'TRUE BLOOD' 3.3 - "It Hurts Me Too"

[SPOILERS] What's the story this year? I have no idea. Something about werewolves, something about vampire king Russell Edgington (Denis O'Hare), something about nothing. In previous years it was immediately obvious what the storylines were (a murder mystery, search for a missing vampire, etc), but season 3 is keeping its cards close to its chest. I'm sure there's a masterplan, but it would be nice if the writers started letting us in on it. There's only so many hours of jumbled events I can take without starting to feel distanced from the story.

To recap the goings-on: Bill (Stephen Moyer) considered Edgington's offer to join his kingdom; Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) gave Sookie (Anna Paquin) protection in the form of werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello), who took her to a rough "wereclub" to investigate Bill's disappearance; Tara (Rutina Wesley) slept with vampire Franklin (James Frain), who later revealed himself to Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) as the person who disposed of her dead trucker; Hoyt (Jim Parrack) discovered the headless corpse of said trucker in a ditch, prompting Sheriff Dearborne (William Sanderson) to quit over the high murder rate in Bon Temps; Sam's (Sam Trammell) parents arrived in town; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) resolved to become a cop, but worried about his poor academic skills; Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) was given a sports car by Eric, as reward for his V-dealing; Arlene (Carrie Preston) learned that the timing of her pregnancy means the father can't be Terry (Todd Lowe); and flashbacks to 1892 shed light on the time Bill revisited his human wife three years after "dying", to bury their young son Thomas, who had died of a contagious illness.

Another packed hour of content, but half of it felt like filler and the other half is following storylines I'm just not attached to. A continuing problem is Sookie's quest to find Bill, because we know he's perfectly safe, so the whole exercise feels pointless from the audience perspective. If Bill gets hold of a phone the whole problem goes away. But this kind of plot is the only way to utilize a character like Sookie -- the perky plaything of various hunky, supernatural protectors, using her mindreading to trace someone. Last year it was Godric, remember?

Of course, much of the past three episodes are laying seeds that will bare fruit later in the season, but it's a pity the primary storylines are so intentionally slippery to get a grip on. I think the mystery is supposed to be its own attraction, but only Franklin Mott's working in that regard; mainly because Frain's vampire P.I is a suitably bat-like creep who commands the screen whenever he's around, keeping you guessing about his motives. The fact Franklin's dipping into a few different storylines now is great, particularly because one of them is Tara and that character desperately needs some guidance.

Right now, I couldn't care less about Edgington and the werewolves that are spooking Sookie. As for the distractions with Jason wanting to become a cop, Arlene's pregnancy (the father must be someone from a Maryann orgy last year, right?), and Sam's irritating family of dropouts? I'm struggling to feel interested, although making Jason a likely deputy to Andy (Chris Bauer) feels like a wise move, albeit a development that's going to feel very implausible unless it happens between seasons. Truthfully, True Blood's ensemble has become so large that a good 70% of the cast, and thus 70% of every episode's content right now, is stuck doing soap storylines. Who's the father of Arlene's baby? It's the question nobody's going to be asking this summer.

The best subplot was easily the flashback to 1892, because it at least stirred big emotions, as we saw the moment Bill tried to reconnect with his human life, against his vampire maker Lorena's (Mariana Klaveno) advice. And, naturally, after praising his return as a miracle, Bill's wife quickly became horrified by her husband's "demonic" new form, and broke his heart by reacting very badly to this frigid, fanged echo of the man she loved. The scene was nicely played by Moyer, too, who always does a good job portraying Bill's inner struggle between his vampire nature and vestigial human feelings.

Finally, that scene. You know the one I'm talking about. Thoughts about "It Hurts Me Too" will undoubtedly be dominated by a spectacularly sadistic sex scene between Bill and Lorena, after her taunts caused him to snap and angrily act on their simmering sexual tension. What followed was a blackly amusing sequence of rough sex on a bed, Bill on top, which resulted in him literally twisting Lorena's head around back-to-front so he didn't have to look into her eyes and feel guilty. An ugly physical contortion Lorena actually seemed to enjoy in a sordid way, which made the whole scene even more uncomfortable to watch. It's as if Death Becomes Her filmed a rape scene.

Overall, "It Hurts Me Too" was another narrative soup of fun, tedious, annoying, mysterious, boring, exciting and horrifying moments. As a southern gothic smorgasbord of weirdness and gore, season 3's delivering. As a supernatural adult drama with juicy storylines you can't wait to see continue, I'm still waiting for the show to find focus and make me care.

Asides

• The Bill/Lorena head-twisting sex scene will dominate people's minds, but spare a thought for the earlier Tara/Franklin bedroom scene. Rarely have eyelids fluttered so much during fake intercourse. That must have been a very embarrassing scene to film.
• Eric sent a werewolf to protect Sookie from werewolves? Have I missed something here? So, some werewolves are affiliated with vampires like Eric, as appears to be the case with Edgington? Only the ones with "Operation Werewolf" tattoo's are actual enemies? Is there some kind of treaty going on?

WRITER: Alexander Woo
DIRECTOR: Michael Lehmann
GUEST CAST: Joe Manganiello, Marshall Allman, William Sanderson, Todd Lowe, Natasha Alam, Bryan Becker, James Frain, Cooper Huckabee, Andy Mackenzie, Lil Mirkk, Don Swayze & Tanya Wright
TRANSMISSION: 27 June 2010 - HBO, 9PM