True Blood: Almost Home

August 11, 2014 8:43 AM - Season 7, Episode 8

In which we are mercifully spared anymore of Bill's flashbacks.

The Tara plot line is wrapped up when she reveals a gun she buried after her father ruined her fifth birthday party. She apologizes to her mother for not killing her father. After everyone hugs it out, Tara vanishes. Violet finally gets killed after taking both Jessica and James hostage in addition to Adilyn and Wade. She is killed by...Hoyt who seems to have some feelings for Jessica. Jessica and Jason decide to be friends, which considering Jason's general picks for girlfriends seems like a very wise choice. Eric and Pam find Numi and Eric is cured. How to best profit from Numi's blood is then discussed. Sookie smuggles Bill into Fangtasia to cure him and he....refuses?

posted by miss-lapin (33 comments total)

FFS Bill.
posted by homunculus at 9:21 AM on August 11, 2014 [4 favorites]

On one hand, True Blood has always done this annoying thing of taking one episode near the end to wrap up all the pointless side plots no one cares about ( oh thanks do I'm so glad Lettie Mae has closure on wait no I don't, go die in a fire.) so the final episodes can be all main plot but maaaaaan what a snore.
posted by The Whelk at 9:37 AM on August 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Yeah of all the characters who deserve forgivesness Lettie was not one I had on the short list. I could forgive Maxine Fortenberry but Lettie Mae and all she put Tara through? Yeah no forgiveness for her. Tara deserved better and I have no idea wtf that gun incident was supposed to be about for the viewers.


I have zero sympathy for Bill. Maybe he and Lettie can hang out on a spin off called characters who should feel guilty and shut up.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:10 AM on August 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

ha - the AV club review is just straight up D
posted by The Whelk at 11:04 AM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

I suppose there's a neat bit of symmetry with Hoyt killing Violet after she killed his mom, but I don't think the writers went much farther than "huh that would be a nice bit of symmetry" because otherwise none of that made any sense. I've always enjoyed the show even while detractors howled but this season is just embarrassing.
posted by yellowbinder at 11:22 AM on August 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I had the same "WTF" thought at the gun flashback thing...why does she need closure, why does her abuser so easily just leave and move on rather than staying around and making life a living hell...it all makes sense if you re-frame "V" as simply a shared-hallucinogenic substance (which we know it to be) that may or may not have "real" vision-quest like potential, but more likely is just such a kick-ass drug that it gives a hardcore alcoholic, for example, the opportunity to forgive themselves and realize the futility of pursuing ongoing intoxication. It's like doing so many whippits that the voice of the universe tells you "you've learned all you can from N2O." Not that that ever happens to anyone...

Or see ibogaine
posted by aydeejones at 11:49 AM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

From a "vision quest" perspective what's really going on is that Tara always felt responsible for her own abuse because she didn't kill her father, but she did eventually [try to] kill Franklin and couldn't fully carry that out either (though she was just running and apparently didn't know how vamps visibly look when they die). Tara feels so responsible that she pins everything on her father, everything her mother ever does, and then pins it on herself once she forgoes the opportunity to shoot him at the age of freakin' 5 (talk about growing up fast) -- but has no frame of reference to extend the same reasoning to justifying her father's actions.

So like the movie "Forrest Gump," some of which I endured this weekend with my parents, ultimately it's just a whole pointless "people suck, isn't that sad, fuuuuu" exercise and Tara is extending far too much sympathy for her mother simply by assigning the blame to herself.

I don't judge anyone for it, it just seemed like a waste of screen time and a sad effort at keeping Tara's character on-screen, albeit without the grating fake accent. Same with Jessica, doesn't she seem to be "non-Southern" as of late?
posted by aydeejones at 11:54 AM on August 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Also, it presents the possibility that there really is heaven and that vampire and people get to go there, and maybe it foreshadows that Bill will be better off letting go and possibly can reunite with his family, knowing full well that Sookie will be happy hooking up with any dude who happens to have been alone with her for more than a couple days over the past several years, that Sookie won't necessarily want to bring children into the world anyway. The Hoyt and Jason "girlfriend swap" insinuation was pretty transparent and gross, no? The real subtext is the Sookie handoff to Eric, and Bill getting a chance to be another "Godrick" Rising Above It All after being Billith and only redeeming himself as Bill without transcending Teh Billith in power and stature. He can't be older and more powerful than Eric but he can "pull a Godrick" and refuse Eric or anyone's help.
posted by aydeejones at 11:58 AM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

I felt real joy the moment Eric realized he was cured.

Really got a kick out of the fake glamouring scene: “I fucked her once, couple years ago, now she keeps coming back for more.” ha ha. Nice one, Eric! Without Eric, I probably wouldn't keep watching. Hope Sookie ends up with him.

I didn't think Bill refusing the cure was as crazy a choice as most people on the internets today seem to think it was. Actually, it is totally consistent with what we've seen of Bill's character. A few seasons ago, there was a flashback scene to 1910 with Bill and his daughter, Sarah, on her deathbed. He refused her wish to turn her, because "immortality is a curse." So given this background, his actions in the basement really do make total sense to me.
posted by hush at 1:49 PM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

yeah Bill Has a Death Wish is pretty concistant, and yes that bit of Sookie PRETENDING to be glamored was fun but ...you know that was like five whole minutes of showtime.
posted by The Whelk at 1:50 PM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Really got a kick out of the fake glamouring scene

I totally missed what Sookie mind-read from the Yakuza Cowboy in that scene. What was he saying? Something about Numi I guess?

Also, re: Bill

My wife got angry at me for yelling "Ugh, just fucking die already, Bill!" when we got that bullshit cliffhanger. Also for saying "I hope so" when she asked out loud whether he was going to die before he got to Fangtasia.
posted by Hoopo at 2:15 PM on August 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Dude I've been wanting Bill to die going on three seasons now. I mean twice, twice! They teased us and were like "nope!" Bill needs to die. Like yesterday. We wasted too much time on his bs flashbacks. We have two eps left. I need more Eric and Pam.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:27 PM on August 11, 2014 [4 favorites]

Pam was, as ever, quite perfect. Eric seems to be back on form now he's cured. He's been rather lacklustre so far this season.

Really don't care about Bill. Getting rather bored of Sookie too, to be honest. Bill has several quick and cheap options for ending everything if he wants to do his dying nobly thing.

High Reverend was great. Almost made up for the Tara dying and then the weird hanging-on-a-cross thing. I quite like his character. Has Rutina Wesley got something else going on in her life, that she can't spend so much time on screen this season? The entire storyline could have been wrapped up in a couple of episodes, without all of the running about in the dark in Sookie's dress. Hint to the writers: if you want a sad, poignant ending, give us a chance to actually get to know the character so that we can care when they die.

Hoyt being back is great. Generica The Girlfriend is annoying and pointless, other than to work as something for Jason to leer at.

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!! That scene with Viole(n)t was creepy as fuck (I feel like I should say WHICH scene, since they're all creepy as fuck). I'm glad she's gone. Hoyt saving the day was nice and cemented him as less of the idiot he was during the first few seasons. But how did he get there so quickly? Even if Generica called form the car, he'd need a time machine to get to the mansion that quickly.

What IS it with Sookie running around with no clothes on. She's worse than a toddler. She left Bill's place in a black dressing gown and then appeared at Fangtasia in Alcide's van wearing a dress. The fake glamour scene was pretty funny. It's almost like watching a caricature of Sookie.

How does Bellefleurs stay in business? There's never anyone in there.

"Quiet, antidote". Love it. Distilled essence of Eric.

I actually thought Bill was going to explode all over Noomi when he started hesitating, but I can't have everything.
posted by Solomon at 3:56 PM on August 11, 2014 [5 favorites]

Like, I thought the Bill Becomes The Vessel For Lillith was going to be a clever way to keep the actor on but have "Bill" die, all Angel/Angelus like but apparently being a Vampire aged doesn't actually do or change you in any real way because no plot twists are allowed to have consequences.
posted by The Whelk at 4:38 PM on August 11, 2014

Are we there yet?

At least there's Pam. And Eric's "antidote" snark.

I thought this episode was a yawner, although I am really enjoying how delicately handled and poignant the Hoyt situation is. Jason is managing to rise above his (very well-acted) constant befuddlement to really feel how profoundly painful it is that his best friend doesn't know him, and their handshake at Violet's house was just lovely. And Jessica! Please bring back the Hoyt 'n' Jessica show! Please!

Still, poor Tara - I do not approve of how her story was ended. Although larval stage Lafayette at the birthday party was adorable.
posted by biscotti at 5:37 PM on August 11, 2014

> That scene with Viole(n)t was creepy as fuck (I feel like I should say WHICH scene, since they're all creepy as fuck). I'm glad she's gone.

Yes, definitely. What Violet threatened to do - particularly to Jessica, though all of Violet's threats were horrific - was one of the most genuinely spine-chilling things I've ever seen on TV.
posted by hush at 5:48 PM on August 11, 2014 [5 favorites]

Yeah, the scene with the hot poker was incredibly gruesome. No sympathy for Violet.

The Tara wrap-up was a long way to go for nothing. Really? I'm going with drug-fueled mass hallucination. Makes more sense. I was, at least, expecting a body.

So I know Hoyt asked to be glamoured but wouldn't it be wrong for Jessica to start dating him again without telling him the truth?
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 6:43 PM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

True Blood: "Here Is A Hot Dildo On A Stick, Are You Not Entertained?"
posted by homunculus at 8:14 PM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

The whole TORTURE BUFFET just fell flat cause I knew the show would never let anything happen to Jessica OR Jason, at least not like how Violet The Inquisition imagined. Nothing in that scene had weight.
posted by The Whelk at 9:03 PM on August 11, 2014

So given this background, his actions in the basement really do make total sense to me.

They're really obviously setting up Vampahr Bill to die and go be with his dead family and hang around with all those dead slaves that he was totes besties with and that, like most Confederate officers, he respected as people and tried to help and they will all gather round the afterlife campfire and sing kumbayah together as they make friendship bracelets. Bleah. And every now and then he'll show up like Glow Yoda to help SOOKAH! out with whatever problems she's given herself.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:38 PM on August 11, 2014

Jesus fucking christ. Fuck this bullshit. Fuck Bill. Fuck Lettie Mae. Fuck Hoyt. Fuck that freaky Christian nutjob chick whose name I have forgotten. Fuck all this.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:27 AM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

See you guys next week?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:27 AM on August 12, 2014 [6 favorites]

Hated the last chat with Lettie Mae and Tara.

Lettie: "I was a bad mother."
Tara: "No you weren't."
Me: "YES SHE WAS!"

Lettie: "I was weak."
Tara: "No you weren't."
Me: "YES SHE WAS!"
posted by dnash at 5:33 AM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]

io9: Yakuza Cowboy tells Pam and Eric that they're not going to sell a cure to Hep-V from Sarah Newlin's blood, but a version of the cure that vampires will have to buy forever. Something, something, political conspiracy theorist metaphor, you guys.

TruBloodVada.
posted by dnash at 6:00 AM on August 12, 2014

o9: Yakuza Cowboy tells Pam and Eric that they're not going to sell a cure to Hep-V from Sarah Newlin's blood, but a version of the cure that vampires will have to buy forever. Something, something, political conspiracy theorist metaphor, you guys.

BUT IF YOU CURE THEM PERMANENTLY, YOU CAN THEN JUST SELL THEM NORMAL TRUBLOOD. IF YOU WAIT, YOUR MARKET WILL LITERALLY DIE. YOU ALREADY HAVE A GUARANTEED MONOPOLY PRODUCT THAT IS A RECURRING PURCHASE.

FUCKING YAKUZA. GO TO BUSINESS SCHOOL. STRINGER BELL HAD THIS SHIT DOWN.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:04 AM on August 12, 2014 [16 favorites]

That would make sense if "yes we are all drinking true blood"was real and not a convenient fiction so vamps can assimilate oh wait, that is real? Despite everyone on the show basically indicating it wasn't?
posted by The Whelk at 7:47 AM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

That would make sense if "yes we are all drinking true blood"was real and not a convenient fiction so vamps can assimilate oh wait, that is real? Despite everyone on the show basically indicating it wasn't?

IIRC, TruBlood was selling like hotcakes, vamps were drinking it, but also drinking from people non-lethally by consent, plus some old school holdouts were still murderising people left and right.

But the situation has changed now. Vamps can't be drinking out of any random that they pick up on the street - they might be Hep V infected. They can only drink from a trusted source. TruBlood is that trusted source, or could be. It would sell even better now, if the market wasn't dying.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:23 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]

Now I want the ending to be Hoyt's and Jessica's wedding. I don't give a shit about anyone else anymore.
posted by desjardins at 4:26 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, ok, I'm finally sympathizing with the haters. Bill, you're such a (retconned) child. You were a freeking naughty vampire god just a couple of weeks ago.

Sookie redeemed herself a little when she let Newlin/NewMe to rot. Nice to see some Steve Newlin cameos in the last couple of epies. Now where's the Russell Edgington cameo?!

Because it'll never happen, Alexander Skarsgård and Kristin Bauer van Straten need to do some short films together in their Eric and Pam personae.
posted by porpoise at 6:53 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

We have two eps left.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can......................
posted by inigo2 at 8:52 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]

I gotta say, I really think Sam and Nicole's plotline made the best contribution to this ep.
posted by psoas at 6:24 AM on August 13, 2014 [5 favorites]

Basically all I care about is that Eric was magically healed. There isn't a single other plotline I care about, although the Jessica-Adalyn friendship thing is nice, they both deserve to have something of a normal girl life, even if it is Bon Temps style.

I could not summon even a shred of give a fuck about Sam's ladyfriend leaving. Did that even happen in this episode who knows who cares not me.
posted by elizardbits at 11:52 AM on August 18, 2014 [1 favorite]

And yes, if the remaining episodes were just Eric and Pam making bored/obnoxious/arrogantly hot commercials for NuBlood, plus all the glorious outtakes from those commercials, I would be 100% satisfied.
posted by elizardbits at 11:53 AM on August 18, 2014 [3 favorites]