True Blood review – 7×08: ‘Almost Home’

Courtesy of HBO

We didn’t cover last week’s new episode of True Blood, but nothing much happened, so let’s just pretend it never happened shall we?

Let’s bitch it out…I take a few weeks off to move and look what happens: my fairy godmother has answered my wish and killed off my least favourite character with two full episodes to go!

Yes folks, Violet (Karolina Wydra) is dead. Or, if you prefer a cliché pop culture reference: ding dong the witch is dead! After many long, insufferable weeks of putting up with her shit, we finally get our payoff and get to see Violet explode into a gooey pile of gelatinous plasma. It’s overdue and, frankly, not quite pleasurable enough to merit the screen time that has been dedicated to the character this past season, especially not considering how shallowly the “woman scorned” angle has been examined. Still, it’s amusing to see the baroque torture scene with Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), Adilyn (Bailey Noble), Wade and Jason (Ryan Kwanten) laid out like sexy gory pin-ups before Hoyt (Jim Parrack) pulls the trigger on Jason’s worst nightmare.

In this way, ‘Almost Home’ feels like closure for a few storylines. The end of Violet is one big giant happy, but it’s not the only plot that feels like a loose end being wrapped up. The other is Tara’s (Rutina Wesley). The continued misadventures of Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) and Lettie May (Adina Porter) also comes to an end when they dip into the V a final time to unearth Tara’s message: an apology for not shooting her abusive father and a plea to let her go. It’s an underwhelming development (really? The visions were about burying an effing gun in the front yard? BOO). Thankfully the goodbye between Tara and Lettie May mostly makes up for this as each accepts her failures and they bid each other adieu. It’s the send-off that Wesley deserved way back in the first episode of the season when she was unceremoniously staked. So kudos to the writers for finally paying that off, even if waiting until there are only two episodes left feels a bit like an afterthought.

Courtesy of HBO

Other Observations:

• I’m torn every which way about Hoyt’s relationship with Jessica. Initially it seems like the writers are finally set to put it to bed, but now suddenly the love triangle between the former lovers and Jason looks to be back on the table. Considering Jessica admits that her relationship with Jason was the least complicated (and their Halloween hook-up remains one of the hottest sex scenes in the show’s history), can’t we all just agree that Hoyt should pack his bag and head back to Alaska with Bridget?
• Sookie (Anna Paquin) acting glamoured = highly entertaining. Sookie sneaking into the basement of Fangtasia against Eric’s (Alexander Skarsgård) explicit request = highly stupid. So the Sookie tolerability level in this episode is basically a draw.
• After all that sneaking around, it turns out that Bill (Stephen Moyer) doesn’t want to drink Sarah Newlin’s (Anna Camp) blood. Is this because he had a vision of Sookie holding a swaddled void? That’s just a regular fear of becoming a father at age 200 Bill – stop being such a dumbass and snack on that blonde’s neck already!
• Finally, Mr. Gus is totally going to catch them, right? I mean, something bad has to drive the remaining two episodes and there’s basically no other conflict…

Best Lines:

• Pam (when Eric confirms that they’re going to get Sarah’s blood for Bill): “Yup, sounds pretty stupid.”

Your turn: are you over-the-moon-happy that Violet is dead? Were you happy with Tara’s send-off? Who do you want to see end up together: Hoyt and Jessica or Jason and Jessica? Is Bill acting irrationally or should he just embrace the true death and be done with it? Sound off below.

True Blood airs Sundays at 9pm EST on HBO