Loaded Couch Potatoes

Episode 9 of season 2 of True Blood is reviewed, “I Will Rise Up”.  ***Some spoilers follow if you haven’t read the Sookie Stackhouse novels.***

“I Will Rise Up,” the ninth episode of the season, followed right in line with the rest of the season as another amazing episode.  The episode begins with “the Luke-inator” standing in the middle of the Dallas vampires’ house.  Outside, Bill tells Lorena it’s over, once and for all, and she heads off.  Seconds later the windows explode, along with some of the vampires.  Bill races in to look for Sookie, to find Eric Northman has thrown himself in front of her, protectively.  Eric tells him to go after the humans who attacked them.  Which he does, and the credits start as Bill bites into a guys neck.  This episode is probably the best hour of plot direct from the Sookie Stackhouse novels.  From the attack by the fellowship, to Sookie standing with Godric (Godfrey in the book) as he meets the sun, and a whole lot of Eric, this was possibly the most exciting episode for readers.

However, the closer the show gets to the book, the more it deviates in detail.  As if it would be such a horrible thing to actually give a couple line for line, blow for blow scenes, from the book the entire show is based off of.  Oh well.  Before the opening theme song even begins, there’s already a lot going on.  In the book, the fellowship actually surrounds the house and opens fire.  They inflict just as much damage as the suicide bomb, and the end result is the same.  The other differences, after the opening credits, are a little larger in impact on the story.  The “biting the bullet” scene, from Living Dead in Dallas, was a scene that I wasn’t holding my breath about.  I really wanted to see it happen, and thought of it as a very pivotal scene in the series.  But thankfully so did the writers of True Blood.  In the show of course, it’s silver shrapnel, not a bullet that Sookie has to suck out of Eric.  Big whoop.  In the book, Sookie sucks out the bullet for Eric, and then Eric, no doubt turned on by her bloody lips, grabs her and kisses her.  Then sends her off to find Bill, who Sookie doesn’t even know is alive or dead from the attack.  On the show, Bill first checks on Sookie and then is told by Eric to get the people who attacked them.  He does and then after biting the guy he catches, lets him go.  Then he comes back to find Sookie sucking her second piece of silver out of Eric’s shoulder.  Something she is very proud of, since she thinks she has just saved Eric’s life.  Bill of course lets her know she has been duped by the mischievous viking.

Then Godric sends everyone to the Hotel Carmilla, where Bill and Sookie discuss the consequences of the blood exchange.  Everything in that conversation is pretty well matched with the book, except for the part about Sookie being sexually attracted to Eric because of it.  That’s never mentioned (at least not from this first blood exchange).  Now back to Bill and the attack by the fellowship.  Bill Compton never comes back to check on Sookie, he’s to busy wreaking bloody vengeance on the attackers, and killing, what I assume is more than one of them.  When Sookie (after kissing Eric *sigh*) goes to look for him, he is coming back from doing this.  She is of course, none too thrilled with her vampire-boyfriend’s lack of level-headedness.  She (big difference from the show here) leaves Dallas on the spot and basically considers herself broken-up from Bill.  The two don’t reconcile until Sookie sees Bill out with Portia Bellefleur  (who is trying to get Bill to help her break into the maenid-controlled sex parties in order to clear Andy of Lafayette’s murder) and gets quite jealous.  But eventually they reconcile.  I really bet this is all throwing anyone who hasn’t read the books for a loop.

Meanwhile, in Bon Temps, Tara and Eggs wake up with the bruises of a night of “Hunter’s Souffle.”  While reminiscing and regretting their recent black-outs, the two get an emotional lecture from Mary Ann on control versus chaos.  She gets very preachy and thinks what they are experiencing is actually a higher state of consciousness.  She talks about the “fake civilization bullshit” falling away and people losing themselves to unite with their god. It’s actually quite compelling and pumped with passion by Michelle Forbes (playing Maryann).  Later, Lafayette, who is back to his bold bad-ass self again, is shocked when Tara turns up at Merlotte’s covered in those bruises.  He rightfully flips out and Eggs tries to attack Lafayette, but just ends up smacking Tara (again).

In Dallas, blissfully ignorant of their text bound dopplegangers, Sookie and Jason Stackhouse talk about being the only family they have left.  Jason feels like the Newlins preyed on his desire to be liked for something other then his “athaletics, good-looks, and sex abilities.”  I really enjoy the bond between brother and sister in the show, and if anything it is something that I wish had been in the books.  In Jason-related plotlines down the road, it will possibly add depth and emotion to the situations to a larger extent.  In a bit of comic relief, Sookie and Jason flip across the Newlins, whose marital problems are really coming across on t.v.

In Bon Temps, Hoyt asks Jessica to meet his mother.  Hoyt (a character in name only in the books) and his mom have it out later, when he tells her he wants her to meet vampire girlfriend (and eternal virgin) Jessica.  His mom is making him what looks like a grilled cheese sandwich with potato chips in the middle (yum?)!  And Hoyt calls his controlling mom out on her hateful ways.  Apparently she hates Methodists, Catholics, African-Americans, people who don’t take care of their gardens, people who park their trucks on the lawn, ladies in red shoes, people with too many kids, checkered-curtains, cats, dogs, bait, and every girl Hoyt has ever liked.  Wow.  Later on, Jessica does get to meet Hoyt’s mom, who arrives twenty minutes late.  The tension begins to build and finally some heated words are exchanged between the two women.  Until Hoyt’s mom lands a low blow by reminding Jessica she can’t give Hoyt children.  Jessica is crying blood before you know it, and Hoyt storms out saying he’s never coming home.

“This is the beginning.” Sookie has a steamy dream sequence, where her and Eric lie in bed together.  They pillow-talk about what type of vampire she would make (something almost completely absent in the books, I blame the Twilight madness for this topic being injected into True Blood).  As they talk, Lorena taunts Sookie and tells her she has already let Bill go.  As Sookie keeps wondering where Bill is while she’s wrapped around Eric, Eric says “This is the beginning.”  Very, very interesting.  This not only speaks of what is to come on the show, but is oddly reminiscent of where the last Stackhouse book leaves us.

So, next Maryann, who is insane about finding Sam, looks for him at the jailhouse.  When she doesn’t find him, she releases all the prisoners, who are all there because of her influence over them anyway.  Maryann doesn’t let Sam’s disappearance keep her down though.  She and Eggs and Tara are having a chaos-filled game of strip-poker, when in storms Lafayette and Tara’s mother to rescue her.  Tara attacks her mom for her sudden sober concern (and I really felt like the women had it coming for all the crap she pulled in season one).  But before you know it Tara’s choking her mom, and Lafayette is kicking Eggs, and then Lafayette scoops Tara up, and makes a break for it.  They get away, but you can tell if Maryann isn’t worried about you escaping, you’re probably not out of the woods yet.  Maryann finishes up the episode by storming (literally) into Merlotte’s, referring to herself (I think) as a god, and demanding Sam be brought to her.  Yikes.  Good thing that Sam has chosen to bunk with Andy Bellefleur, the only person crazy enough or sane enough to be on his side.

Finally, back to Dallas.  In the books, Godric (Godfrey) is a vampire who like to kill (among other things) children.  Godfrey is disgusted with himself, and decides to commit suicide.  He embraces the fellowship, since they agree with him and want to help him “meet the sun”.  Sookie, grateful for not being raped by Gabe, goes to watch and be with Godfrey.  She cries and he says “That’s nice.  Someone to cry for me at the end.  I had hardly expected that.” True Blood does a lovely interpretation of this.  While getting lectured by the blond vampire from the news, it comes out that Godric let himself be taken by the fellowship and had no intention of stopping them from killing him.  He doesn’t fight to keep his position as sheriff, and instead says he will make amends for the lives lost.  Only Eric realizes what Godric means.  After Godric leaves, Bill punches Eric, for creating the blood bond with Sookie, at kinda of an inappropriate time (what with Eric’s maker suicidal and all).  Eric doesn’t even seem to notice and is only upset by Godric’s decision.  Sookie tells Bill she wants to go to Godric.  She says she’s just “gotta be there,” even though Bill is resistant to the idea and clearly doesn’t like what all has happened in Dallas.  On the rooftop, Sookie finds Eric and Godric arguing.  Eric is furious, sad, and the performance by Alexander Skarsgård is brilliant.  He threatens to keep Godric alive by force, but Godric says it would be cruel and that “we’re [vampires] not right.”  Eric begins to cry as he begs Godric not to do it (it’s a six-foot-tall swede weeping openly, you don’t see that every day).  When he finally accepts the decision, he tries to stay and meet the sun too, until Godric commands (as his maker) him to leave.  Sookie tells Eric she’ll stay with him.  Godric says it won’t take long at his age for the sun to kill him (a small nod at the survival of Bill in the sun).  They talk about God and forgiveness briefly.

Sookie:  Are you very afraid?

Godric:  No. No, I’m full of joy.

Sookie:  But the pain…

Godric:  I want to burn.

Sookie:  Well, I’m afraid for you…(begins to cry)

Godric:  A human with me at the end, and human tears.  2,000 years… and I can still be surprised.  In this, I see God.

Sookie:  Goodbye, Godric.

Sookie watching this remorseful vampire meet the sun loses nothing in the translation from text to screen.  The emotional impact is even greater, and the inclusion of Eric in this plotline (in the books Godfrey wasn’t Eric’s maker) gives the audience a glimpse at something in Eric that is good and loving.  Something the show hadn’t demonstrated at all yet.

Next weeks episode is “New World in My View”, and is as always on Sunday night, 8:00 pm cst Sunday on HBO.