Once reality snaps back into focus, things really hit the ground running. A lot happens in this episode, though it all unfolds at a slow, cautious pace. Sookie decides they should investigate the body she found the previous night (when she was, stupidly, walking around alone), while those who remain in Bon Temps struggle with keeping their fear and paranoia at bay. Meanwhile, the Hep-V vamps are resting and feeding off of those they took captive, including Arlene and Molly. Oh, and Lettie tries to reconnect with the spirit of Tara, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
The scenes with the infected vampires were necessary, I guess, but became the least enticing plot points of the week. It’s strange to see vampires staying in a herd like this, relying on one another for survival. Vampires are very individual creatures, so the fact that they’re forced to trust each other and ration out their food shows just how desperate they’ve become.
They’ve made camp at Fangtasia and have the kidnapped Bon Temps citizens chained up downstairs. When it’s time to eat, they send a “Reaper” to pick a prisoner and bring him/her upstairs for consumption. It doesn’t take long for Arlene to recognize the Reaper as her kids’ former teacher Betty, and uses their past relationship to her advantage. It doesn’t take much to persuade Betty to betray her compatriots upstairs, though her plan to feed off of Arlene’s femoral artery for strength goes horribly wrong when she can’t control herself and burns up/disintegrates in the process. That definitely won’t go over well.
Meanwhile, Sookie leads Andy, Alcide, Sam, and Jason to the woman’s body she found the night before. They find that she’s from the neighboring town of Saint Alice, and take a road trip to see if they can find out some information about their bloodthirsty attackers.