In last week’s episode of True Blood, Hoyt and Jessica reunited, and Jason got cozy with Hoyt’s ex. Bill released Jessica and made a big speech about how his choice to meet the true death was all for Sookie. And Pam wound up as a hostage yet again so Gus could threaten Eric into revealing Sookie’s location.
In the series finale, “Thank You,” one couple ties the knot, Sookie makes one final decision and we say goodbye to Bon Temps and all the characters we have come to love. Read on to find out if the tenth and final episode of True Blood season 7 delivers the sex, blood and insanity we have come to expect.
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Bill’s Fate
Let’s get the big one over with first, shall we? After 80 episodes, Sookie Stackhouse ends the series by driving a stake through the heart of her first love. I guess it is supposed to be an emotional moment, but it left me feeling rather bored. Though I do give the writers credit for not backing out of Bill’s true death at the last minute. But let’s recap how we got here.
Bill stops by Sookie’s place to explain his reasons for wanting to die, but it is basically the same nonsense he sold to Eric. So he asks Sookie to use her vampire-killing ball of light to give him the true death and set her free from her faerie powers at the same time. Sookie kicks him out and spends the rest of the episode trying to decide if she wants to be free of her faerie abilities.
In the end, Sookie agrees to Bill’s request. Then we spend what feels like a lifetime as Sookie prepares to kill Bill. But Sookie ultimately decides that being Fae is part of who she is and she cannot get rid of that. So she decides to stake Bill instead. They say their goodbyes and profess their love for each other one last time before Sookie drives the stake into his vampire heart. And thus, Bill becomes the very last vampire in True Blood history to explode into a pile of goo.
Eric, Pam and New Blood
Eric decides he has had enough of listening to Gus, so he intends to kill him and take over the New Blood manufacturing. Pam is more than happy to help. They release Sarah, but not before Pam gives Sarah her blood so that they can find her later. Then Pam and Eric quickly kill Gus. Eric also makes it over to Sookie’s place and dispatches the last of Gus’ men before they can hurt her. Eric drives away before Sookie can see him, so we are denied a final Sookie-Eric scene.
The end of the episode takes us through the next few years and we see that Eric and Pam have followed through with their plan. They are the successful creators of New Blood, and they are running a side-business out of Fangtasia’s basement dungeon, in which paying vampires can drink Sarah’s blood. So while Pam and Eric are raking in the dough, Sarah will spend the rest of her life being fed upon and having visions of her dead ex-husband.
Jessica and Hoyt Tie the Knot
One of Bill’s last requests before he meets his end is to know that Jessica will “be spoken for,” since he never got to be there for his human daughter on her wedding day. So after Bill all-but-pushes Hoyt into proposing, Jessica throws together a quickie wedding so Bill can be there to give her away.
The wedding is beautiful, if a bit of a head-scratcher because Hoyt did not remember Jessica existed until just a few days earlier. Andy presides over the ceremony — even though he and Jessica reached a peaceful understanding, I was surprised he was comfortable enough to not only marry the couple, but also spend so much time in the house where his children were murdered — and Jason serves as Hoyt’s best man because that punch to the face helped them mend fences or something.
Other Happenings
— Prior to the ceremony, Bill asks Andy for a favor. Since he learned that he could not leave his possessions to Jessica, Bill’s estate will go to Andy. Bill asks if Andy will rent his home to Jessica and Hoyt for a very reasonable price, and Andy agrees.
— Before becoming Eric and Pam’s prisoner for life, Sarah asks Pam to make her a vampire. Sarah even goes so far as to offer her sexual services to Pam, but Pam laughs in her face because she would never be that desperate. And when Sarah mentions Tara, Pam almost takes her head off right there, proving once and for all that she loved her progeny, even if she and the writers had a terrible way of showing it.
— In one heck of a flash-forward, we see that all of our still-living characters get their happy endings. Jason ends up with Brigette after all, and they have three adorable kids. Sam and Nicole, James and Lafayette, Adilyn and Wade, Holly and Andy, and Arlene and Keith are all still together as everyone gathers at Sookie’s home for Thanksgiving. A very pregnant Sookie hosts the occasion and makes out with her husband — a nameless, faceless dude we will never know. After all the years of wondering who Sookie would end up with in the end, I doubt anyone predicted this outcome.
Final Thoughts
With 10 episodes in this final season, the writers tried to wrap up all the major storylines and give closure to the main characters. They succeeded, for the most part, but not without wasting a lot of time along the way. The show spent far too much screen-time on storylines no one cared about — the vigilantes, Lettie Mae’s V trip, anything related to Bill’s human life — and not enough time on things we did — James and Lafayette’s new romance, Jessica and Hoyt’s reunion and Sookie’s relationships with everyone but Bill.
As I said at the start of this recap, I am impressed that the writers went through with Bill’s true death. But I cannot help but feel like it took too long to get there. If we had cut down on some of the unnecessary storylines, we could have had Jessica’s wedding and Bill’s death in episode 9, thus giving us an entire final episode to let Bill’s death sink in and say goodbye to the rest of the characters. While the finale had some great moments — the wedding was lovely and every moment with Pam was perfect — I cannot say I enjoyed it.
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You Win Some, You Lose Some
— There were a handful of characters True Blood did right by in this final season. Arlene got to be pro-active during the hostage crisis, she was there to give good advice to anyone who asked and she let go of Terry just in time to meet her new vampire boyfriend. Jessica also had a good season, as she found closure in all of her major relationships, and began her road to redemption by protecting Adilyn and Andy. And of course, the writers finally gave Ginger — and Ginger fans — her long-awaited moment with Eric.
— Pam and Eric’s scenes were a highlight of the season, but I would say their overall treatment was a mixed bag. Pam did not have a single storyline outside of her relationship with Eric, and despite being a powerful vampire, she managed to get captured multiple times by a couple of humans. And while Eric’s brush with the true death let us see a different side of him, he spent much of the season being the third leg of a triangle that turned out to be rather meaningless.
— Tara and Alcide were obviously treated poorly by the writers, but I would argue that they are not the only ones. Sam and Lafayette were terribly underused this year, as their storylines mostly revolved around their under-developed romances. Yet they both had better final seasons than Sookie. This season, Sookie regressed to her season 1 self and let her entire life revolve around her love for Bill. While I like that she chose to remain Fae and that she ultimately let Bill go so she could live a semi-normal life with a human family, none of that happened until the last few minutes of the series’ final episode. So while Sookie did achieve a certain amount of character growth in the end, it came out of left field and had very little emotional impact.
What did you think of the True Blood series finale? What did you think of the final season in general? Do you think the writers were right to kill off Tara and Alcide so early in the season? Do you wish they had done more with Sam or Lafayette? What did you think of Bill’s ending? Do you agree that Sookie’s character growth was too little, too late? While the ending left a lot to be desired, I will miss this show and the level of insanity it delivered on a regular basis. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
(Image courtesy of HBO)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
