Fire in the Hole (Spoiler Warning)

This was an improvement over last week’s episode, with more regulars dying but some returning. Sarah Newlin has always been an entertaining character and bringing her back should liven things up. It certainly livened up a dying Eric Northman, who was happy to lie and rot until Pam pointed out Sarah was still out there somewhere, breathing.

Last week’s episode closed with Pam’s search for Eric coming to an end, where she found her maker dying of Hep-V. After opening on Sarah at a yoga class, we picked back up on Pam and Eric. Eric has given up the fight for survival and is refusing Pam’s help, although, there really isn’t a whole lot anyone can do … or is there? You know, it still hasn’t been explained just how Eric escaped the true death while he was sunbathing naked atop a snowcovered Swedish mountain, after the power to daywalk was lost by Bill. He was burning up nicely when he was seen at the end of season 6, and you can watch the Youtube clip here. Short of burying himself in the snow–the prevalent theory–it doesn’t seem possible.

True Blood
Created by
Alan Ball
Cast
Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Chris Bauer, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Nelsan Ellis, Joe Manganiello, Deborah Ann Woll, Carrie Preston
Episode Release Date
6 July 2014
Ed’s Grade: B

We even got some backstory of Pam and Eric in 1986, from when the new synthetic human blood ‘True Blood’ had just been invented. True Blood was a Japanese creation and because it was about to become a huge earner with far-reaching consequences, The Authority and The Yakanomo Corporation (True Blood inventors) began to work together. Eric is caught out in the open by an Authority rep while he’s feeding and having sex with Sylvie–a young and pretty woman he’s just fallen for. Eric and Pam are in France but they failed to register their arrival with the local sheriff. Eric is warned to toe the line because his behaviour threatens vampires from being accepted by the humans at a critical moment. Eric has a message for The Authority woman: “Go f*ck yourself.” The woman tells Eric she’ll make sure “all the interested parties are made aware of your answer.”

Eric is rather taken with Sylvie but now that he’s pissed off a lot of people who have a financial interest in True Blood, it’s not long before some bad men from Yakanomo Corp. come looking for Eric to teach him a lesson. And teach him a lesson they certainly do, by killing Sylvie. It turns out these same Yakanomo thugs are now hunting down Sarah Newlin, and during their search they show the same brutality to Sarah’s new love interest. I hope Sarah gets to live until the final episode because she really was one of the better characters to be brought into the series. You can watch one of her first appearances on the show with a Youtube clip of she and Jason, here.


Sookie talks Bill into helping her set a trap for the infected vampires using herself as bait. The plan is completely dumb and would never have worked in the first place, however it would seem the writers weren’t concerned about realism, only of the end result. While Sookie and Bill were waiting for the infected vampires it allowed for some Bill Compton backstory, which was of Bill saying goodbye to his family before going to war. Sookie confesses to Bill she doesn’t love Alcide as much as he loves her (surprise, surprise). Sookie also learns that Bill is literally no longer the same person who did bad things to her. We all know what that means! But before Sookie gets a chance to dump Alcide for Bill (c’mon, we knew it would happen), we see Alcide getting killed by the vigilante mob, after they started taking pot-shots at Sookie’s group.

We find out Tara has really died the true death, when Pam tells Eric she felt it happen. Alcide is also dead, but one death was particularly satisfying, …Hoyt’s mom! Lafayette and James looked like they were about to copy Eric and Jason, after a night of pill-popping in Lafayette’s pad. Apparently James didn’t because he was still with Jessica, although it’s doubtful Jess and James’ relationship will survive the season. Reverend Daniels tells Willa a nice story about how he and Lettie Mae had saved each other in their time of need. He lets Willa feed on his blood then throws her out because Lettie Mae’s temptation for her blood is too great. It looks as though it’s now a small matter of finding the hostages, which should be easy as most of the infected vamps have been killed. Now it’s time for Sarah to cause some havoc!

by Ed Blackadder