What I’m Watching: True Blood

True Blood: Season 5, Episode 7 “In the Beginning” (C+)

I’m not really sure what to make of this episode. After an extremely intriguing introduction to this season’s major plotlines, things get really weird all at once with lots of dead people coming back to life in various ways. The most disturbing was surely Lafayette’s situation, and I’m not sure exactly where that’s headed since he’ll either survive or he’ll die, and I can’t imagine this show would kill off one of its most popular characters. Recurring guests, of course, are fair game, as Christopher Heyerdahl’s Authority chancellor gets his head popped like a watermelon by Russell for speaking out against him. The ease with which all of the Authority members accepted Russell as an ally and drank the blood of Lilith was unsettling and inconsistent, and the fang-heavy wandering through the street was among this already strange show’s oddest moments yet. Preying on innocent humans was bad enough, but now that Lilith has materialized out of blood to cast another spell over the vampires, things are going to take a whole new turn, unless a Godric-inspired Eric can do something about it. Sookie trying to destroy all of her magic is not going to end well, and it’s not clear what purpose she would serve as a mere human. Alcide’s coup may be considerably more successful now that his rival has revealed himself to be a V addict. Sam’s policework continues to be highly entertaining, though I’m concerned that the hate group that has so readily accepted Hoyt has something terrible planned. I would have thought that Jessica was to be their victim, but it seems that all she has to deal with is relationship drama.