Identity crises are no joke. People need to be able to have some kind of understanding of who they are (or who their loved ones are), even if that understanding is a pejorative one. Better to be the slacker guy than a nobody. But once our self perception starts to fracture, as they inevitably do at some point, people start to panic and their lives are torn asunder. The season 6 premiere of True Blood titled, “Who Are You, Really?”, is mainly a reference to Bill, but it also extends to nearly all of the major characters.
Taking off from season 5, the opening scenes depict a frantic exodus from the burning fortress of the Sanguinistas. Bill has been transmogrified into some indestructible demigod and everyone (Eric, Sookie, Jason, Jessica, Nora, Pam, Tara) makes their way through the wreckage. The meet up outside in a car and get the hell out of dodge. As they are driving into the distance, we see Bill emerge from the fiery heap to ascend into the stratosphere. They subsequently arrive at a beach and everyone splits up into pairs, save Jason who takes off alone.
“I hate the beach–fish piss and sand in your cooch.”–Pamela Swynford De Beaufort
Is it me or does Pam consistently have the best lines? Anyway, Pam begrudgingly heads back to Fangtasia with Tara on Eric’s behest. Pam feels slighted by Eric who never told her of his sister, Nora, and begins marginally questioning her and Eric’s relationship. Tara just wants her to forget about it so they can explore their new burgeoning relationship. They are interrupted by the cops–strippers?–who shoot an overprotective Tara in the shoulder.
This is the corollary of the edicts espoused by Governor Truman Burrellin. His platform: vampire curfews, armed citizens, and shutting down all vampire owned establishments. Louisiana, which evidently has the highest vampire population in the country (fun fact!), is teeming with hungry vamps that are bereft of True Blood to satiate their cravings. Burrellin is also partnering up with the owner of True Blood ostensibly to get this substitute back out on the streets, but really just to secure tax revenue for his re-election. I swear I am not making this up.
The vamp hating Jason Stackhouse–who now seems himself as the “little gay boy” from the Sixth Sense–is digging this rhetoric. He hitches a ride with some mysterious guy who is obviously Warlow. When he finally deduces this stranger’s name, he pulls out a gun and fires but it’s too late: Warlow has vanished leaving Jason careening towards a tree.
Sam Merlotte also escaped the inferno down at the Sanguinistas place, but his girlfriend, Luna, did not. Before dying, she tells Sam to take care of her kid. I would point out how anticlimactic her death was, but I didn’t care about her character at all. He takes her kid to Merlotte’s where he interfaces with Lafayette wrong-place-at-the-wrong ‘-time Reynolds.
“I’m Sherriff Andy Bellefleur and I’m gonna be your daddy!”
Well, here is our oddball storyline for the year. After impregnating a fairy last year, Andy Bellefleur has to sire a few human/fairy offspring. Andy doesn’t see himself as a parent, so he seeks the help of Arlene and Terry who try to buoy his spirits by giving him helpful tips and pep talks. But uh oh–his infants wake him up in the middle of night standing upright and appear to have aged several years over the course of 24 hours! Even for a show centered on the coexistence of vampires and humans, this is some pretty goofy stuff (see the reaction shots of Arlene and Terry upon seeing his aged kids). But whatever, I’m okay with this for now.
Sookie takes Jessica to Bill because he’s working some Darth Vader stuff on Jess. Once they meet up with Bill, Eric attempts to kill him but is restrained in mid-leap, leaving an opening for Sookie to stab him from behind. Bill does not die. He cavalierly pulls the stake out of his back and suggests they have an amicable pow-wow. (I got to say, he handled that rather well.) Sookie is not receptive and tells him to leave them alone, but Jessica wants him to stay. They leave Jess with him and bolt.
Bill confides to Jessica that he fears his new power will corrupt him and he needs her to keep him honest. It sounds like straight jive but he plays it fairly genuine. By the end of this week’s episode of True Blood, Bill is possessed by three incarnations of Lilith. New leader of the wolf pack, Alcide, also appears to be under the nefarious strains of power. Like Bill, he is similarly being watched. His girlfriend makes sure to remind him that she is his “number one.”
Meanwhile, Sookie is also feeling the identity blues, as she tells Eric she wishes she could just be normal again. Eric signs the house back over to Sookie and Sookie revokes his invitation to her house. Eric tells Nora to stay out of Sookie’s life and she chides him for being in love.
I mourn the loss of the show’s showrunner for the previous five seasons, Alan Ball, but I enjoyed this episode. We’ll see how things progress as the season continues.
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