What I’m Watching: True Blood

True Blood: Season 2, Episode 3 “Scratches” (B+)

I loved last week’s episode because I thought it was intensely fascinating throughout its whole runtime. This episode isn’t quite as action-packed, but it sure sets things up for the rest of the season in a very clear way. Jason, who is currently on his own Andy Botwin-like tangent plotline, is beginning to realize that maybe he doesn’t like vampires after all because they’re responsible, however indirectly, for the death of Amy and his grandmother. Hopefully he’ll return to his hometown before too long, and ideally he’ll bring some of those viewpoints with him and be in for a rude awakening when he is inevitably confronted by Sookie and Bill. The attack on Sookie was pretty vicious, and “True Blood” still does a good job of remaining spooky and seriously creepy. It’s also still very difficult (for me) to handle those scenes where Sookie actually drinks Bill’s blood right from his arm. That’s a credit to the show though, that it’s able to evoke such a reaction of disgust and wonder. It’s particularly interesting to watch another vampire-human relationship develop, and see how Jessica and Hoyt handle their own desires and potential cravings for each other. Sookie’s mind-reading ability has never proven more awesome, as she discovers Lafayette’s whereabouts and barters a deal to get Lafayette released. Now it looks like Sookie and Bill will be headed to find out what happened to Eddie, which should keep them occupied and bonding, while Eric will attempt to find out what exactly this monster that attacked Sookie is. The end shot of Daphne’s back indicates that either she’s a victim or perhaps she’s the monster itself – this show just keeps getting more and more interesting.