After last week's rip-roaring start, things slow down a little this week to fill in some plot details, but let's be honest. An episode with flashbacks to Eric and Godric in SS uniforms isn’t exactly going to be called "contemplative." There's maybe a little too much of Tara feeling sorry for herself and Sam getting in touch with his feelings, but there's enough humor and zip to keep the episode from getting bogged down.
We learn a few things about werewolves this week, as True Blood inducts its latest supernatural creatures into its mythology. They're nastier and more rough-and-tumble than vampires, who are usually more arch in their sadism, but that doesn't mean Bill can't rip three of them apart with his fucking teeth, as we see in the terrific opening scene, with naked limbs strewn around him as he works on a mouthful of werewolf ear. Only the gang's leader Cooter ("seriously?" Bill chuckles) has survived intact, and he is called off by his boss Russell Edgington, the vampire King of Mississippi, played by Denis O'Hare.
O'Hare is given quite the entrance here: he's on horseback, in full riding uniform with an ascot and everything, and he quickly metes out justice to other the half-chewed surviving werewolf, who he shoots in the head for feeding on Bill. Cooter is allowed to survive, I assume, because he's played by Grant Bowler, who was the boat captain on Lost and was in Ugly Betty for a while too. Back to O'Hare, though: on the basis of this episode, I am very excited to have him around. This guy is one of the great Broadway actors currently working but since winning a Tony he's appeared in countless films and TV shows, always in thankless roles. Now, playing a preening vampire villain in True Blood probably won't be the biggest acting challenge he's ever faced, but it's a meaty part and on the evidence of this episode he's enjoying sinking his teeth into it.
Russell resides in a stately mansion with a flouncy Greek husband, and he invites Bill to hop on the horse and stay with him, although it's clear Bill has no real choice in the matter. Case in point: he gets a lovely bedroom to sleep in, but the doors are made of sterling silver. We learn that he and Bill has some unspecified past together, and the King clearly values him enough to offer him, over a dinner of tangerine-infused, cruelty-free carbonated blood and blood gelato, a position as Sheriff of an area in Mississippi. But it's part of some larger power play against Sophie-Anne, who Russell is looking to take down. True Blood has done well in gradually expanding its worldview, from the excitement of Bill showing up in Bon Temps in the pilot to the interstate vampire politicking we're into now. The more theatrical the vampire, the more entertaining it all is, so I welcome more jockeying between Russell and Sophie-Anne.
One exception to that theatricality rule, though, is Lorena, who returns this week for about fifteen seconds before Bill throws something at her and sets her on fire. That gave me a jolt, but I don't think that's the last we'll see of her – pity, because I've never been a fan of Mariana Klaveno's performance. She doesn't have the presence or sexiness that Lorena is obviously supposed to exude.
Back in Bon Temps, Sookie figures out with Jessica that the werewolves were once a Nazi commando force (True Blood, subtle as ever) but Eric quickly picks up the slack of her detective work, flashing back awesomely to his time spent posing as an SS soldier with Godric when the two were vampire-huntin' back in WW2. Many a TV show and movie before has struggled with making werewolves look vaguely realistic and failed, so I'm impressed with the job True Blood's doing so far. Eric's fight with the wolf looked pretty good considering this show's CGI budget has never seemed too high. And they appear to be using real, actual wolves for some of the shots, which strikes me as slightly bonkers but looks great.
Also nice to see the return of Godric, who acts as Eric's Yoda this episode, reminding him, "a vampire is never at the mercy of his emotions." This may all be groundwork for the show's continued humanization of Eric as he continues to get all flirty in Sookie's face this week, which I sort of casually support — I'm all for keeping things lively in this vague love triangle but hopefully not at the expense of Eric's badassery. On the one hand, he tells Sookie softly that he "owes her," but he follows that up by growling, "You're going to invite me in so I can protect you or have passionate, primal sex with you." Breaks even.
The wolf-girl Eric caught back in WW2 told him that her master was a vampire: Operation Werewolf appears to be some sort of crack squad of wolves powered by vamp blood, although you wouldn't know it from Bill's kidnappers. Wanna bet that whatever vampire-werewolf hybrid is in charge of these guys is gonna end up being the big bad of the season?
Terry also indulges in some detective work, tracking footprints while Sookie looks on lazily, and then giving her a gun, telling her, "I've always liked you and I'd miss you if you got killed." He's so nice. Todd Lowe is already getting great material this season: his confrontation with Arlene where he tells her all of his strong suits, which he doesn't interrupt even when she starts barfing in the bathroom, is the kind of goofy sweetness Lowe excels at playing.