True Blood - Episode 3.04 - 9 Crimes - Recap

MattV here with another commentary filled recap of last nights True Blood!

2 weeks ago we were treated with one of the most disturbing endings of a True Blood episode yet and thankfully this weeks episode turned down the disturb knob. So far this season the writers have set up “Operation Werewolf” and the vampire king of Mississippi Russell as the two big bads of the season, but how do they fit together? Well this week’s episode finally shows us who is truly boss and sets up what is likely to be a bloody future confrontation for many of our favorite characters. But more on that later, lets get started at the beginning:

In the opening teaser we see a scene that was constantly replayed on the HBO promos for season 3. Bill calls up Sookie, who is treating Alcide's wounds, and tells her that he is breaking up with her and does not wish to be found. Sookie tears up right before the intro starts playing...

After the intro we are back with Alcide and a crying Sookie. Alcide does a bad job at first of trying to comfort her by telling her that she can now go back to Bon Temps, but then tries to comfort her once she continues her tears. He gives a comforting hug and Sookie remarks on how naturally warm he is due to his were blood. Could there be a possible Sookie-Alcide relationship in the future? Maybe, but not in this episode. Sookie tells Alcide that she is still going to search for Bill and if he wants to break up with her he is going to have to do it face to face. Until that happens she will keep looking for him. She pushes Alcide to take her to his ex-fiancé Debbie Pelt's engagement party at club dead to get some more info....

The next scene is Sam chasing after Tommy who he found going through his stuff at Merlottes. While chasing him he finds out that his bumpkin parents can't pay rent and are living in the Merlottes parking lot. Is the whole Sam family storyline feeling like a drag to anyone else? Arlene says it best later in the episode that Sam needs to stop trying to fix everyone around him and just focus on himself. This viewer agrees.

In the meantime, Franklin is in Sookie's house glamouring all the information he can about Sookie and Bill from Tara. He gets her to call Sookie and give Tara her address, and then proceeds to forcefully drink from Tara's neck. He then ties her up in the bathroom, and later ties a bouquet of flowers to her hands and takes her on a trip. This Mott is trouble I tell ya. Speaking of trouble, we see the post-neck breaking between Lorena and Bill after their weird sex last episode. Lorena asserts that Bill enjoyed it and of course Bill says that he was thinking of Sookie the whole time, which if I were him I would keep to myself because that's creepy. Lorena tries to assert her dominance and tells Bill that he will never leave her but she is only met by a swift punch to the face out of the room and into the wall by Bill.

Speaking of scenes from the HBO promos, the next scene is the very over played Eric and Sookie sex dream sequence. If you haven't seen it already in every preview for True Blood Eric flies to Sookie's window, Sookie tells him that she isn't interested in Bill anymore, and the two make hot vampire on human love. Moving on, we go back to Sookie who is meeting with Alcide's sister to make her look more like a club dead local so that they wont get noticed easily at Debbie's party. While there Sookie uses her telepathy to pick her brain and learns that not only is Debbie addicted to vampire blood, but the engagement party is really another name for the branding party, initiating Debbie as a member of Operation Werewolf. This information in hand, Sookie tells Alcide and he finally agrees to go with her to Debbie's party to try and win her back and stop her from getting branded. It probably won't end well, methinks.

The next scene is at Merlottes where the old Sheriff is retiring and Andy is being made the new Sheriff of Bon Temps. In the midst of this Jason and his road crew have come in for a beer and notice a hotshot football player by the name of Kitsch Maynard, who Hoyt informs Jason, is close to beating his high school football record. Jason obviously does not like the younger, dare I say Jason 2.0, competition and goes over to give him a piece of his mind. He keeps it simple (this is Jason we're talking about) and tells him: You may be the big guy now but in 10 years you're going to be where I am, looking at a person standing where you are standing. Clearly this statement requires too much thought for either and Jason returns to his table triumphantly. Oh also Arlene complains to Sam about how she is the only waitress in an effort to continue to hide her pregnancy. Rut roh...

The next scene is a flashback of sorts, only without the actual flashback. It is a scene between King Russell and Bill where Russell is essentially quizzing Bill on his background with the queen of Louisiana. It turns out Bill did work for her for a while as a "procurer", but maintains that when he came to bon temps and met Sookie he was on a sabbatical. Russell doesn't buy it and something tells me that Russell is not the kind of vampire who you want to lie to. Shockingly, Bill agrees to help the King in his quest, but only if Lorena will be killed once it is over. The king obliges and Bill continues to spill the beans on the queen’s illegal vampire blood trade that is being facilitated by Eric Northman. A storm is a-brewin'!

It appears Arlene's prayers for more help were answered by Sam, who has hired Jessica as the new waitress at Merlottes. Everything seems to be going fine until Jessica hears her name called out by a patron. He introduces himself as Chip from bible study and he still thinks Jessica is human. Awkward. Also Arlene is still unhappy.

Next we see Lafayette selling some V to Calvin Norris, the guy who owned the yard where Jason tackled that drug dealer. Yeah that Calvin Norris. Lafayette tries to make a hard sell but Norris just isn't buying and refuses to buy V from Lafayette's "kind". To make matters worse some of the Norris boys are wrecking Lafayette's sweet new whip! Right when it looks like Lafayette is going to get bashed Eric flies in and saves the day! He even forces Calvin into buying the V under threat of his brother cousin's deaths. Eric even gives Lafayette a new nickname as they leave: RuPaul. Before he flies away to attend other business Eric does give Lafayette some good advice: He needs to adapt to his buyers and not the other way around.

The next scene is a quick, but important scene at Merlottes. Hoyt drives up and secretly watches in terror as Jessica uses her vampire powers of persuasion to make Chip forget that he ever even saw her. Maybe Hoyt is starting to realize that dating a vampire isn't all its cracked up to be. Also at Merlottes we see Sam finally catch up with Tommy and try to get him to see the error of his ways. When Sam offers his house and a job for Tommy he says that he can't because if he did his parents would instantly fall back to the gutter and he can't live with that guilt. We get a little foreshadowing though when Tommy says that the only way he could be truly free from his parents is when they were dead. Looks like somebody might be secretly crazy....Sam manages to talk down his real dad from beating Tommy and offers to continue helping them, which I think it exactly what they wanted to happen. I think these people are nothing but trouble for Sam but he is just too nice to see it.

Another interesting scene at Merlottes happens when a buzzed Jason approaches Andy in the bathroom and essentially blackmails him into making him a police officer. He tells Andy that he knows from his police books that falsifying evidence is very illegal and that he's already killed a murderer and stopped a drug dealer, making him the best cop he's got. Oh yes here comes officer Jason!

The last two big scenes of this episode are both equally crazy and set up major plot points for the next couple of episodes. The first occurs when the magister unexpectedly raids Eric's club and starts torturing Pam for information on who is ordering the sale of V. Pam lies and says that it is Bill Compton, to which Eric agrees for Pam's sake. The Magister seems to accept that possibility but tells Eric that if he doesn't bring him Bill/information in 2 days, he is going to personally stake Pam. How could Eric throw Bill under the bus like that! URGH!

The next scene involves the nefarious Vampire King Russell. First we see the flowers in hands Tara brought to Russell's palace by Franklin, leaving a cliffhanger of what will happen to her next episode. Next we find out just how evil Russell is when the scene switches to Deb Pelts engagement/Branding-into-operation werewolf party. Deb, who looks like a trashy version of 80s singer Tiffany, is branded on stage by Cooter and is then congratulated by King Russell! Yep, it turns out that Russell is the one who is fueling Operation Werewolf with his blood and pretty much cements his status as this seasons bad guy. Just as the waiters are handing out shot glasses filled with his blood all of the weres, including Alcide, start to change uncontrollably and Sookie is told to run!

And that brings us back to Lorena and Bill. Previous to his on stage reveal, Russell had ordered Bill to procure them a human to feast on from the local strip club. Just as Russell returns, so does Bill with a stripper who they are willingly begin to drain to death. How far is Bill willing to descend to make sure Sookie is safe and Lorena is dead? We will have to wait next week to find out!