Loaded Couch Potatoes

Here’s my review of “Keep This Party Going,” the second episode of True Blood‘s sophomore season.  There are spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it yet, beware.

I would describe this episode as being one of moments in which our characters all take the time to try and figure out how best to survive in the new situations they’ve found themselves in.  Lafayette is doing his best to merely stay alive as a captive in Eric’s basement; Jessica is trying to figure out how to cope with her new “life” as a vampire; Sookie is trying to figure out how her relationship with Bill has been altered by Jessica’s presence; Tara is trying to figure out the extent of her relationship with Eggs, and also (less directly) of her relationship with Maryann; Sam is worrying over Maryann’s re-entrance into his life and what it might mean for his livelihood; and Jason is simply basking in his new existence as the Light of Day camp’s favorite student.

Of these, I’d say I’m probably the most interested in Lafayette’s story.  Nelsan Ellis, of course, was probably the best character of season one (although Jason was close in my opinion), and it looks like that streak may continue.  Ellis is getting an opportunity to play all kinds of interesting new sides to Lafayette, including a ruthless determination to survive no matter what the cost, and no matter what the terms of that survival.  And yet, it seems totally consistent with the more brash and in-control Lafayette we remember from the first season; the character hasn’t changed, we’re seeing the same guy in wildly different circumstances.  As usual, he gets some of the best dialogue.  For example, upon being called a prostitute by Pam: “I’m a survivor first, a capitalist second, and a whole bunch of other shit after that, but a hooker dead last.  So if I got even a Jew-at-a-Al-Quaeda-pep-rally’s chance of gettin’ up outta this motherfucker, I’m taking it.  Now, what you want to know?”

Lafayette also has a great scene with Ginger, an incredibly skanky-looking woman who work sat the bar where Lafayette is being held captive.  (I’m still not quite sure if that’s Fangtasia or not.)  She freaks out, shoots Lafayette in the leg, and then starts screaming at every little thing.  The best moment is in which she grabs some towels to stop the bleeding, looks at them, screams, and then hollers, “These are dirty!”  True Blood is great at that sort of broad comedy, but it never feels cheap.  Michael Bay, please pay attention: this is how you integrate humor into a non-comedy.

This all leads to some terrific involvement from Eric, who is finally getting some, uh, juicy scenes after being mostly wasted during the first season.  He gets Lafayette to tell him that Jason Stackhouse might have been responsible for the disappearance of the vampire character Stephen Root played last season, and later confronts Bill, telling him that he’s going to be taking Sookie to Texas to help find Godric, another missing vampire.  Eric — and actor Alexander Skarsgård — makes a cool sheriff, and while I’ve never seen a sheriff wear a running suit while on duty, Eric seems to be able to get away with it.

I’m also having a lot of fun with Jason’s plotline, involving his newfound entrance into the Light of Day camp.  There he is, riding on a bus, blithely saying “shit” after a group singalong, kicking ass at flag football, totally throwing himself into the role when asked to take part in an acting exercise in which Sarah Newlin pretends to be a vampire sympathizer … Ryan Kwanten plays the hell out of all of these scenes, injecting Jason with a wide-eyed innocence and enthusiasm for his surroundings.  But Jason, an occasionally foolish character, is no fool; Kwanten has a moment, when the words “vampire sympathizers” get roudly booed by his fellow campers, in which he allows a subtle amount of uncertainty and maybe even disdain to play across his face.  This is what’s so great about Jason as a character: to a certain extent, he gets blown by the wind and goes wherever it takes him, but he’s also never entirely closed off from seeing the wider world.

Jason gets good dialogue this episode, too, and most of it comes in tandem with a new character, a fellow camper named Luke (played by Wes Brown) who is obviously jealous of Jason’s immediate favorite-son status.  “Luke McDonald,” he introduces himself to Jason on the bus; “no relation to the restaurant.”  Jason’s reply: “Any relation to the farm?”  “What farm,” comes the answer; and Jason looks at him with a sort of blank disbelief before changing subjects.  Later, after Jason wows the crowd during the vampire-sympathizer playact session with Sarah (after a bizarre and hilariously apt moment in which Sarah dons astoundingly fake fangs and reveals her character to be not just a vampire sympathizer but an actual vampire!, Jason freaks out, snaps a flagpole in half, and only-sorta pretends to prepare to stake her with it), Luke confronts Jason.  “You think you walk on water, don’t you?”

Kwanten has an awesome moment in which he cockily snaps off a piece of dental floss before delivering what must, in his head, seem like the ultimate rebuke: “I’m pretty sure that was Moses.”  Luke replies, disgustedly, “No, it was Jesus; Moses parted the Read Sea.  And what the hell was with you snapping the American flag in half like you was some Muslim Buffy with a dick?!?  That was all kinds of messed up.”

I’d have to say I’m also enjoying Sam’s story, which involves Maryann showing up at Merlotte’s to fuck with him, her intent unknown.  She orders plate after plate of food (I’m reminded of seeing that ginormous table of food in her house when young Sam broke in); it’s not clear if she’s eating it or not, which is probably something the episode should have taken a moment to show one way or another.  Later, she does something to make the entire bar full of people lose their inhibitions and sart dancing; even Andy, who describes his softshoe abilities as being akin to an epileptic on meth, and he’s not kidding.  Michelle Forbes is awesome in this episode; I always thought her younger self was hotter than balls playing Ensign Ro on star Trek: The Next Generation, but she’s even hotter here in her more mature guise.  It’s that danger in her eyes, which is almost palpable.  Some of the vampire cast could learn a thing or two about being menacing by paying attention to this lady.  I don’t know where this storyline is heading, but I suspect it will end in Maryann’s death, and I miss her already.

The Sookie/Bill plotline has long been one of my least favorite elements of True Blood, but the addition of Jessica into the mix seems to be perking it up a bit.  I continue to enjoy how fussy Bill can be; the hilarious scene in the clothing store when the saleslady, upon seeing how Bill behaves toward Eric, makes the assumption that the two are a gay couple is one of the best moments of the seris to date.  Also, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer seem to have a bit more chemistry together lately than they did last season.  Their relationship has never exactly been a weak link for the show, but it hasn’t been a highlight, either, at least not for me; but it seems to be improving.

As for Jessica, well, she’s played by a hot redhead (Deborah Ann Woll), so I’d be interested in her even if I wasn’t interested in her.  But she continues to be a promising character, capable of playing humor and pathos at the same time.  She also does pretty well with the anger she feels, both at Sookie and Bill for causing her to become a vampire, and at her parents for making her former life such a miserable and sheltered one.  This is an interesting dynamic; Jessica is caught between one set of parents in her previous life, and a new set in her current one.

Sookie gets at least one great moment during her scenes with Jessica, after the new vampire has broken her promise and gone into her old parents’ home.  “I don’t normally cuss,” says Sookie, “but you have completely fucked me here!”  That made me chuckle.