It’s not just Alcide’s death that fails to resonate. It’s also Sookie’s re-connection with Bill (handled with painfully awkward and forced conversation about…Six Flags?), Jason’s desire for children (following some off-hand comment made by Andy last episode), and Eric’s love for a French woman in the 1800s that we never knew about, and therefore don’t really care about.
Again, I don’t mean to sound so negative, because this episode wasn’t terrible. Really. But I can’t help but feel that the show is squandering its potential for a great and engaging final season. This is supposed to be a big, emotional and epic convergence of seven years’ worth of supernatural craziness, filled with the things that made this show such a great guilty pleasure in the first place. Instead, we’re getting half-assed character beats that fall flat on their face, and needless subplots that focus on characters we have little to no actual interest in.
Against my better judgement, I’m still holding out hope for the final seven episodes of the season. There were a few interesting little plots introduced this episode, like the Yakuza branch of the vampire hierarchy that once controlled the distribution of True Blood. Now that their product has been destroyed and their customers turned into insane, rabid Hep-V vampires, they’re looking for Sara Newlin, who was instrumental in their current predicament. How they re-introduced Sara was a bit weak, but I’m willing to forget it for badass samurai vampires.
I’m also curious to see what Lettie’s search for Tara brings. Hopefully it’s a better send-off for the woman who was right there next to Sookie from the beginning. Because dying off-screen is just unforgivable.
What did you think of this episode? Is there any hope for this show as we get closer and closer to the big finale? Or was this episode the last nail in True Blood‘s coffin? Sound off in the comments section below.