EPISODE SIX — HARD-HEARTED HANNAH

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER   ALAN BALL   |   DIRECTED BY   MICHAEL LEHMANN   |   WRITTEN BY   BRIAN BUCKNER

In the lobby of the Hotel Carmilla, Eric feeds on an all-too willing human woman and quickly dismisses her, regretting how the thrill is gone when humans wish to be fed upon (especially for cash). Yet the true source of his distraction is Lorena, the vampiress who turned Bill during the Civil War, who we learn was invited by Eric to Dallas — but why?  To step between Bill and Sookie, or to distract Bill while Eric imposes his will and influence on Sookie?  Either way, their collusion spells trouble for all involved, no doubt.

Bill and Sookie cuddle under the sheets in their suite upstairs, enjoying the intimate solitude until Isabel knocks at the door with Hugo, her human companion — mirror, mirror in the hall.  Bill heats up a couple TruBloods as Isabel proposes that Hugo join Sookie on the mission to infiltrate the Fellowship, insisting that Sookie not take the risk alone since, after all, Godric is her sheriff and not Bill's.  Lines of alliance and sympathetic rationality are being drawn rapidly between Isabel and Bill as the most (only?) level heads in the vampire's regional turmoil.  Hugo vows he would do anything for Isabel since he loves her deeply, which Sookie verifies quickly by reading his thoughts.  Under the cover of being a couple, Isabel proposes they will face less suspicion than would a woman alone, and Sookie hastily agrees from her own experience.

Eric reveals to Lorena that Bill has something he wants, Sookie who he explains is much more than just a human woman, and he offers in less than subtle terms that Lorena cast any influence she retains over Bill to help Eric obtain his desired prize.  Lorena refuses to take the bait so quickly, insisting she hasn't seen Bill in more than 70 years, but Eric counters that he hasn't seen Godric in much longer and yet remains fiercely loyal to his maker.  The implication: the bond between Lorena and Bill can never be fully cut, despite any temporal falling out they may have.  Lorena's reaction indicates quite transparently that she is far from being "over" Bill as she stares longingly at the lounge pianist — a quick dissolve to the sepia-toned past reveals Bill Compton in tuxedo, singing "Hard-Hearted Hannah" to a 1920s-era room of well-dressed guests.  Lorena lays on a thick French accent while she lures a couple into her clutches.  Lorena beckons Bill to join the couple as the seduction game plays out for the vampires.

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Back at Merlotte's in the current day (night, actually), Sam and Daphne lay naked on the pool table after their heated lovemaking.  He asks about the three ragged scares down her back, and Daphne tells that she remembers being attacked while on a run one night but has no clue who or what jumped her, except that she became deathly ill in the aftermath (just as Sookie did).   Her admission that she's cherished every day of life since only makes Sam fall for her more deeply, though she breaks the mood asking if he's ever revealed to anyone he's a shapeshifter.  He admits he told only Sookie, and Daphne urges him not to be ashamed of or hide who he is, and that he must risk opening up to others if he's ever truly going to live his life.

Speaking of ongoing deception, Tara and Eggs struggle to repair Sookie's outdated water heater as Maryann's temper flares up, antagonizing Tara despite her forced hospitality.  Tara phones down the needed part and takes Eggs with her on a two-hour quest for the pump.  Meanwhile at the Fellowship compound, Steve and Sarah Newlin greet Jason and Luke with a task: to construct a ritual platform upon which the Reverend intends to chain a vampire and burn it alive at sunrise.  Jason is appalled by the grotesque idea while Luke fills with zealous glee at the prospect.  It seems Sarah is rapidly regretting the Fellowship's vow of total honesty as Steve unveils more and more of his ultimate plan to Jason.

Hugo and Sookie review their plan to appear as an engaged couple, and she agrees to let him do the talking with the Newlins while she listens into their thoughts for clues about Godric.  Yet their mission affords Sookie another benefit of asking about Hugo's experience as Isabel's lover, since he's the only other human she's met in that position.  He relates and passionate but cautionary tale which hints at his growing preoccupation with Isabel turning him so that Hugo can continue their affair, which plants the thought in Sookie's head that she too must confront this issue of Bill's immortality eventually outliving her love for and life with him.

On the road in Maryann's Jaguar, Tara and Eggs share laughs over Maryann's temperament until Eggs suffers an eerie feeling he's been on this outback road before.  He urges her to pull off the road into the woods, drawn to a destination he cannot place consciously.  Meanwhile at Merlotte's, Arlene continues her difficult but promising courtship with reluctant Terry, while Andy storms in to question Lafayette about his mysterious disappearance for weeks.  Andy threatens to lock up Lafayette until he tells the truth, the thought of which sends Lafayette cowering on the floor of the kitchen in traumatic recollection of his captivity by Eric to the point of seeing Eric's image in place of Andy's belligerent form.  Terry reprimands his brother for behaving so unprofessionally, such recent exhibitions having already cost Andy his badge and authority as a peace office in Bon Temps.  Andy apologizes and, in a tender moment of humanity, Terry embraces Lafayette on the floor, one traumatized survivor recognizing the need for comfort in another.  A subtle but very welcome and telling moment for both characters which exemplifies how the series has grown leaps and bounds in its second season.

Out front, Hoyt confronts his mother for shutting off his cell phone in her disapproval of Jessica stealing his attentions.  Hoyt quickly gains the upper hand in this battle of wills by dropping the bomb that Jessica calls him late nights because she's a vampire.  It's difficult to tell which horrifies his mother more: that her son is dating the undead, or that he's finally standing up to her as a man — though either way, she realizes she's on the losing end of the confrontation.

On the flipside, Sam continues his flirtatious infatuation with Daphne, admitting his debilitating distraction from work every time he glimpses the pool table.  He threatens to "fire" Daphne if she doesn't meet him out back of the diner for a little afternoon delight in the woods, a first for the work-driven shapeshifter who may have finally met his match in the best sense of the word.

While they build the Newlin's sacrificial altar, Jason confesses his unease and doubts about Sarah's attentions but Luke refuses to see her beyond the pure image she's crafted.  In a rather hilarious exchange, Luke rattles off the list of sins God will forgive repentant believers, putting only sex with a "vampire dude" outside the bounds of holy redemption.   Jason, being Jason, is relieved to learn he can at least beg forgiveness for his bathtub transgression with Sarah the previous night, his blow-with-the-breeze conscience once again soothed by the slightest of encouraging words, even if they are spoken by an idiot even more clueless than Jason.

Sarah Newlin greets Sookie and Hugo as they arrive at the Fellowship church, exchanging saccharine pleasantries as Sookie's nerves have her running off at the mouth about her fictional engagement, not quite following their agreed-upon plan to let Hugo do the talking.  They meet with Steve Newlin as Sookie weaves the tale of how she and her fiancee left their old church after their minister proved to be a vamp sympathizer.  Steve relates his indignation at such unholy compassion even while Sookie reads his thoughts of glee over burning his captive vampire alive — he's quickly fallen into her telepathic trap.

Flashback to Lorena and Bill in their past, feeding off their terrorized host couple and torturing them with malice most uncharacteristic of Bill's current temperament.  Such is the evil, dark influence Lorena once held over Bill, the apt backstory for his reluctant, anti-violent attitude toward humans today and no doubt the soul soil from which his love for Sookie flourishes.  Bill rips a necklace from his blonde victims throat, placing it around Lorena's neck as they make debauched love in the bloodstained bed of their prey.  Lorena still wears this necklace in the present day, a fond, perhaps obsessive memento of her lost love with Bill.   It seems obviously she will not relinquish her connection to him easily, which can only mean trouble for Bill and Sookie.

Miles away from Bon Temps, Eggs leads Tara through the woods to find a ritual circle of stones placed in a clearing, where blood-stained clothes and a stone indicate some human gathering, perhaps a sacrifice, has recently taken place.  Eggs breaks into tears, confused why he could possible know of this bloody location without remembering even seeing it before.  Two guesses who is at the center of this mystery, and your first guess doesn't count.

Steve and Sarah show off their church's prize, the sun-filled chapel which exemplifies (at least symbolically) all of what the Fellowship of the Sun stands for in a world of godless bloodsuckers.  Credit to director Michael Lehmann and his crew for lighting and color timing this scene, giving what should be the warm, heavenly glow of this sun-worshipping chapel reddish tones which, to me, give the glowing beams a hint of hellfire burning behind them: the visual revelation is both awe-inspiring and troubling at the same time.  Sookie senses this contradiction just as quickly by reading Steve's mind while he prattles on about the upcoming church lock-in, all the while exposing that both he and Sarah know Sookie and Hugo are spies sent by the vampires.  Sookie attempts to leave with Hugo, but Steve calls in bulky, belligerent Gabe to ensure the 'couple' finish their tour as intended.

Swerving home in his car, Andy stops as a large red pig and collie dog cross the road, apparently to get to the other side.  Andy stumbles after them into the woods but loses them. Sam and Daphne emerge from the night back at Merlotte's, pulling on their clothes and celebrating their escape.  Sam questions why Daphne turns into a pig instead of a dog or such, but she distracts him with a quick oral seduction in the moonlight.

At Merlotte's, Eric's minion Pam surprises Lafayette in the refrigerated stock room, reminding him that he remains in Eric's debt: she orders him to resume selling V, a baffling contradiction which terrifies him all the more.  Once again, Eric's endless power brokering extends his influence far and wide, even when he's out of state, and Lafayette's sense of security dwindles even more.

Steve insists on taking Sookie and Hugo to visit his father's tomb in the church basement, but it's a trap to capture them both, despite Sarah's resistance to spring their snare so prematurely.  Sarah is also quite horrified at seeing Steve's ruthless nature as betrayal stacks upon betrayal.  All the way from Dallas, Bill immediately senses Sookie's peril but Lorena pounces upon him in bed, restraining his instinct to race to Sookie's rescue.  So too has Eric's trap been sprung on Bill, and Lorena is all too happy to oblige if it means drawing Bill back into her unfulfilled eternal life.

Tara and Eggs finally return home to find another hedonistic orgy in progress under Maryann's influence, naked bodies of the Bon Temps locals writhing in sexual ecstasy on the dirt around a bonfire, their eyes blackened over under the succubus spell.  Back in Dallas, the shades in Jessica's bedroom open onto the night skyline.  She springs awake to check her cell phone but there is no text from Hoyt, much to her disappointment. Yet a knock at the door reveals Hoyt has come to see her, and the young lovers kiss passionately at their doubly-forbidden reunion.

Back at the Fellowship church, Jason finds Sarah crying in the chapel, revealing her sense of betrayal and admitting that Steve is only using Jason and the trainees to start a war against the vampires.  Feeling shut out from her marriage and her own zealous plot, she seduces Jason again, insisting that he is the great man she's been chosen to support, not her husband.  She plies Jason with warped platitudes about how God is now commanding her to be with Jason, justifying his weak-willed surrender to her passion.

Back in Bon Temps, Daphne leads Sam into the moonlit woods, springing yet another trap as she delivers Sam to Maryann's ritual circle, where Tara and Eggs, now possessed, writhe in lust with the others.   Daphne places the golden bull helmet on Maryann's head while Karl stands ready with a ritual knife as Sam is lead screaming to the sacrifice.

SUMMARY: TRUEBLOOD takes some intriguing dark turns in week six and the plans of human and vampire alike are dashed against the harsh realities of evil forces working hard against them.  Betrayal slithers at the heart of every complication, from the traitor in the Dallas nest who leaked Sookie's identity to the Fellowship, to Steve Newlin's betrayal of his church and marital morals, and on to Maryann's continuing betrayal of Tara, Eggs and anyone in Bon Temps who stands still long enough.  If you think of SEASON TWO in the typical three-act dramatic structure, then this episode certainly heralds the low point on our heroes' journey — basically when the shit hits the fan on all fronts, appearing to make our protagonists' mission hopeless.  Smartly, all sides to this mounting conflict have had their weaknesses exposed: the vampires' lack of unity threatens not only their dominance over humans but perhaps their existence; what could have been a righteous holy war against vampires by the Fellowship has been reduced to a fanatical, petty mugging for overzealous, sadistic kicks; and even Maryann's seeming omnipotence requires the complicity of her human playthings, and the sudden lack of cooperation may well prove to undercut her powers. Things are going from bad to worse, which is great news for TRUEBLOOD fans along for this wild ride!  Next week's previews promise no let up from the Alan Ball and the filmmakers, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

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