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| Creator Alan Ball, actors Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer attend the premiere of HBO's 'True Blood' 5th SeasonMay 30, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
We're almost at the end of Season Five of TRUE BLOOD. We know there will be a sixth season but so much has to happen on this coming Sunday for us to have any idea what Season Six will be about. Alan Ball will no longer be the principle writer next season and I can only view that as a really good thing.
I heard Alan Ball say that he used the Republican primaries as his inspiration; asking something like What would happen in a fundamentalist Vampire America.
This is the first season that no pretense has been made at following the books.
What happened this season leading up to Sunday's finale?
The Vampire Authority (VA)
Previously the VA was a bit of a fuzzy organization with Nan Flanagan as the Spokesperson/Communication Director. She was staked by Bill and Eric at the very end of Season Four to protect Sookie. Newly turned vampire Steve Newlin takes over her job. In episode one he goes to Jason and reveals he is love with him. Jason says thanks, but no thanks (very nicely).
Eric and Bill are arrested by the VA and bundled off to the VA hey escape and are rescued by Vampire Authority, Nora, Eric's "sister." The three are recaptured and are caught up in a division in the Vampire Authority between Main-Steamers, who want to co-exist with humans and the Sanguinists who have a text they believe the real Bible is the Vampire Bible, that god is a vampire and the goddess is Lilith. To Sanguinists humans are only food. It turns out that Nora and several other chancellors are Sanguinist, including Salome (the Salome). The Chancellors we start off with are Rosalyn, a Brassy Southern woman, Kibwe and African man, Drew an old man in the body of a child, Dieter Braun, a once German man, Salome who is the Slaome, and the Guardian, Roman who is seriously a Mainstreamer. By the last episode only Salome, Nora and Rosalyn have not met the True Death. Eric and Bill have been made Chancellors and Nora is reinstated.
Eric and Bill reveal Russell Edgington is alive and bargain their lives for finding him. Nora is being held as a traitor. We see flashes of Pam's human life as a prostitute/Madame, meeting Eric and forcing him to turn her. We also meet Bill and Lorena who are draining one of Pam's girls. Eric almost ends Bill but Lorena who knows of Eric's abilities and strengths, is really scared. While they are free Eric releases Pam and gives her Fangtasia.Eric and Bill want Sookie to read Alcide's foreman's mind and uncover his glamoured memories of the night Russell was dug up.They go to her house only to find them making out after getting totally wasted. As she pukes on Alcide's shoes Eric and Bill make their presence known.
After they find Edgington he's brought back to the VA but his execution is sabotaged and he stakes the main proponent of Mainstreaming, Roman. Nora is freed and she and Salome (the Salome) force everyone to drink what they believe to be the blood of Lilith. They all trip, go to New Orleans, and have a slaughter fest. Godric appears to Eric to tell him it is wrong. But Lilith appears to everyone and smiles at them, offering tacit approval..
Bill, caught up in "true religion" comes up with destroying the True Blood factories and forcing vampires to feed off humans. Eric rejects the authority but his escape is botched. Eric is subdued when Lilith "kills" "Godric," and pretends to believe. Edginton gets involved with Steve Newlin and takes him to the wolf pack HQ-barn.
Later, all the chancellors are hanging out talking about how to spread Lilith's word, Edgington wants to take over faeries as well so he can walk in the sun. He rebels against Lilith and authority. Nora realizes that Sanguinists are wrong and she and Eric make up. They escape under the pretense of calming down the government whose representative they just killed.
Lilith is going to all the Chancellors and telling them that only one can lead and she choose him or her. Kibwe tells Bill he's been chosen and Bill rips his head off. Then we see Lilith approach Salome. In an inside the episode Ball says that Lilith wants the strongest vampire to lead the new Vampire-ruled Earth.
Tara
In episode one we are taken back to the night that Debbie Pelt shoots Tara and Sookie kills Pelt. Pam comes by looking for Eric and Sookie and Lafayette beg her to turn Tara who is not happy about. Sookie owes Pam one. An unhappy Tara ends up working for Pama at Fangtasia. She and Jessica sort of become friends but vampire Tara is just as prickly as human Tara. With all the True Blood factories gone and vampire attacks on the rise Fangtasia isn't doing well. The VA has given Eric's old job of Sheriff to a vampire named Elijah who tries to strong arm Pam. Tara decapitates the sheriff. Pam says she did it, is arrested and carted off to the VA dungeons.
Sookie and Faeries:
Somehow, Sookie and Jason end up at a fae nightclub and learn their parents were killed by a vampire Worlo (a complete and total deviation for the book series). Bud Dearborn, the former sheriff was the one who found them. They learn that an ancestor essentially bargained away his first fae-evident female descendant to this vampire.
One edict of the vampire manifesto is to make a lot of vampires. One baby vampire is Mike the Coroner who's always had a thing for Sookie. He attacks her while she is eating Chinese takeout. As he latches onto her leg she stakes him with her chopsticks.
One of the faeries is the one who seduced Andy. She does it again and in
a week is full term with his kid. In the meantime Andy has a thing
going on with the waitress Holly and he doesn't want to ruin it so he
denies the kid is his. The pregnant fae threatens him.
Jessica/Hoyt/Jason
Jessica doesn't want a serious relationship. While Bill is away she enjoys the mansion engaging in partying and implied sex. Eventually she is forced to the VA by Bill. She tries to get Bill to allow her to contact Jason and he refuses. She offers to turn him but tricks the guards Bill makes go with her and, after killing them, Jason gets away to warn the fae and Sookie about Russell wanting to "have the sun!:. Jess hides out with Pam and Tara. When Chancellor Rosalyn comes and arrests Pam, she finds Jessica too and brings her back to Bill. When Jessica returns to Bill, he slaps her across the room.
Hoyt tries to go fangbanger to get Jess back. He gets involved in a hate group called the Obamas because they wear Obama masks and run around shooting supernaturals.. They shoot Sam's shifter friends, some vampires, Sam and Luna. They eventually turn on Hoyt when he won't kill Jess and it turns out that former Sheriff Dearborn is the organization's second. When Sookie goes to ask about her parents the leader, Dearborn's girlfriend, knocks her out. They plan to feed Sookie and Hoyt to some pigs. Sookie and Hoyt survive. The current Sherrif, Andy though kills Dearborn.
Hoyt decides to leave Bon Temps and take a job on an oil rig in Alaska. He gets Jessica to glamour him to forget both her and Jason and he leaves.
Were and Shifters
Alcide tells Debbie Pelts parents that Marcus the pack leader he had to kill last year killed Debbie. Sam is kidnapped and forced to reveal where Marcus' body is. Alcide shows up and takes the blame. The pack is eating Marcus and when he won't, having won the spot as pack leader he tells them to find someone else. Sam and Luna break up when they fight over the presence of Marcus' mother seeing Emma.
Leaving Luna's house after warning her about the Obamas he and Luna are shot. Emma, who has just had her first wolf shift and runs to Grandma's house.
In the hospital Luna asks Marcus's mother, Martha to take care of her daughter Emma who is a Were Wolf now. Sam smells one of the shooters who is in disguise as an orderly and catches him. Eventually they figure the thing out with Dearborn.and rescue Sookie and Hoyt.
Martha's partner JD took over when Alcide refused. Alcide realizes that JD is on V and tries to challenge him But JD is on V and is going to hunt and kill a human boy. Alcide cancels the challenge but ends up trying to save the boy. He is abjured by JD and goes up to his dad's trailer. His father is an abjured packmaster who has a gambling problem. He stole from the pack and was abjured..
He gathers the pack to tell them that humans and vampires will be at war and they have to join up with Russell. When Russell comes they all share his blood. Martha wanders in with Emma and refuses. Edginton takes Emma as a cub and gives her to Newlin. Luna and Sam track Emma down to the Vampire Authority and are discovered. Sam offers to be Bill Compton's breakfast.
As he is being taken to Bill, Pam is brought in.
Lafayette
Right after Tara is turned Sookie takes Lafayette to his house to dispose of Jesus's body. It's gone though. Jesus comes to Lafayette and his mother. Upshot his grandfather is using Jesus' spirit to bait Lafayette into going there. He does and the grandfather tries to killl Lafayette to give his soon to be born child Lafayette's magic. But the mother of said child stabs the grandfather to death. I think that ends that storyline.
Terry and Arlene:
They are still living at the Bellefeur's. Terry's old army sergeant, Patrick, visits. Turns out the members of his company have been dying in fires. Just before he is immolated one tells him they are being pursued by a smoke monster they were all cursed with when their company killed a bunch of people in a town when they were wasted. First Arlene thinks Terry has gone off his meds, but Holly convinces her to take it seriously. They have a seance and the woman they killed, Zafira, and who cursed them demands that Patrick kill Terry or vice versa. Patrick kidnaps Arlene and holds her hostage to lure Terry into kill him. Terry wants a fair fight, but Patrick says Terry is much better as a fighter. Arlene stabs Patrick, he drops the gun, Zafira appears and when Terry unceremoniously and suddenly hoots Patrick in the head she says the curse is broken and the smoke monster removes Patrick's body leaving a small patch of yuck..
