"True Blood" — "Soul of Fire": It Burns, Burns, Burns
By Sarah Carlson | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (21)
Even though hippie-Wiccan Roy quoting “Hotel California” at the beginning of Episode 11, “Soul of Fire,” was awkward, he had a point — sort of. But it’s not the Moon Goddess Emporium that characters can check out of but can’t leave; it’s their “world of fucked up,” as Jason called it. Whether they planned to or not, through various decisions everyone has tied themselves to the messed-up world of witchcraft and pissed off supernaturals, and there’s no turning back now. The body count went up by four in the penultimate episode of “True Blood’s” Season Four, and while providing tense moments, it mainly served as a precursor for the finale. The ends haven’t been tied, and really, things will probably only get worse for all involved.
The most unexplained development of the night came for Andy, talking to himself and detoxing from V as he walked home through the woods, where Terry left him. A fairy appears to him, a pretty brunette in a prom dress looking like a cousin of the late Claudine’s. But this fairy, Maurella, immediately wants sex, though only after Andy promises she can trust him and he swears “to the light” emitting from her finger. Arlene doesn’t believe Andy’s tale of the encounter when he finally makes it back, chalking it up to the drugs leaving his system, and Andy soon begins to doubt the experience as well. Why did the fairy appear to Andy? And will a half-fae child come out of the union? I’d almost forgotten about the fairies with the focus on the witch storyline. But the fairies haven’t forgotten about Bon Temps.
Sam and Alcide, still on the hunt for Marcus, force one of the werewolves who beat Tommy to give up the packmaster and reveal his location: Alcide’s house. Marcus is there with Debbie and his daughter, Emma, whom he’d taken from school without Luna’s permission. His trying to talk Debbie into leaving with the two of them is fruitless, even as he promises to help her get off V and says she could be a mother to Emma. Debbie still loves Alcide, but that won’t save her now. He and Sam arrive to take care of Marcus after shepherding Emma outside to a waiting Luna. Sam and Marcus fight as Alcide holds a hysterical Debbie back, but it’s Alcide who ends up killing Marcus. Then, he washes his hands of Debbie: “I am with you no longer” and “I share flesh with you no longer.” The formality likely wasn’t just for theatrical purposes. He’s shunning her from his life, and maybe even from the pack. After all, he just killed the packmaster and probably will now take his place. And Debbie won’t be beside him when he does.
Knowing Debbie, she’ll find a way to blame Sookie for her troubles. Sookie is, after all, always in the middle of things, as Bill and Eric are reminded of when they arrive at the Moon Goddess Emporium with the intent to blow it up. “Fucking Sookie!” is their response when Jason tells them Sookie is inside, and they quickly abort their plan as Pam protests, frustrated that Sookie’s sway over the vampires again wins out over their, well, vampireness. Reasoning with Marnie won’t be easy, though, because she’s completely gone ‘round the bend. Claiming self-defense, she kills one of the witches, Casey (Fiona Dourif), after she tries to escape. “Casey attacked me! I had every right! I am not a punching bag!” she yells, frazzled and letting her psychologically unstable self shine through. Antonia breaks free of Marnie’s body, wanting nothing more to do with the union. “Evil has blossomed in you … You’re not who I thought you were,” she says. But Marnie performs a spell that binds Antonia’s spirit to her, leaving her captives relatively helpless. Jesus, however, creates a ruse, claiming Casey is still alive and trying to help her recover in the bathroom. Instead, with Lafayette’s help, he aims to use her blood and ingredients from the shop to summon magic to counteract Marnie’s spell.
As he works, Marnie and Sookie go outside for negotiations with the vampires, who have just killed a few of Bill’s sheriffs who were under spells. The forcefield spell around the shop is keeping them at bay because while it’s painful for a human to come into contact with, it’s deadly for a vampire. It’s the power of the sun, harnessed. Bill and Eric ask for Sookie to be released, but Marnie wants their lives in return. And … they agree. Immediately. No real bargaining or pleading, just a quick decision to die for Sookie and with the hope that a crazy witch keeps her word to let her go. Pam and Jessica, rightfully, are dumbfounded, but as Sookie stands by crying and Bill and Eric prepare for their deaths, Pam grabs a rocket launcher and sends a burst of flame toward the shop. It backfires, however, thanks to the shield, and singes the vamps and seriously burns Jason. Jessica gives him her blood, for the second time now, as Pam begs forgiveness of Eric for disobeying him and Sookie and Marnie head back inside.
In the pool of Casey’s blood on the shop floor, Marnie conjures a glimpse of her future, which isn’t a pretty sight: It’s her with a bullet in her head. Unnerved, she gathers her captives into a circle to recite a spell that forces the vampires toward the forcefield and, ultimately, death. The vampires fight it, looking like zombies as they contort their bodies every which way against the spell, and Sookie, joining hands in the circle, is able to use her fairy powers to stop it. An angry Marnie then puts her inside a ring of fire, and it’s a race for Jesus, still in the bathroom conjuring dark magic, to free Antonia’s spirit from Marnie and thus break all of her spells. He does it, while a concerned Lafayette watches, and the vampires are inside in a second. Roy (Dean Chekvala), probably an outsider like Marnie who found acceptance and a power trip via magic, tells Eric he has to get through him before he can get to Marnie. Eric, being his old self again, reaches into Roy’s chest, pulls out his heart and sips blood from one of its arteries. Marnie is cornered, and after she yells “Nobody lives forever! Not even you!,” Bill puts bullets in her chest and one in her forehead. That night, Lafayette comforts a conflicted Jesus, who is sorry for what happened to his friend Marnie and that he contributed to her demise, even if it was the only option. “You galloped in and saved some folks tonight,” Lafayette tells him. “Never fuckin’ forget that.” But as Lafayette readies for sleep, the spirit of Marnie appears above him and jumps inside his body. The medium is possessed, yet again, and Marnie’s reign isn’t over.
What will be her final acts of revenge? She may still be after Sookie, Bill and Eric, who now have formed an odd triangle considering the men have shown how willing they are to die for her. Eric even told Pam to get out of his sight for shooting the launcher, which could have killed Sookie. Bill seems more reluctant to be involved with Sookie, however, given his role as king, and he and Eric have plenty to worry about with a furious Nan on their case. But that won’t keep the three of them from many long and lovelorn stares. Hopefully more will come from the Jason-Jessica pairing, and hopefully Jesus will be able to free Lafayette from Marnie’s spirit. And who knows where Tara will end up. But as even they all know, they can only be so happy. There’s just something about Bon Temps that won’t let afford its citizens any peace. Such a lovely place.
Favorite moments:
- “What do you mean, ‘puked her out’?”
- “Marnie won.” “We’re fucked.”
- “Holy shit, gentlemen. Do not tell me you’d put our entire species at risk for a gash in a sundress!”
- “Shit, hold it together, man. Don’t go all ‘lost in nature’ retarded.”
- “Vintage Cartier. I’ll take good care of this.”
- “I have been cuttin’ back on the carbs.”
- “I am so sick of this necromancing shit!”
- “I fucking quit this group!”
- “I was good at it, Arlene! A little rusty, at first. But by the time I found second, third gear …” “Andy …”
- “Even without your blood in me, you are all I think about.”
Sarah Carlson has a front-row seat to the decline of the newspaper industry and lives in Alabama with her overly excitable Pembroke Welsh corgi.
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Comments
Posted by: logan at September 6, 2011 1:08 PM
Pam had the best lines and really she's the best vampire on the show. She hot, haughty and entirely deadly. Except for Eric she cares about no one else. She knows what she is and embraces it, unashamedly, I like it. She should have her own show.