# True Blood 6/28/09: "Scratches" (OPEN SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405 "2009-06-29T22:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/21 "2009-06-30T14:56:12Z")
> [@Queen\_Tonya](#): > > There was some serious eye-rolling around here when Sookie stalked out of the car in her “Screw you, I’m walking home!” snit. Because if there’s ever been a person who shouldn’t be out in the night alone… :rolleyes: Seriously, anyone would be an idiot to walk through the swamps around Bon Temps at night. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/22 "2009-06-30T18:34:42Z")
Yeah, but Sookie’s not terribly bright and also totally self-absorbed. I mean, anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know taking Jessica home was a bad idea. Or would have, you know, thrown Bill the hell out of her car instead of walking 20 miles home though the back roads. Or thought that “Hmmm, my very best friend in the whole world just got thrown out and is having to mooch off a total stranger, maybe I should invite her to stay with me,” before several weeks had elapsed. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/23 "2009-06-30T19:17:28Z")
Another thing that has bothered me since the beginning, is how some behavior is seen as shocking / strange to these people. “Oh sure, Tara, you saw a naked woman and a pig in the road.” There are vampires! Sookie can read minds! I’d believe just about anything living in this world. So why can’t Sam just tell Tara he’s a shapeshifter and that Marianne is some kind of weird creature as well? What is he protecting her from by not telling her? I’m pretty sure Tara would believe it. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/24 "2009-06-30T21:33:36Z")
In the books, Sam doesn’t tell people about his dual nature because the shifters are hanging back and seeing how things go for the vamps before making any decisions about going public. And Sookie frequently ponders why nobody ever seems to wonder about what other supernatural things might be real, why she didn’t wonder herself until she discovered the existence of shifters and witches and so forth. I don’t know if they’re going to go with that explanation in the show or not. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/25 "2009-06-30T22:50:28Z")
**CrazyCatLady** , yeah, that kinda makes sense – people being slow to accept new realities. Imagine the overload if we’d been given TV, camcorders, DVD players, cell phones, I-pods, and the Wii all at the same time. Us old farts wouldn’t know what to rail against first! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/26 "2009-06-30T23:43:18Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > So why can’t Sam just tell Tara he’s a shapeshifter and that Marianne is some kind of weird creature as well? What is he protecting her from by not telling her? I’m pretty sure Tara would believe it. He could at least tell her, “We have a history together” or something so it doesn’t sound so much like he’s just talking out of his ass. For that matter, I’m not entirely sure what Sam’s problem with her is. He slept with her, she went into a weird shaking trance, he stole a shitload of cash and took off, she found him and didn’t ask for the money back, he warned Tara about her, she made him turn into his dog shape. So she has some power over him, but I feel like something else must’ve happened that we don’t know about to make him so terrified of her. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/27 "2009-07-01T00:13:19Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > I think the preacher’s wife wants to shag him, what with those ridiculous abs he has and all. Yeah, “she doesn’t just pull out her pudding for anybody,” :). I thought it was funny in the documentary/ad for TB, Alan Ball referred to the guy who plays Jason as “one of those rare people with -3% body fat.” > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Last season Tara nearly drove into a woman next to a pig in the middle of the street. As I remember that woman wasn’t Maryann but someone else. Alan Ball said it was Maryann. > [@Queen\_Tonya](#): > > There was some serious eye-rolling around here when Sookie stalked out of the car in her “Screw you, I’m walking home!” snit. Because if there’s ever been a person who shouldn’t be out in the night alone… :rolleyes: In the books, they at least explain that the thing in the woods probably incited Bill & Sookie to fight and her to get out. > [@Morbo](#): > > Another thing that has bothered me since the beginning, is how some behavior is seen as shocking / strange to these people. “Oh sure, Tara, you saw a naked woman and a pig in the road.” There are vampires! Sookie can read minds! I’d believe just about anything living in this world. Once again, in the books it’s very clear - vampires come out with a story that they carry a virus that makes them “undead.” Arguably, telepathy could have a science-based explanation. Sookie is totally freaked out when she realizes that vampires are indeed _supernatural_ and other magical creatures exist. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/28 "2009-07-01T03:21:59Z")
My problem is that Bill’s ridiculous “fast vampire” run looks faster than his car. Why didn’t he pick up Sookie after getting hit by the bullthing, and just fast vampire run her to Fangtasia? I am seriously hating this show, but I will watch till the last episode. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/29 "2009-07-01T04:16:20Z")
My guess is that he can’t maintain that speed for any distance, especially if he’s carrying something. We’ve only seen the vamps zap around like that in short bursts. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/30 "2009-07-01T04:34:41Z")
> [@The\_Weird\_One](#): > > Maryann doesn’t make any sense at all. I’m sick of trying to figure out what her deal is; I wish they’d just tell us. Here’s what I’ve got so far: she generates sexual energy in the people around her; she’s trying to lure Tara away from her family, friends and job and into a life of meaningless hedonism; she’s already done the same to Eggs; she presumably benefits in some way from the sexual energy and hedonism that she fosters; she’s connected to and has power over the intersection of human and animal; her cook is a service bottom. > > Actually, now that I spell it out like that, she makes a lot of sense: her powers are all related to animals and human’s impulsive animal nature. I still want to know how she benefits from her little orgies and having Tara and Eggs around, and what the hell the deal with the pig is! Damn thing just disappeared. _grumble_ I’m sure she has something to do with the minotaur as well. I think she’s a [Maenad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenads). We’ve seen a number of clues that would fit. Maenads were worshippers of Dionysus/Bacchus. When Sookie read Maryann’s mind, all she heard was “Bacchus Bacchus Bacchus” being chanted over and over again. The Maenads were also said to have all slept with Pan. Maryann has that giant painting of “Pan with his human lover,” and she cryptically says the woman could be “anyone of us.” Pan is suppsed to have slept with _all_ the Maenads. Maryann’s parties are strongly suggestive of Bacchanals. Bacchus was also strongly associated with the image of a bull. Changing men into animals was Circe’s bag, though, and she’s the one who changed Oddyseus’ crew into pigs, but maybe the show is just giving the same powers to Maryann. I’m betting on Maryann as a Maenad, and that she herself is the minotaur. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/31 "2009-07-01T04:46:03Z")
I actually think Jason’s storyline is very intersting, and that we’re starting to see some glimpses of what Tara saw in him for some long. He’s as dumb as a bag of hammers, yes, and he obviously was (is?) a sex addict, but he has a persistently good heart and sunny nature underneath it all. That crazy preacher’s wife has at least one thing about him – he always wants to see the best in people. Even after Rene killed his Gram, he still said, “I guess I still miss that son of a bitch.” He saw only the good in Amy. He saw the good in Eddie (the vampire Amy killed). He wants to do right and be a good person, but he doesn’t have a lot of direction on how to do that, and his naivete is such that he trusts pretty much anybody. It makes him easy to manipulate. I think we did see the start of him trying to figure some things out on his own, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/32 "2009-07-01T13:47:03Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think she’s a [Maenad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenads). We’ve seen a number of clues that would fit. Maenads were worshippers of Dionysus/Bacchus. When Sookie read Maryann’s mind, all she heard was “Bacchus Bacchus Bacchus” being chanted over and over again. > > The Maenads were also said to have all slept with Pan. Maryann has that giant painting of “Pan with his human lover,” and she cryptically says the woman could be “anyone of us.” Pan is suppsed to have slept with _all_ the Maenads. > > Maryann’s parties are strongly suggestive of Bacchanals. > > Bacchus was also strongly associated with the image of a bull. > Changing men into animals was Circe’s bag, though, and she’s the one who changed Oddyseus’ crew into pigs, but maybe the show is just giving the same powers to Maryann. > > I’m betting on Maryann as a Maenad, and that she herself is the minotaur. Yeah, it would make sense if she’s the minotaur. There’s gotta be something more sinister about her than “she throws awesome parties.” I don’t like the way they’ve set up the minotaur so that it attacks with huge razor-sharp claws just to scratch your back and poison you, and then follows you around until you keel over. Something that can cause that much damage doesn’t need to rely on slow poison. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/33 "2009-07-01T13:52:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I actually think Jason’s storyline is very intersting, and that we’re starting to see some glimpses of what Tara saw in him for some long. He’s as dumb as a bag of hammers, yes, and he obviously was (is?) a sex addict, but he has a persistently good heart and sunny nature underneath it all. That crazy preacher’s wife has at least one thing about him – he always wants to see the best in people. Even after Rene killed his Gram, he still said, “I guess I still miss that son of a bitch.” He saw only the good in Amy. He saw the good in Eddie (the vampire Amy killed). > > He wants to do right and be a good person, but he doesn’t have a lot of direction on how to do that, and his naivete is such that he trusts pretty much anybody. It makes him easy to manipulate. I think we did see the start of him trying to figure some things out on his own, though. I find both the actor’s performance and the character’s storyline MUCH more interesting than Sookie, the main character. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/34 "2009-07-02T04:39:30Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I think it’s generally accepted that the woman was Maryann. We just don’t know why Maryann is interested in Tara. Speculation has been that she’s using Tara to get to Jason and/or Sookie, for whatever reason. I have a feeling that this plot line might not make much sense, when it’s all over. It didn’t in the book, either, which is why I think book 2 was by far the weakest. The show might be coming along to there being more of a point, though. book spoilers I’ve blocked a lot of it out, but in the book she seemed to have simply gotten power from people fucking, and there were a lot of people with loose morals in Bon Temps. There was kind of an orgy club that Tara and Eggs belonged to (Maryann didn’t have a house with anyone living with her, but people met up at a cabin or trailer in the woods), and some of the orgy people killed Lafayette at the very beginning of the book because he talked. Most of her orgy people - though not Tara - are killed, by her, at the end of the book. All kind of pointless, really ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/35 "2009-07-02T05:00:29Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > I find both the actor’s performance and the character’s storyline MUCH more interesting than Sookie, the main character. Sookie and Bill are just not that interesting, which is weird considering they’re dating in real life. I find Sookie just unspeakably bratty and kind of stupid. It’s hard to understand why people like Sam, Eric, and Bill (hotties and supernatural to boot, all of them) are so damn enthralled by her. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/36 "2009-07-02T15:36:19Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > It’s hard to understand why people like Sam, Eric, and Bill (hotties and supernatural to boot, all of them) are so damn enthralled by her. Do you want to know why? There’s a reason for why these sort of men are so attracted to her it in the books. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/37 "2009-07-02T15:40:52Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Do you want to know why? There’s a reason for why these sort of men are so attracted to her it in the books. I want to know! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/38 "2009-07-02T16:19:44Z")
I haven’t read the books but if it isn’t pheromones that attract these guys to Sookie, maybe it’s her empathy, or something similar to empathy that’s connected to her mind-reading ability. It’s pheromones, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/39 "2009-07-02T16:23:04Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Do you want to know why? There’s a reason for why these sort of men are so attracted to her it in the books. I’d be so relieved to know there was a reason at all, and not just because Sookie is a Mary Sue extraordinaire, and we’re just supposed to accept that she’s so amazing because the writers say so, despite all evidence that she’s annoying, dumb, and bratty to the contrary. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405/40 "2009-07-02T16:53:30Z")
So, the reason supernatural guys are attracted to Sookie turns out to be sort of ego-deflating for our heroine. The spoilers below are from the last few books in the series: [spoiler]A few books into the series, Sookie meets a woman named Claudine, and her twin brother Claude who are a sort of supernatural being we haven’t seen on the show yet - fairies. Claudine becomes a not-very-reliable fairy godmother to Sookie for a couple of books, and it’s shown that vampires can’t be around fairies without biting them, because their blood is highly intoxicating to vampires (picture a living, breathing catnip toy), and less so to other supernatural types. Understandably, the twins avoid being around Bill, Eric, Pam etc. Sookie accepts this, and has no idea that there’s any connection between her and the twins until an old man named Niall shows up claiming to be her great-grandfather…and a fairie prince. It turns out that he is both, and his son, rather than the man Sookie believed was her grandfather, was her father’s father. Her dad being 1/2 fairie makes her 1/4th herself, and **that’s** why the supernatural men find her so damn enchanting. Sookie is not terribly thrilled to learn that part of the attraction has nothing to do with what sort of person she is. As an aside, mind-reading isn’t a fairie trait, but there’s evidence in book eight with a character not yet on the show that it’s definitely a familial trait.[/spoiler] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-blood-6-28-09-scratches-open-spoilers/501405.md?page=3)