The McGuffin Review: True Blood - Season 2 Finale

Posted by Cory Johnson on 09.17.2009

How does the Maryann storyline come to an end? Bill lays the ultimate game-changer on Sookie and we are teased with the possibilities of Season 3!

Sookie resumes the “best horror scream in the business” as black-eyed Lafayette tells Tara to get the egg (the big white one, not the big black one). Tara and Eggs giggle and leave with the egg. Sookie tries to reason with Lafayette, but Lafayette demands that she take off her clothes. Sookie stripes and Lafayette gives her a white dress and forces her downstairs. Maryann is in gran’s wedding dress, and has the worst collection of bridesmaids you have ever seen, including Arlene, Jane Bodehouse (the older lady who cut her finger off), and Tara. Maryann informs Sookie that she is going to be her maid of honor. LaFayette gingerly claps as the boogie-soul strains of “Bad Things” welcomes us to the McGuffin review, of Episode 24, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’”.

Sookie keeps protesting, but Eggs holds her, encouraging her to just give in. Maryann terms her as borrowed, to go with old, new, and blue (her other bridesmaids). Arlene wonders which one she is in a great little comedy bit. Sookie warns Maryann that she will not let this happen. Maryann dismisses the others, and asks Sookie to zap her again, because she loved it. Maryann describes it as “nature itself shooting out of her fingertips.” Sookie doesn’t even know how it works, and whines that she does not have electrical powers-she’s only human. Maryann disproves this by shimmering, when she stops Sookie hasn’t turned black-eyed zombie. Maryann asks Sookie what she is, but Sookie classifies herself as a waitress and wonders what the F Maryann is.

Hoyt won’t let momma out of the house to welcome the god.

Maryann calls Sookie beyond human, because Maryann cannot channel Sookie’s energy. Maryann calls Sam the perfect wedding gift. Maryann knows that tonight is the night, and that Sam is the perfect offering, and he will never get away again. Sookie points out that Sam keeps escaping her, but Maryann is planning on using Sookie to bring Sam to her.

At the palace, Eric plays a bad game of Yatzee with the queen. The Queen sort of offers condolences for Godrick, “I heard about your maker; that sucks.” Eric’s appreciation is overshadowed and over shouted by the Queen’s Yatzee. The Queen tells Eric to stay out of the maenad mess and to stick to what he is good at. The Queen doesn’t know if anything she told Bill about maenads is true. The queen taunts Eric for possibly loving Sookie, and warns him not to taste her. Eric denies loving humans, but the Queen calls him on it, saying that Sookie isn’t entirely human. The Queen wonders how Bill knows that she is having Eric sell vampire blood. The Queen answers Eric’s next question by reminding him that the guards hear everything. Eric tries to apologize, but the Queen cuts him off, calling this “really bad”. Eric tells the Queen that Bill is unaware that the Queen is supplying the blood. At that, the Queen jumps on Eric, fangs bared, warning him that she is holding him responsible……then kisses Eric until his fangs appear. The Queen slowly licks Eric fangs.

Queen: You may be the strongest, oldest vampire in my queendom, but if I wanted them, I could wear your fangs as earrings. Understand?
Eric: I will take care of it….personally.

Eric tries to kiss the Queen, but is interrupted by a reminder from her blood-slave that it is his turn at Yatzee.

Jason pulls out every tough-guy cliché he can spoil. They are stunned to see Maryann’s followers dancing around the altar. Andy admits that he has never killed anyone. Andy and Jason are quickly overwhelmed by superior numbers, and then they succumb to Maryann’s power join the black-eyed party.

Bill demands that Andy come with him.

Daphne licks blood off the egg. Sookie asks Maryann if she laid it, but no, it’s an ostrich egg (apparently readily available in Bon Temps, LA). Sookie is forced to lick blood off the egg.

Bill leads Sam through the crowd. Jason and Andy break up the bridal party to tell Maryann that Sam has come. Sookie refuses to participate until Maryann threatens to kill Jason. Andy holds up the back of Maryann’s dress, since Sookie is being held by Jason. Bill offers Sam for Sookie, and Maryann accepts over Sookie’s screams. Sookie tries to hold onto Sam, but Bill pulls her away. Bill asks Sookie to trust him. Maryann starts to chant all the names of her god through the ages, and her flock repeats them. Maryann prays to the altar as Sam is dragged out and positioned on the altar. Mary offers Sam to her god, Sookie begs Sam to use his gift, and Bill whispers for Sookie to use hers. Eggs stabs Sam, as Sookie screams and cries. Maryann calls for the bloody knife and rubs it on her neck. Sookie hears Sam calling for her, telling her to destroy all of it. Sookie starts to dismantle the altar, starting by smashing the egg. Tara has the lamest line of the year-“you killed our sacred egg”. Ugh. Maryann seems lost in a trance when Sookie topples the massive altar. Maryann pledges to destroy all of her followers as a replacement. All the followers hear some high pitched squealing, causing them to cover their ears. Maryann pushes her hands through the ground, coming up with her bull claws and chases Sookie. Sookie feebly tries to run, but trips. Before Maryann can finish her, a bull appears (check with your local 4-H, I have no clue what kind of steer that is). Maryann is near tears and offers herself to her god. The bull spears Maryann. Maryann believes that she is the vessel and proclaims that she is happy to die. The bull is Sam, of course, and he shifts back to his human form to remove Maryann’s black heart. Her final words are, “there is no god”, before turning into a black, withered skeleton. Sookie can’t put it together until she sees a very weak Bill, who explains that Sam had to drink a little more than he planned to heal him. Bill wished that Sookie could have heard his thoughts. Sookie is in awe of Sam and the risk he took to save them. When Maryann died, all of the followers got their eyes back, but not their memories. Tara is a little messed up. Sookie orders Bill to get rid of the body, and Jason and Sam to help everyone get home.

Hoyt’s momma is back to normal, bitching about Jessica and the way she bit her. Hoyt tells her that Jessica was provoked, but that he is done with her now. Hoyt’s mom confesses that his dad did commit suicide. Hoyt feels betrayed that his momma lied to him to keep him close. Hoyt tells his momma that he wishes Jessica had finished her off.

Arlene leaves a message for her kids, worried why they are not picking up. Jason offers to drive Arlene home, but Jane’s starts screaming after finding her severed finger takes priority. Bud tells Andy to come get his badge back; Andy promises to stay sober.

Sam sees a deer in the clearing, causing him to shed a tear. Bill thanks Sam for trusting him. Sam calls the whole town family. Sam learned something today-“that you suffer a lot more hiding something than you do facing up to it.” The deer is gone.

Eggs tries to wash the blood off his hands, frantically calling for Maryann. Tara tries to calm him down and forget it. Tara tells him how Sookie helped her remember and that there are some things nobody wants to know. Tara apologizes to Sookie for bringing all of this into her house. Sookie notices that Mike is still where she left him (she knocked him out, Stooges-style with a frying pan).

Upstairs, Sookie asks Bill to hold her.

The next day, Merlotte’s is open and business is booming. Arlene reunites with her kids, and promises to be the best mom in the world. Terry interrupts with toy guns for the kids. Arlene’s son asks if Arlene saw Rene while she was away. Arlene thinks Rene is still on vacation. When the adults leave, the kids go, “yep, I’m pretty sure he’s dead”.

People in the bar suspect that all of the craziness was caused by aliens; Sam offers that the ATF broke up a tainted vodka distillery.

Lafayette offers Sookie his sympathy, because she hasn’t forgotten anything. Andy has trouble letting go and nobody knowing that they are heroes. True to his word, Andy is drinking Diet Coke with lime. Jason cannot do philosophy to save his life.

Sam asks Sookie to look after the bar for a few days, because he needs a break. Sookie hugs Sam until they are broken up by the delivery of a gift for Sookie. Bill sent her a dress and a request for an evening together. Sookie’s smile is broken up by Eggs, who begs Sookie to help him remember what he did. Eggs can’t live with not knowing what he did. Sookie can’t refuse and helps Eggs see that he killed Miss Jeanette and ripped out her heart with Maryann, killed Daphne, and stabbed Sam. Eggs looses it and breaks contact with Sookie; she begs him to understand that it wasn’t him, it was Maryann.

Jessica is really dressed up, and Bill is uncharacteristically tender with her. Jessica tells him that he had a fight with Hoyt and she is going over to apologize. Bill is going out with Sookie to a French restaurant. Jessica tells Bill to be home by 0500, Bill tells her to be home by 0400. Cute.

Sam surprises his foster parents and asks about his birth parents. Sam’s foster mother apologizes for abandoning Sam, but upholds the promise she made to Sam’s birth parents. She assures Sam that he doesn’t want to know them, because they are bad people. Sam’s foster dad, obviously terminally ill and unable to speak, hands Sam a note listing Melinda and Joe Lee Mickens of Magnolia, AK as his parents. The last line is an apology.

Hoyt knocks on Jessica’s door, and yells for her when there is no answer.

At a truck stop, Jessica is straddling a trucker in his cab and kissing him. When he grabs a condom, Jessica sheepishly explains that she is virgin. The trucker says that he likes that, Jessica however, does not and CLAMPS DOWN ON HIS NECK!

Hoyt leaves flowers for Jessica.

Bill has rented out the whole restaurant for Sookie, because he wants her to himself. Bill and Sookie dance in the empty restaurant.

Eggs begs Andy to take him into custody because he is a killer. Eggs is holding the knife he stabbed everyone with. Eggs is irrational, and throws Andy to the ground holding the knife above him, screaming about how this was the last thing that they saw. A shot out of nowhere drops Eggs. Jason walks up to Andy in disbelief that he just killed Eggs. Andy takes the gun from Jason and tells him to get out of there. People spill out of Merlotte’s and Andy declares that Eggs was the killer and he shot him in self-defense. Tara is inconsolable at the sight of Eggs laying dead on the ground.

Sookie finishes dessert and Bill tells her that he has a gift for her. Bill gives her plane tickets to Vermont…and an engagement ring. Bill asks Sookie to marry him if last night didn’t scare her off wedding for good. Sookie is stunned, having dreamed of this since she was a girl.

Sookie: Why can’t I say it, my heart is flying around in my chest…I can’t even think straight. My life is inside-out with all that’s happened…I’m not sure about anything. I don’t even know if I’m human.
Bill: wa-what?
Sookie (trying, and failing to hold back the tears): Maybe I am some kind of freak, I’ve only met one other person in the world like me, and who even knows where he is…and what happens when I grow old, and we-and you’re still the same? What then?
Bill: I don’t care about any of that, I want you just as you are.
Sookie: But I’m not even sure what I am.
Bill: so you are saying no?
Sookie: No, I’m saying………I don’t know what I’m saying, I need a minute to clean myself up.

Sookie runs to bathroom to finish crying and compose herself. Bill looks completely defeated. Sookie looks at the ring and places it on her finger. She smiles at herself in the mirror, looking at the ring.

Two gloved hands slip a silver chain around Bill’s neck, preventing him from screaming.

Sookie rushes out of the bathroom, because yes, she will marry Bill Compton. But the restaurant door is open and Bill’s chair and the water glasses knocked over. Sookie calls vainly for Bill.

Analysis
Overall, it felt like this episode was missing something special. The Maryann saga was dragged out just a little too long and for the last half of the season she felt almost like a parody of a villain. It seemed like the producers and writers were intent on taking the whole maenad concept way beyond strange and mythical and into weird and bizarre territory that hasn’t been explored since the TWILIGHT ZONE. Maryann’s end was very anti-climatic, possibly due to the very predictable or extremely well-foreshadowed ending.

The aftermath of the whole Maryann story was much more interesting. Bill and Sookie needed that moment to recapture what made them a great couple (an admittedly otherworldly couple in an otherwise normal relationship). I spent the whole second half of the episode waiting for the epic Bill vs. Eric showdown that never happened. The cliffhanger of “who took Bill” isn’t all that mysterious, since Eric vowed to take care of Bill and whoever did it, managed to sneak up (or fly in) on Bill and his special senses.

Sam made peace with himself and the fact that he and Sookie are destined to be strictly friends. Sam searching for his “bad” birth parents should be an interesting side story for next season and seems like a logical progression for his character.

The vampire Queen isn’t really working as a character yet. Admittedly, her pouncing on Eric was sudden and really well-done. The fangs looked the best and most realistic of any scenes in the series. What they need to explain is why exactly the Queen talks and acts like a spoiled valley girl. A very, very, grating valley girl who is selling vampire blood for some reason.

The most intriguing plotline left is Jessica and Hoyt. I usually save my questions for later on, but did Jessica turn into a vampire scorned and is she killing or just feeding? There are great directions they can take this storyline.

Season 2
The second season of TRUE BLOOD was disappointing for me. Stay with me for a moment before you explode. It was disappointing, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it or think that it was good. My disappointment stems from the fact that I had incredibly high expectations for the show because of the quality of the first season and they didn’t quite hit quite as high as often as they did in season 1 in season 2. Certainly the episode with Godrick’s death was one of the best of the series. Anna Paquin has established herself as one of the premiere actresses working today and all of her versatility was on display in Season 2. In fact, season 2 would have benefitted from more scenes with Sookie. The antagonists this season, the Newlins and Maryann, were just not believable or tangible. There was never any sense that anyone important to the show could really be in danger. Hopefully season three dives deeper into the relationships between the characters and keeps other vampires as the primary foes….if not, I hope the long alluded to werewolves are good. Even though this season wasn't my favorite, it certainly expanded the audience of TRUE BLOOD (I believe the series gained new viewers every week this year) so something about this storyline was clicking. Even though the season did not deliver everything I wanted, I’m still buying the season when it comes out and I’ll have an HBO subscription when the series returns, especially since the third season is usually one of the best for HBO shows (see also SIX FEET UNDER, SOPRANOS, and especially BIG LOVE).

Things I Wonder
What exactly does the Queen do, other than play Yatzee and feed?
Does the Queen bug you?
You knew that Bill wasn’t going to be there the second that Sookie went into the bathroom, didn’t you?
Was Charlaine Harris the Mt Dew girl or the alien girl?
Does everyone in the vampire world know about Sookie?
Why do the vampires need/want Sookie so badly?
Sookie is the reason that the Queen keeps Sookie’s cousin around, isn’t she?
How weird was it when Lafayette asked Sookie to get naked?
Does Tara have anything left to offer as a character?
Is the Queen older than Eric? I don’t think that has ever been fully answered.
Eric would need permission from someone to kill Bill, correct? Somehow, I get the feeling that person isn’t the Queen. What do they gain by taking Bill prisoner (other than the chance to move on Sookie)?
What is Jessica doing?
Why didn’t any of Maryann’s followers ask, “the hell am I doing in a freaking toga?” when they came to?
Did the Queen glamour Eric, or just arouse his passions?
Wouldn’t vampires have better sex with each other than with humans? Or maybe for vampires, it’s just like it is for people, more about quantity than quality.
Can we be done with Hoyt’s momma now?
Was that deer that Sam saw just a coincidence?
Hmm, kinda wondering what Sookie could be now?
Andy is a great character with an awesome voice, isn’t he?
How great were the effects when Maryann died?
Is every vampire secretly irritated by the Queen?
Was that life imitating art when Bill proposed?
Are you coming back for Season 3?

Thanks for reading, as always feedback, comments, and emails are much appreciated. I appreciate you playing along with me for a full season. I have no idea what I will be reviewing next, so if you have any suggestions on what show you would like to see get the McGuffin treatment, please let me know. In other news, SONS OF ANARCHY has been incredible so far and I can’t wait to see what they are building towards. HUNG finished up a very promising first season, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIAM is featuring the SEINFELD reunion starts next week. The NFL is finally back, and my VIKINGS (AP) and PACKERS (A-Rod) are both 1-0. It is a good time to be a TV fan. This is Cory and I will be back eventually, until then, keep watching.

The 411: Definitely a tale of two episodes. The first half finally ended the predictable Maryann storyline and the second half was used to set up the next season. The first half really dragged, but your mileage may vary based on how intriguing you found the Maryann storyline. The second half was like they hit the reset button and decided to refocus on what really makes the show work-the strong, well-defined characters trying to define how they can live normally. The cliffhanger was disappointing, one of the weakest of the season really, but it isn't the cliffhangers that will keep viewers coming back for season three.

Final Score:  6.9   [ Average ]