Everybody Get Your Drink On in “Dead Meat,” “True Blood” Season 6 Episode 8

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If you’ve been on the internet this week, you’ve probably seen at least two articles about major characters dying this season, possibly even tonight: Alcide or Eric will soon be dead. How much truth is there to these rumors? Who knows – that’s why you have to watch the season. But to address them – if anyone deserves to die, it’s Sookie. I hate Sookie this season. Close second: Bill. Tied for second: Alcide. Very three last people on the list: Eric, Lafayette, and Pam, in no certain order. Anyone else dying is fine by me. That being said, let’s see who all died last week and who dies this week!

I’m still in mourning over Terry, who is still awesome. To try and get over his death, Arlene visited the cemetery where he’s already been buried (?), but the ground is not disturbed (?), and her children don’t know their dad is dead yet (?). As my HBO Watch colleague Tamara Winfrey said in a meme:

Sookie comes away from Fairyland and Benlow to comfort Arlene, which she should not be allowed to do because she is a crappy friend. I am on the “I Hate Sookie” bandwagon right now and, no, I’m not getting off it. Anyway, Arlene blames Terry’s death on Lafayette because Terry gave him that envelope. While Andy and Holley try to “help” Arlene through her grief – “help” meaning “get drunk and try to deal with telling your children their dad died” – Sookie and Lafayette go to the bank with Terry’s key to find out what is in the safety deposit box. No, it’s not a confession or severed body part (dang it!); Terry left Arlene a very nice life insurance policy. Sookie and Lafayette see that he only purchased it a few days ago, which makes them suspicious. I swear, if they somehow ruin Arlene getting money out of Terry’s hired suicide, I will hate Sookie so much more. But never Lafayette. He’s impossible to hate.

Sarah Newlin decides to carry on as though Gov. Burrell never died: she’ll take care of everything vampire- and Facility-related while the Lt. Gov. can handle all of the politics. Willa warns Pam that the TruBlood coming into the Facility is tainted with Hep V. Eric sneaks Nora out of the Facility and takes her to Bill for healing, only to have her die – er, crumble into a bloody mess – in his arms. That was horrible. Eric crying is horrible. Now he’s pretty mad, though, so hopefully he starts killing people. It’s about time. Bill goes and visits the Bellefleurs, finds out one of Andy’s half-fae daughters lived, and threatens Sookie into helping him save everyone in the Facility. Jessica friendzones Jason over James, the vampire who refused to have sex with her as part of a study, but was more than happy to when Jessica said he was wonderful and terrific and blah blah blah. Jessica is also not a favorite character at the moment. Sarah Newlin decides to get revenge on Jason and has a guard cut open his arm. She then throws him into the female vampire general population. Tara tries to defend him, but another vampire claims Jason first. Sam and Nicole say goodbye but, against Alcide’s advice and orders, he goes back to Bon Temps because Terry is dead. Alcide has a heartfelt talk with his dad (not really – that’s extreme sarcasm) and then lies to his pack about Sam and Nicole being dead. But whoops! Rikki has Nicole and Nicole’s mom tied up and presents them to Alcide. Thankfully, the only Benlow we saw last week was him claiming that Sookie must be ready to marry him now because they had sex. Uh, okay, Benlow. Whatever.

This week, segmenting things by location isn’t going to work as much, so we’ll have to do it character by character. To start us off on this actually not bad episode – it’s good on the same level that episodes in season 3 and early season 4 were good, which is high praise considering these last two seasons of ‘what am I watching and why?’-ness that “True Blood” has become – we visit:

Alcide, the Pack, Sam, and Nicole
Upon presenting Alcide with Nicole and her mother, Rikki says Alcide is no longer packmaster and challenges him for the position in a fight to the death. She knows she’s going to be beaten but wants to know if Alcide has it in him to kill her. At this point, I’m wondering if they’ve broken up. Weren’t they together at the end of last season and the beginning of this one? Wait, it’s “True Blood;” why am I attempting to apply logic? Anyway, Rikki challenges Alcide and a couple of the pack females back her up. Of course Alcide wins the fight but, no, he doesn’t have what it takes to kill Rikki or anyone else. So much for pack life, right?

Sam is at Merlotte’s cleaning out Terry’s locker. Inside is a picture of Arlene holding Mikey and I just wanted to start crying. It’s not fair that Terry’s dead – or is it? More on that later. As Sam walks out of the bar, Alcide is waiting for him. Nicole and her mother are inside Sam’s trailer, Alcide says. Sam offers him cold beer inside the bar. Returning to his trailer, Sam apologizes to Nicole and her mother, gives them liquor, and offers them the use of his trailer for the night. When Sam leaves, he sniffs Nicole, then journeys over to the bar with Alcide.

Inside Merlotte’s, Alcide is already busy getting drunk. He offers his condolences to Sam for Terry:

Sam: I don’t know why death still surprises me.
Alcide: We know it’s coming, but we still don’t know when it’s coming.

Alcide mentions that he smelled something on Nicole, too. What will Sam do about this mystery smell? Drink! If there’s one theme in tonight’s episode, it’s “Get your drink on!” Next we see that Nicole’s mom has purchased tickets for 2 for a return trip home. Sam sits down and tells Nicole he loves her, and she says she loves him, and the mom basically goes, “Whoa Silver Fox! Get your hands off my daughter! She’s only 23!” Before Sam and Nicole can even defend their “relationship” or anything, guess who shows up? Yes, it’s Sookie to ruin the moment. And what does Sookie say? Stay tuned, Trubies. That’s coming up in a minute.

The Facility Vamps
Jessica and James are falling in like or something and Jessica says that if she had to meet the True Death, she would do it happily. James, however, is a bummer, and doesn’t like that idea. She’s now his reason to live, y’all! If I had a gif of Pam rolling her eyes, I would use it right now. Anyway, their love fest is broken up by some guards who escort James back to his general population area and Jessica back to hers. On her way, Jessica runs into Pam post-therapy session/sex with the psychiatrist. Jessica, appropriately grossed out, asks Pam how it was: “Oozy but productive.” Gotta love Pam!

When Pam and Jessica return to the gen pop area, Tara is educating Willa on the nature of Violet’s – the vamp who claimed Jason last week – and Jason’s relationship: “That bitch is a dog, and he is her bone” and if they try to mess with “her bone,” Violet will mess them up. Just as Tara is playing teacher, so is Violet.

She tells Jason, “I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, if I’m going to live or die. But as long as I am alive, I’m going to feed off you as I see fit and as often as I like.” Jason is worried that Violet might rape him, but she says no. She’s going to wait until it’s consensual and make him woo her and beg. We also get some backstory on Violet: she’s a medieval Catholic and believes in the “sanctity of [their] union” when she said Jason was hers. Also, she knows what she wants and how she wants to be treated. I like Violet. She’s a bit like Pam: no nonsense, get in my way and I’ll eat you, leave me alone. Thumbs up on this new character! Pam, at Tara’s insistence, tries to help Jason, but Violet ignores her and Pam quits trying. Tara and Willa discuss letting Violet drink the poisoned Hep V TruBlood and believe that will solve their Jason problem.

TruBlood is now being passed out to everyone, but James declines drinking it. Steve Newlin, after talking to and getting shot down by James, nearly takes a sip, but James tells him to stop. I was really hoping Steve could just die already, but no. All vampires must have their rations of TruBlood, though, and soon we learn the consequences. When Sarah finds out that Steve isn’t drinking, she sentences him to run around on a hamster wheel until he confesses why he won’t drink. It was awesome.

This was without a doubt the funniest part of the show because, even as a vampire, Steve is pathetic and inept and not athletic. After his run, James and Steve are put into the white circular “Meet the Sun” room because they wouldn’t drink the TruBlood. I was hoping for a death match between them and was sorely disappointed. Because Pam, Tara, Violet, Jessica, and Willa won’t drink, they are also brought to the “Meet the Sun” room. Jessica says, “We’re all gonna meet the sun in here.” If that clip hadn’t been shown in every single episode this season, it would be more dramatic. But now? And only before episode #9? It feels a little anti-climactic to me.

Sarah Newlin
After making Steve run around on the hamster wheel, she has to face a crisis at the TruBlood bottling plant. Ms. Suzuki, the Japanese scientist who is helping re-synthesize the TruBlood, is visiting – and she’s furious. Ms. Suzuki accidentally stumbles into the “product contamination area” of the factory where Sarah tries to kill her by breaking her neck. She fails miserably – but hilariously. The Newlins are just so incompetent. Ms. Suzuki then runs for the door and uncovers the Facility. Sarah continues to chase her until, over a metal grating, Ms. Suzuki’s heel is caught. Sarah bashes her head against the grating over one of the male general population units, then succeeds in killing her by putting a high heel through Ms. Suzuki’s head.

Eric

After Nora dies, Bill appears in the doorway. Understandably, Eric is distraught, but Bill doesn’t care. They sill have a righteous cause to fight for! Eric ignores him completely and asks, because Bill can see the future, why he didn’t see Nora’s death happening? Bill keeps saying they have a job to do, but Eric stops him again: “My sister’s blood is still warm on my chest and you’re asking me to fight your holy war?” Eric demands to know where Warlow is, and Bill explains that he was going to bring him but Sookie has him squirreled away somewhere.

Eric, being awesome, says, “The Almighty Prophet didn’t want to pick a fight with his precious Sookie. So he just let my sister die.” Pointing out the obvious, Eric says that Bill is still weak over Sookie, even after she put a stake through his heart and he showed them all he was invincible. And, finally, Bill loses it. He levitates Eric for some reason, which is hilarious. Eric is all, “You’re taking me for a ride with your mind! Look Mom, I can fly!” Eric mocks Bill over and over, Bill brings up Godric, Eric gets mad, Bill kicks Eric out, and that awesome scene is over. I love Eric and Bill fighting. Never ever should they be friends. Ever.

 

The Bellefleurs
Andy, Holley, Lafayette, and Adilyn are sitting at the dining room table and trying to get Arlene to eat. Andy decides he needs coffee, and Adilyn asks for a cup. This father-daughter moment was awesome: “Adilyn Braelyn Charlene Danika, you ain’t even two weeks old yet, so, no, I’m not gonna get you some coffee!” Andy as a dad is pretty awesome. Lafayette tells Arlene, Holley, and Andy about the life insurance policy for $2 million Terry took out four days before dying. Arlene thinks about how she had Terry glamoured and how mean Adilyn and her sisters were to Terry, and Adilyn hears her thoughts and runs away crying. Arlene offers the very sound advice that Adilyn should stay out of people’s heads because she might not like what they have to say.

Later, Andy, his sister Portia, his grandmother Caroline, and Holley accompany Arlene to the mortuary. The funeral director is telling them how things have been arranged – flowers, preachers, etc. – and Carolina insists on a 21 gun salute with full military honors. Arlene snaps. Because Terry was shot to death, having guns is NOT appropriate. Her Terry is not the many they are planning to bury and he wouldn’t want all of this. She even goes so far as to say that Terry never wanted to join the Marines; he only did because his hoity-toity family wouldn’t pay for him to go to college. She runs out, followed by Holley and Andy. Arlene says she doesn’t want any of the insurance money or this funeral. Andy says that he could investigate who killed Terry, but only the insurance company would win then. Arlene wonders why Terry would leave them on purpose. Now I kind of hate Terry for doing this.

After Adilyn ran out of the room, Holley apparently called her sons to cheer Adilyn up. They go out in the daytime and, in the next scene, are in the cemetery at night. One of the boys is passed out and the other is making moves on Adilyn, who is all for it. Then Eric appears. He glamours the boys then hunts down Adilyn to feed. I really thought he was going to drain her, but nope. Andy finds her running down the road and takes her home.

In Fairyland
When Sookie returns to Benlow in Fairyland, she binds him again for some reason. He’s hungry so she offers him her wrist because…? I have no idea. Oh, wait, now I get it: she asks if he would like to do a favor for Bill. Considering how Bill has treated Benlow, I would have immediately laughed and said heck no, but I’m not in this show. She wants Benlow to agree to help Bill save all the vampires by letting everyone in the Meet the Sun room drink from him. Apparently Benlow blood makes you forever able to walk in the sun or something. Even when Russell drained that fairy back in season 5 he wasn’t forever able to walk in the sun. (Again with the logic on my part – I need to learn.) Benlow says that if he makes this deal, Sookie will be his forever. He wants to officially turn her and keep him by his side for all eternity. Also, he’s been in love with her for 6,000 years and can’t imagine living without her and stop. Please, just stop, Edward Cullen. Sookie doesn’t give a straight answer and leaves. In the nighttime shadows, though, we see Eric walking over to the portal and reaching his hand inside. Everything in Fairyland goes dark.

Sookie
At home, Sookie remembers how, in her bathroom, Warlow tried to reach through the portal and said he was coming for her. That’s still a scary thought. She listens to a voicemail Jason left about having to fix things with Jessica and that Sookie will be safe with Niall. Sookie drinks to deal with the Bill or Benlow Decision.

The next morning, she goes to Merlotte’s and interrupts Sam and Nicole. Sam takes her back to his office and asks how she is. He mentions that he was drinking last night, and Sookie admits she was, too.

Sam: What are you drinking about? What’s your drama?
Sookie: Oh, you know, vampires, fairies, sh*t like that.
Sam: You wouldn’t be Sookie without it.

Sookie flashes her Fairy Ball o’ Sun & Fun at Sam and explains that, if she releases it, she will no longer be “special.” Once they had talked about how easy their lives would be without that specialness. Sam tells her to put it away and asks what she wants. Sookie says that she always thought they would end up together. While I admire the nod to the books, that ending just doesn’t work here. Sam, understandably, is furious and confused:
“You have always known how I felt about you but you never cared. You kept me waiting in the wings cause there was some more dangerous guy in the picture. And now you walk in here… Your timing could not be worse!” And why? Because Nicole is pregnant. That’s what Sam could smell last night. For her to be pregnant after less than 2 weeks, and for it to be Sam’s baby, makes no sense, but hey, logic fail again, right? Sam and Sookie say goodbye.

Sookie goes over to the Compton Mansion to try and work out a deal. It’s in the daylight, of course, and Bill is able to sit outside. Apparently a little Benlow blood really is all you need to be a day walker and never sleep and all that normal vampire stuff. Or was it Lilith? Eh, who cares – he can day walk and never sleep. Bill reiterates that if everyone drinks Benlow they won’t die in the Meet the Sun room. Sookie doesn’t want Bill to kill Benlow, and Bill says he wants Benlow alive. Then Sookie decides to step in it and mention how when they met, Bill hated being a vampire (he immediately says, “I was misguided!”) and that Benlow hates being a vampire, too. Sookie tries to explain her position on this whole Benlow arrangement and how she’ll become his “fairy vampire bride,” but Bill doesn’t care. He sees the proposition as just. Sookie immediately tells Bill what she thinks of that and him, then storms off.

Sookie later goes to her parents’ graves. She says that all of her good memories of them are gone and replaced by the truth: they wanted to kill her. They’re “dead but not gone… ’cause death ain’t the end anymore. We all know that now. Death is just a f***ing pitstop on a road that keeps on going with no end in sight.” For the first time in a long time, Sookie shows a great deal of character development and depth: “Screw your kisses and your hugs and your attagirls. I’m gonna become the very thing that you hated so much you were willing to kill me over it. ‘Cause I’ll be damned if I’m gonna spend eternity lying by your f***ing sides. I’d rather walk the earth as a corpse than spend another minute thinking about you.” After this, I’m not hating Sookie so much.

That night, Sookie calls Jason and leaves him a message about Terry dying and says she’ll save him a seat at the funeral. Also, she wonders where Niall is. Next, she calls Bill and tells him to come pick her up in an hour; Bill asks why and she says, “Destiny is too much of a b*tch to keep fighting.” True dat, sister. When she and Bill go to the cemetery, she has him hold her hands as they travel to Fairyland, only to find… Benlow has been attacked by a vampire! He’s been drained! And Eric did it by following Sookie and drinking Adilyn. Looks like Mr. Viking Vamp is on the warpath next week – and I can’t wait.

Here’s a peek at Episode 9:

Only TWO episode left, Trubies. Don’t worry though, season 7 is already confirmed.

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