Monday, July 09, 2012

My Review of True Blood's 5x05: "Let's Boot And Rally"


Written by Angela Robinson
Directed by Michael Lehmann

Jessica (to Tara): “It’s not about the feeding and the sex and the power. I mean we’re gonna live forever. We’re gonna be young forever. I mean, the world, it’s like wide open to us.”

After watching this episode, I honestly believe that I could actually sit through an entire of the vampire trio known as Jessica, Pam and Tara and it would be the best television show because all of their scenes tonight (with some Hoyt thrown into the mix) were above and beyond the highlights of this episode.

Tara decided to raid her mother’s wardrobe and made quite an entrance in Fangtasia dressed in Pam’s attire and then we had to see her learn a harsh lesson from her maker about snacking on clientele in such a public manner. Tara might not have liked being embarrassed by Pam but she was being reckless and Pam had every right to put her in her place.

Snacking on people within view of a massive audience ain’t a good idea. Tara learned that lesson the hard way but it was good that she learned the lesson the less either. I was actually kind of proud of Pam for pointing out to Tara the implications of being seen to eating humans so publicly. Motherhood might not be a natural thing for Pam but she’s certainly getting certain parts of it right though.

Another joy in this episode was Jessica extending her hand of friendship towards Tara in this episode too. It did make a lot of sense that Jessica would reach out to Tara given that she too was turned into a vampire against her will and her own experiences might arguably make her a better vampire for Tara to model herself on too as well.

You could definitely see that Tara was taking a lot of stuff that Jessica was saying on board. She got the fact that being a vampire meant being young forever and that her urges weren’t necessarily a bad thing either. It’s just a pity that Tara and Jessica then came to blows because the former decided to snack on Hoyt of all people in this one.

Speaking of Hoyt – that boy’s a hot mess and looked pretty trashy that even the Hotshot folk would turn their noses up at him. I liked that Tara did initially refuse to snack on Hoyt but I just wished that we had seen a moment as to why she decided to change her mind but I guess the writers just really wanted a girl fight in this episode and Hoyt proved to be a decent enough catalyst in order to ignite between Jessica and Tara. Again though, their scenes were a highlight of this episode.

Keeping with the highlights – my heart went out to Alcide in this one too. Not only were his chances of shagging Sookie road blocked by Bill and Eric showing up but Sookie even puked on him for good measure. If that didn’t kill the moment, the incessant arguing and the return of Russell certainly contributed in killing the moment.

Russell being kept at an old asylum seemed like an appropriate enough place to hide a 3000 year old vampire and it was nice that he looked a lot better than what we had seen him look like in “Authority Always Wins” but it seemed like we’re gonna have to wait for the next episode to truly see him in action though.

Russell’s return should hopefully also serve to give the Authority plot a much needed kick up the arse as well because between Roman’s blathering of mainstreaming, Nora’s mash up of being tortured and praying to Lilith and Salome still being a question mark, it really doesn’t feel like any real progress has been made with the Authority at this point. Even the lack of Newlin has become a worrying thing for me too.

Speaking of worrying, things didn’t look good for Sam and Luna in this episode. Both of them got shot by some whackos intent on murdering supernaturals and that coupled with Terry and Patrick’s mate Eller talking of fire demons, Jason dreaming about his parents murder and Lafayette seeing Jesus’s head and Ruby Jean’s brief return, it does seem like any of these stories could become more interesting than the Authority if it doesn’t step up a notch and fast.

Also in “Let’s Boot And Rally”

Denis O’Hare’s name is back in the opening credits for this episode again. Kevin Alejandro’s was kept at the end, presumably to surprise viewers of Jesus’s return. Now we need to know where his body is.

Eric: “Alcide, you sure know how to treat a lady.”

The shape shifter murdering plot was something the fifth book delved into and it’s the only that so far this season has in common with that book. iStakes vampire is called Molly by the way.

Sookie (to Bill/Eric/Alcide): “And a three thousand year old vampire wants to suck my blood. Must be Thursday.”

Pam: “You actually look halfway decent.”
Tara: “If I wanted to look like a drag queen, I would’ve raided Lafayette’s closet.”

This episode was scribed by a new writer to the series in Angela Robinson. It’s nice to have some more new blood on the writing staff for the show.

Roman: “I refuse to pander to fanatics.”
Salome: “But that is not what I’m suggesting. Just throw the religious base a bone. Control the message but on your own terms.”

Andy: “I fucked a fairy?”
Jason: “Well, if you did it with one of them ladies, then yeah.”

It seems that both Jason and Andy remember their night in the fairy club after all. Jason also seems to think that vampires are responsible for the recent killings.

Tara: “Been feeling fresh out of friends lately.”
Jessica: “You can hang with me. We can be girlfriends.”

Bill: “Are you okay?”
Sookie: “Yeah, remind me to avoid Peach Schnapps in future. Turn left.”

Standout music: Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino’s wonderful “Let’s Boot And Rally”.

Russell (to Sookie/Eric/Bill/Alcide): “Took you long enough.”

Chronology: Exactly from where “We’ll Meet Again” left off.

Now this was a joy to watch. “Let’s Boot And Rally” was definitely the show back at it’s best and while the argument of the series having too many plot is still a valid one, at least the majority of them are stepping up to become a lot more interesting than they were initially, though do we really need a fire demon? Hasn’t Bon Temps got enough going against it at the moment?

Rating: 9 out of 10

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