The 411 True Blood Review: Episode 12 - 'You'll Be the Death of Me'

Posted by Marilyn Yang on 11.24.2008

It's the season finale of True Blood. There's a satisfying end to the Bon Temps murderers, but are you really surprised at this point? Luckily, enough things happen to pique your interest until the next season.

This week's episode starts off with a long recap (like usual) and then we see Jason in jail. He's naming the new owners of his possessions. Rene is visiting, and he'll get Jason's truck. Rene makes the mistake of saying the victims were all fangbangers and had it coming. Jason reminds Rene that his grandmother wasn't a fangbanger, and then Sookie enters, giving a deputy a hard time because she demands to see her brother. She tells Jason to shut up, because she's close to finding out who the real killer is. Rene looks concerned. Open credits.

Back in jail. Sookie continues to tell Jason she's close to finding out who the killer is, and she thinks it's Drew Marshall, who probably killed his sister. Rene asks himself why hasn't Sookie gotten Jason out of jail if she knows who the real killer is, and Sookie (having read his mind) tells Rene it's because the police haven't done anything to help her or her family. Sookie goes on about how she's close to finding the killer, and how she knows Jason couldn't do it. Jason is convinced he's a murderer and will go to hell. He yells for Andy to take Sookie away. Sookie asks if Andy got the fax with Drew Marshall's picture. He didn't (it's still buried under some files, from last episode.) Sookie tells Andy he's a poor excuse for a cop and human being basically, and soon everyone will know it.

Next we see Tara sleeping in a comfy bed. She wakes up and sees a robe laid out for her. She goes outside for breakfast, which an Asian guy has arranged and seats Tara. He doesn't talk. Maryann (the woman who bailed Tara out last week) has a seat. They talk. Maryann tells Tara that perhaps all the things in her life that seem to have fallen apart (getting the DUI, losing a lot of money on a fake exorcism, potentially losing her friends, and her mom disowning her to name a few) may have happened to clear the way so Tara can find what she really wants in her life. Tara says she doesn't know what she wants, and has never really let herself want anything. Maryann is sad for Tara. Tara tries to leave, but Maryann points out Tara hasn't eaten, her dress isn't dry (which is okay, since it was hideous), and she has nowhere else to go. Tara asks Maryann why she's doing all this, and Maryann says she wants to help people, and Tara deserves a chance. Meanwhile the Asian guy is making Tara's bed, and Tara's cell phone rings. It's Sam. Asian guy sends the call to voicemail.

In the next scene, we see Sam's end of the call, basically telling Tara to call so he at least knows where she is. Sookie walks into the office shortly after. She's working the lunch shift because she can't be at home, and she needs all the money she can get to hire a private investigator. Sookie is convinced Drew Marshall has been to Merlotte's. Sam asks, wouldn't Sookie have heard Drew by now? Sookie asks, wouldn't Sam have smelled him by now? I find that response to be pretty lame, considering Sam has never mentioned that his shapeshifting into a dog has had anything to do with him tracking people. Sookie gets to work.

Jason is still in jail. A man named Orry Dawson has come to visit him. He's visiting on behalf of the Fellowship of the Sun. They're a religious organization that is known for hating vampires. Jason tells Orry that he used to hate vampires, but he got to know one, and he was a pretty decent guy, until Jason got him killed. Jason doesn't buy Orry's spiel. Orry does tell Jason that the church doesn't condone Jason murdering four human women, but Jason's intentions were pure. Jason tells Orry he doesn't know what he's talking about. Orry tells Jason that's great. The church has started to raise money for Jason's defense. Orry leaves Jason with some religious literature, telling him he'll be saved.

Cut to Tara at Maryann's. She's in a bright bikini, and in a brief moment of actual happiness, Tara giddily jumps into the pool for a swim. When she comes out, there's a ridiculously large spread of fruit for her. A guy is playing guitar on the couch. The guy introduces himself as Eggs, but his name is actually Benedict. He's staying at Maryann's until he gets back on his feet, as well. Maryann's told Eggs about Tara, including the car crash and the alcohol. Eggs tells Tara he's not judging; he was much worse off when Maryann found him. Tara tells Eggs that it feels like he's too good to be true. ("Satan in a Sunday hat," as Lettie Mae used to say.) Eggs tells Tara that sometimes good shit happens too. He plays his guitar.

In the next scene, we see Maryann outside sitting in a chair. Her eyes are closed and it looks like she's vibrating. She's facing a big pig. Dammit, I knew she was the creepy white lady that made Tara crash into that fence.

Cut to Rene, who is singing loudly in Jason's truck. I would like to point out that the radio is loudly playing, "She's the devil in disguise..." as Rene is driving off. And Rene ends up driving to Merlotte's, where he walks in and exchanges a brief hello with Sookie. Sookie then overhears Andy telling a large crowd about Jason's confession to the murders. Andy tells the crowd that Jason said Andy was right all along, but Bud says that Jason didn't say it quite like that. Bud has been made out to be the more reasonable of the two main law enforcement guys on the show, so much so that Andy is a caricature of a bumbling detective. Actually, nearly everyone on this show is a caricature. Andy continues to exaggerate, and Bud excuses himself from the table. Rosie, the gossipy blond who carelessly buried the fax with Rene's picture on it, flirts with Andy and offers to buy him a beer. Sookie gets overwhelmed listening to all the patrons' thoughts, and tells Sam she needs to get out of there. Sam tells Sookie he'll cover her tables. Sookie leaves to go drive around in her car, which won't start. Surprisingly, she yells "shoot" and "fudge," which makes me wonder why she's exercising such restraint. Rene pops up and startles her, offering to take a look at the car. He admits that he doesn't know much about cars. Rene offers to give Sookie a ride home, but Sookie tells Rene she can't be alone. Rene offers to stay with Sookie until Sam gets off from work. Terry pulls up in his truck, and tells Sookie that he told Andy he's known killers, and Jason isn't one. Sookie thanks Terry, who says that no one every listens to him, but they should. He drives away. Again, Terry has only a few lines, but they are better than almost everyone else's. Rene and Sookie get ready to leave, and we see some cables have been cut in Sookie's car just before he shuts the hood.

In the truck, Sookie tells Rene she's surprised Jason gave him the truck because he loves it so much. Rene creepily reaches over Sookie to grab her seatbelt and tells her to buckle up. Good point Rene. First, it doesn't look like Rene is wearing a seatbelt. Second, if you're being pursued by a killer who murders women close to your brother, the least you can do is wear your damn seatbelt. Rene asks Sookie if she can really read his thoughts. We hear Rene's thoughts, which are to think about nothing. Sookie tells Rene not to bother, because thinking about nothing isn't possible, and funnily enough, Rene's thoughts don't have a cajun accent. Rene says that it must be hard to live with Sookie's ability. Sookie says it's bad enough when people's thoughts are about her, but worse when it's her brother. She tells Rene that she's lost everyone, and Jason's all she has left. Sookie starts to tear up, and Rene reaches into his pocket and gives her a crumpled tissue. (I'm assuming this is important since the camera showed Rene reaching into his pocket.) He tells Sookie he's lost people too, and it's not easy, but you find ways to cope.

Back at Arlene and Rene's, Arlene's two little girls are watching the sex tape with Maudette and the vampire. I mean, what the fuck. Arlene walks in on them watching it, and the kids tell her the tape is Rene's, and they found it in the garage. There's a yellow bin of lots of VHS tapes, and an audio cassette of the cajun dialect. Arlene looks concerned. (Okay, I can understand VHS tapes for homemade vampire sex tapes, because home movies can go way back to before the age of DVDs and digital camcorders, but a cassette tape? When was the last time you saw one of those? Is this supposed to show that Rene's been using a fake accent longer than everyone else on the show?)

Sookie and Rene have arrived at Sookie's house. Sookie goes to the kitchen to fix some tea, and for some reason Rene turns on the ceiling fan. He notices the shotgun in the corner.

Back at Merlotte's, Lafayette is clearing Rene's table. Rene has left his vest, which Lafayette hands to Sam, who sniffs it and realizes Rene is the killer. (We see a flashback of Sam rolling around Dawn's bed smelling the sheets, after she was murdered.) Shouldn't Sam really have been able to smell that Rene was the killer after all this time? Or does Sam have to get in really close to get someone's scent? And does Sam get the same abilities as whatever he shapeshifts into the most? So he has a heightened sense of smell because he tends to shapeshift into a dog, but if he turned into a cat or something, would he therefore become very agile? Speaking of guys with great senses of smell, should Bill have been able to catch the scent of the killer considering he was at the scene of Gran's murder and then the cat spinning around from the ceiling fan? I thought vampires had heightened senses, too. Anyway, back to the show. Sam rushes out and asks Terry if he's seen Sookie, and Terry tells Sam she left with Rene about 23 minutes ago. Very precise, Terry.

At Sookie's, Sookie asks Rene if he likes his tea sweet. Rene startles her. Sookie reads Rene's mind (which consists of telling himself not to think, and there was a lot of blood), and Sookie sees Rene's thoughts of stabbing Gran because she wasn't supposed to be home. Sookie drops the tea, and tells Rene that she's jumpy these days. She tells Rene she's going to get a mop, and Rene follows her menacingly. Sookie grabs the shotgun by the fireplace, and tells Rene to stay away. She can't shoot Rene since he took out the cartridges, but Sookie whacks him in the head with the shotgun instead. Sookie makes a run for it. While the chase is on, we see scenes from Rene's head, including Rene murdering his sister Cindy for having sex with a vampire, then strangling Dawn, and then strangling Amy. Rene stops running long enough to tell Sookie that he can feel her in his head, and to get out. Sookie runs into the cemetery. We see a shot of Bill waking up with start to the sound of Sookie out of breath. Sam pulls up in a weird little blue and white truck screaming for Sookie. He steps into the house and sees the trail of blood (from Rene's head), and takes a deep breath to get everyone's scents I guess. He follows Sookie's trail, taking off his shirt. Bill ventures out of his sleeping spot even though it's broad daylight, and his skin is blistering and bleeding. Rene is still trying to find Sookie. He tells her he's sorry, and he didn't mean to scare her. Sookie is hiding in a freshly dug grave. She can hear Rene's thoughts, which are basically that he's going to kill her, but not in as kind words. Rene then thinks that he should go back in the woods to check for Sookie, and she comes out of her hiding spot for Rene to pull her out by the hair and start choking her after a few good hits. Sam rushes in (as a dog) and attacks Rene. who then hits Sam with a rock. Rene starts kicking Sam (who is still a dog), until Sam reverts back to his naked human self. Rene keeps kicking Sam. Bill isn't really that close to them since almost dying in the sun tends to slow one down, but he says Sookie's name and Sookie's eyes open abruptly. Sookie gets up, grabs a shovel, and hits Rene on the head with it. He grabs her ankle, and Sookie drives the shovel into Rene's neck. Sam gets up (apparently fine after many blows to the head and kicks as well), and they both see Bill's smoldering body. Sookie runs to Bill and rolls his body over. Bill tells Sookie, "I'm sorry." Sam says they have to get Bill out of the light, and lifts Bill from the grass. He buries Bill while Sookie cries.

In the next scene, Sookie wakes up on the couch sporting a huge black eye. Tara, Lafayette, and Sam are all there. Sookie tells Tara she looks great, like a light has been turned on in her or something. Sam tells everyone Sookie is on painkillers. Sookie asks if Sam told them he saved her life. Lafayette and Tara look surprised, so apparently he didn't. Sookie then mentions Sam turned into a dog, which Sam laughs off, and Lafayette says he wants the drugs Sookie has. Sookie tells Sam that he should let people see the real him, because there's nothing there not to love. Sam tells Sookie, "Right back at you." Arlene runs in with flowers, and starts sobbing.

Back at the police station, Bud tells Andy that the DA is dropping charges against Jason. Andy isn't happy with this, because Jason did confess after all. Bud says that Rene's belt matched the marks on Amy's neck. There's no reason to hold Jason. Andy gets mad. Bud tells Andy he's not going to let him make things worse. Andy brought Jason in, and Andy has to let him go. Andy tells Jason to get out, and Jason asks if it's a joke. Andy says it's no joke, "It's a fucking miracle." Andy seems awfully over the top this week.

Meanwhile, Arlene is still at Sookie's, apologizing. Sookie tells Arlene not to blame herself. Arlene tells Sookie to promise her that the next time Arlene finds a man, Sookie has to look into his mind. She asks if Bill is going to be okay, and Sookie tearfully says she doesn't think so. Outside on the porch, Lafayette takes off shortly after it's established that he's watching Merlotte's while Sam has some time off. Sam asks Tara about ignoring his calls, and Tara doesn't know what Sam's talking about (to Sam's surprise.) Tara says that Sookie almost died today, but she didn't because Sam was there. Tara tells Sam he deserves to get everything he wants, and so does she. She tells Sam to take care of Sookie just as Maryann pulls up. Sam knows Maryann. She says, "You think I wasn't going to find you? You silly, silly dog." Maryann gets in the car and drives away. Back inside, Jason's come home. He tells Sookie that all he did was drink and chase women because he thought that was all he was good at. Jason tells Sookie that while in jail, he realized he hasn't done anything worth being proud of, but he was saved. All the bad things that have happened to Jason have happened for a reason, and as soon as he finds out what the reason is, he won't mess things up. Sookie tells Jason to stay out of trouble.

Cut to Lafayette taking out the trash at Merlotte's. Something runs at him and he says, "Oh my god!" and climbs up on to the dumpster.

Back to Sookie, where something rushes to the door, and the doorbell rings. It's Bill. And he's all healed because he fed. Sookie invites Bill inside. He gets ready to bite himself so Sookie can heal, but Sookie stops him. She tells Bill she just needs to feel human. They kiss. And we fast forward to two weeks later.

The TV is on at Merlotte's, and vampire marriage has been legalized. Arlene tells Sookie this means she can marry Bill. Sam says Sookie should marry Bill, but he ends up being a dick about it. Sookie walks away. Tara tells Sam that Maryann says if you want something, to go get it. This pisses off Sam more. He asks Tara about Lafayette, who once went out for one night and it turned into eight months of go-go dancing in Palm Beach. I guess Lafayette missing for a few weeks isn't such a big deal. Terry and Arlene exchange smiles, which I consider to be both friendly and awkward. Terry tells Arlene that people disappear all the time, but they're never really gone. The good parts of them always stay put. Arlene tells Terry she hopes he's right. He tells Arlene her hair is pretty. Arlene looks pleased.

Cut to Jason... in church? The sermon is very anti-vampire. I'll leave it at that.

Back at Merlotte's again, Tara tells Andy it's time to go. He tells Tara his family used to own the town. Tara pours him another shot as part of his pity party. She says hate takes a lot of energy, and she's saving her energy for all the good shit coming her way. Sookie serves Hoyt a beer. He tells Sookie to congratulate Bill for him, because he would marry a nice vampire girl if he met one. Hoyt asks Sookie if Bill knows any nice vampire girls.

Meanwhile, Bill's at home playing piano, and annoying Jessica comes in with Pam and Eric. Eric says, "There are favors, and there are favors." Pam says Jessica is incredibly annoying. Pam and Eric leave. I really hate Jessica.

And at Merlotte's, Sookie tries to get Andy's keys, but he won't hand them over. She reads his thoughts, and Andy is basically thinking he's a failure. Sookie tells Andy she doesn't like to see people in pain, and she'll call his sister to pick him up. She makes a point of calling him "Detective Bellefleur," which apparently touches Andy. Sam goes into his office with a plastic bag, and locks the door. He opens the safe, and starts putting lots of cash in the bag. Andy is stumbling to his car with Tara and Sookie following him. Andy can't give his keys over because he left them in the car, which is not where he parked it. Andy rants that the town has gone to shit, and that's what happens when you don't let a good cop do his job. Turns out his car was parked several yards away. He approaches his car, which is making that dinging noise when you leave your door ajar. Andy opens the back door, and a female leg slips out from the backseat. Tara and Sookie scream like crazy. Ah, that's the ending I'm used to.

The 411: This episode also wasn't too bad, but considering it was the season finale, I was hoping (but not exactly expecting) it to be really good. I'm glad Rene was finally caught and killed, because I couldn't stand the possibility of Andy questioning someone else for the Bon Temps murders. Also, I got the feeling that no one really gave a shit about the murderer for the last several episodes (even those who didn't think it was Jason), because there's too much going on in the show. And I still think of random loose ends every now and then. Remember when Arlene thought she was pregnant (the same episode where she tells Sookie to stay out of her mind?) Well is Arlene pregnant or not? I don't think we ever find out. And vampires can't kill vampires, or feed on humans who belong to a vampire already, but it's okay for vampires to kill humans? There are vampire rules, and a vampire court, but it's still okay to kill humans? Remember, Bill killed Uncle Bartlett and now presumably has also killed Lafayette? Lafayette being missing (or dead) also sucks, considering he actually had a brief serious turn last week when he confronted the senator. Now what? Now what, indeed. The next season of True Blood won't be until summer, so if you have any recommendations for anything I can review in the mean time, please feel free to email me. Also, let me state in advance my predictions for the upcoming season: Annoying Jessica will get involved with Hoyt somehow. The history between Maryann and Sam will take at least eight episodes to unfold.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]