It’s felt like forever since the finale of True Blood last September, especially because the season left so many characters hanging in a limbo between life, death and impending doom. Tara got her head blown off. Sookie finally ended Debbie’s reign of terror with one last bullet. Lafayette must come to terms with both killing Jesus and being possessed by Marnie’s ghost. Alcide discovers that Russell Edgington is no longer buried in the concrete of the parking garage. Jason gets surprise visit from Steve Newlin. Bill and Eric murder Nan Flanagan. Arlene receives a warning about Terry from Rene’s ghost. And that doesn’t even touch on all the developments in the tumultuous relationships.
Sookie finally made her decision in regards to Bill and Eric, choosing neither of the bloodsuckers. In a role reversal, Jason’s looking to settle down with Jessica but the baby vampire wants time to get in touch with her darker side after her serious relationship and breakup with Hoyt.
With all of these cliffhangers, the season 5 premiere was highly anticipated. A marathon replayed season 4 leading up to the Sunday night premiere to refresh the twists and turns from last season regarding the witches that plagued the characters. Leaving last season on such a high, dramatic note, the season premiere picked up right where we left the characters in September.
Lafayette rushes to Sookie’s side after the gunshots and screaming to find he not only lost his boyfriend but his cousin as well. But as soon as Pam walks through the door looking for Eric, Tara’s fate is clear and predictable. Lafayette and Sookie convince Pam to turn Tara so that she can survive the fatal head wound. Pam delivers her snarky one-liners as usual but climbs into a hole with Tara’s body to complete the transformation. As night turns to morning, Sookie and Lafayette must clean up all the blood and bodies in both of their houses.
It’s second nature for Sookie to scrub the blood from her kitchen. They wrap Debbie’s body in a shower curtain and the kitchen looks cleaner than ever after the duo is done. They head to Lafayette’s house to take care of Jesus’ body. But surprise! His body is gone.
Bill and Eric are doing their own clean up at Bill’s mansion. All traces of Nan and her team are wiped away but before the duo can flee the Authority captures them. In the trunk of the car, the two plot a way to escape the True Death and they succeed in blowing up the car, freeing them. But before they can get away they are confronted with one of the people sent to bring them in. Turns out Eric knows the woman, Nora. They reveal that both Eric and Nora were turned by Godric, making the two pseudo-siblings. Nora is a double agent, working to take down the Authority from the inside and promises to help Eric and Bill disappear without a trace. This of course doesn’t go off without a hitch. The trio are ambushed at the end of the episode.
Jason is home, naked from his latest bout with Jessica. The knock on the door he received last September revealed Reverend Newlin. There’s something different about the vampire-hating church leader. He’s a vampire and he glamors Jason to let him in his house. Jason is worried that Newlin is here to kill him after Jason slept with his wife Sarah but instead, Newlin confesses his jealousy and attraction to Jason. When Jason graciously rejects the man, Newlin goes on the defensive. Lucky for Jason, Jessica can sense his distress so she’s there to save the day. When she tells Newlin that Jason is hers, Jason thinks that Jessica has changed her mind about a relationship.
This isn’t the case. Jessica hosts a party with local college kids and openly flirts with a frat guy. Jason plays the same game and announces he’s taking a flirty coed home. But we get to see Jason’s softer side when he literally drives her home. He confesses he’s hung up on Jessica and she’s the only one he wants.
Alcide finally pays Sookie a visit, which is awkward for Miss Stackhouse because she killed Debbie. Even though Alcide confessed his love for Sookie, she can’t help but feel guilty about her ruthless killing. He urges her to go stay with him because Edgington is alive and roaming free but her guilt gets the better of her and Sookie can’t leave now, especially with Tara completing her transformation in Sookie’s yard.
Sam turns himself over to Marcus’ pack to protect Luna and Emma. Even though he didn’t kill their pack master, Sam can’t bring himself to out Alcide. Alcide did kill Marcus to save Sam’s life so the shape shifter is indebted to the werewolf. Sam is willing to follow through with his plan to his death if that means protecting everyone else from the ruthless wolf pack. He leads the pack to Marcus’ body but before they can finish Sam off, Luna and Alcide arrive.
And just when we couldn’t wait any longer, Pam emerges from the ground after sunset, alone. Sookie digs furiously to help get her friend out of the hole. Tara lays motionless in the dirt. Sookie and Lafayette mourn the loss of their friend and family. In the last moments of the episode, Tara awakens and blurs out of the ground. The credits roll just after Tara lunges at Sookie.
It’s no surprise that Tara, the vampire-hater, would transform into a problem for the citizens for Bon Temps. She’s going to wreak havoc on Sookie and company the whole season, probably to gain control of her inner monster by the season finale just before she’s about to meet her True Death.
Russell Edgington is going to be out for blood after being left for dead in the concrete. The best way to get his revenge on Eric, Bill and even Alcide would be to go after Sookie, so Miss Stackhouse should expect a visitor soon. With Bill, Eric and Alcide tied up in their own problems, maybe this will be Tara’s redeeming moment of the season, saving Sookie from the ancient vampire.
Eric, Bill and Nora are going to be brought before the Authority. There’s going to be silver and torture but the trio is definitely going to find a way to escape, and maybe even overthrow the ominous Authority for good. There might even be a finale moment where Sookie has to choose which of the men to save with her faerie powers, ultimately making the decision regarding which vampire has her heart.
Steve Newlin is going to be a source of comedy this season because it’s more than likely that Jessica’s proclamation isn’t going to keep him away from Jason. There’s going to be a lot of repressed aggression and wooing to hopefully get playboy Jason to switch teams. The competition for Jason’s heart is on and by the end of the season, Jessica’s probably going to leave her wild side behind to settle down with the other Stackhouse sibling.
Although all of the things hanging in the balance were touched on in the season premiere, they’ve opened up new drama for the coming season. No questions have been answered but complications have developed farther. This is one season that everyone has so much of their own drama and problems, it’s going to be hard to see them all come together to overcome and defeat the obstacles standing in the characters’ way. It’s getting to that point in the series where the writers need to change up the character to grow with the audience so it’s safe to say a lot of the characters are going to be doing things that are out of character. It’s going to be uncomfortable but with all the drama introduced in this premiere the characters are going to win back the viewers. By the end of this season, the audience may have new favorites and ship different characters together.
This review was provided courtesy of our writing intern and resident True Blood expert, Brittany DeMauro.