Recap Of The True Blood Episode Titled: Cold Grey Light of Dawn

The blood certainly hit the fan last night as things got real for the budding war between witches and vampires. Antonia successfully entered Marnie’s body and in a Voldemort-meets-Quirrell sort of way, she used her human host to try to achieve her ultimate end: the destruction of every living (er, you know what we mean) vampire around.

The sex scene continued between Sookie and Eric, and it is rumored the famous shower scene from book 4 will be in next weeks episode. I was glad that Eric was not biting Sookie the way Bill used to. Wondering if Eric does bite Sookie if he will lose control like he did with Sookie’s fairy godmother.

Back in Mexico, Jesus’s father reveals that Lafayette, like Marnie, is a medium. This is probably foreshadowing some sort of showdown between Antonia and a spirit that will inevitably possess Lafayette. And they did a nice bit of intermingling of plots with Lafayette spotting the spirit that is messing with Arlene’s baby. But let’s step back for a moment: We’re actually supposed to believe Lafayette is suddenly a powerful medium? It was nice of them to keep Jason human last week, because we’re running out of regular people on the show.

And if the end of the episode is to be believed, we’ll be down one vampire. With the circle Tara dutifully assembles, Antonia’s spell is successfully cast and all of the vampires in Bon Temps want to throw themselves into the sun. Bill, having gotten the word out to as many of his brethren as possible, sits silvered (bogged down by skin-melting silver) in his basement with Jessica. Strangely, it’s not the Civil War vampire and King of Louisiana who manages to shed the chains and head for the sunlight. It’s the redheaded one who has been a vampire for two years.

With Jason mysteriously running into the house to help Jessica stave off Antonia’s spell, like Sookie is doing with Eric, he is tackled, she gets the door, hears a gunshot, sees the light and … fade to white. As a former colleague pointed out on Twitter just after the episode ended, there is no way True Blood’s writers have the balls to kill a character as likable as Jessica. Let’s just say it would be something. As for Jason, the writers are obviously trying to speed up his relationship with Jessica, but they’re skipping steps and it’s not as effective as it could or should be.

Despite the three ludicrous plot points (Lafayette, Jessica and Jason), it has to be pointed out that the last 10 minutes of the episode were very effective. This was sort of like the moment last season when Russell killed the news anchor on live television — where it felt like our protagonists had a serious challenge on their hands. I like that True Blood keeps coming up with these challenges, even if I’m not always a fan of the solutions.

Thoughts and Tidbits

• Great performance from Fiona Shaw this season. She has effectively played two very different characters, and her level of commitment to Antonia is not unlike Denis O’Hare’s with Russell in Season 3. You can tell she’s having a lot of fun, and that helps sell what was, until this episode, a middling storyline.
• I like Alcide, but I think he’s lying to Debbie about Sookie, which is a bit out of character.
• Sam discovers Tommy’s betrayal and disowns him. I’m sure that will have no consequences whatsoever. Especially after Sam idiotically spelled out a series of events that would make Tommy a rich man. Subtle.
• OK, enough with plaid shirts, doe-eyed Eric. Bring back real Eric. This plot thread isn’t just bordering on fan fiction; it’s all the way there.
• Sorry to keep going on about Tara, but I can’t remember a show ever having a character this highly involved and simultaneously useless.
• They sure have written Pam heavily into this season. Which is great at the same time such a change from previous seasons.

Watch or rewatch this weeks episode here: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=GKBH74PY