True Blood Episode 610
“Radioactive”
Written By: Kate Barnow
Directed By: Scott Winant
Original Airdate: 18 August 2013
In This Episode...
Alcide and Sookie are walking home from Terry’s funeral when he smells something. They come upon the new daywalker vampires, skipping towards Bill’s house. Sookie splits off from Alcide to investigate. It’s like vampire spring break: they are dancing and laughing and stripping and having sex under the midday sun. Sookie sees Jason amongst the vampires, being fed on by Violet. She approaches and Violet becomes insanely jealous. Once Sookie confirms that she is just Jason’s sister, Violet gives her a deep kiss. “Then you are my sister too.” She skips off to let the siblings talk, and Jason reveals that he finally understands how Sookie felt when she was with Bill. Pam tackles Sookie with a big hug, surprised at how happy she is to see her. Tara comes next with the hugs, and promises she could never hate Bill after what he gave them. Bill watches from inside, a deep sadness spreading as he watches Sookie leave. It isn’t long before Pam’s high wears off and she misses Eric. She instructs Tara to look after Willa (which is like telling your four-year-old she is in charge of the two-year-old) and shoots up into the air to find Eric.
Sookie returns to fairyland to find Warlow constructing an elaborate wedding maypole. When night comes, they will each wrap themselves in a ribbon of the maypole, then use their light to close a circle Warlow wears around his neck. But Sookie needs to talk. Never a good sign. She doesn’t want to necessarily back out of their deal, but she wants to date for awhile. She isn’t ready to leave her friends. Warlow is not amused by this and slaps Sookie hard. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” He ties Sookie to the maypole to wait for sundown, but not well enough, and she threatens him with her ball of light. He laughs, knowing she won’t kill him. But Sookie threatens to discharge her light so she is no longer a fairy and can no longer be Warlow’s fairy vampire princess. He secures her more tightly and tells her that she was right, he just wants someone to own, to rape and abuse. I don’t think he is being sarcastic. Then he bites her.
Back on the surface, Bill realizes he has lost all his powers - he no longer feels Lilith within himself. It clears his head, and he realizes that he sold out Sookie. Jessica is worried about him and insists that he go save her from becoming a vampire. “You said I had to protect your humanity. Do not make a failure out of me,” she implores. Bill teams with Jason, which means that Violet is along for the ride. In order to save Sookie, they must get into fairyland, and only a fairy can do that. The only fairy they know is Adalynn. Jason and Violet go to Andy, who flat-out refuses to let his daughter go. (He also flat-out refuses to invite Violet into the house.) But Adalynn hears what is going on and insists on helping Sookie, the only other girl she knows “like her.” Andy agrees, but only if he goes, too. He and Jason arm themselves, then the whole group heads to the cemetery where they meet Bill. Bill tries some dopey nature crap to get Adalynn to tap into her fairy light. It fails, so Violet simply fangs out and scares the light out of her.
Jason’s crew ends up in fairyland as Warlow drinks from Sookie. Bill tackles Warlow without hesitation. While he is no match, it distracts Warlow enough that Jason can free Sookie and get her out of fairyland. Bill and Warlow are the only ones left. They tussle some more, then Warlow blinks to earth, with Bill hitching a ride. Warlow shoots up into the sky after a few more blows to Bill and lands at Sookie’s house. She is upstairs, being nursed back to health by Violet. Adalynn has been hidden in the cubby, so Warlow starts his fight with the men. He throws them into the cubby with Adalynn, then uses his light to seal the door shut. Adalynn gets to work on it, while Warlow knocks out Violet. Bill shows up and tries to stake Warlow, but his invitation into the house has been revoked, so there isn’t much he can do. Warlow heads upstairs to find Sookie, who is hiding in the bathroom. Warlow grabs her, but Niall chooses this moment to reappear in that vortex thingie. He holds Warlow back, then calls for Jason. Jason appears and stakes Warlow. Then he and his sister each grab one of Niall’s arms and yank him from the vortex. With Warlow now dead, the light is extinguished from Bill, from Jessica and James, from all the vampires - including Eric, who is sunbathing nude on the top of the Swiss Alps. That light leaving is their daywalking abilities - which means that Eric goes up in flames.
Six months later...
Bill has a tell-all memoir that talks about the ordeal at the vampire detention camp and how he fully admits to killing Governor Burrell. (“What jury would convict me?”) The book is a best-seller and he is on a national book tour to promote it. Sookie and Alcide are now shacking up, and Sam is the new mayor of Bon Temps. Nicole is still there, very pregnant. Hep V is also rampant among the vampire community, making the vampires violent and unpredictable - kind of like zombie vampires. It has mutated throughout the population and the CDC can’t quite pin it down, but some humans are carriers. Sam has a new initiative, asking all humans to get their blood tested. Those who are not infected are asked to pair up with a clean vampire and enter into a strictly monogamous feeding relationship. The vampire gets clean blood, and the human gets unquestioning safety and security by their new vampire bodyguard. Predictably, most people are not fond of this idea. To ease the insecurity, Arlene hosts a huge BBQ at what is now called Bellfleur’s Bar.
Tara’s mom, now married to Reverend Daniels, comes back to town. She apologizes to Tara for abandoning her as a child and, to make up for it, wants Tara to feed off her. The women bond over broken flesh and coursing blood. Jessica offers her protection to Andy and Adalynn. She doesn’t want any of their blood; she just wants to attempt to make up for eating three of his kids. Andy is very close to shooting her, but doesn’t. He slams the door, and Jessica vows to protect them whether or not they want it. Bill also returns to town, and makes the same offer to Sookie. She turns him down, saying Alcide is all the protection she needs and even at his best, she could never fully trust Bill.
But then, a pack of roving, infected vampires sniffs out healthy humans and vampires and descends on the BBQ....
Dig It or Bury It?
That was a satisfying season finale, with a few big caveats. The Warlow story seemed to go warp speed: from a gentleman to an abusive bastard to death. It seemed weirdly easy to kill Warlow. If it only took a stake through the heart, why didn’t anyone try that before? Why not use any of the governor’s crazy weapons? And Niall’s appearance at the end was ridiculous. He disappears a few episodes into the season, into some kind of dark fairy vortex, isn’t heard from for six or seven episodes, then happens to show up exactly when and where Sookie needs him to? I can buy convenient appearances (like Jason in that same scene) but now when we haven’t seen that character in forever. And then Jason and Sookie just yank Niall out of the vortex, like nothing happened. He is just all smiles, with no explanation of where he has been and what he has been doing, and there seems to be no mention of Niall six months later.
On the other hand, I like the idea of zombie-vampires roaming the land. I expect mayhem and carnage the likes of which True Blood has never seen.
Ass Factor
Team Eric, you have hung on for six seasons. Tonight was your reward: Eric reveals full penis in tonight’s episode. It’s a little shadowed, and it is (literally) on fire, but there ya go.
In the “Six months later” section, Jason and Violet are still together. He is eating her out, and judging by Violet’s orgasm, he is damn good at it. But Jason is frustrated. He has gone down on her every night for one hundred and seventy-some days in a row - sometimes two or three times a day - and he hasn’t gotten off once. Her answer is to push him back down between her legs.