‘True Blood’ recap: Shining a light on the truth

In her worst moments, Sookie Stackhouse can be incredibly frustrating, short-sighted, short-tempered and eager to rush to judgment before she has all the facts.

But she’s a fun drunk.

So we learn on Sunday’s episode of “True Blood,� when she drowns her sorrows after being pushed to the brink of despair. Confessing to your cop brother and the ex-boyfriend of the woman you murdered that you have, in fact, killed someone, then nearly dying after your cursed car speeds straight into a tree can have that effect.

The writers hit the gas on the Alcide/Sookie romance this week, which should be welcome news for some fans, but the overall plot also got a bit of a jump start, with Eric releasing Pam, Lafayette’s possession problem worsening, and Jason visiting what looked an awful lot like Hooligan’s and learning from a loose-lipped Hadley (!) that his parents might not have died in a flood after all.

The action begins when Pam rescues Tara from her ill-advised attempt to commit suicide by tanning. She brings her new charge back to Fangtasia, where she finds Eric and Bill, recently freed from the Authority, waiting for her. But it’s not exactly the reunion Pam was hoping for. Eric interrogates her about possibly having released Russell, and Pam suggests that maybe he should go ahead and release her.

Sookie goes to Jason and tells him that she’s turning herself in, that she shot Debbie, that Alcide and Lafayette already know and that she was responsible for Tara being turned into a vampire. Jason tells her to keep quiet, but Jessica, who was in the other room, overhears. Sookie does collect herself in time to go to Merlotte’s for her shift, but her telepathy soon gets the better of her and she rushes home.

By that time, though, Lafayette has transformed into his new scary-faced demon alter ego and overhauled her vehicle into a speeding death trap. Sookie escapes by jumping from the moving car just before it crashes. That’s when she goes home and begins to drink her way to the bottom of her liquor cabinet.

Across town, though, her fortunes are turning around, thanks to Alcide. He tells Gordon and Barbara that it was Marcus who killed Debbie, and that he killed Marcus. Overwhelmed with grief, they order Alcide away, but they accept his version of events. Jesscia, too, comes to her rescue, glamoring Andy into accepting the Pelts’ decision not to pursue the case any further.

Meanwhile, Andy’s cousin Terry heads to South Dakota with Patrick, but it’s the Iraq War he’s (re)visiting in his mind. We see in flashback the terrible events that have so deeply scarred him: A drunken nightly patrol leads to the murder of a civilian. Confusion ensues when more people turn up, and in just moments, a firefight has resulted in what appear to be dozens left lifeless on the desert sand.

Seemingly, Pam’s flashbacks to the beginning of her life (undeath?) with Eric are concluded, but so, too, is their maker/progeny relationship. In a quiet moment, Eric comes to her and explains that he must release her to keep her safe, that even if he and Bill successfully bring in Russell, the Authority will never allow them to live. And with a simple phrase, their ties are severed – though, seriously, there’s no way these two are really going to split up permanently, is there? They’re just too good together.

Pam is quite good, too, though, with her new vampire child – even if she’s a little free with the “As-your-maker-I-command-you�s. She finally shows Tara some consideration, helping her learn to feed from a willing human victim.

At Sookie’s, she’s getting some consideration – a newly coined euphemism for making out on a couch – from Alcide. The werewolf goes to see his fairy crush to tell her that he’s invented a cover story that will allow Debbie’s parents to have some closure but also keep Sookie’s involvement secret. She makes him a drink and before long, they’re kissing. What she doesn’t realize is that her two ex-boyfriends are standing on her lawn, watching her and plotting to have her aid them in their mission.

The mission is of continued importance, naturally, for the Authority, but so is rooting out traitors in their midst. Nora – whose character evidently exists just to be tortured, judging from the last three episodes – identifies a collaborator. And the Sanguinista sympathizer is… Chancellor Alexander Drew (Jacob Hopkins), who is promptly staked by Roman. Can’t say he’ll be missed.

Returning from the past is cousin Hadley, who has taken a job at the mystery nightclub Andy and Jason visit at the invitation of Judge Clemmons (Conor O’Farrell). (Incidentally, Jason certainly seems to have rebounded nicely from last week’s upsetting emotional epiphanies...) Jason is surprised to bump into her, and she asks him if he’s come to take advantage of the safe haven and whether he’s brought Sookie. Confused, as Jason often is, he tries to ask her more, but Hadley realizes she’s already said too much – and that’s before she lets slip that his parents didn’t die in a flood.

Jason creates a scene, which gets him tossed from the Moulin Rouge-style establishment – did I mention that it’s invisible from the outside? Andy tears himself away from his own surprise reunion with Morella to follow Jason.

Patrick and Terry might have a harder time escaping from the underground bunker where they find themselves trapped, standing in front of a hostile former comrade with a serious firearm.

All and all, it was a busy week, but we still haven’t seen Russell. When is that happening again? And who or what really killed Sookie’s parents in Alan Ball’s Bon Temps? Maybe we’ll learn soon.

What did you think? Leave your comments below.

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