans' are both entertaining and delicious. In the parking lot outside the club, Eric says he'll let Sam know if he learns any valuable news, then he rockets straight up into the air like Superman, amazing the kids.  Not only can vampires run lightning fast, but they indeed fly like bats out of hell!

Parallel action intercuts quickly to pick up the closing pace: Sookie infiltrates her own home, her progressed slowed by dimwitted Mike Spencer and the mindless minions; Bill languishes in idolness in the Queen's day room, itching to return to Bon Temps though Sophie Anne insists he feed on one of her subjects just so she can watch two men together; while outside the house, Lafayette is confronted by Maryann and Karl.  Lafayette fires as Maryann's hand deflects the bullet... right into Karl's brain.  He drops dead, much to Maryann's indifference. 

A leisurely game of Yahtzee being the last straw for Bill's impatience, he begs the Queen to give him leave.  Sophie Anne, having played her power cards long enough, casually drops the final hints how one can defeat a maenad: Maryann's weakness is her belief that the Dionysus will actually materialize on Earth to enjoy her sacrifice.  Since Maryann awaits this ritual only to be ravaged into oblivion and thus join her dark God in death, that is the secret to her undoing when she believes she will be devoured by Dionysus.  Sophie Anne also reveals that maenads prefer other supernatural creatures as their perfect sacrificial vessel in the rite, which informs Bill that Sam is indeed the target.   While the Queen gets word that Eric has arrived, Bill meets Sookie's cousin, Hadley, one of Sophie Anne's human subjects.  Hadley inquires how Sookie and Gran are doing, having lost touch with that world entirely, and Bill maintains that it's best Hadley stay out of touch for now.

Sophie Anne finally allows Bill to leave, insisting that she looks forward to meeting Sookie one day.  As Bill exits the stately courtyard, he crosses paths with Eric on his way in learn the Queen's secrets as well.  The two resume their battle of wills over Sookie, with Bill urging Eric to stay out of her life or he will tell the Queen that Eric is forcing humans to sell V.  For the first time, this reveals a flicker of fear behind Eric's eyes — how interesting that Bill never made such a threat in front of Godric, who Eric clearly worshipped as his maker.  The Queen seems a much more distant superior in terms of vampire relationships, and yet as monarch such news reaching her ear is a threat neither Bill makes nor Eric takes lightly.

In the woods bordering Sookie's house, Jason and Andy prep for their surprise attack while bickering over their past dislikes and misunderstanding of each other.  As misguided as the pair have been lately, it's no mistake that any hope of success they have in fighting Maryann rests in their mutual partnership.  Jason actually applies some of the tactics learned at the Fellowship to their current mission and blends it with a spiritual outlook: God has chosen these two men to battle Maryann's evil, and so they must bury their differences to fight together for victory.  The unlikely soldiers head out into the night, ready for battle.

Sam sits on the trailer porch, armed with a shotgun waiting for Eric to return with news, but it's Bill who drops out of the night with a whoosh — clearly he can fly too.  Sam's surprise matches Bill's intense stare at the shapeshifter who remains the crux of the battle at hand and represents the lingering threat to Sookie's safety.

In the house, Sookie bashes Mike on the head with a frying pan and sneaks upstairs to find Eggs and Tara trashing Gran's valuables.  In the middle of the bed, Eggs and Tara are building a large nest out of twigs, feathers and objects from the bedroom.  A large egg the size of a cantaloupe melon rests in this nest, but carrying the embryo of who or what?   A hand touches Sookie's shoulder and she turns to find Lafayette who's been looking for her, his eyes blackened over completely under Maryann's spell.  Sookie's scream of terror ends the episode.

SUMMARY:  Episode Eleven may have been titled FRENZY in reference to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins tune in the end credits, but in several ways I found the season's penultimate chapter to be disappointing.   Despite producer/creator Alan Ball penning the script, not much actual frenzy was found in this rather talky, expositional installment.  So much screen time was spent setting up the big season finale, a tactical chess match positioning characters and needed information on the board, that much of this week serviced what is to come rather than making an intense stand-alone story on its own merits.  While Sophie Anne's introduction was a playful, sexy addition to the mythology, her highness provided little else besides a blocking figure to keep Bill out of town until he learned the secrets of the maenad.  The question remains: was she deliberately wasting Bill's time for a covert reason, or was Sophie Anne's introduction simply a character building indulgence?  The Queen was certainly treated as such, but so far demonstrated little power beyond that which is shown to her office, taking little personal interest in the events surrounding Bill, Eric, Godric or the maenad.  Perhaps such trivial skirmishes are too far beneath such an immortal monarch, but if that's true, then will Sophie Anne end up mattering much as her vampire subjects and humans wage war against Maryann?  The battlefield is now set, and with Eric, Bill, Sookie, Sam, Jason and Andy converging on Maryann's cult sacrifice, the finale of Season Two promises to be one action-packed hour of TRUEBLOOD!

RETURN TO TRUE BLOOD MAIN PAGE

REVIEW THE FILMEDGE BLOG OF EPISODE TEN

BLOGGING CONTINUES ON FILMEDGE.NET THROUGHOUT SEASON TWO