Mysterious Ways: The Nature of Good and Evil on "True Blood"

"Don't you like vampires, little girl?"

This week's episode of True Blood ("Frenzy"), written by Alan Ball and directed by Daniel Minahan, marks the penultimate installment of the second season (though we'll have to wait two weeks for the season finale) and consequently ramped up the tension, bringing us several new alliances, the deepening of a personal vendetta, a possible romantic split, and the fragmentation of several long-standing friendships.

And, oh, a giant egg.

So just what did I think about this week's episode of True Blood? Pour yourself a Tru Blood, strap on a bandolier, gather up some feathers and yarn, and let's discuss "Frenzy."

Bon Temps has literally gone to hell, thanks to Maryann's influence and this week we finally got an answer as to why Maryann happened to stumble in the backwoods town in the first place. While it seemed as though Maryann's arrival in Bon Temps with her murderous retinue was centered around shifter Sam Merlotte, his presence in the town was purely coincidental, as we learn that Maryann herself was summoned unwittingly by Tara Thorton back in Season One when she was tricked by Miss Jeanette into believing that she was slaying her inner "demon."

While Miss Jeanette was a sham, her use of ritual was powerful enough to bring Maryann to Tara like a beacon in the night, luring her to Bon Temps via Tara's vision of her black-eyed younger self. After all, Maryann and the pig (read: Daphne) were seen by the side of the road shortly thereafter. As for Sam, his coincidental appearance amid all of this mess is a blessing in disguise for Maryann: she can get revenge against the thieving shifter and use him as a sacrifice to the god who comes. Unless, that is, she decides to use Sookie as a substitute...

Tara was a means to an end for Maryann, just as Eggs was in the last location the cannibalistic nomads traveled to. I knew that letting Tara go try and save Eggs was a terrible, terrible idea. There was certainly no guarantee that she wouldn't fall right back under Maryann's spell again (though the shuttering spell didn't quite work on her this time) and sure enough within seconds of going back to the Stackhouse place, Tara falls right back into Maryann's thrall and ends up smashing up Gran's things and building a nest for...

Well, I don't rightly know what she and Eggs are building a nest for. But there it was: a huge white egg bigger than an ostrich's. (Should we view it as ironic or fitting that Eggs himself is building a nest to house an egg?) Just what is lurking underneath that shell? I have absolutely no idea. Is it connected to Maryann's imminent sacrificial offering? Quite probably. But it freaked the hell out of me regardless. Any thoughts?

I loved the reluctant partnership between Jason Stackhouse and Andy Bellefleur, one of the most unlikely friendships ever seen on the small screen. The scene where they carbo-load before going into battle was absolutely hysterical and there was some brutal honesty in the scene where Jason acknowledged that, despite appearances, he hasn't ever had it easy in life. It's fascinating to look at Ryan Kwanten's performance here as Jason and how much he's grown as a character since we first met him at the beginning of Season One. The self-absorbed sex addict has become a Hero with a capital-H. His speech about saving his town from what it's become--and how sometimes you have to destroy something in order to save it ("it's in the Bible... or the Constitution")--is so far removed from the selfishness he's displayed in the past, yet Ball and the writers have done a remarkable job at slowly transforming him into a complex and fully realized avenger... for whom sex is just one weapon in his arsenal. He may be just as dim-witted and hormonal but clearly he means well these days.

Likewise, my favorite scene last night had to be that between Sam Trammel's Sam, Alexander Skarsgard's Eric, and Arlene's poor, neglected kids ("teacup humans") at Fangtasia. (Hell, we even got some much needed Pam in the mix as well.) The creepiness with which Eric toyed with the children ("Don't you like vampires, little girl?"), baring his fangs and making references to draining them of their blood with a playful glee was a thing to behold. Skarsgard has excelled this season at bringing Eric to the forefront of the series and at portraying him as a vengeful, quixotic, and dangerous being with an inner soulfulness. This scene brought back Eric's darker side as well as his inherent arrogance (to wit: his use of the word "tribute") but he does agree to help Sam locate information about the maenad, though once again his motivations seems to be based around his interest in Sookie.

And Eric can fly, as we learn. That sound you heard? It was thousands of True Blood fans swooning and hitting the floor as Eric leapt into the air outside Fangtasia into the dark sky.

One mystery lurking in the shadows: the identity of the father of Arlene's kids. We're told very specifically that the children have never seen him before and Arlene cut his face out of all of the pictures she has of him... but he has her name tattooed on his stomach. Could we be seeing Arlene's ex turning up at some point in the future. I definitely think so, though just who or what will he be? Hmmm....

Likewise, we're introduced to Sookie's cousin Hadley (Lindsey Haun), a consort of Queen Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood), the Yahtzee-loving Vampire Queen of Louisiana. While I suspected we'd meet her soon enough (tip-offs included that mention of her back in Season One and the use--twice, no less--of that brief mention in the "previously on" montages over the last two weeks), I never thought that she too would be caught up in the world of vampires and be quite so close to their nexus of power in Louisiana. While Hadley is startled to hear Bill and Sophie-Anne mention Sookie (the fact that Sophie-Anne knows about her at all concerns me to no end), I couldn't quite be sure whether Bill knew of Hadley's familial relationship to Sookie or not. Regardless, he's clearly intending to keep it a secret from Sookie and tells Hadley not to get in touch with Sookie. Ever.

As for Sophie-Anne herself, I thought that Wood pulled off the petulance, spite, and spoiled air required of a centuries-old vampire but lacked a certain presence on screen to warrant her role as this much-discussed royal. (It's hard not to compare her slightly predictable performance with that of the other flame-haired vamp on the series, Deborah Ann Woll's Jessica Hamby, who literally ignites the air every time she appears on camera.) I loved her day room with its faux beach backdrop and St. Tropez-style lounging but I just wanted a larger, more impressive royal presence from Wood as it felt like she was a bit swallowed up by the opulent surroundings instead of commanding it.

Loved Bill and Eric's little showdown on the steps outside Sophie-Anne's as the two continue to duel over Sookie, a battle that's more than likely to continue into next season, unless Eric is able to sway Sophie-Anne to his side of things. Which makes this viewer very, very nervous indeed.

Is it curtains for Hoyt and Jessica? It certainly looked that way after Jessica bit Maxine after losing patience with the black-eyed mother from hell but I am hoping that there is some way for the two to reconnect once all of the craziness is past. But I have to say that I am getting very worried about Hoyt; as long as he was locked up with Jessica at the Compton house, I thought they'd see the coming war through from the sidelines but with Hoyt in Bon Temps and highly susceptible to Maryann's spell, I'm worried for him. Especially now that the frenzied Maxine has unleashed not only a torrent of insults but also the truth about Hoyt's father's death. He didn't die defending his family against an intruder but took his own life. Poor, poor Hoyt.

Hoyt wasn't the only one fighting off ghosts from the past as Lafayette had to contend with the return of his post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered by Lettie Mae holding him and Sookie at gunpoint in order to free Tara. And sure enough, Lafayette was so terrified that he imagined that Lettie Mae was Eric himself come to kill him and punish him for everything he's done. But if that weren't bad enough, Lafayette quickly also falls under Maryann's frenzy at Sookie's house. I had been hoping that Eric's blood would give him some level of immunity against her spell but alas he quickly succumbs to the darkness, spurred on by his efforts to shoot Maryann... An effort that results in the unintended death of Carl when Maryann deflects the bullet.

Bill, meanwhile, may have gleaned the only way to kill the maenad: to strike her when she believes her summoning of the god who comes has succeeded, the only point in which she'll be vulnerable to attack. Sophie-Anne indicates that the only reason why Maryann is immortal is because she believes herself to be and that our ideas and beliefs not only give us power but enable us to create something out of nothing.

Whether this can in fact be turned on its head by Bill and Sookie to take down Maryann and save Bon Temps remains to be seen but I for one and going to be on pins and needles the next two weeks until True Blood's season finale.

In two weeks on the season finale of True Blood ("Beyond Here Lies Nothin'") Maryann prepares for her ultimate sacrifice, forcing Sookie to be the Maid of Honor at her bloody nuptials; Sophie-Anne warns Eric to control Bill's inquisitiveness; Jason leads Andy into battle; Hoyt struggles with Maxine's endless stream of insults; Sam places his trust, and his life, in a most unlikely ally in order to save Bon Temps and Sookie.