Episode Title: “In the Evening”
Writer: Kate Barnow
Director: Scott Winant
Previously on “True Blood”:
Episode 6.06 “Don’t You Feel Me”
And we’re back to sucking again. Damn it, “True Blood,” make up your mind. Are you a good show that slacks off on the action to make it count when the fit really hits the shan, or a bad show that occasionally crescendos into something spectacular, but only if audiences are willing to sit through episodes like “In the Evening?”
The most recent episode of “True Blood” steps back from the events of last week’s spectacular “Don’t You Feel Me,” an idea which probably made sense on paper. The deaths of Governor Burrell and Terry Bellefleuer should have consequences, and the people who will mourn their deaths deserve to reel from the aftereffects. Governor Burrell’s beheading leads to a strange and damn near campy sequence where Sarah Newlin monologues to his severed head, announcing “This was part of God’s plan, and God… is… good.” She assumes control over the clandestine vampire gulag, which might have come as a surprise if the writers of “True Blood” hadn’t already clearly preferred her to the morally conflicted Governor in the first place. At least the sequence is memorably odd.
But the death of Terry Bellfleuer forces half the “True Blood” cast to simply catch up to where the audience has been for several episodes now, and learn that Terry hired his own assassin and also took out a $2 million insurance policy on himself. (Because surely the company will pay out immediately and without investigation after he’s murdered just days after buying the policy, right?) Sookie even comes out of hiding in faerie land to help Arlene, Andy and Lafayette take care of Terry’s affairs, and it’s all very sad indeed, but there’s so much damned plot lying around that it’s simply annoying that no one takes notice.
Billith shows up to pay his respects (Terry was kin, remember?), and asks Sookie politely to return Warlow to help save vampirekind, but the scene goes nowhere. Even Andy wusses out and refuses to say something along the lines of, “Hey, remember when you got three of my daughters killed a couple of days ago? I’m still a bit upset about that.” The whole sequence feels like a waste of time.
Meanwhile, Eric and Nora escape from vampire jail, leaving Willa to tell Tara and Jessica not to drink the Hepatitis V-infected True Blood. Jason pulls Jessica aside and tries to help her escape, but instead she asks him for facetime with the vampire who refused to rape her at gunpoint in the previous episode. Jason waits patiently outside the door while they have a heart-to-heart and then bone each other silly, which really has to suck for Jason. Especially since Sarah Newlin is in charge now, is immune to threats of scandal now that Governor Burrell has died, and throws Jason into the general population with gaping wound. Tara’s there to protect him, but it looks like Jason is going to be the new prison blood bitch just because he tried to help Jessica out… and Jessica only used that help to have sex with another guy.
As for Eric, he takes Nora to Billith in the hopes that his divine blood will cure her, even pledging his allegiance in return. Billith’s blood does nothing of course – after all, that would make “In the Evening” feel like it had a point to it – although they theorize that Warlow’s blood could potentially work instead. Either way, Nora dies after a flashback sequence that only serves to remind audiences that we were supposed to care about her all along. We understood that Eric cared, but “True Blood” kind of forgot to make Nora sympathetic until ten minutes before she exits the whole show in a pile of blood and gore. Thanks, “True Blood!”
Oh yeah, and Alcide’s getting attacked by werewolves for letting Sam and Nicole live, because “True Blood” seems to think we still care about werewolves even though they’ve had nothing to do with the main plot this whole season. “True Blood” is wrong, damn it. “True Blood” is very, very wrong.
In an ongoing series, it’s important to take stock of major plot points once in a while, particularly to let their emotional impact sink in. “In the Evening” is not a good way to do it, stopping the series’ momentum in its tracks and in order to catch up to its existing plotlines, filling in various characters on important information that the audience already knows and taking other subplots to their logical, mostly predictable conclusions. “In the Evening?” We ain’t got fun.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
