This Week in True Blood - lots of good stuff and yes *SPOILERS* and a poll!

Sorry for the delay, been swamped and when I finally wrote about 8 paragraphs of my rambling I then proceeded to hit the back button and lost ALL OF IT.

So True Blood fans what do you think so far? I know that I'm loving this season and that's because TB writers are focusing about 80% on what really works. However let's face it there is still that 20% out there that sucks. And even in a week when they cut back on one of the really sucky storylines (Arlene/Terry/and that crazy marine buddy friend of terry whose name I can't remember) they find a way to add other suck (Jason and his high school teacher - really? Did we need that?).

But lets start off off with what is really good and that's the vampires. I think the TB powers to be realize that they only have a few good seasons left of the show so this year they decided to bring out the big guns and make this season better than ever. And guess what - they did it! First is with the absolutely fabulous casting of Christopher Meloni as Roman, the leader of the Vampire Authority. Whomever thought 'Let's cast Meloni as this ancient vampire guardian leader' should get like a massive pay raise because that was probably the best casting since the season starting (although close runner-up will always be Denis O'Hare as Russell Edging and Joe Mangiello as Alcide). BTW anyone notice that Meloni got his name bumped to the top of the list? Opening credits have always been Paquin, Moyer, Kwanten, Trammell, Wesley, Skarsgard. Been like that since beginning of season 2 when Alexander Skarsgard was bumped to the top. After the big names in the opening credit it then goes alphabetical starting with Chris Bauer (andy). But I guess even the powers-to-be at TB recognize what a major acting gain they got with Christopher Meloni and they put his name in the credits after Skarsgard but before Bauer. I mean doesn't Meloni look like the descendants of roman gods? I remember he use to be on HBO's 'Oz' as this psychopathic serial killer in the prison who had all this charisma. Meloni acting just exudes power and authority and I think any other actor would have not been able to make this storyline work. I just hope that by putting him in the top credits section that it's a sign that Meloni will be with the show for the rest of the duration. And btw hats off to that italian actress they hired to play Salome. I couldn't figure out why she got her name in the opening credits but after this week's seduction of both Bill and Eric - she earned it. Salome is a vampire with biblical importance - she is the woman that wanted John the Baptist's head on a platter and history has made Salome one of the historically bad girls of history. So it was brilliant that she was the one who was to work it with both Bill and Eric to find out if they were members of the resistance (both came out clean). But what fun it would be to have to seduce that pair and I loved Bill's comments to Eric when he found out that Eric slept with her (about getting sloppy second again). I also love the fact that they are slowly reintroducing Russell Edgington - it's really helping to build the story. Even though we've only see a brief although scary look of him last week, he's been a big presence each week. We know he's out there and he's pissed - so when will he appear? Who knows but I can't wait!!!!!

And I love how modern vampires have become with iStake (there's an app for it although when I searched on my iphone all I got was a bunch of LDS/Mormon apps - go figure).

Steve Newlin - boy did I call that one. I figured he was a tool of the authority and turns out he was. I'm thinking it was Roman (Meloni) that turned him because I noticed when Roman was ripping Newlin a new a-hole he made a comment 'i made you into a vampire'. I'm going to watch it one more time to see if that's what he meant. But Newlin was the perfect choice as the new Vampire spokesperson because alot of people came to know and trust Steve Newlin - he's a slick used car salesman first posing as a Reverend and now as the spokesperson of the vampire authority. You had to love Newlin's lil speech about how to fool humans and boy that hit close to home! Just use fear and then promise them heaven. Sounds like what ever Faux News host and GOP candidate is trained to do! But I keep having to wonder if Sarah Newlin is soon coming back!

How about Sookie showing Pam she's not some dainty fairy to mess around with. With Sookie worried about the fate of her newly turned vampire friend Tara, she went running once again to Pam (Pam turned Tara) hoping that Pam would help out again. Obviously Pam is getting annoyed that she even did this especially since she still hasn't heard from Eric (a promise that Sookie said she would help out with). Pam figured she was the stronger woman and threatened Sookie with draining her but Sookie showed she wasn't to be messed with and fired back with a shot of that fairy lite. Best line of the night - Pam, after being hit by the fairy lite in front of everyone at Fangtasia, telling everyone to 'go back to dry humping and buying the overpriced drinks'. THat was classic Pam.

But I'm loving the backstory of Pam & Eric and now we find out just why it was important to show this - Eric didn't want to turn Pam into a vampire. But she forced the issue by slicing her wrists so Eric had no choice to either turn Pam into a vampire or let her die. Irony that 100+ years later Tara was in that same exact position - turn her or let her die and Pam was now the vampire who was not really too excited to have a progeny. Nice writing! I'm thinking if Pam isn't able to patch things up with Eric that she might use Tara as her new 'partner in crime'. And interesting that Pam, a bisexual who prefers women, turned a girl whose last relationship was with a girl (before that Tara seemed like she was men-only but they made her bisexual last year). It's like True Blood spent 5 years creating the new Pam/Tara bonding and this is going to be one fun rollercoaster ride.

Speaking of Tara, don't you love it how they showed what being a vampire is thru the eyes of Tara? I thought that was some great scenery. I don't think Tara is brain damaged but just scared and pissed and that was a touching scene with Sam helping Tara and feeding her all those True Bloods. ANd how funny was it for Sam to try lying to the one person that can tell when he's lying. Boobs Boobs Boobs Boobs just don't think about what's in the freezer. Tara should have known that Sam couldn't keep a secret from Tara. But it was a great build up to the clash where the secret was out - Debbie was killed by Sookie. Sookie should have gone to police right away even if she wanted Debbie dead. Lafayette summed it up best in the first episode when he said 'You're white - you can get away with self defense'. It was heartbreaking to see Sookie tell Alcide what happened but I hope that doesn't end the friendship. I'm sure Debbie's parents won't let this one slip away into the night.

It was nice to not have alot of Arlene/Terry/that friend of Terry whose name I keep forgetting. I don't think we even saw that nameless one this week - just Terry saying he was going out of town and for how long well I hope at least 9 more weeks (that's the end of the season). Then Arlene slipped back into the role she does best - background filler at Merlottes that adds a bit of spice to the scenes she is - point in case when she walked into the cooler where Tara was sleeping. Even though it was just a dream sequence it was a great use of Arlene.

I was a little disappointment we didn't have a few scenes with the Werewolves and Luna. Last week they left us with Luna's daughter Emma a lil tiny wolfpup and this week nothing. And let's face it - Martha Bozeman has become a new favorite of the True Blood Crowd!

Couple of the week - Andy & Holly. What a nice pairing between two really messed up people. I hope the writers don't ruin them like Terry and Arlene.

Speaking of Did we really need to know that Jason had an affair with his HS teacher. We know Jason is a stud and figured he was probably boning girls at a young age. But that was just the stupidest 5 minutes of TB history outside of Jason being gangbanged by werepanthers. I mean I know the writers are trying to show Jason growing as a person and I love the scenes where Jason and Jessica hang out together. But we really didn't need the high school teacher thing. That was just a waste of talent and time.

So let's do a poll - who is your favorite new/returning character this season?