True Blood Season 3 Finale: “Evil Is Going On”
We arrive back in Bon Temps at Fangtasia, where Eric and Russell are handcuffed together and burning outside in the sun. Godric’s spirit appears to Eric and begs him to forgive Russell and end the hate. Eric resists, screaming into oblivion.
Inside, Sookie wakes up with Bill in her face. She slaps him and asks where Eric is. Pam tells her and she heads outside. Sookie uses her powers to detach the handcuffs that bind Eric and Russell and she drags Eric back inside. Sookie has Bill bite her and she feeds her blood to Eric.
A recovering Eric tells the group that Godric told him they must spare Russell. Sookie goes outside and drags Russell back in. They chain him up to one of the poles inside the club. Eric has Sookie guard Russell while everyone sleeps during the day because he cannot glamour her.
Let Me Go
Russell offers Sookie money and property to let him go, but she ignores him. She finds out that the glass jar is Talbot’s remains and pours them down the garbage disposal as Russell screams. This moment reveals something new about Sookie. She has been such a good girl, innocent and caring. In this moment, she is angry and sinister. I’d love to see more of this dimensional side of Sookie. She’s becoming not so one-note.
Alcide arrives and Eric and Bill take Russell to a construction site. Before Sookie leaves, she rescinds her invitation for all vampires present into her home. Before he drives away from the construction site that he’s brought Eric and Bill to, Alcide confirms that this favor erases his father’s debts to Eric. Eric and Bill bury Russell in concrete, making sure that he stays frozen in space and time — doomed to decades trapped in concrete alive and suffering. Russell tells them that one day he will get out and they will be sorry. I don’t doubt this.
Bill suddenly turns on Eric and puts him in the concrete as well, covering him up. Bill takes Eric’s phone and calls his assassin disguising his voice as Eric’s and asks him to kill Pam.
Sam’s Secret
The morning after spending the night together, Sam makes Tara breakfast. He admits to her that he is a shapeshifter. Tara is shocked and gets angry at Sam for not telling her, stating that it’s fact she’d like to know before sleeping with someone. She thinks over her experiences with Maryann and Franklin and decides she’d like to know how to live her life without the interference of the supernatural.
Later that day, Sam goes to his office to find it ransacked and his brother missing from his rental property. He finds Tommy and chases him in the woods. When Tommy won’t return his money, we see Sam pull a gun and fire.
The Bust
The DEA have come to Bon Temps in preparation for a raid on Hotshot to seize V and meth. Jason finds out from Andy that the raid is happening that very day. Andy warns Jason that if he tips Hotshot off, he can kiss his dreams of being a cop goodbye.
Jason and Crystal race over to Hotshot to warn them. When they arrive, Felton shows up with a shotgun. He tells his father that he cannot get rid of the V, and it becomes obvious that Felton is using and is addicted. Felton shoots Calvin in the face and takes not only the cooler of V, but Crystal as well. Jason is left to fend for the town of Hotshot.
He is brought into the station for tipping off Hotshot and Andy lectures him about how dumb he made the town look. Jason asserts that those people had no one to help them and that he did the right thing, even if it means he can’t become a cop.
Reunited
Hoyt goes into work to find his mother, Summer, and his high school guidance counselor waiting to stage an intervention. Hoyt listens to what they have to say and then wishes Summer well and walks away. Good for Hoyt!
Later on, Hoyt brings Jessica to an empty home and tells her he wants to marry her and live there with her. Good for them! I’ve been rooting for them from the start.
Meanwhile, we see Maxine – Hoyt’s mother – shopping for a gun. Uh oh.
Visionary
Lafayette is still having visions that come to him in waves. He talks with Sam behind the bar, and sees Sam’s hands covered in blood. While working, Lafayette has a vision of Rene choking Arlene, saying he is inside her. Everything Lafayette is seeing is real, as we know from our knowledge of all the characters’ pasts.
He calls Jesus, who comes and consoles Lafayette, and tells him that he is a bruja – a witch. I suspect they both are, but there is no confirmation yet.
Caught
Tara walks in on her mother having sex with her pastor – who is married with children. After her interactions with Sam and her mother, she cuts her hair into a bob. This seems to be an awakening, a rebirth, for Tara. She is moving forward.
The Finale
Sookie opens her door to find Bill. He tells her that both Russell and Eric are gone – that he ended them. A concrete-covered Eric runs up. Eric asks Sookie if she knew that Bill originally was interested in her because Sophie-Anne wanted to make him find her. Eric also points out that Bill let the Ratrays beat Sookie until she was almost dead so that he could feed her his blood to bond with her. Sookie banishes both of them from her home, sending them away.
Inside Fangtasia, Pam has killed their assassin and is alright. Eric laments that he is now out an assassin. Pam asks if he killed Bill and he responds that he did something much worse than that to him — he broke him away from Sookie.
Bill invites Sophie-Ann to his home under the pretenses of drinking Sookie’s blood and walking in the sun. Bill tells her only one of them is leaving the house and they begin fighting to the death.
Sookie visits Gran’s grave and tells her that she is lost. Claudine shows up and Sookie disappears into fairy land.
Remember, if you buy from our links we get a little $ back!
Episode two of Amazon Prime’s Fallout was equal parts funny and bloody. This almost always leads to a good time.
The story
We begin this episode with the birth of some puppies that look like they’ve had a rough start to life. Each one is weighed, with the ones who fall short being incinerated.
One pup who is just below the correct weight gets a bit of a thumb on their scale. The scientist weighing them, Wilzig, writes down the proper weight. He later takes the puppy home to raise instead of putting them into what looks like an unforgiving training program.
Eventually, we see Wilzig put some blue glowing thing into his neck. When a soldier comes for him, Dog attacks the soldier, and the two escape.
We go from there to the wilderness, where Lucy is recovering from the last episode and enjoying a campfire at night. Wilzig and Dog come out of the shadows, saving Lucy from a bug monster. Wilzig tells Lucy she should go home. And if she’s not going to go home, she needs to evolve.
The next day Lucy finds her way to a town called Filly. As a Pennsylvanian, it hurts me to spell it that way. Lucy is entranced by this town, though clearly put off by the fact that no one is very nice here.
She eventually finds her way to a shop run by a delightful woman named Ma June. Ma doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping Lucy. Or, frankly, having Lucy in her shop.
Or in her town.
Eventually, Wilzig is tracked to this same shop, being tracked by The Ghoul. This is our final primary character. Lucy defends Wilzig, being aided at the last moment by Maximus.
Maximus, by the way, has been having a terrible time. After finally becoming a squire he’s disappointed to find that his knight, Knight Titus, is a terrible person.
Fortunately, Maximus doesn’t have to put up with Titus for long. After Titus gets the bright idea to go hunting, he’s attacked by a mutated bear. Maximus freezes, unable to save him. Then, well, he decides not to save him.
It was Titus’s idea to go hunt the bear, after all.
What worked
The first thing I want to draw attention to is the shootout scene at Filly. This scene checked every box a fight scene should check. It was fun to watch, with great effects. But it also gave us insight into the characters. Lucy is a decent fighter and has a strong moral compass. The Ghoul is callus and desensitized to death. And Maximus continues to be, well, sort of bad at this whole fighting thing. But with enough moral fortitude that we have a hard time blaming him.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the dog. Who’s name, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, is just Dog. Which is fine. He doesn’t need to have a name to be a very good boy. He’s sweet, loyal, and fearless.
Also, puppies. Puppies are always great.
Finally, I’d like to shine a spotlight on Lucy’s reaction to the world at large. She is both amazed and terrified by everything. And while she certainly doesn’t want to be rude, she also doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. The best example of this is when she stops to ask for directions with a bright smile and a gun.
Once again, I don’t have anything bad to say about this episode. It was funny, dark, and fun to watch. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season.
(4 / 5)
Launching with worldwide excitement, Fallout is based on the extremely popular game series of the same name. Fans of the series have waited with anticipation and trepidation to see if the Prime series would live up to the game.
Having now watched the first episode I can say that, so far, it’s successful.
The story
Our story begins with a children’s birthday party. A performer is there with his daughter, giving horse rides and taking pictures with the kids.
As much as the adults try to focus on the party and the kids, it’s impossible to ignore the looming threat of war that’s on everyone’s mind.
Of course, it’s during this party that war comes, and the bombs drop.
We then cut to after the war and into one of the vaults established to protect humankind and the American Way. For future reference, this is Vault 33. We meet Lucy, our first main character, who’s petitioning to be married to a man from Vault 32 to ensure DNA diversity.
On the wedding night, though, Lucy and the rest of Vault 33 are met with a horrible surprise. The group they let in is not in fact from Vault 32, but is instead a team of raiders from the surface. The raiders kill a lot of the vault dwellers and kidnap Lucy’s father.
We are then introduced to our second main character, Maximus. He is in training to become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. And, well, he’s not doing great.
Things get worse when his best friend Dane becomes a squire before him. But when Dane is hurt, Maximus gets their spot.
We then go back to Lucy, who has decided to leave the vault and find her dad. Of course, the council of her vault doesn’t want her to go. So she is aided by her brother Norm and cousin Chet in a wild escape.
What worked
The first thing that deserves attention is the exceptional character work. Our three main characters are fleshed out and relatable right away. We feel sympathetic for The Ghoul before he’s even introduced as such. We love Lucy’s nativity and selflessness. And we love Maximus for his honesty and passion for his cause.
While these characters are their own people, they also exhibit the three responses we might expect to see in a post-apocalyptic world. We have the hopeful optimist who doesn’t understand how bad things are. We have the aspiring hero who wants to make the world better by force. And we have the self-serving individual who’s given up on the rest of humanity and is only focused on surviving.
Another thing I enjoyed about this episode was the balance of humor and gore. Because there was certainly enough blood and guts for even the most hardcore horror lover. We had a violent sabotage, a brawl with raiders, and even several nuclear bombs.
But there were a lot of funny moments as well. Usually from Lucy. Her overall goodwill and fearless gumption are absolutely hilarious, especially given the horrors she’s facing. It never ceases to amuse me.
Both of these aspects are done perfectly. The jokes land and the bloody scenes pull no punches. It was delightful.
All in all, this was an exciting start to a much-anticipated series. Here’s hoping they’re able to stick the landing.
For more tv shows based on video games, check out my review of Witcher.
(4 / 5)
Episode seven of American Horror Story Delicate was a classic AHS flashback episode. If you were excited to see what Preecher had to say to Anna at the end of the last episode, I’m sorry to say that you will not get that satisfaction. However, we did learn all sorts of other fascinating things about the strange coven hunting Anna. And, we learned all sorts of things we didn’t know about Dex’s first wife, Adeline.
The story
We begin our story with a woman giving birth alone in a barn. When it becomes clear that she’s not going to be able to deliver vaginally, she pulls out a knife and cuts her stomach open to pull out her children.
For whatever reason, this is when the coven of witches decides to make themselves known.
We then cut to 2013, when Dex was still married to Adeline. In true Dex fashion, he’s surprised her with a puppy.
While that sounds great in theory, dogs are something a couple should talk about, not gift each other with as a surprise. An adult would know that. A trust fund boy like Dex does not.
Adeline owns a vegan restaurant called Ave Hestia. Love that name. She seems to be living a great life. She has a career she’s passionate about, friends who love her, and a husband she seems kind of fond of.
Maybe that’s why she didn’t want a puppy. She already had one.
Of course, things aren’t as good as they appear. We soon find out that Adeline was one of those babies we saw at the start of the episode. The other baby was Sonia, the painter.
And yes, both of these characters are played by Annabelle Dexter-Jones.
Adeline has stepped away from their family, and whatever dark things they do. But the family isn’t happy with her decision. And if she isn’t going to come back willingly, they’re going to make her.
What worked
To start with, I loved the character, Adeline. She is fierce, she is fearless, and relentless. I feel like this would have been a far different story if Adeline had been our main character. It was astounding to see her interact with the same people Anna has, and get a completely different response. It’s clear now, how much everyone around Anna resents her for simply not being Adeline.
I also appreciated that there was just a shocking amount of blood in this episode. From the start when Adeline and Sonia are born, to the climactic end of Adeline, this episode is just drenched in blood.
Finally, I’m fascinated by the changes in this season from the book it’s based on. Because absolutely none of this was in the book. Compared to this, the book is heartwarming.
The book is kind of heartwarming even without the comparison.
But I love the fact that, even with just two episodes left in the season, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I do not know what Anna is carrying. I do not know if she’s going to survive this. I do not know what these people want with her.
But I can’t wait to find out.
What didn’t work
All that being said, it is a bit frustrating to have no forward momentum in this episode. This was all backstory, and it felt like there wasn’t enough backstory to fill a full forty minutes. Because of that, it dragged. There were a lot of scenes that just didn’t need to be as long as they were. It felt like they could have cut that down considerably, and had some time to check in with our main characters at either the start or the end of the episode.
There are only two episodes left in the season, and I can honestly say I have no idea what’s going to happen. But so far the story has been dark, bloody, and provocative. So I hope they can manage to end it on a high note.
(4 / 5)
If you’re a fan of my work, please check out my latest story, Nova, on Paper Beats World. New chapters launch every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
