“It’s time for the humans to bite back.”
“The Sun” picks up right where the premiere left off, with almost every character involved in some kind of chaos. Jason has been road-tripping with some creepy old man, who claims to be the very vampire that murdered his family decades before. Sookie has just banned Eric from her home, claiming that she wishes that she could be the “girl in the white dress” again (just the thought of which makes me cringe. Why she would ever want to go back to that is beyond me.) Tara has just been shot trying to defend Pam’s honor and Sam has no idea what to do next (or how to take care of Emma). And then we have Bill(ith) who’s just been jumped by three bloodied naked versions of Lilith that all somehow absorbed into him in the ending scene that left me practically rolling my eyes.
The episode starts off with Sookie tossing and turning in bed as who we can only assume to be Warlow shimmers through what appears to be some kind of wind tunnel on the bridge. I’m excited to see more of the character but I have to say that I’m not exactly shaking in my seat as I think I should be when it comes to the vampire God’s prodigy. Hopefully, when he gets some actual lines and can be identified as something other than “unidentified extra”, I’ll be a little more spooked. Until then, I get more chills from the creepy guy in the rocking chair during the opening sequence than I do from him.
We quickly find out that the person Jason’s been driving with isn’t Warlow (though last episode he claimed to be) but is in fact their fairy ancestor. In one of the show’s most perfect deliveries, Rutger Hauer states, “ I’m your fucking Fairy-Grandfather” which we probably weren’t supposed to giggle at, but I did. After convincing Jason that he’s actually been his guardian fairy (?) for his entire life, he chews Jason out for being so naive. I couldn’t help but think through the entire first episode that Jason is the one who was going to die this season because of how reckless he has been but having his grandfather come in as a mentor might actually allow him to make it to season 7. Maybe.
Cut to Fangtasia where Tara is giving a wonderful portrayal of what it’s like to have your insides ripped out. It’s here that we learn that the humans are –gasp- actually fighting back. As if everyone, aside from Nora in all her ignorance, didn’t see that coming. Seriously though, it’s about time. Pam and Nora commence in a bickering match that I only half listened to (which really means the only thing I paid attention to was Pam in all her flawlessness) and we see Eric finally snap. He vows to give the humans the war they seem to desperately crave and orders both women to start being of some use.
We rejoin Bill, whose new powers seem to be getting the better of him. He flashes through several visions of vampires being attacked by humans, visions that were actually pretty horrific, as Jess pleads and begs for some kind of way to help him. He then slips into some kind of vampire-god coma where he meets with Lilith face-to-face (and blood free for once).
Arlene calls and yells at Sookie for not showing up for work, reminding all of us that she still actually has a job even if she’s barely been there since Season One. In a continuation of the fire-monster story line that plagued Terry and Arlene last season, we see the couple attempt to deal with the fact that Patrick’s wife has shown up (very pregnant) and very out of the blue. Instead of telling her the gruesome truth, Arlene concocts a story that he’s actually left her for someone else.
Cut to Sookie, who actually appears to be going to work for once. Of course, this is short lived as she bumps into a bleeding and very attractive man (Rob Kazinsky). Turns out, he’s a Halfling fairy too and you can practically feel the writers chuckling in the background because this is their not so subtle way of introducing a new love interest.
In my absolute favorite scene of the episode, we see Sam put a call into Lafeytte who is playing babysitter to Emma, complete with boa, heart shaped sunglasses, and teacup. Personally, I would have rather watched the two of them play tea party for the rest of the episode. As soon as Sam hangs up, he’s accosted by a pretty woman (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), later identified as Nicole, who claims to know that he’s a shifter and seems hell-bent on forcing him to “come out”. I’m actually pretty interested to see where the whole supernatural activist storyline will go. Out of all of the new characters introduced this episode, I think she might be my favorite but I’m always a sucker for a strong, passionate female character. As long as she doesn’t become a replacement for Luna as Sam’s love interest, I’m happy.
We head back over to Jess, who can barely contain her panic over Bill’s cationic state. She’s basically called the equivalent of a blood hooker, who people pay to drink from. This turns out terribly for the woman when all of the bones in her body begin to crack disgustingly and Billith pretty much sucks all of the blood from her body without even having to move. Out of all of his new powers, this one is definitely the most cringe worthy and you can almost imagine him using it to his advantage in the upcoming war with the humans.
The next few scenes are pretty quick and uneventful, more of filler scenes than anything else. The bonding between Sookie and Ben (the male Fairy) continues in a sappy conversation about how different they both are from everyone else. Sookie has her flirty eyes on; a gaze that’s been reserved just for Bill (and Eric…and Alcide), despite the fact that she’s audibly arguing that being around him is a terrible idea. We get another small glimpse of Daddy Andy, who now has four girls that appear to be around the age of four, standing in the field and begging for their fairy momma to come help before heading back to Jason and Grandpa Stackhouse. Being a fairy grandfather seems to give you some added perks as he’s able to send himself through the same portal that Warlow originally tried to come through. Jason, however, in all of his superior intelligence, tries to follow and merely crashes into the wall gaining him my second chuckle of the episode. There’s another small snippet of Nora and Pam which is relatively boring aside from the moment where Nora admits that Pam is what Eric is most proud of. For us who love the Eric/Pam dynamic, this is pretty much what we’ve been waiting for since Eric first disowned her last season as a way to protect her.
In one of the bigger scenes of the episode, we see Eric go undercover at the Governor’s house in an attempt to end the war before it even starts. Even in an awkward get-up with glasses and a pocket protector, Alexander Skarsgard is adorable. He playfully battles with the governor under his disguise with thinly veiled threats until the opportunity arises for him to glamour him. In some superb acting, we almost believe that it works until the Governor cracks a smile and hollers for his guards. It’s here that we learn that not only have the humans invested in UV ray bullets, but also developed special contacts that inhibit glamoring (took them long enough). He orders the guards to take Eric away to a special “camp” but being Eric, in all of his vampire glory, makes his escape.
There’s some genuine Stackhouse bonding, which I kind of loved. When was the last time we saw any of the characters doing something as typical as sharing a meal together? Grandpa Stackhouse reveals that Warlow is actually already in town. He delves into their history a bit, revealing that their blood is royal. Not only is Sookie a fairy, but she’s a FAIRY PRINCESS. It doesn’t get much better than that, guys.
King Grandpa reveals to Sookie that she’s got a special Fae power that can kill any vampire that she touches. The catch is, however, that once she uses this special light bomb, she’s no longer a fairy. Cue ominous music.
In the only scene this episode that actually got an emotional reaction from me, we see Sam return home to Emma and Lafayette. Before he even gets a chance to settle down, things take a turn for the worse when Martha, led by their new pack master Alcide (and his newest conquest) arrive. They stake their claim on Emma, who comes outside because of all the yelling. Martha grabs her, despite her pleas to stay with Sam, and Alcide throws a few good punches at the shifter- enough to knock him out for the count. The un-named were-woman (whose name I might have missed because she’s pretty irrelevant to me) continues to pipe up in the background and attacks Lafayette, immediately scoring a position on my “I hope you die soon” list right below Billith. Throughout all of this, Nicole and her cronies are videotaping from the bushes so I’m sure the entire encounter will end up on the 5 o’clock news.
Eric resorts to plan B when it comes to taking the Governor out, stalking his unsuspecting and very Mary-Sue-esque daughter and waiting until he’s sure that her special anti-vampire contacts are out. This quickly earns him an invitation into their home, which I’m sure, will come in handy.
Jess returns from burying the woman’s body and begins speaking to Bill’s comatose state. Deborah Ann Woll does a fabulous job in this scene and the writing struck several chords with me. I have a tendency to forget just how young Jessica actually is, how inexperienced she was at life before becoming a vampire. Her panic and attachment to Bill has been clear in the last two episodes but this is the first time we see how really vulnerable she is. She begins to pray, a child’s prayer as she asks for each person she loves to be cared for.
Whether or not her prayer had anything to do with it, Bill quickly wakes from his one on one with Lilith and we learn that he’s added another special power to his ever-growing list (if you’re not keeping track, so far he can’t be staked, he can drain all the blood out of a human without even touching them, and he can move things with his mind.).
Billith can now see the future which immediately leads to a very quick shot of a group of vampires (Jessica, Tara, Pam, and what looks like Eric) in a facility which appears to have a large UV-Light above them. The light shifts on and they all burn. The fact that the closing song as the credits play echoes the episode name by talking about the “unavoidable sun” perfectly ties the last scene off.
It would be a lie to say that I didn’t enter into Season 6 with high expectations. Despite the decline in viewers during season five, I found myself loving every second of it (which you can hear all about in my review of the Season 5 DVD box set here) and hoping that season six would be the same. Unfortunately, the last two episodes have left me underwhelmed and wishing for more. Apparently, I’m not the only one that feels this way. Compared to last year, when over 5.2 million people tuned in for the premiere, this year’s 4.5 million is dismal to say the least.
Though I wasn’t totally blown away by the episode, it did have a few parts that I loved so it wasn’t a complete disaster on my end. I’m still holding onto hope that this is all building up to some more dramatic episodes like we saw last season. Here’s a preview for next week:
What did you guys think of the episode? Leave your thoughts below and feel free to argue with me about mine!
3 comments
This review was pretty much on track with my thoughts, except that I really disliked Season 5. I like this season so much more than the last, that even a slow episode seems like a huge relief. The Lafayette moments were my favorites, by far. I loved Eric the geek as well!
It’s hard to imagine Eric as a goober, but Skarsgard really pulls it off every time.
Loving this season!!