Review

True Blood Episode 512
“Save Yourself”
Written By: Alan Ball
Directed By: Michael Lehmann
Original Airdate: 26 August 2012

In This Episode...

Sookie and the fairies attempt to blast Russell with their lightning fingers, but it just tickles him. Luckily Eric smells Sookie’s fear and comes running. He stakes Russell. In the first minute of the episode, Russell Edgington is dead. Sookie rushes to Jason, who is okay except for the fact that now he is having visions of his mom and dad. Eric, Nora, and Tara visit Sookie and convince her to come with them to the Authority to rescue Jess, Pam, and Bill. Jason, recently filled with a true hatred for vampires, doesn’t like this, but agrees, spouting off vampire hate speech the whole time.

Shit is going down at the Authority, before Eric’s crew gets there. Sam is brought to Bill for his breakfast. Bill won’t feed on him because he is a shifter, not a human, but Bill still wants to kill Sam. He shifts into a fly, which makes Bill a little crazy and turns his guards into exterminators. Salome asks him about Chancellor Kibwe, and he admits he killed him because Kibwe said Lilith chose him, and Bill knew that Lilith had chosen Salome. Salome is pleased, and ready to drink Lilith’s blood. She does, and gets violently ill. Bill switched Lilith’s blood with common blood spiked with a lot of silver. With Salome incapacitated, Bill stakes her.

Sam reappears in the holding cell with Luna. He has a plan: Luna will shift into Steve Newlin and take Emma for a walk. Unfortunately, “Steve” gets stopped in the reception area, first by the receptionist, then by Rosalyn. Rosalyn is bitching about something-or-other and drags “Steve” with her to prepare for his appearance on the news. “Steve” does what he can to get through the interview but doesn’t make it more than a few minutes before he starts throwing up blood and shifts back into Luna. Rosalyn is furious, but can’t do anything. Sam - in fly form - flies down her throat and shifts while inside, exploding her. Epic.

Upon arriving at the Authority, Tara, Jason, and Sookie are tied up in the back as prisoners, which gets Nora and Eric past the front gate. In the elevator, they suit up and get ready. Tara has a device that will scramble all the surveillance tech. Jason takes out the receptionist and guards; Nora and Eric take out the guards in the main chamber, then take care of the security system so Tara and Sookie can let Pam and Jess out of their holding pens. Tara instantly kisses Pam deeply when she is released. Upstairs, Jess runs to Jason and is hurt when he tells her he can never love a vampire. Feelings must be put aside so everyone can get out of the Authority. But first, Eric and Sookie must attempt to bring Bill back to their side.

They burst into Bill’s room just after he staked Salome, but before he can drink Lilith’s blood. They each take a turn trying to talk some sense into him, but Bill is too far gone - he drinks all of Lilith’s blood. Pain flashes across his face, and blood oozes out of all his orifices. Then he melts into a pool of blood. Eric and Sookie (and myself) stare aghast at the puddle of Bill - but then Bill is reborn from the blood, much like Lilith. When he bares his fangs - bigger than ever - Eric can offer nothing but “Run!”

Also: Maurella gives birth to Andy’s baby - well, babies. She has four, all girls. Martha brings Rikki to Alcide and Jackson. Rikki is messed up on V, so Alcide dips into Jackson’s supply of V and kills JD.

Dig It or Bury It?

Holy fuck. That’s the way to end a season. So... much... blood.... So much intensity. this was just a great, fun, overwhelming episode. Interestingly, I don’t think it was necessarily “shocking” or “surprising.” I still think Bill’s turn to the dark side was a little sudden, but it payed off very, very well. It was just incredibly well-done, tightly scripted, and so... much... death...

Blood Count

Too many to count. Including all the anonymous vampire guards, there had to have been at least two dozen true deaths. Maybe more. Rosalyn’s death was not only the best of the episode, I think it ranks up there with one of the best deaths of the entire series. So fly-Sam flies into her mouth, and transforms into human-Sam inside her. She gets a little bloated... then her eyes pop out... then there is just an explosion of blood and gore. 

Fairy Tales

Apparently for fairies, giving birth is akin to having sex. Rather than labor pains, Maurella has orgasm after orgasm. Instead of her water breaking, her “light” breaks - glowing lights shoot out of her vagina. Also, Maurella swallows an entire canister of salt, which seems to induce labor. And once she gives birth, the kids are the dad’s responsibility: “Try to get at least half of them to adulthood.”