So what did everyone think? More importantly, did anyone catch the whole thing? I guess the big speech at the end went over the hour mark because my DVR cut it off partway.
Pretty kick ass episode, I thought. Eric’s verdict was spot on. The politic involved were too screwed up to go after Russell directly. OTOH the Vampire League isn’t so stupid not to realize that Russell is indeed a problem. Sicking Eric after him unofficially was their best tactic. Of course, no one could expect Russell to forfeit the slow chess game and go straight for the throat of the media…
I’m glad Franklin came back, just long enough for Tara to tell him off, and then for Jason to blow him away. Kudos.
I found it interesting that Bill had an encounter in magic land. And also that it seems, unlike the books, that the series
Might be keeping the Bill-Sookie ship around a bit longer…
I liked the new waitress comforting Arlene. I wonder what her “other options” might be though…
Wow kick ass / lost his shit Sam.
I liked Crsytal, but I’m starting to lose my like. OTOH what she said to Jason was spot on.
I was disappointed by the lack of post-mortem on screen. I even went to the site, but no joy there either.
I hate, hate hate the recent <last five years or so> turn of shows toward having very short seasons. Cliffhangers suck to begin with; now we have two or three times as many, and the fact that I know this is all just winding up to leave everyone hanging is honestly taking away a lot of my enjoyment.
Russell is off the hook, completely bonkers and around the bend.
“We will eat you after we eat your children…and now for the weather.” Best newscast ever. Can we send him to Fox News?
I liked the way they dealt with Eric too. A very sensible verdict. I also liked Nan calling him a “whiny little bitch,” when he asked for help. She’s a badass.
Really, every scene was good tonight. Hoyt admitting to Jessica that he hates Summer, Everything Russell, everything Nan, that new “witchy” waitress is getting interesting too.
There were some weak episodes early in the season (the one that ended with the twisty-head sex might have been the weakest episode of the series), but the last several have been some of the best they’ve ever done. Russell is a WAY better villain than MaryAnne.
Really liked Sam kicking the shit out of Crystal’s dad. “Who’s a fucking pussy?”
After Russel’s newscast, Nan will suddenly decide to help Eric a bit more. Like Bugs says’ of course you know this means war". There will be lots of bodies.
Loved, loved, loved Jason’s scene with the shotgun. Holy crap, I was not expecting that.
“Not if if I got a wooden bullet.”
Tara’s defiant speech to Franklin was awesome. Simply awesome.
Also, could Russell holding Talbot’s crystal decanter of slop be any more ridiculous and hilarious? Jaysus.
We rewound and rewatched The Best Newscast Ever over and over and over and over again. Russell was absolutely delicious. “And now, the weather. Tiffany?”
Hubby asked repeatedly–if he is over 3,000 years old, why the hell is his name “Russell Edgington” (or is it Eddington)? Seems a bit recent, in the last millenia kind of way.
My DVR caught the end, but not previews for next week. Was there one? Or was this (growling) a season finale cliffhanger? That would really piss us off.
BTW, the fact that Dopers spoiled me (my choice, I read the spoiler boxes) way back in the first season that Sookie is
a faerie–BTW what’s with the weird spelling? Why not fairy?
makes this cliffhanger REALLY annoying in how they’re dragging it on and on and on. I know, I know, I get it, she’s a <blank>, now MOVE ON.
Great ep given the several hit-or-miss eps this season. Russell’s line at the end was awesome.
I’m wondering about the armored VLA cops/mercs. I’m assuming they were wearing silver-lined armor but it’s still not enough to take down the quicker vamps. Still looked cool.
Not sure they looked so cool, at least to me. When I first saw them, I said, “What is this, RoboCop or Demolition Man?”
It was one of those"only three episodes left" previews with a lot of quick cuts. I can’t even remember what was in it now except that there wa a scene of Lafayette and Jesus performing some kind of Santeria ritual.
I wish you had seen it because you missed the best punchline of the series. It’s referenced in the thread but just so you’ll know in context, Russell- still holding the gore from the anchorman’s spine and heart and after vowing to “we will eat you after we eat your children”- looks sweetly at the camera and says with a smile and in perfect deadpan anchor patter, “And now here’s Tiffany with the weather…”. Roll credits.
What pissed off Sam so much at Crystal’s dad? I understand being pissed but he was P-I-S-S-E-D, as in murderous. Does he have history with them? (They knew he was a shifter.)
Tommy’s a piece of trash ain’t he? But with a cute ass, and that can cover a lot of ills.
Did anybody else notice you could almost read “Made by Dupont” through Nan’s human? I loved her feeding after the “only True Blood of course” bit of hypocrisy.
I was surprised to learn Pam is only a century old- I would have thought several centuries at least. I like her relationship with Eric- she’s obviously at least somewhat in love with him (even though her usual taste is for females) in addition to the maker-made bond.
I was disappointed that The Authority just looks like a small job interview committee; I was expecting more the Witanagemot (or whatever it was called) from Harry Potter.
With regards to Russell Edgington’s name, according to the wiki at least he’s of Celtic origin and his name was something roughly similar to Russell but he’s changed it occasionally over the years to reflect new environments. The same with his accent; English didn’t exist 2800 years ago, let alone a southern accent, but you can imagine him speaking with a Scottish lilt or !Kung click dialect if it served his image. (The actor, Denis O’Hare, is American born to Irish parents and is somehow a dual citizen.)
Poor Talbot. To have “Yes Daddy!” be your last words after 800 years would be bad, but you know that wherever he is (and in the True Bloodiverse I’m sure he’s still around somewhere) you know he would HATE that container for his remains.
The friend I watch with has read all of the books and was surprised that Hadley’s son is brought out so early as he didn’t come into the books until much later. I’m wondering if we’ve seen the last of him for this or if he’s going to be in the last few episodes.
He’d already thrown the spine over his shoulder (my favorite part of that speech) when he called humans spineless.
Also, someone else mentioned the robocop looking guys. In the books they state that because human police officers can’t really take down a vampire easily there are vampire police and vampire cells in which to hold them.
The actress who plays Pam has said we get to find out more about her background this season, so I’m assuming we’ll find out more about how she was made and what her life was like. I have a bad feeling (based on nothing) that Pam will end up dead in all this 
Perhaps someone can refresh my memory, who was Arlene’s baby dady? I did watch last season but I did not enjoy the MaryAnne story arch, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I’m glad I didn’t stop watching, because this season has been pretty good.
Well, the only two guys we’ve seen her involved with since the show’s been on are Terry and Rene. Last week she had a nightmare about Rene where he was talking about how the baby was going to be just like him, and this week she said the baby’s father was pure evil–do you think it’s the sweet but strange vet, or the serial killer?
I managed to be quickwitted enough to tivo the later show and extend the time, and in turns out that very last line was the only thing cut off. But it was worth the effort 
Of course the overtime meant a lack of post mortem, but at least there was a 'in the last 3 episodes…"
Tommy called him a pussy and said everyone pushed him around. Crystal’s Dad got the brunt of the pent up passive aggressiveness turned active aggressive.
Is that a metaphor? I might be able to guess what it could mean, but I’d rather you just tell me so I stop wondering if I’m right…
This was established in a previous episode. Arlene went to the doctor and the conception date was well before Terry and well within René’s conjugal timelines.
My question is, can they kill him? It seems like if they want to keep mainstreaming they’re going to need to keep him around to make an example of him. You put bad humans in jail, we put bad vampires in jail etc…
I liked the way he turned the decanter around so Talbot could see Fangtasia.
It bugged me that they were wearing sunglasses at night.
I think at least part of it is that Sam had already told him he wasn’t welcome there. That and he accused Sam of lying about Crystals whereabouts.
I’m curious as to where we’re going with Tommy. So far he don’t nothing but start shit. I still can’t tell if he’s doing it for fun or if he really thinks he’s doing the right thing when he does things like try to get Hoyt to leave Jessica alone.
Rene is what I’m assuming. The thing that bugs me is that wasn’t Rene killed in Season 1? If she’s pregnant with his baby, that would mean that he’s only been dead a few months, I thought it’s been longer then that…maybe not.
Now I have a question about Rene. Why did he come to Bon Temps in the first place? Did he come with the intention of killing fang bangers? And why couldn’t Sookie read his mind all along? Convenience, to get the show started?
Corey Hart was a vampire? It’s all making sense now!
Hmm. It seems to me that True Blood is taking lessons from Big Love when it comes to timelines. If Arlene is pregnant with Rene’s baby–and she’s not particularly visibly pregnant–it means that season 1 events ended less than 4 months ago. Soooooo…in the last 5 months, all of this shit has gone down? Time to move. No wonder the sheriff quit.
Regarding Sam beating the stuffing out of Crystal’s dad, I thought he was trying to get him to shift into his werepanther form. And since he didn’t shift–well, what the hell good is it being a werepanther if you can’t shift into your RAR self when someone is pummeling you?
I think Sam was just pissed in general and Crystal’s dad just picked a bad time to try to push him around and call him a pussy.
Agreed. He had been pushed to the limit by everyone around him, then his brother told him that he lets everyone walk all over him. He finally just snapped.
I’ve read before that the timeline is supposed to be very compact. Each each show starts where the next one leaves off.