True Blood 3x02

Bill Compton ably defends himself from the pack of wolves that attacked him. Except, they’re not regular wolves, they’re werewolves! And they do the bidding of His Majesty the King of Mississippi, who has recruited the weres to escort Vampire Bill to him – not, allegedly, to kidnap him, drain his blood, and assault him. On his white steed, the King takes Bill to his estate and proposes he becomes a sherriff in his kingdom. The King would like to marry Queen Sophie-Anne and hopes Bill may facilitate the process. To put pressure on Bill the King threatens he’ll hurt Sookie – and when that doesn’t convince him, in walks Lorena. In his anger Bill throws an oil lamp at her, setting her ablaze. Tracing Bill to the car crash, with Jessica’s help, meanwhile, Sookie found a tattoo on one of Bill’s assailants that is supposedly associated with some Nazi werewolf command force. She shares the information with Eric Northman, who pretends not to recognize the rune. But suddenly a flashback takes us to Augsburg, Germany, 1945, where SS Vampires Godric and Eric intervene when a female werewolf attacks an American soldier – she bears the same mark. Other plotlines involve Lafayette saving Tara from committing suicide and taking her to see his institutionalized mother; Sam finding his birth parents who left him alone with his shape-shifting nature; and a new vampire (the actor James Frain, who played Cromwell in Tudors, and Barenboim in Hilary & Jackie), who we see going through a file full of clippings about Sookie, and later helps Tara beat the crap out of two racist bigots.

There is little that reminds me of Harris’ novel in this episode – I have to force myself not to let that bother me – well, the King’s human lover, gay Talbot, they kept that part. For his part, His Majesty is a fun new character, with his eighteenth-century aristocratic demeanor. The opening scene with the wolves was exciting, but their transformation to human form is a little silly; the same applies to Sam’s shape shifting. I am sure glad that Sookie’s brother Jason has left that fanatic Fellowship of the Sun (although those zealots will be back). I don’t think I’m giving away anything when I tell you that the blonde Jason spotted in Hotshot will be back. In the first season, I found Jessica perfectly annoying, but this thing with Hoyt is actually rather endearing. Sam’s storyline is in my opinion too sappy. Maybe they’re trying to tap it for emotional depth, or they just didn’t know what else to do with his character. And this leads me to my biggest complaint, that there are too many subplots involving the minor characters, which do not seem to contribute to the main plot. This, of course, is inherent with such a vast supporting cast. But it makes for unfocused storytelling – and with the plot wandering off the point, so goes my interest. Fortunately, I still have high hopes for the new characters, the King and Lorena, Franklin Mott and Alcide Herveaux – and I continue hoping they will stick close enough to the main storyline of the novel. Let’s tune in again next week!