TV Review: True Blood S5 episode 6

True Blood Season 5 – Episode 6 –Hopeless – A Recap and Review
By Kelowna TV buff Andrew Buckley
Read more about Andrew's world at planetkibi.com

Photo: HBO

Hopeless is an extremely apt name for this episode of True Blood. After the previous episode, which was by far the best of the season so far, we instead had to sit through fifty minutes of ‘where the hell is this going’ moments. The only redeeming factor was the last 3 minutes where we actually get to see our villain in true blue (or red) form.

Let’s talk werewolf breeds for a moment. If you take a look at the current pack of werewolves on season 5 of True Blood they range from ‘a very scary sort of ugly’ (the grandmother) to ‘hillbilly descendent from the cast of Deliverance’ (everyone else). And then there’s Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and new girl, Rikki (Kelly Overton) who look like high end strippers/cover models. I think there might be some sort of pollution in that gene pool. Anyway, on with the show…

Bill (Stephen Moyer) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) successfully capture Russell Edgington (the fantastically evil Denis O’Hare) despite being attacked by werewolves. Sookie (Ana Paquin) uses her fairy lightning and the Vampire Authority show up to take Russell in but not before eating all the human witnesses. Bill ‘fake’ glamour’s Sookie and tells her to go live a normal life (unlikely) and Eric glamour’s Alcide telling him to protect Sookie but not to touch her romantically effectively closing off any chance of that particular love pairing.

Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) finishes getting her ass kicked at Fangtasia by former cage fighter, Tara (Rutina Wesley). Hoyt (Jim Parrack) tries to hook back up with Jessica who once again leaves him hanging. While last episode I was impressed by this storyline it got the wind kicked out of it this week. Why does Hoyt care so much and how is he so suddenly obsessed with dressing like a clown and getting fed on by vampires all the time? What’s Jessica’s deal?

Luna and Sam are still alive. Luna allows the aforementioned ‘very scary sort of ugly’ grandmother (Dale Dickey) to take care of her wolf pup/daughter while she recovers and Sam joins forces with Sherriff Andy (Chris Bauer) to hunt down the shooters. They visit an anti-vampire gun shop and Sam puts an arrow in the store owner before he has a chance to kill Andy. Score one for the shifters.

Terry (Todd Lowe) and his friend (who’s even less interesting than Terry so I haven’t bothered to learn his name) see the fire demon with their own eyes which later causes a lot of sobbing and Terry leaves Arlene (Carrie Preston) in order to save her life…yada, yada, yada. Just cook him already.

After Alcide wakes up and remembers nothing Sookie uses her fairy power to remind him of the previous night. After he runs off to get his pack in order Sookie discovers that Jason (Ryan Kwanten) has a lead on the death of their parents and takes him to the fairy club to find out more. As it turns out their parents were killed by a vampire (not exactly shocking). What ensues, I assume, is the fairy equivalent of a bar room brawl.

Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) visits his mom who tells him that Jesus (again, gay/demon possessed/ex-lover…not the other guy) visited her and that he’s in trouble and it’s all his uncle’s fault. No sign of the blue demon thing with the bad nose piercing. Maybe next week.

Alcide visits his pack and wants to assume his role of pack leader only to find JD (Louis Herthum) has already taken the role. Alcide challenges him and is backed up by the only other hot person in the room, Rikki. For a second it looked like we were going to see a fantastic werewolf battle, fur flying, blood splattering, lots of yipping and growling…but no. Alcide tells him to name the time and place and then turns and leaves. What time? What place? How about now?! This scene wins the award for most anticlimactic moment this season.

And finally… Bill and Eric are forgiven by the authority after having hunted down Edgington who will be executed immediately. Thus follow a series of pointless moments involving speeches, vampire religion, Eric staring at his sister who prattles on about a prophecy, more speeches, Bill looks uncomfortable, Salome looks guilty…it goes on and on. When they finally bring out Russell to be executed he turns the tables on them and, in the one and only bright shining point of this episode, kills Roman (Christopher Meloni). And so the wonderfully evil Edgington returns to form!

Overall Hopeless was the worse episode this season. The writing was mismatched and the plot points confusing and anticlimactic. Even the usual cliffhangers were less like cliffs and more like gradually sloping grassy knolls. The biggest error of the episode, and, looking back, the last few episodes, is the standpoint of the Vampire Authority. Are they for mainstreaming? Do they buy into the vampire bible which appears to go against mainstreaming? If not they certainly quote it a lot. There’s a heck of a lot of confusion there and maybe I’m just bitter after a crappy episode but come on True Blood! You can do better (look to the last episode for example).

On a related note HBO recently announced that True Blood is renewed for a 6th Season!

I give Hopeless 5.5 hillbilly descendents from the cast of Deliverance out of 10.