True Blood

I'm hesitant to say it (because who knows what they'll throw at us next episode), but this week's True Blood ties up a lot of loose ends. Of course, when one fire monster retreats, another supernatural force is bound to spring up in its place. The Authority is on the rise after abolishing the law that says vampires can't feed in public, leading to some chaos in Fangtasia. Sookie is getting closer to finding out who killed her parents but ends up getting held hostage by "Obamas." We get a flashback at Alcide as a young pup, and it appears he's had the same haircut for about 20 years.

Russell and Steve Newlin appear to be the latest happy couple in Bon Temps, and Russell even bestows a canine present on his betrothed: Luna's wolfy daughter, Emma. I'm sure they won't be nearly as excited about her once she turns into a human again. Find out what else happened on this week's True Blood after the jump.

Things are getting freaky in Bon Temps. This week on True Blood, we have not one but two flashbacks (equally disturbing in their own special ways), some trafficking of the vampire and human varieties, and a creeptastic shapeshift, courtesy of Luna. Sookie also gets a little closer to finding out the truth about her parents' murder, and Terry receives some bad news.

Following last week's bloodbath led by Russell, the new authority's antimainstreaming movement makes some internal progress, but it looks like most of the action is still to come. Take a look at some of this week's most memorable moments when you read more

Season five had a bit of a slow start, but things are finally starting to get interesting on True Blood. With Russell on the loose, Bill and Eric find themselves in a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" situation, and the results are amazing for those of us who love seeing these two serious-faced vampires let their hair down a little. Speaking of going with the crowd, Tara takes her job at Fangtasia to a new level, and Hoyt starts running with a seriously bad group of dudes.

Meanwhile, Sookie learns that her fairy days may be numbered, and Alcide's already moving on to a new love interest. Now that we're halfway through, I'm hoping that the season will continue to pick up steam from here. Let's break down all the moments (some of which are very gross this week), when you read more

The title of this week's episode pretty accurately sums up how I feel about keeping up with all the story lines happening on True Blood right now. Bill and Eric finally capture Russell, but the Authority's plan doesn't go exactly as they thought it would. Alcide is fed up with all the senseless were-deaths, the band of masked hooligans who (nearly) killed Sam and Luna are back and wreaking more havoc, and poor Hoyt has just given up.

There's a lot to discuss from this week's episode, so to find out the highlights, just after the jump.

The True Blood panel at Comic-Con is always a fun one, because we get to see new footage, the cast loves joking around, and well, it's an eye candy party. For this year's panel, Joe Manganiello, Alexander Skarsgard, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, and Christopher Meloni showed up and looked hot, as did their female costars, Rutina Wesley, Deborah Ann Woll, Kristin Bauer, and Anna Paquin. Anna was glowing with her growing baby bump. The cast and creator Alan Ball (who is departing after this season) gave some details about the rest of season five, and they even got around to talking about Fifty Shades of Grey and Magic Mike — and we saw some hot moves from some of the panelists. Read on for the highlights.

• We saw a preview of the remainder of the season, with lots of juicy tidbits. The most interesting things I saw were a very alive-looking Luna, a flash of Godric, Sookie trying to get rid of her fairy powers through a ritual that would make her forget Eric and Bill, and Sookie and Bill hooking up again.
• For the rest of season five, Ball teased that we will see three more romances, but he wouldn't say who they're between. He was more forthcoming about sex scenes, saying we'll get some "very hot sex scenes," and some "wacky, what-the-f*ck sex scenes. All tastes will be satisfied." We definitely know one of those participants will be Alcide, because Manganiello declared, "I sexually eviscerate one of the other cast members." I assume it's Sookie, but really, I don't care who Alcide gets it on with, as long as we see Alcide get it on!
• Skarsgard was asked how he felt about his name being tossed around for Fifty Shades of Grey, and Skarsgard said, "I gotta read that book." While he mentioned that he hadn't seen a script either, Moyer wisecracked, "He's just lived the life."
• New castmember Meloni talked about the differences between True Blood and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, cracking that "trying to figure out what's a sex crime on this show is very difficult." It sounds like he's having fun, though, because he said that he loved his recent scene in which he stakes a child vampire because it was so shocking. "It's pretty much the one thing I wanted to do." If he was going to be a vampire, he said, "I was like, 'You gotta let me stake someone.'"

Read the rest of the highlights, including the Magic Mike-inspired strip show after the jump.

This season of True Blood hasn't been as gory as years past, but this week's episode is graphic in a different way. Among the nightmarish scenes that are disturbingly creepy, we meet a new supernatural entity, lose one character, and are reunited with two characters we hadn't seen in a while (and in both cases, it's gross). We also find out what happens after Sookie and Alcide's big make-out, as well as the aftermath of Jason's discovery about his parents.

This week is a bit more exciting, and there are lots of bits to get to, so let's break down the episode into superlatives after the jump.

Jeff Daniels's character Will McAvoy doesn't just report the news, he makes it too: HBO has renewed The Newsroom and True Blood for additional seasons. Aaron Sorkin's freshman series has only aired two episodes, but it has already earned a second season after its premiere gave HBO its third-biggest drama debut. Meanwhile, veteran series True Blood has been picked up for its sixth season, even though show creator Alan Ball will step down after the current season.

Photos courtesy of HBO

This week's True Blood is a bit more exciting than last week's episode, and there's a big revelation about Jason's and Sookie's past that I wasn't expecting. The case finally closes on Debbie Pelt's death, and as I'd assumed, Sookie makes it out OK. While the Vampire Authority stuff is still not that interesting to me, there is a development that's rather bloody.

I haven't really been loving True Blood that much this season, but I was happier with this episode because of the final moments . . . and that long-awaited kiss. Let's get to the best and worst parts of the episode after the jump.