Tara is a Vampire in True Blood S5 Ep1
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The word on the street is that Tara is a vampire – but we have to wait and watch to see if this is true. If you were with us last season, you know that it all ended with that iconic shot of Sookie holding Tara, who has just been shot in the chest by Debbie. The season opener replays those last minutes, not that I think any of us needed a reminder of this cliffhanger.
Bill and Erik “hear” Sookie’s cry as they clean up the mess left by Nan’s death, and for a minute it looks as if Erik’s hurt response to just let it go might happen. But Bill can’t ignore Sookie’s need, so they rush out – only to be captured by The Vampire Authority and tossed into a car trunk. Not fun!
I loved the split second of the shot being heard by several people at once – the next one we see is Lafayette hearing it and running downstairs to see Sookie crying over Tara’s body. But then Pam arrives, looking for Erik. She seems completely uninterested in the dead bodies, just wants to know where Erik is and if they can’t help- bye! But Lafayette pleads with her to save Tara by turning her. This is the first clue that maybe the rumors are right and Tara is a vampire by the end. You just know this is not a good idea the moment he says it, heck even Sookie doesn’t buy into this at first. But she is soon making deals with Pam that she will help patch things up between Pam and Erik AND she will owe Pam a favor. You just know that one is gonna come back and bite Sookie in the butt later! But Pam reluctantly agrees and before you know it, she has given her the taste of vamp blood. How long before Tara is a vampire?
Meanwhile – Jason gets a visitor. Now, I don’t know about you but I pretty much never answer a door when I am buck naked. Why Jason would, except to give us all a treat, is anyone’s guess. But here he is, without a stitch and talking to Reverend Steve Newlin who has, as Jason put it, “a pair of twin hard-ons” in the form of fangs. Well, at least Jason is no fool about that! Even though Jason doesn’t want to invite him in, Newlin “glamors” him into it and soon we see Jason with tape over his mouth listening to Newlin explain how he wasn’t so much upset that his wife slept with Jason as he was that Jason slept with his wife, instead of him! Ta-da! The bold declaration of his being a “gay vampire-American” was true camp. I loved Jason trying to let him down easy by telling him how flattered he is and all but “this dog don’t bark that way”. Unfortunately Newlin is having none of that stuff. Lucky for Jason – newly crowned Queen Vampire Jessica (and loving that title!) shows up in time to save his butt. She informs the Reverend that Jason is “hers” and then Jason takes back his invite, pushing the Rev out the door. Saved by the bell – or in this case the belle of the ball, Queen Jessica.
One of the most touching scenes in the show was of Sookie standing in the shower, remembering Tara when they were kids. It is these quiet moments between the violence that always seem to me to make this show special. The later scene where they bury Tara and Pam was very sweet. Although Pam’s remark about the Wal-Mart sweats (who would have thought she was even capable of entering a Wal-Mart?) was funny, it kinda felt a bit forced. Pam has warned them that with Tara missing half her head, who knows how crazed she may be when Tara is a vampire? Sookie seems ready to forget it in the hopes of getting her Tara back.
Poor Sam gets surrounded by a pack of wolves that turn out to be Marcus’s pack, looking for Marcus. It’s too bad that Alcide killed him at the end of last season. But Alcide did it to save Sam, so Sam’s sense of honor just won’t let him rat out on Alcide, even if it means his own hide, which it does. Either that or the writers were looking for an excuse to tie Sam up with his shirt off. Not that I have a problem with that. He agreed to go if they let Luna and her kid off the hook, but in the end it may not have done him all that much good as Alcide shows up at Marcus’s graveside to let them know he was the one who killed Marcus. I suppose this makes him leader, but it looks like most of the pack have no love for Alcide. Gotta admit the scene where dear Mom turns wolfie and tears into the body of her beloved boy was quite gruesome and a good reminder that no matter how human the werewolves look, they are still pretty much all a wolf in human skin.
Back with Sookie and Lafayette, things are getting pretty tense when they return to the house to find that Jesus’s body is missing, along with the chair he was in when he died. Sookie is pretty callous about the whole thing, but then she just lost her best friend. Even if they manage to do it and Tara is a vampire, it won’t be the same and she knows it. I love that Lafayette reminds her that everyone needs to say goodbye, and once she leaves he shows just how horribly he is missing Jesus. Against all the violence it is a touching scene and one of the reasons I have come to so like Lafayette. He reminds everyone of their humanity.
But Sookie is anxious to be at graveside as the sun goes down and so she sits and waits. Pam comes up in her Walmart sweats she was so happy to point out earlier but Sookie is frantic to find Tara so she starts digging. She finds her body, seemingly cold and dead. Just as we are all convinced that this was all for nothing and Tara is gone – there is sudden movement and we get a glimpse of a terrifying version of Tara, ferocious and crazed looking – Tara is a vampire! And then fade to black and roll credits.
Ah- it is good to have it back!
