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Total Fan
Joined: Dec 2006
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this review is so good!!
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Eric.
His continues to be the most complex and interesting story. Just when I think I know what he's going to do, I realize I don't. Not to keep repeating what I've said before, but the fact that he refuses to fit into a category -- any category -- is what makes the character for me. He is easy on the eyes, and Alexander Skarsgard is a compelling actor with a palpable charisma, but what ultimately works for the character is that he exists and operates on several levels at any given time.
At the beginning of the episode we see him as someone who is effectively prepared to give up. He knows Russell is coming. He knows he can't take him on. He knows other things, too: Revenge is seldom as cathartic as you expect, it tends to pile up collateral damage at least as devastating as the original deed, and your biggest regrets can be the simplest things that just elude you. Eric is teetering between resignation and guilt. And he is attempting to cover his bases. Namely, Pam's behind. And, to an extent, Sookie's.
He tracks Sookie to Jason's house, to try and talk some sense into her -- a vain attempt with Bill there (and even without Bill, it would not have carried much weight, given Sookie's stubborn refusal to accept the gravity of danger she is in). And also, perhaps, enlist her help. Eric knows what Sookie is now (I'm guessing this is what Hadley whispered in his ear, and what Sophie-Anne was desperately trying to conceal), and he's got to be thinking day-walking would be a definite advantage over Russell. Except, as Bill regretfully informs him, it doesn't really work. Sure, for a few mintues, if that, but then it wears off. So much for that plan, and even if the news was better, there's Sookie, spewing vitriol and declairing that he will never get her sweet, sweet blood. Aaaand so much for enlisting her help. Eric knows a hopeless cause when he sees one. He bows out, wishing her a long, happy sail on that Good Ship Lollypop she has constructed for herself out of some willful blindness and a dream.
And it's a dream that brings her to him later, with demands for answers. Her "leaving us so soon?" concern Eric dismisses as fake. Perhaps erroneously, because, for all her preoccupation with Beel, and for all her denial and misgivings, Sookie really does care that Eric may not be long for this world. She wouldn't admit it, even to herself, but it's there. But the real Eric is a lot less confident in her feelings for him than her Dream Eric. And he certainly isn't going to fish for the sentiment. All he wants is a kiss (which, for this Sexual Marathon Man is pretty tame, and pretty telling in terms of the depth of his feelings.). He gets his wish, and it's pretty overwhelming for both of them, and Sookie, of course, ruins the mood by attributing the heat to the fabled irresistibility of her all-powerful blood and bringing up Bill. Talk about a buzzkill. But she wants to know why Eric thinks Bill cannot be trusted.
Before Eric can answer (if, in fact, he would have), Pam calls him away for a much-needed pep-talk. He is too busy signing away his posessions and making out with the solution to his problem, instead of taking that solution and shipping it off to Russell as a peace offering. (Personally, I doubt Russell would have seen this as sufficient reparation. There's no denying he wants Sookie, now more than ever, since his initially anticipated war with The Authority has just escalated to the near-global scale. He would have taken the "gift," but I doubt he would have considered it as any kind of bygones.). But the point is moot, Eric explains to Pam. Sookie is no solution, because her blood doesn't do what Sophie-Anne thought it would. And anyway, Eric would never do that to Sookie.
Pam is not impressed. She plays the Godric card, and it cuts deep. She is in Eric's position here, as he stood with Godric, on that rooftop, begging him not to die. It's an effective tactic, and she runs it home by pointing out that Eric's death will not satisfy Russell, either. Russell is not going to stop. He is not after just one enemy, he is out to get the world. And he will come for Sookie just the same. Pam: "He’s gonna get her anyway, sooner or later. If you’re not going to give him Sookie, at least figure out how to use her and fast."
Pam may sound cold, but she makes sense. The options are limited, and the plan is there, ripened throughout the episode, ready for assembly. The ingredients: 1. Sookie's blood may allow for day-walking. 2. Russell, a vampire with every advantage over most other vamps and pretty much any human during night time, might not be able to resist the lure of gaining the one strength humans have over him -- daylight. 3. Sookie's blood doesn't work for longer than a few minutes. A fact known to Eric but not known to Russell. 4. Russell ends up burned. Either to death or depleted enough to be taken.
I think that's the gist, it's the only way it can go down. And for this to have a chance in hell of succeeding, it's clear the offer and the subsequent blood consumption would have to be authentic. Russel didn't buy Eric's professed indifference to Sookie at the best of times. These are not the best of times, and any whiff of a setup is going to end disastrously. Sookie will have to be used, and she'll have to be used for real. If the scene of her chaining looked rough, I don't doubt the final episodes events will look rougher still. Eric, most likely, will drink from her before he even goes to Russell, and he will have to take a lot. I am speculating here, but I would think the only way Russell will give Eric enough time to say his piece (instead of killing him on the spot) is if Eric shocks him enough by doing something completely unexpected. Like walking in from the outside in a broad daylight.
I called this development two episodes ago. I could see it coming down to Eric using Sookie's "specialness" to take down Russell. I went with Hamlet parallels, and it played that way for a while -- all to hell, with collateral damage. I could see Sookie as Ophelia in this scenario, and it troubled me.
I'm glad to say, it didn't pan out like that. "Get thee to the nunnery" is furthest from Eric's thoughts. He isn't casting her out, he is dragging her in. And, as harsh and cold as it seems, it's a better and sounder action. Eric is not being led by his emotions anymore. He is in full fighting mode, and he needs to be to stand any chance here. Godric: "A vampire is never at a mercy of his emotions, he dominates them." Eric is doing what he needs to do. The time for sentiment is over. The time for resignation is over. The only thing Eric is resigned to at this point is probably the knowledge that Sookie will not forgive him for this. He is beyond caring what she thinks of him or his actions, but not beyond caring about her ultimate fate. Hers, Pam's, his own. I doubt Eric ever concerns himself with those beyond his immediate circle, but the demise of Russell, should Eric be able to pull this off, will benefit everyone. And that is the bottom line.
That's what makes Eric Eric. A thousand-year-old survivor, willing to do what needs to be done and not shying away from the ugly. Or dressing it up as something else. He knows Sookie will hate him for this. I bet he hopes for it. Hopes it's a long and healthy hate. Because that would mean she survived. Along with everybody else.
There's a temptation to romanticize Eric. He is tremendously appealing, both as a bad-ass and as a potential lover. He has strong loyalties and his love is genuine. But I resist the temptation, because a romantic view brings certain expectations of wholesale goodness that I neither see nor want to see in Eric. Eric is not now, nor will he ever be or want to be a conventional good guy. If you are looking for a knight in shining armour, look elsewhere. He is not going to swoop in on the wings of righteous glory and save the day, accompanied by elevator music and gratefully weeping damsels. When Eric saves the day, it's usually a matter-of-fact, practical, or behind-the-scenes action, and he won't expect your gratitude, though he might and probably will call in the favor you now owe him. And that's just how I like him. Save the over-the-top, often pointless, sometimes harmful, but always loud and visible heroics to the likes of Bill Compton.
Eric is high-handed and arrogant. He can be downright cruel. He has his own sense of fairness and justice and he'll abide by it, even though he'd rather die than explain himself or his motives. He seldom divulges his reasons and he doesn't like to examine his feelings any more than an average human would. In fact, less than that. He loves deeply, but those he loves are few, and those he doesn't care about might as well not exist. He is smart and he is adept at sizing up people and situations. It serves him well, and it makes him good at manipulation. But manipulation comes out of necessity. Mostly, he is honest to the point of brutality. But in all fairness, he is just as blatantly explicit about himself. He won't pretend something he doesn't feel or doesn't believe in (unless it's an adversarial situation and a question of besting an enemy). Petty lies and self-rationalizations are beneath him. Part of it is having a very defined sense of self that no longer feels the need to explain or pretend anything: "This is who I am, take me or leave me." And part of it is self-assured conviction in his own right to be that way.
He has a sense of humor and a sense of fun. Sometimes it's cruel, sometimes it's gentle. He can toy with people, but he does it openly. He has a temper, but he also has vast supplies of patience. He can inflict untold pain, but he can also be hurt deeply, and easier than one would think. Eric cannot be romanticized, because to do so one would have to gloss-over some very essential things that make him who he is. Not all of them are nice, and perhaps glossing over them is a natural impulse. But it's wrong. It would take away from Eric. It would make him less than what he is. It would make him manageable, explainable. It would make him into someone who is never going to do or say unsavoury, less-than-admirable, or violent things. It would be tempting to make him like Godric. Infinitely fair, forgiving, kind, self-sacrificing. There's merit in that, no doubt. (And I am a huge fan of Godric). But Godric's sacrifice did not fix anything in the end. Eric would rather fix something, even if it means he has to break a trust, a heart, a smooth skin on her neck to do it. Harsh, direct, decidedly unromantic. It will get results, and he will leave it to the survivors to decided amongst themselves whether the end justified the means. He may grapple with his conscience (and yes, he has one), but he is going to see this through. And he has my undivided attention to the bitter end.
I don't know what it may end up costing him or those around him. Perhaps too much. But one thing cannot be taken away from Eric: His willingness to pay the price and face the losses. I have yet to see him deflect responsibility or shy away from action, however unsavory or unpleasant. If he is convinced something needs to be done, it's going to be done. And if it makes him look like a bad guy, so be it. **** looking like white-outfitted Bill walking on rose petals. **** likability. To hell with noble gestures. Scew making excuses and justifications. Take the ugly actions, be prepared to lose the glossy sheen of nobility, make them hate you, but get the **** done. That's Eric. The one who refuses to get into that "good guy" box.
The one who doesn't fit into the "bad boy" one, either. The fictional convention of the bad boy is that he would do bad things but be secretly tormented about it. And the lure is that he would suspend his "badness" for the love of a good woman. I'm sorry, but that's the box Bill Compton is forever squeezing his trim self into, and he can have it. Except, of course, it's the wrong box for him, too. For more reason than one.
****
And speaking of,
Bill. He has done a lot of squeezing in this ep. Of truth, of reality, of expectations, and guilt.
Bill and Sookie: Sure, your blood is nutritious and delicious, but that's not why I love you! Okay, fine, I did at first show up for the all-night buffet, but since then I fell in love with your mind (as long as you don't use it much), and your heart (it pumps all that delectable blood), and your boobs eyes (they are so ... brown). You are mah miracle, Sookeh! You are my guiding light that will lead me from that icky vampire to the shiny but half-assed sainthood I aspire to. You make me want to be a better man... You complete me... You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... If you will only say the same. But if you leave me and love another, you'll regret it all some day...
(Dude, there is a name for your condition: co-dependency. You want to be a better man, grab yourself by the balls and drag your perpetually sorry ass away from the crack you are addicted to. And not just for a day. You want to be something, learn to be it on your own, without putting that kind of pressure on one little girl. No one should carry the burden of responsibility for your sainthood.)
Bill and Sookie: I am the ONLY ONE who loves you! No one else will love you like that. Your kind was wiped out by vampires. All the supes I ever met told me so. (Uhm, Bill? Didn't you JUST find out what Sookie is? If you had the time to conduct a Gallop Poll equivalent of all the supes on the subject of Fae, how come you didn't realize what Sookie was before your LSD trip to the fantasy land? Or did you know all along? Something's fishy here.). Vampires = bad. Except me. I am the only one who will be good for you. And sure, so far I'm mostly crap, but I will protect you. For I want you for you. All those other evil ones, like Eric and Russell, they look at you and think "all-you-can-eat"!
(Dude, sailing right past the egregious lumping of Russell and Eric into the same category, and for the sake of your crippled argument, let's examine. Neither one of those guys, as of this moment, have had Sookie's blood. Eric didn't know what she was until very recently, and his interest in Sookie well predates that. And Russell may still not know anything beyond those powers he has observed her to possess. If you want to make this argument, Bill, you can say that they both want to use her. You can say that they don't see the person in her, only the means to an end. You can say that whatever attraction Eric feels is purely physical and whatever interest Russell has is that of a collector and a war-monger. You can say that they are dangerous, and that, once they find out about Sookie's magical blood, she's as good as dead. You can say pretty much anything at this point, and she will probably buy it. Except for this. This statement you are making? It's so patently baseless, even Sookie hesitates.)
Bill and Eric: Bill ventures a witticism. Okay, it's pretty much still-born, but he tries. (Don't quit your day night job, Bill. Whatever that might be.). Bill: "Aren't you Russell's new butt boy?"
(No, dude, that was you. Eric was playing a part. You were the one who handed your butt over to Russell in earnest. In a half-assed (pun entirely intended) attempt to save Sookie. That turned out well. Sookie saved! Oh, wait, no, it did not. You got your butt kicked pretty hard by Russell. In fact, your butt would have been toast if -- irony! -- Eric didn't stake Talbot at just the right moment. Something Eric would, no doubt, lament if he only knew.).
Bill lays a mother of a guilt trip on Eric for "setting vampire cause back a 1,000 years." Is Bill working for The Authority? He's sure qualified. He is sanctimonious enough to give Nan Flannigan a run for her pearls. Eric doesn't bother to defend or explain himself. Not to Bill, not to Sookie. Self-justification is Bill's MO, and Eric wouldn't want to steal his thunder. But just in case, Bill performs his usual "pee around Sookie to mark the territory" cry of "Sookeh is Mahn!" At which point Eric gives up on this ****ery and leaves. "Why don't you tell her the ****ing truth!" Eric, it's a lost cause. The ****ing truth -- whatever it is -- will have to wait until the season finale. Such are the conventions.
Bill and Tara. And Sookie: Tara is not happy to see Bill at Jason's. That's an understatement. Whether she is wrong about all vampires being ultimately the same or not, she is not wrong about Bill. Not from her perspective. Bill assumes his martyred "I suffer accusations in silence for I am a tormented vampire" stance. Which, of course, is a cue for Sookie to go into Bill-defense mode. Bill manly professes to understand.
(Dude, you understand jack-****. And neither does Sookie, until Tara spells it out for her and for us. Because we, as the audience, didn't understand either. We were seduced by Franklin. By his hilarious crazy, by his hyper charm. We failed to fully grasp the snake pit of truly awful behind his sparkly mad eyes and funny one-liners. But he was a rapist, a psychopath, and a cold-blooded killer. And we mourned his demise... I am not sure if the show deliberately manipulated us into this realization to draw some parallels, or if it was just a cheap trick for shock value. But the realization is gut-wrenching. For both us and Sookie. I don't know if I will feel good about that, but I am glad Sookie has something sinking in finally.).
Bill and Jason: Bill makes a show of prepping Jason for the day-watch over Sookie's safety. WIth a shot-gun and a mild warning about how fast werewolves are. Let's pause here for a moment. Bill is relying on Jason "Attention Span of a Fruit Fly" Stackhouse for the defense against Russell and his weres... Yeah. Does not compute.
(Dude, so far your protection of Sookie consisted of breaking up with her over the phone with some completely ineffective bull****, leading Russell directly to her not a day after, performing some hilarious acrobatics that resulted in your death sentence and no help for Sookie what so ever, draining her, breaking up with her again while sporting some clown tears, leaving dead bodies on her living room floor, hilariously and just as ineffectually taking on Russell again -- only to be saved by the bell Talbot's opportune demise, telling her what she is and that "her people are rapists," but somehow still failing to fully convey the danger, having a stern talking-to with her idiot brother on the topic of how he has no chance to even get that shot-gun out of the truck 'cause weres are speedy, leaving her at the said bother's house... WHY ARE YOU STILL IN BON TEMPS, morons?!).
So, when to no one's surprise at all Jason misplaces Sookie, Bill lays a mother of a guilt trip on him, too. Except, idiot or not, Jason is having none of it. Go, Jason! The sight of Bill moonwalking ass-backwards out of the house is one of the best moments in the show!
Bill's protection insurance is crap. Hopefully Eric's will work. To be fair, it's basically the same plan Bill put to use with Sam and the Maenad last year. And he didn't give Sam much of a choice, either. "Be used and sacrificed, and I'll heal you in the end. We'll all live happily ever after." Of course Bill doesn't give a crap about Sam either way, he just wouldn't let him die because Sookie would never have forgiven that. (It's a pity, kind of, that Bill and Sam aren't closer. In my mind, I could see them moving to Arkansas together, where the water is hard, building a little love shack, and going on nightly runs, vampire and dog. They could bond over biting things. No? Just me? Okay then.). 
Fine, enough of Bill. (No, seriously, show, enough!).
****
Sookie.
She was all over the place in this episode, and I think it's deliberate. She no longer can pull the wool over even her own eyes, though she tries, either out of reflex or fear. This is the first episode in a long while where we see her attempt to examine thing. What people say, what she herself feels, what she believes, what she can and should endure.
Sookie and Bill: "If you are lying to me, Bill Compton, I swear to god, I will know it!" Well, you didn't before, but hey, determination is a start. The signs are pointing to some sort of a big reveal, and I don't even think anymore it's as simple as the fact of Bill being sent by Sophie-Anne to "procure" Sookie. But even if it is, with all she's been through, this would be the deal breaker. She can justify and forgive a lot. But ...
Sookie and Jason: "You are not protecting her, you are lying to her." And that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? All the rest she can file away under "he loves me!" But Sookie resents being lied to perhaps the most. She'll do a lot out of love (or sheer stupidity, however you look at it), but if she finds out the love is built on a foundation of a lie, I don't think she is getting past that any time soon. Not to mention, the lying is putting her in more danger than she would have been in had she known all the facts. That is unforgivable.
Sookie and Tara. She may not subscribe to Tara's wholesale vampire hate, but it makes her wonder. It has to, because she has seen a lot by now. And she has explained away a lot, but some things would not be justified. And it's not just about Bill. It's all of them. She has to be thinking back to what Bill said about him being the only safe vampire to be around. And she has to question if any vampire, no matter what they may feel for her, is ever truly safe.
It's an important thing for her to consider. Because the matter at stake is not Bill vs. Eric. Or Bill vs. Russell. Or Bill vs. any other vamp. The matter at stake is vampires at al. She chose to be with them, or rather, she chose one, and got dragged into the world. But she chose it having limited information and zero prior exposure. She knows better now. And I have no doubt that, by the end of the season, she will be making this choice all over again. Only this time she will chose not to. She will feel betrayed by both Bill and Eric, she will be hurt and traumatized (she already is, it just didn't sink in yet), she will lose her trust in anything vampire-related, and whether rightfully or not, I can see her hopping on the Tara train.
I am beginning to believe that the season will end the same way the book 3 ended: with Sookie rescinding all vampire invitations to her home. Bill, Eric, Pam, the whole lot of them. She has to be done with vampires, at least for a while. She needs to reevaluate and reassess. She needs to grow up. And if she chooses vampires again at a later date (and who actually doubts that she will?), it'll be with her eyes open and her boundaries firmly set.
Sookie and Eric. Ah, for the good part. "Is your blood ever going to wear off?"
Something to ponder here: Just how potent is Eric's blood? She had a few drops of it. A while ago. She has had her blood almost completely drained and replaced by bucket-full of Bill's since. Shouldn't she be having Bill sex dreams by now?
Except, every dream of Eric she has had (that we know of, of course) has not been, strictly speaking, a sex dream. Sure there was nakedness and kissing. But I am looking closer, and they are not really about the physical. Not at all.
Going back to season 1, we get Sookie having Bill dreams after she gets his blood for the first time. It's all about sex. They are either about to do it, or they are talking about it, and she wants to "get it over with." She is still a virgin at that time, and it's understandable she would see it that way. It's all about the physical.
Her first dream of Eric has so much more. In her dream, they talk about her nature, and the nature of vampires. They talk about their perception of each other and how it has changed. In fact, they talk about everything but sex. There's Lorena, representing guilt over Bill. There is a promise of a beginning.
Her second dream is all about grief and comfort. It's incredibly tender and intimate. And the sexual undertones aren't about mating so much as about trust. In her dream she trusts him enough to offer her neck.
And here we are shown another dream. And from what Sookie says, it's clear this is one in a long series of dreams she's been having about Eric. And in this dream they talk like friends. They bicker. There's push and pull. And it has no sex at all. They are both fully clothed. There is a kiss, but it insists on trust and feelings rather than sexual gratification. Her Dream Eric is someone she trusts. And he is the one who gets through to her on the subject of Bill.
I am going out on a limb here and thinking this Dream Eric is a foreshadowing of Amnesia Eric we will, hopefully, get next season. Eric stripped of defenses and centuries worth of cynicism. Eric she can get close to. Eric she already is close to. So much so, that, whatever her protestations to the contrary, she trusts him enough to go to Fangtasia and demand some answers. She may declare her lack of faith in him, but it's her underlying faith that brings her there.
Of course that gets shuttered by the end of the episode. But it cannot be helped. There are more important things at stake, like her very survival and the survival of those around her. She will not trust Eric after this for a very long time, but she will have that very long time to nurse her bitterness. Bill's noble resignations and volatile gestures have bought her no time at all.
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