Episode 11 – Frenzy

Picking up where we left off last week, Bill is surprised to find Queen Sophie Ann feeding from a blonde woman. She invites him to join her but he declines. When he tells her about the maenad, she obviously knows something about them and gives him some information on their existence. Then she asks Bill if he wants to have sex with her. He looks at her funny and she says, “Kidding! I haven’t had sex with men since the Eisenhower administration”. (Ooookay then!) She insists that he spend that day, and leave the next evening. Thinking she has told him everything he attempts to leave but she insists that he keep her company. Though he is reluctant, she convinces him that if Sookie were in any danger he would sense it. Meanwhile, at Bill’s house, Hoyt pulls Jessica off his mother (who by the way appears to enjoy having a vampire suck her blood) and starts berating Jessica for attacking her. Jessica tries to validate her actions by saying she couldn’t take Maxine’s insults about her and Hoyt any longer and that he should understand. He basically tells her that Maxine, as his mother, is allowed to say whatever she wants about him and Jessica, it’s her right. He is disturbed by his mother’s reaction to being bitten (she makes it seem the incident was pleasurable for her) and accuses Jessica of doing something to her. Jessica tries to apologize but Hoyt says he should have listened to Bill when he tried to warn him about Jessica. Jessica is stunned and can only watch as Hoyt guides his mother out the door to leave. Jessica slams the door and screams with rage.

Lafayette, Sookie, and Lettie Mae wind up having to handcuff Tara because she is trying to leave so she can go save Eggs. Lafayette hears something outside and decides to stand guard on the porch. Sookie gets tired of hearing Tara talk about all their sorry lives and joins Lafayette outside, leaving Lettie Mae by herself with Tara. While outside, Sookie gets a 5 hour old text message from Bill saying he won’t be back until the next night. She and Lafayette realize they are probably on their own. Lafayette tells Sookie about being forced to drink Eric’s blood and she tells him she was tricked into it. They commiserate with each other about the effects Eric’s blood is having on them. Apparently, Lafayette is having some sexy dreams about Eric of his own. (Can’t say I blame him  ) Inside the house, Tara starts to really get to Lettie Mae, using her religious beliefs against her and the fact that she was never a real mother to Tara. Lettie Mae prays for guidance. Tara is able to convince her to help her and Lettie Mae goes outside to confront Lafayette and Sookie. She tricks Lafayette into giving her the gun. She turns the gun on them and orders Sookie to release Tara. While Sookie is inside, Lafayette imagines that Lettie Mae is Eric and he starts to breakdown. (Seeing Eric in a skirt and blouse is hysterical and strange all at the same time!) Tara runs out of the house a demands Sookie’s car keys. As she leaves, Sookie finds Lafayette cowering behind the glider and tries to convince him that Lettie Mae won’t hurt him. She tells Lettie Mae that Lafayette is traumatized and Lettie Mae lowers the gun. Sookie wallops her with a heavy knick knack and Lafayette grabs the gun. They take off in his car after Tara.

At Merlotte’s, Sam has revealed his true nature to Andy and Jason. They seem to take it in stride; Jason thinks it’s cool and Andy actually doesn’t seem real surprised. (I guess the whole maenad thing has opened is eyes when it comes to the supernatural.) Jason makes the decision that they are going to have to arm themselves and fight for the town. Sam calls Jason an idiot and says they can’t be shooting their friends and family. Jason says that is the price he willing to pay. While they are arguing this over, Sam notices Coby and Lisa, Arlene’s kids, outside the bar. He hustles them inside the bar while Jason and Andy leave for the jail to get weapons. The kids tell Sam about the changes in their mother. Sam tries to ease their fears. The kids come up with the idea that Sam needs to get help from a vampire. Sam and the kids go to Fangtasia to wait for nightfall and Eric. Meanwhile, Andy and Jason arrive at the jail and find the employees still under Maryann’s spell. While Jason distracts the secretary (who is coming on to Jason) Andy finds the weapons and a whacked out Sheriff Dearborn. He tries to get Andy to dance with him while holding a gun on him. Andy manages to get the gun from Bud by doing a few dance moves of his own. Andy returns to find Jason being held at gunpoint by another demonic deputy. The guy shoots Andy (he’s not hurt because he’s wearing a bullet proof vest) and Jason wrestles the gun from him. Andy tells him he is okay before Jason can really hurts the guy.

Tara shows up at Sookie’s house and sneaks in to look for Eggs. He is sitting at the kitchen table all slumped over. She reaches for him and realizes that he is still under Maryann’s spell. As she tries to convince him to leave, Maryann comes up behind her. Tara begs Maryann to let them go because it’s really Sam that she wants. Maryann informs her that it was Tara who called for her during her “exorcism” in the woods. Tara is stunned and clearly frightened by this revelation. Maryann says that though Miss Jeanette was a fake, the power of ritual was enough to bring her to investigate. (Tara flashes back to the event and recalls the girl with the black eyes.) Maryann then starts to flutter but Tara tells her that her power doesn’t work on her anymore. She takes a step toward Tara and punches her in the face, knocking her silly. When Tara straightens up, her eyes have gone black and she smiles. She and Eggs run up the stairs together, leaving Maryann to deal with the locals who have come to tell of the God smiting Sam. Maryann is furious with them at their stupidity and shows her displeasure by calling forth some weird screeching sound that sends her minions running away in pain. In the car, Sookie is trying to get Lafayette to calm down enough so that he can help her. She tells him that he has to be able to shoot the gun if they come across Maryann. He tells her he knows what to do, but she doesn’t seem convinced.

Meanwhile, Hoyt is at home trying to deal with the demented Maxine. As he tries to get her back to rights, she reveals that he has always kept her from doing what she wanted to do. She tells him she would have liked to get drunk and picked up a redneck for some sex. She says that his father was a closet homosexual and that he killed himself. He stares at her in disbelief and she says she lied about his death so they could get his insurance money. (Poor Hoyt, everything he knew to be true has just been proven false and it’s clear that he is confused and saddened by these revelations.) While this is going on, Sam and the kids are meeting with Eric. Though Eric appears to be put out about Sam coming to him for help, he seems to realize that it could give him some advantages with Sookie (this isn’t stated, but it’s the general feel of the conversation). Eric asks Sam if he could help him out with Sookie (did you catch Pam rolling her eyes at this?), and Sam gets a little confused and tells him no. Pam and Eric have an “interesting” conversation about the children but it’s spoken in another language. The kids ask to see Eric’s fangs and he obliges them, with a sort of hungry look on his face. He calls them “teacup humans”. (I found this exchange amusing, but I realize it was probably meant to make Eric look bad. Again.) Sam of course has no idea what they are saying. After Sam promises a favor in the future, Eric agrees to seek help from someone but makes no promises himself. Out in the parking lot, Eric tells the children goodbye and flies off. (Awesome that we finally get to see that  ).

Back at the Queen’s mansion, an anxious Bill is lounging poolside with the Queen and one of her humans. As Bill presses her for more information about the maenad, the Queen tries to distract him by offering him a nip at one of her humans. He tries to decline and explains that he only drinks from Sookie. The Queen and her human are clearly surprised by this and she insists that he drink from a Latino boy. Bill placates her but doesn’t seem too happy about it. (The Queen then announces that she loves watching two men together and bares her fangs.) Later, during a game of Yahtzee, the Queen finally tells Bill that the maenad must meet her god in order to be killed. She says that he never shows up at the rituals and that the maenad won’t stop the rituals until they succeed. She also says that the maenads use the two-natured because they are supernatural; they straddle the two worlds. They don’t use vampires because they don’t have beating hearts. (Her whole explanation is strange, to say the least. Oh, and to use a Big Brother expression, poor Sam is getting thrown under the bus!) They get interrupted by a guard. The Queen tells Hadley, the human girl, to keep Bill entertained. Hadley asks Bill how her cousin Sookie is doing. He smiles and says she’s good. Hadley says “make sure and tell her I said Hey”. Bill smiles and nods his head yes. (Interesting that he knows Hadley). She then asks about Gran but before he can tell her Gran died, she says she hasn’t kept in touch because she owes her a lot of money. Bill says its better that she not keep in touch with them. (Hmmmm, I wonder why he would say that? Just kidding, I know why.) The Queen tells Bill his friend Mr. Northman has arrived. Bill decides he really must leave and says he’s not sticking around to meet with Eric. The Queen makes a remark about them both being Alpha males and that they should both just “get it on” and get it over with  Oh, she also wants to watch  (Wow! Too funny for words!) Bill sees Eric just outside the entrance and they have a brief spat. Eric asks Bill if Sookie has mentioned anything about him. (Oh my, you just know Eric knows about the dreams she’s having by the way he said this!) Eric comments that Bill gave Sookie blood right after meeting her and suggests it wasn’t coincidental. (He also seems to imply that Sookie’s attraction to Bill is because she’s had his blood.) Bill threatens Eric about having no further contact with Sookie or he’ll tell the Queen about Eric selling “V”. Eric says, “You wouldn’t!” (I wasn’t feeling any anxiety from him though, it seemed to me he was just trying to play Bill by “acting” a little fearful. I could be wrong though.) He tells Bill that he doesn’t like being threatened before going inside.

Sookie and Lafayette make it to her house. They are ambushed by Arlene and Terry. Lafayette is able to distract them with drugs, allowing Sookie to sneak around to the back of the house. Inside, she comes up on Jane Bodehouse who has cut off one of her fingers as an offering. Sookie explores a little further and discovers somebody sitting in the sink, naked. Then the coroner, who is laying on the floor, snatches her ankle. He forces her to lay on the floor with him and he asks her how she can let a dead man touch her. He tells her she spends too much time around the dead. She says the same thing about him. (Funny, but creepy the way he is spooning her. Blech!) Outside, Maryann and Karl sneak up on Lafayette. He tries to shoot her but she deflects the bullet which hits Karl in the head, killing him. Lafayette is obviously scared out of his mind when she asks, “You’re a cook aren’t you?” Back in the house, Sookie gets away from Mr. Spencer and heads for the upstairs. Jason and Andy pull up not far from Sookie’s house with the intent to do a little spying before storming the place. For some reason, Andy and Jason get into a spat that begins by Jason asking Andy why he has such a problem with him. To make a useless scene short, Andy says that Jason has always had it easy to which Jason replies that he has had to work for everything and that he hasn’t had it “easy”. (Really, instead of moving the episode along, scenes like this just fill space if you ask me. This episode had way too many fillers IMO.) Inside, Sookie discovers Tara and Eggs making some sort of nest on the bed. Literally, they are using twigs, bits of cloth, pillow feathers, etc. to make this nest. She sees that they are lost to her and turns to run but Lafayette is standing behind her, his eyes blackened by Maryann’s spell. Sookie starts screaming her head off.