True Blood Recap: Episode 7 - "Hitting The Ground"
S3E7: 
I love True Blood, I really do. But each week that I watch it, I can’t help but wonder when it’s going to mess up. This season has proven to be the most entertaining one yet, so it’s not like I’m predicting the show's death. But I feel as though I’m waiting each week for True Blood to get so absurd, so strange, and, most troublingly, so melodramatic, that it collapses under its own weight. This week didn’t do too much to assuage my fears, as it cranked up the pathos and was light on laughs (intentional ones, at least). Despite the fact that "Hitting The Ground" was chock-full of gruesome murders and new revelations, it felt like the plot came to a halt for the sake of emotional detours, with varying degrees of success.
Let’s compare Sam and Alcide, for instance. I’ve basically been grouping them together in my mind, since they seem to have so much in common: the shapeshifting, the crushes on Sookie, the flannel, and the general exasperated niceness. But this episode finally helped differentiate them for me, because while Sam spends the episode saving puppies from evil dog fighters, Brawny spends it killing puppies with his truck. Okay, they were big evil werewolf puppies that were trying to kill him, but they were still cute! Except Debbie Pelt, who is less “cute” and more “trashy and incoherent.” She swears incoherent, trashy revenge on Alcide for killing her incredibly useless boyfriend Cooter (who wins the Eggs Benedict memorial prize for most useless new character of the season), and is quickly foiled by a locked door. And For once Sam gets to be badass, he stages a heroic rescue of his little brother and finally calls the Mickens out on their general horribleness. But Sam and Alcide’s stories have more in common than the animal theme, since they both get some closure on the people who’ve been abusing their loved ones. The difference is that we care about Sam and Tommy, since we’ve known Sam for years and Tommy seems like a nice kid, and not about Alcide and Debbie, because we just met them and Debbie seems like a psychopath.
The show’s other resident psychopath, Lorena, finally (finally!) shuffles off the mortal coil this week for the big sexy torture dungeon in the sky. Lorena had an amusing turn this season as the universe’s chew-toy, but I think the writers had abused her as much as they could before it doubled around to being sad again. Sookie steps up to the plate and stakes her (with a lot of help from Bill, which was disappointing), but then spends the rest of the episode in a coma, in the soft-focus land of dancing hippies. The episode doesn’t technically come out and say it, (well, technically it does, but only to Eric, and very quietly. More on that later) but it’s pretty clear that Alan Ball is following the book’s explanation for Sookie’s supernatural abilities. I won’t say much about it right now, in case there’s anyone out there who doesn’t want to be spoiled, but I have some reservations that Ball can make it work without getting hopelessly silly. Especially since Claudine and her buddies look like they wouldn’t be out of place as backup dancers in an Enya video. The scenes in frolic-land aren’t very useful, either, since the second Sookie stops dancing and starts asking pertinent questions everyone runs away screaming. Presumably they’re running from Bill, but it’s more likely from fear of advancing the plot. Claudine does leave behind an appropriately vague and ominous warning, that Bill is out to steal Sookie’s “light.” Hate to break it to you, Claudie, but Sookie already lost her virginity to Bill, if that’s what you were going for.
She may have a point, however, since Bill got back to being creepy this week. He drains Sookie in the back of Alcide’s truck, in a scene that’s actually effectively disturbing as he gets increasingly out of control, to Sookie's horror. But the effect is somewhat ruined when Tara kicks him out into the daylight with the world weirdest facial expression (<- see photo). At which point, in the most interesting development of the night, he does not burst into flames. We’ve seen Bill spend some time in the sun before without immediately dying, but this time he doesn’t even get singed. The implication, I suppose, is that drinking large quantities of Sookie’s blood makes vampires resistant to sunlight, which is a pretty fascinating idea. And one that could lead to Sookie quickly being dead, if Russell finds out. For the moment, nobody knows about Sookie’s blood but Bill, but it’s only a matter of time until he lets it slip to the worst possible person.
Speaking of the worst possible person, Eric now seems to know about Sookie’s significant origin. (And is still wearing the blue sweater! Three episodes in a row!) It doesn’t seem likely that Eric would throw Sookie under the bus for no reason, but if it helps him get closer to Russell she’s going under faster than a werewolf Alcide is mad at. Eric’s alliance with Russell finally paid off this week, when he rescued Pam from the Magistrate. On the up side, Pam’s alive! Or just the normal amount of dead! Hooray! On the down side, Russell gets to speechifying and kills the Magistrate, which means that the authority is bound to come looking for them. But for the moment, Russell finally completes his shotgun wedding to Sophie-Ann, consummated by an adorable air-kiss, and now seemingly has control of both Mississippi and Louisiana. But more importantly, he’s interested in franchising Fangtasia! I would be totally fine with True Blood turning into a workplace comedy about Pam, Eric, Lafayette and that Estonian stripper, by the way, Alan.
I may be kidding about the sitcom idea, but there’s no denying that True Blood’s absurdity and gore is better suited to black comedy than earnest drama. The show has done effective emotionality in the past, (Godric’s death, for one,) but it’s central relationship between Bill and Sookie is kind of a bust. A star-crossed romance doesn’t work if we want don’t want Bill and Sookie to be together, because we know how much better the show works when they’re kept far, far apart. It’s like watching Casablanca and wanting Ingrid Bergman to get on that plane, before Humprey Bogart eats her.
Quotes:
Anna Paquin seems to be auditioning for Fay Wray’s part in King Kong this episode, because that girl does NOT stop screaming this week. It’s even a plot point, when she has to come up with a way to distract Debbie and she does it by screaming at her really loudly. Have some pity on my poor eardrums, Anna.
“She’s from Hotshot. She’s probably named after that drug that keeps the whole town afloat... I bet you hundred to one her middle name is Meth.” Hoyt is getting snarky! You go, boy.
You’re just a scared man in saggy underpants with no discernible life skills whatsoever!
Would you all stop cussin at her for a minute?
Here's a hilariously strange conversation between Tara and Sookie's doctor in the hospital.
Dr. Obvious: "She’s lost a lot of blood."
Tara: " How much blood? "
Dr.: "A lot."
Tara: "Oh my god!"