Premium Cable Reviews: True Blood on HBO #59 “Sunset”

I’m going to rename this episode “Transformations” because everyone one on this show is transforming into someone or something else.

We have Lilith who transformed from a myth of the vampire god into an actual entity. At least, I think she is an actual entity. She may just be a hallucination. The vampires all drank this blood from a relic—it was supposed to be Lilith’s blood, but you know when you leave blood lying around for centuries it could go bad, and then there is no telling what might happen.

The greatest transformation is Merlotte and Luna who transform into a different species. They become little white mice so they can get into the Authority headquarters and look for Luna’s daughter, Emma When they do these little shape-shifting things, I always think about the theory in Physics: “conservation of mass.” When they turn from human to mouse, what happens to all the extra mass?

Emma’s been doing quite a bit of transforming also—she transforms into a wolf pup. Is this because her mother is a shape shifter or because her father is a werewolf. Or maybe it’s just because she lives in Bon Temps and all kind of weird things happen there.

Steve Newlin used to be a narrow-minded straight-arrow fundamentalist preacher. Now he is a vampire and Russell Edgington’s boy toy. The most-evil-moment-of-the-week award goes to Steve. When he sees Emma, his pet wolf-pup, in human form, he speaks to her in a tone of voice that suggests a stern, but loving parent. He says, “Emma, you know your Daddy doesn’t like it when you’re human.” I found that more chilling than if he had swatted her with a rolled up newspaper. (Confession: That moment was in last week’s show, but it was just perfect for this week’s review so I used it.)

Russell Edgington, the oldest of the vampires, has changed also. When we first met him in Season 3, he was aristocratic and living in a mansion dining on gourmet blood. Now he more like someone who you meet on skid row if that person on skid row had just escaped from an insane asylum.

Jessica, the baby vamp, who used to a self-centered, selfish, teenaged brat has transformed into someone that resembles a decent human being. Perhaps her love for Hoyt helped her grow up emotionally. (Remember, vampires can’t age physically.) When Bill forces Jessica to become a ‘maker” by “turning” Jason, she only pretends to suck him to death. We see the dirt being shoveled over the two of them in the weird little vampire version of a honeymoon. (When someone is turned, the maker and the newbie must be buried together for the first night.) Jason just happens to have a gun with wooden bullets in his possession at the time, so he rises from the grave and shoots the two “enforcer” vampires that were there to see that Jessica did as she was ordered.

Bill used to be a good guy, but he has turned wicked evil. The old Bill never wanted to hurt or turn anyone. (He wouldn’t even turn his human daughter when she was old and on her death bed begging for the gift of eternal life, or should I say the gift of living a life of eternal death) He was forced to turn Jessica, and she is his only progeny. Now Bill is on a killing rampage, feeding on humans, lusting for power, and even killing other vampires if they threaten his ambitions.

Even Pam, the “Queen of the Damned” bitch, has transformed. She was always portrayed as a nasty piece of work loving only her maker, Eric, and ruthless in her dealings with everyone else. Now she takes the fall for Tara when the Authority come inquiring about the death of the sheriff. It must be maternal instinct. (Pam is Tara’s maker.)

Jason used to be a lazy Lothario, but he hasn’t gotten any lately. Hasn’t even been looking for it. He’s working as a deputy sheriff and taking his office very seriously. But Jason has not changed in one very important way. He still good-hearted. He only wants to help and do what is right. Consequently, he is just about the only character on True Blood that it is possible to still like.

And of course we know that Sookie, once all sweet and innocent, is now no one to be trifled with. She appears to have sworn off men and is becoming a regular little killing machine. Don’t mess with Sookie.