After a sluggish beginning, True Blood is back to being the twisty-turny, disquieting freakshow we know and love. One of the best lines last night was when Andy Bellefleur, all keyed up and junkied out, said, "God grant me the serenity to — fuck it." That pretty much sums up the show: No composed moments of clarity here! Just mayhem.
First of all, Eric continues to have amnesia, which puts him in danger but also makes him slightly adorable. The sleeveless blue hoodie was amazing, as was "Are you mine? Would you like to be mine?"
Pam was not happy about what the coven of witches did to Eric. "It's one thing to fuck with me," she growled. "But fuck with my maker…" Pam gave Lafayette, Tara and Jesus 24 hours to bring Marnie to her, but it's unclear how strong Marnie is without Lafayette. We'll definitely learn more about this soon — there's a reason the episode ended with a cover of the song "Season Of The Witch."
Some readers have emailed us, disgusted about how this rape is being characterized: The Wall Street Journal <\/em>calls<\/a> it the "one of the most cringe-inducing sex scenes of the series." Rolling Stone<\/em>'s Erica Futterman writes<\/a> that Crystal and Jason "consummate their relationship in front of all of the other female panthers." And adds: <\/p>
She doesn't acknowledge it as a rape. <\/p>
One reader emailed to say: <\/p>
On HBO's website, the director for the episode smirkingly refers to it as Jason's "comeuppance," given that he has always prided himself on his sexual prowess and is now being exploited for it. The writer for the episode, Alan Ball, does go so far as to say that Jason is being "objectified" and "sort of used against his will" (albeit, he says the latter with a laugh), but there's never any real appreciation that Jason is being gang raped. Here<\/a>'s the four minute video that contains the two men's commentary. <\/p><\/blockquote>
Most recaps and reviews — including ones by CNN<\/a>, the Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a>, and The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> call what happened a "sex scene." It's clearly rape. But on a series based on absurd and fantasical concepts — where witches and shape-shifters have powers and vampires are politicans — does failing to call a werepanther rape scene for what it is mean you don't take rape<\/em> seriously? I don't think so. This show is not about the real world.<\/p>
- Jessica puts Hoyt in her thrall, and he says "I'm the luckiest man in the world." This relationship is not going to end well.
- "Boyfriend you don't need to learn anything from nobody, you perfect just the way you iiiiis."
- Alcide! Yay!
- Debbie. Boo.
- Why would you give a creepy evil garbage doll to a baby? Even if it is a demon baby, that kid does not deserve that horrifying toy. <\/ul><\/p>
DISCUSSION
The rape scenes between this season and last have been handled so differently.
For Tara, we were supposed to like Franklin with his quirky texting and being the anti-hero but the whole time he was raping Tara and a lot of fans didn't seem to care. The writers said they made sure to have her go to a rape survivors meeting and would have a hard time coping to show it was rape.
For Jason, the director described the Hot Shot scene as Jason's comeuppance and Alan Ball laughs when saying Jason will be "used against his will." Fans seemed to instantly recognize it was rape and I have the feeling next week's episode will make that even more obvious. I don't doubt that we'll see his captors/Hot Shot demonized over the next few episodes. I just really hope the writers follow through and show that this is rape and how wrong it is but I won't be holding my breath.