Review: True Blood: 'Scratches' or Satyrfest 2009

Well, I may have called it. Episode three of True Blood, 'Scratches', was a transitional one. There were no giant revelations or big character moments. No, this episode instead set up a lot of pins for the viewer to anticipate knocking down. Normally this might jolt the review a little and come off as a negative, but as far as True Blood is concerned setup is a good thing. We join the episode a few moments after the end of the last episode. Bill and Sookie are driving away from Jessica's parents' home and Bill is obviously none too happy with her. They argue and for one of the first times, Sookie acts decidedly childish in light of the events that had transpired. Normally she is grace under fire when it comes to the odd things happening all around her that it's pretty interesting how she is hard pressed to admit fault for her irresponsible actions. Long story short, she storms out of the car to spite Bill and goes tromping into the dark, spooky Louisiana swamps. It's not long before she is stalked by probably the coolest creature yet to debut on this show (assuming that it's not a cleverly disguised misdirect): a bull-headed, humanoid, satyr-man. Now, I don't want to show authorial bias, but satyr's are by far the coolest mythological creatures there are to see. Sookie tries to run, but obviously the all-too-rad satyr catches up and claws her down the spine, rendering her paralyzed. Bill tries to heal her with his blood (a throwback to the early episodes of season one), but this time it causes Sookie to convulse and seize. So where else to go than Fangtasia (the super cool vampire bar run by ex-viking Erik).

Erik, for purposes I secretly wonder if they will ever come to the forefront, agrees to heal Sookie with the help of a cool southern old crazy woman; i.e. a healer. Through some cool voodoo (seriously it may actually be voodoo) she painfully heals Sookie using some mysterious potions and by digging her fingers into her deep wounds to clean them out. This plays out more as torture, but before too long Sookie is walking around in her underwear and an over sized shirt.

Meanwhile, Sam warns Tara to open her eyes and realize how wrong the whole Maryann situation is becoming. I get why the usually headstrong Tara is being uncharacteristically pigheaded about her new situation, but it's nice to see that the writers are opening her eyes. Why Sam doesn't just flat out tell her that he knows her from his past is beyond me, but it seems he decides to cut town as well. Either Sam is going on a trip with the purpose of figuring out Maryann, or just to get out of Dodge, but he's definitely going somewhere. His storyline ends with a midnight swim in the oddly clear and clean bayou when Daphne, the new and inept hire at his bar, joins. Upon stripping off her clothes she reveals three similar satyr scars on her back. What does this portend? I don't know. Like I said, this is a setup episode. If I had to guess I would say that she is either being controlled by the satyr, somehow survived the attack (which raises oodles of other questions), or maybe just so happens to be the satyr.

Jason Stackhouse is still trying to find God, and after a gay dream about Eddie the vampire and a crisis of conscious, it's clear that he's either A) going to bone Sarah Newlin (the wife of the Fellowship's leader) or B) be an unwitting tool in some larger plan the 'church' has for him. Either way I think Jason is far too dumb to get himself out of this before he does something exceptionally stupid.

Finally, Sookie discovers through mind reading power that Lafayette is in Fangtasia's basement. Confronting both Bill and Erik with more bluster than I think is merited (honestly Erik is thousands of years old and really intimidating), Sookie demands her friend be released. Erik apparently finds reason to agree under the condition that she go to Dallas and discover whatever happened to another of the vampire sheriffs, Godric. She agrees after conning him out of $10,000 dollars and the accompaniment of Bill. Exactly why Erik let's Sookie act this way towards him is why I wonder what Erik's motives are when it comes to one he outwardly considers just another worthless human.

All in all, the chips are in place for a pretty electrifying episode in two weeks. True Blood rewards you for episodes such as this by giving you lots to chew on one week and choking you when you try to swallow the next. With Lafayette back at large (and apparently Erik tormenting him), the show is all set to start delivering the jarring payoffs we expect. 'Scratches' was well worth the hour of our time even though it flew by, but it really does serve the purpose of setting us up for the next hour. If the show can satisfyingly deliver on all the crazy setups introduced this season (and the SATYR!), then we're in for a treat as each episode has been better than the last. It's at once tempting and not to attempt to read the Sookie Stackhouse Novels just to find out what happens next, but that to me is evidence of how compelling this show is turning out to be.


Watch out Sookie Stackhouse; I reckon there's a Satyr in your future. Is it me or does this photoshop make them look in love?