True Blood Recap: 4.1 ‘She’s Not There’
True Blood Recap: 4.1 “She’s Not There”
by Britt Hayes
Editor’s note: This article, as well as all recap articles for True Blood, contains spoilers. If you have not watched this weeks episode we strongly encourage you NOT to read this article until you have done so. Thank you – The Management.
At the end of season three Sookie disappeared with her faerie friend Claudine, which left everyone wondering just where that zany girl went. Season four opens with Sookie in the faerie realm, where she sort of pointlessly bumps into the bellboy from season two (the only other telepath we’ve met) and her grandpa Earl, played by Gary “Ummm, yeahhhhh” Cole. As it turns out, Claudine is Sookie’s fairy godmother (ummm, yeahhhhh) and the faeries need her help to protect their realm from a vampire who has successfully infiltrated their Grecian-style heaven home.
The fairies are led by Queen Mab (those who have read Romeo & Juliet are no doubt familiar with the Queen Mab speech given by Mercutio), who insists that Sookie eat some glowing fruit. She doesn’t and the fairy world begins to crumble, revealing the true, hideous goblin image of the faeries. Sookie grabs gramps and with the assistance of some renegade faeries they escape back to the Bon Temps graveyard where we say goodbye to grandpa (for now, as I imagine he’ll return in some capacity). The opening sequence is heavy-handed, as all things on True Blood undoubtedly must be. Alan Ball’s mantra seems to be “BIGGER! MORE!” which always, at the very least, provides interesting moments.
Two things about faeries: 1: I’m pretty sure all the faerie dudes are gay. 2: True Blood gives us gays in the military commentary with GLITTER GRENADES. I was seriously bouncing on my couch and making squeaky noises, you guys.
Another interesting development is the choice to jump twelve months ahead. In the faerie realm, time is much different. What feels like only hours to Sookie has actually been a year. Needless to say, when she returns things are quite different.
Tara has started her new life as an ultimate fighter of sorts a thousand miles away and has begun a relationship with a fellow female fighter. Typically I’m begging for Tara to die every time she’s on screen, but Ball seems to have finally found something interesting to do with her character that doesn’t involve whining and blaming everyone else for her problems. I do hope that Tara’s new girlfriend doesn’t end up being supernatural, just because I can’t deal with another “EVERYTHING BAD THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME HAS BEEN BECAUSE OF SUPERNATURAL STUFF” speech.
Jessica and Hoyt have moved in together and have adorable arguments over Jessica’s inability to cook because going to Piggly Wiggly for her is akin to visiting the morgue for a human. The two go on a date night to Fangtasia, where Jess realizes that she wants to taste the blood of other men, which is like vampire slutting, though she’s not quite ready to admit it, especially to an intrusive (and intuitive) Pam.
Note: I could probably watch an entire show without Sookie or Tara. Or Sam Merlotte for that matter. A show that focuses on Erik, Pam, Jessica, Hoyt and Lafayette and their adventures in Bon Temps.
Speaking of Lafayette… It’s been ten months since he’s had any bizarre witchy visions, but that hasn’t stopped Jesus from dragging him around to various witch gatherings to nurture his innate abilities and open his mind. This brings us to this season’s big antagonist: Marnie, the leader of a local witch coven. You know, because there’s just not enough supernatural shit in this little backwoods town. Legendary British actress Fiona Shaw inhabits Marnie so beautifully that at times it’s hard to believe she showed up to the right set. Marnie is a quite powerful witch, though, and by episode’s end has managed to temporarily revive her pet bird with the help of her circle.
Jason Stackhouse is finally a cop and fulfills his promise to Crystal to take care of the Hotshot hillbillies, one of which has locked him in a deep freezer by the end of the episode. Sad trombone. Jason’s exploits have always felt comical, like, “What sort of shenanigans will Jason get into this week? Tune in to see how he gets out of this pickle!”
Sam Merlotte is taking anger management classes which are really just an excuse to hang out with other shifters, get drunk, and turn into horsies. I give this part a pass because horses are such majestic creatures.
Tommy, Sam’s brother, seems to be dealing with getting shot in the leg pretty well, as he’s now limping around with Hoyt’s mom. This relationship is the most important thing to me on True Blood right now because creepy, overbearing mothers are always dramatically fruitful. It may seem a bit too on the nose, but I sort of like how Tommy needed a mom and Mrs. Fortenberry needed another son-slave and so I just imagine them bumping into each other and clicking into place like two puzzle pieces or sort of how I imagine Nuva Rings work.
Andy Bellefleur has, predictably, become addicted to V, which makes for another useless plot for one of the show’s best actors. However, it turns out Andy has a sister, played by Dexter’s Courtney Ford. Portia is a local lawyer and new love interest for Bill (and, I must mention, Jessica’s rival for hottest lady in Bon Temps which probably means she’s going to die), which brings us to the most interesting development this season.
True Blood has always been at its most enjoyable when it plays with politics and fundamentalist kooks, and here we have our two main vampires – Erik and Bill – seemingly entering the political stage. Bill does some speaking at the local chamber of commerce and Erik films a public service announcement for Nan Flanagan, championing the cause of the small business owner/vampire. This of course sets up the end of the episode and the final reveal quite nicely – turns out Bill Compton is the new vampire King of Louisiana, a position that I don’t doubt has gone straight to his head.
A girl from Marnie’s coven comes by his office to feed him information on the coven’s activity, which tells us that Bill is already aware of their threat. From Bill’s interactions with his snitch, it also seems that Bill has become quite the playa in Bon Temps since Sookie dumped him and ran off to Faerie Land.
Most of the episode is a tedious set up for the season to come, and sadly for an episode of True Blood it doesn’t pull out the big guns. Most seasons start wildly and end sort of lazily, which gives me hope that this season actually manages to pull off some interesting character work and end with a bang instead.
I know I have a strange relationship with True Blood. It’s a show so trashy and out of control that it’s hard not to love it like you love that one friend of yours that just has to talk about her yeast infection in public. In front of other people. At your favorite vaguely ethnic restaurant where you pray that your waiter isn’t pretending he can’t speak decent English for a better tip.
This season premiere is mostly lackluster with just enough of a glimmer of hope to keep me glued to the television, courtesy of some smart (and literal!) political maneuvering.
Bonus points this week to Lafayette’s mohawk and Arlene’s demon baby.
