The 411 True Blood Review: Episode 7 - 'Burning House of Love'

Posted by Marilyn Yang on 10.19.2008

The episode starts with a bang (sort of), and then it all goes downhill from there.

This week's episode starts off with a recap of last week's episode like usual, and then follows up with Sookie and Bill where they were last week... having sex. Open credits.

I'm mistaken, Bill's bite isn't life threatening. Sookie and Bill are taking a bath together. Bill reveals that most vampire weaknesses are made up, except garlic actually is irritating to them. We see a creepy flashback of Uncle Bartlett with a very young Sookie, who can read his thoughts. Uncle Bartlett is a pedophile, and molested Sookie. (Thank you, commenter from last week. Or maybe not. If I hadn't known this already, I would have felt some satisfaction about finding out why Sookie was so pissed that Uncle Bartlett was at Gran's funeral.)

Lafayette is about to shoot a video for his porn site, and Jason walks in on him needing a V fix. Lafayette refuses. They have a minor altercation when Jason tries to get into Lafayette's stash.

Back to Bill and Sookie. Bill shows Sookie where he sleeps during the day. (There's a hidden trap door in the floor.) No one else knows where it is.

Back to Tara and her mom. Tara's mom is pouring herself a drink while Tara yells something about how to get their electric bill taken care of. Tara's mom needs $450 to exorcise her demon. Tara tries to take away her mom's spiked coffee, spilling it on accident. Tara's mom tries to suck the drink off of her clothing, saying it's the demon in her.

Sookie walks into her house, finding Jason trying to take things to sell, including candlestick holders. Jason lectures Sookie about having sex with Bill, but Sookie points out that Bill's a gentleman, and at least he didn't hit her. Good point, Sookie. Jason makes off with some stuff, but Sookie rips the bag holding Gran's jewelry. (Is there no grieving process in Bon Temps?)

Recurring dog is outside Sam's trailer. Sam's inside trying (and failing) to fix something. See, this is where I would think Sam's not a dog, even though it seems every person who reads this already knows he is. Tara gets a call about something...

Tara's mom is at the bank trying to get a loan to pay for her exorcism. She makes a big scene with the banker guy, and Tara comes in. Tara's mom screams that she can't live like this. Tara gets teary eyed. They go home. We learn that Tara has a wad of cash hidden in the box of Brillo pads.

Back at Merlotte's, Tara's called out. Lafayette sees a table of rednecks sit down (I think it's the same ones from last week, with the hamburger with AIDS.) Sookie's in a great mood, with a kerchief around her neck. Randy Sue (formerly known as "The Skank from Last Week") calls Jason, who's going to Shreveport. Randy Sue does not approve, and says she doesn't associate with people of low moral standards, or something similarly ironic. Arlene and Sookie are having girl talk. Sookie admits she had sex with Bill and thinks she's in love with him. Sookie says not to tell anyone, and Arlene tells her boyfriend and Sam. Sam rips the kerchief off of Sookie's neck. There's yelling, and Sookie tells the whole bar she had sex with Bill, and it was great. And if Sam doesn't like it, he can fire her.

Jason's arrived at Fangtasia, and we see Bitchy Hostess, who remembers Sookie. Bitchy Hostess glamours Jason, who says he wants vampire blood. She lets him in, and says ominously, "Good luck getting out."

Cut to... Uncle Bartlett? Well. Bill shows up, and out come his teeth. I expect to see the damage later on in the episode.

Tara and her mom are walking somewhere. Tara's mom is about to have her exorcism. Some woman named Jeanette comes out and says it's cash only.

Back at Merlotte's, Tara is having girl talk with Lafayette, who later calls her a skank behind her back.

Jason's drinking at Fangtasia. He tries unsuccessfully to hint to the bartender that he wants V. A brunette takes Jason away and tells him to shut up because she can help him out. They leave.

Back at Merlotte's, that nest of vampires including Malcolm and the one who had sex with Bill walk in, causing trouble. Sam tries to take the bald tattooed one on, unsuccessfully. Bill shows up before anything really happens, just after he's dumped Uncle Bartlett's body into the water. The bad vampires want Bill to join their nest. Bill agrees, much to Sookie's dismay.

Jason and the brunette are at a gas station. The brunette's name is Amy. She's from Connecticut. They take off to Jason's place.

Back to Tara and her mom and the exorcism. Look, this is terribly uninteresting, and in my opinion not worth recapping in great detail. There are stones, drum beating, and a possum. Tara's mom's demon is transferred to the possum, who is then submerged in water.

Back at Merlotte's, Arlene is comforting Terry the war vet, who thinks he should have been able to do something. The rednecks want to go after the vampires. Sookie wants Sam to do something about it, but Sam doesn't care, and doesn't want Bill at his bar.

Jason and Amy make it back to Jason's place (which used to be his parents' place.) Amy talks a lot. Jason is anxious to do the V, and isn't interested in what Amy has to say. Neither am I, but she does have a good point that they should use an anti-coagulant so the V doesn't clot. She crushes it with some aspirin. (No one really talks about the storage of V, and how everyone seems to just carry it around at room temperature.) Amy says some philosophical stuff before snorting the V (which apparently can adapt to other substances.) Jason says something funny about how Pluto can be a planet again.

Sookie's trying to call Bill for the third time to warn him about the lynch mob after the nest. He doesn't answer.

Back at Jason's. He's on V and high as a kite. He gets naked with Amy. It's trippy.

Tara's mom's exorcism is over. Jeanette thinks Tara has a demon too. Tara doesn't want her help. Jeanette points out that Tara can't keep a job, doesn't have a boyfriend, doesn't have many friends, etc.

Sookie is at Bill's, trying to find him. She goes to Bill's sleeping spot, and he's not there. (This makes sense, since you know, what with it being night time and everything.) Sookie takes a seat on the couch. Some time later, it's daylight and Bill never came home. The three rednecks are making molotov cocktails outside of the vampire nest's house. They throw them inside, and one of the rednecks catches on fire on accident. The place is ablaze. The rednecks run off.

Andy (the detective) and Terry are on a boat fishing. Terry sees something. It's Sam running buck naked across a field. Andy gets a phone call. He arrives at the scene of the fire, which is now put out. Sookie pulls up in her car too, and on one knows if Bill is among the dead. Undead. Re-dead. Whatever.


Favorite quote:
"Let's get this shit over with." This isn't a favorite because it's funny or anything, but it was exactly what I was thinking while watching tonight's episode.

The 411: Okay, readers. I've had some problems with this show, namely the repetitive themes (Jason has sex and gets in trouble, Gran gives some sound advice, Tara yells at someone, Lafayette provides a bit of comic relief, Sam disapproves of something, Sookie is in some sort of danger, and Bill saves Sookie. Oh, and we usually see Recurring Dog at least once.) I think the majority of these things are still in almost every episode (except Sookie isn't always the one in danger any more, and unfortunately there is no more Gran.) I was expecting this week's episode to be a lot more than it was. Yes, I know every episode does not need to run at 100 mph, but I also don't need to see Jason naked every episode, and I don't need more random shit coming up in the episodes when there are plenty of unresolved issues. Remember when Arlene was worried she was pregnant, and Sookie read her mind on accident? Or how Andy told Jason last week that he wasn't finished with him as a suspect (and the scene was also featured in the recap before tonight's episode?) Notice this week no one seems to give a shit that all these people were murdered. So what has been resolved so far in the show? Tara's mom had her exorcism. Bill and Sookie consummated their relationship. Oh, and Bill will kill anyone who hurts Sookie (the Rattrays, Uncle Bartlett.) But that could be considered one of the expected themes in the show. I had higher hopes for this week's episode to follow up on last week's, but I'm pretty disappointed.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]