In order for the series to be anything other than a misogynistic mess typed up by hyperactive otters running across a keyboard, Bill HAS to be manipulating Sookie (and others, especially women) through his blood/glamour/gaslighting/demons/whatever, and the narrative makes heavy use of Unreliable Narrator. I can’t take True Blood at face value. If I did, it would actually cause my feminist rage to spew out of my mouth like so much pea soup. I placing all my chips on The Mindfuck, there is no other bet for me. Cause the narrative makes no sense otherwise, the acting makes no sense otherwise, the dialog and plot make no sense otherwise, it’s just a tangled boring mess knotted around a ball of sexism and misogyny. And in that vein, Eric HAS to know this and be actively attempting to foil Bill. In which case he knows Sookie isn’t acting entirely of her own volition. That she is ensorcelled.
And you just don’t go fucking your kinda-not-really-sister while your lady is ensorcelled by the likes of Bill Compton. Heat of the moment or no.
If it is a ruse (even if they actually fuck) just to throw Bill off the scent that Eric is onto him or what have you, fine. Otherwise…Nope.
And does Eric actually say “We argue like siblings but we fuck like champions” or was that the person who saw the episode? Cause if that were Eric, just…no. NO. NO WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHAT HOW CAN THOSE WORDS COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH HOLE STOP.
(Also, they do it right in front of Bill? Can he not be involved in every single sex scene, please? That shit skeeves me the fuck out. Why? Why do that? A show has to be more than just shock value.)
Nope, he really says those words, and IA with all you just said too, I like to think Eric is smarter and more self controlled than just following his dick around like that, I also like to think that TB is smarter than that, no matter how many times I’m proven wrong. : / Context next week will be more than welcome, or… it might just fuck us around some more!
NO.
I CANNOT WITH THOSE WORDS COMING OUT OF HIS MOUTH.
THAT IS STRAIGHT UP ONE OF BILL COMPTON’S PATENTED PITHY RETORTS (“You’re as mad as a hatter!”).
NO. NO. NO.
I AM AS INCENSED OVER THAT LINE AS I AM THE WHOLE NOTION OF HIM BANGING NORA.
EPISODE 5X01 MUST BE NARRATED BY BILL COMPTON, I CAN ACCEPT NO OTHER EXCUSE FOR SUCH VILLAINY.
No, seriously, did they just let a bunch of mediocre fanfic writers write that?
That was awful. Who was Alexander Skarsgard playing? Not Eric Northman, surely. That must have been Ike Applebaum.
Who leaves their gloves on during sex?
Laughing at the whole Nora subplot, and Eric suddenly acting like Quagmire around her. No sirs, I reject your ridiculous, forced, sudden romantic interest with a deep emotional connection and terrible terrible OOCness. They can’t possibly expect people to take that seriously.
Not even going to address the champions line. No. Nobody talks like that. Well, maybe Bill. Was this episode supposed to be narrated by Bill, from his POV? You know, like that X-Files episode about the small-town vampires, where both Mulder and Scully had two very different versions of what happened? That might actually make sense.
It seems like Sookie has finally died inside. Or built some kind of armadillo-like armor plating and also replaced by a replicant.
Why were Terry and Lala the only people acting like themselves? Why was Lala so fucking flawless in this episode? Why is there not a gif of his Antagonistic Eye-Widening yet?
NO YOU DID NOT JUST FILM A WAY TOO LONG SCENE OF A BUNCH OF IDIOTS PLAYING GUITAR HERO. NO YOU DID NOT.
Two things I did enjoy: Everything Steve Newlin and Sookie asking for food. She actually hasn’t eaten on screen since GRAN’S PIE!! and often goes out of her way not to eat or even look at food. She’s been food adjacent, and surrounded by people stuffing their faces, and plays with her fork, but we have seen not one bit of food go in her giant gaping maw since GRAN’S PAIIHHH!! Of course she has to be eating, but the fact that they don’t show her is significant. I believe this was a narrative choice, one of the ways they showed the audience that Something Is Amiss With Sookie (and it’s Bill’s Bad Blood). Something subtle that’s hard to catch as it goes along. Remember what Ginger said, you forget to eat being around vampires. Hopefully this is a sign that she’s coming out of her fugue.
(Of course, she still hasn’t actually eaten anything, but baby steps.)
Also, really like “This is the last fucking thing I need” when Sookie saw Slab Plankchest. THAT IS THE ALWAYS THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO SLAB PLANKCHEST.
Noticed in the previews Alcide looks like he’s being dragged (see this post for the implications of that). But though his face wasn’t shown, I still think it looks like Alcide dragging Bald Spot to his Russelly Doom.
Why was the cannibalism the least fucked-up thing about tonight’s episode?
I can see what they did. They totally flipped all the fan sympathy from Eric to Sookie.
Yeap. When comes the time she kiss Alcide, everyone will be ‘damn gurl, go for it”
And that will be horrible, because spoilers seem to indicate it’s going to happen when Sookie is wasted.
Sorry, but can’t encourage her to get hers while plastered and her sober male friend takes advantage of that fact. Because we all know what that actually is.
Anytime they show Bill’s shifty eyes, you just know he’s calculating something. And couple that with his rather pointed “So, no one in the Authority knows about your relationship?” — it screams “filing away for future use”!
Yeah, I think Eric deliberately told him, just so that Bill would later ‘betray’ him with it. You want to know what your enemies think your weaknesses are. And if you’re really really smart, you build up fake weaknesses, just so you know where the attack is coming from…in other words IT’S A TRAP!
I didn’t like was the ‘champions’ line, in the whole episode. To be honest.
Not because i have something against what happened, etc etc, but just because the line was so…lame. He could do a better one :P
But, oh my god. I want 5x02 now.
The line was just wrong. :) I get that they went for the tongue-in-cheek, but this more foot-in-mouth. :))
And it didn’t really bother me so much as it made me laugh where the laugh wasn’t intended.
No, the only thing that I didn’t like was Eric’s “fuck Sookie!” Yes, I do get why. It was pretty clearly shown. But I didn’t like it all the same. I didn’t like that his anger took precedent over the fact that this girl just saved both their lives some hours prior. The least he owed her was to make sure she was okay.
But it was better than I feared. I was afraid he would ignore her distress for the duration, but it’s clear that it was an impulse reaction and he didn’t have time to think better of it, because they got captured.
I didn’t hear the “fuck sookie”, just saw comments here.
I was watching in portuguese and i can’t even remember how they put it. I am going to re-watch as soon as someone puts a link.
I am sure that when i hear it i will cry, to be honest.
But this line about champions.
Wrong, just wrong. Go with snarky but not cheap. Not cheap Eric.
I get that Eric is angry but I didn’t like that they made it seemed beel was more concerned or worried for Sookie than Eric, he even ran for her first.
I didn’t like that, either. But, thankfully, it was all a split-second thing, and it’s not that Bill cares more, it’s that he is less angry. Eric’s depth of anger speaks volumes about his depth of feelings. I am not happy about it, but I am not as troubled by it as I could have been had it played out differently.
To be really honest guys, I didn’t recognize Eric at all. To me, he seemed like someone else. I’ve got to watch it again, carefully… but that was my first impression.
You’re not alone. I don’t know who Alexander Skarsgard was playing tonight, but it sure as shit wasn’t Eric Northman. I can only guess he was playing Ike Applebaum.
I mean, c’mon, the ridiculous slow-motion kiss, the stupid lines, the passivity, the “I’M NOT LEAVING YOU BEHIND MAN” to Bill, the “Fuck Sookie”…nah, man, that shit wasn’t right.
And the “Fuck Sookie”? Yes, I get that he was mad and hurt, but he’s also a grown-ass man and not an infatuated tween. He’s not so petulant as to abandon one of his people (and she is one of His People, she’s saved his ass a bunch of times, and he’s saved hers, they’re in the same Merry Band of Buggered, Comrades-in-Arms if nothing else) just because they need some Me Time. And Sookie is loyal to Eric when it matters, no matter how much she screams at him (seriously, she dragged him in from the sun while she was still under the impression that he almost drained her for entirely selfish reasons). Have we ever seen him repay anyone’s loyalty with anything other than the same? Jason and Lala get pardons, Sookie gets a Champion, Ginger still has employment despite being half-useless.
I don’t care how much of a glorious hard-ass he was being tonight, he wasn’t being Eric Northman. It was like fanfic written by someone who doesn’t like Sookie.
(Which may be the point, Eric may be playing a long con on Bill, we’ve seen him do it before with Russell. And he wants Bill to think he’s lost interest in Sookie.)
I can see why they didn’t. That’s not really Bill and Eric dynamic.
Fuck the dialog, all I care about is the description of Nora’s necklace (which looks nothing like a fucking spider, it looks like the Barcardi logo).
The symbol of Lilith? As in, Adam’s first wife Lilith? Who refused to be submissive to him and said “Fuck this Shit” as she escaped the Garden of Eden? Who is portrayed as a Protector of Women and the Mother of Demons (including vampires)? DEMONS YOU SAY?
(I think they may have based the necklace/Authority symbol off of this necklace, but this is a modern creation not a reproduction of an ancient symbol. But since the Authority is supposed to be a new organization, a couple hundred years, that doesn’t bother me as much as it would if it was supposed to be thousands of years old.
There really isn’t a set sigil for Lilith like there is for Frucissere or some of the other Goetic demons, anyway.)
I know I keep talking about it, and I am probably annoying the actual fuck out of some people but LITERALLY with the exception of Pam I felt that all the characters were so out of character.
IS THIS REAL LIFE
That was my first impression too.
But I did loved Sookie in this episode.
I don’t understand the out of character charge. I didn’t expect Eric to be the Eric of seasons 1 - 4. It was inevitable that he was going to be different after his experiences with the amnesia and Sookie. I don’t think what we see now is who he’s going to be at the end of the season, either. He has some shit to work out. I also don’t think it was out of character for him not to leave Bill. They’re in battle, he’s a warrior, he has honor, he has lead men, and they loved him…you don’t leave a man behind in battle.
I think this is going to be a transitional season with most the characters changing from their recent experiences. The characters aren’t stagnate and I didn’t feel that anyone’s actions were so far removed from who they are and the situations they found themselves in.
Considering what happened over the past two weeks, I’m not surprised that they’re all being tested. I’m curious what exactly makes you feel like they’re out of character. :)
But Eric’s depiction tonight was not just Eric With More Experiences, this was Who The Fuck Are You? Like when you’re reading a truly awful fanfic.
Sorry, but the dude Eric Northman has been shown to be for four seasons would not tell Bill “I’m not going to leave you behind” while being perfectly content to abandon Sookie to some horrid fate. I don’t care how fucking upset he was that Sookie didn’t want to play with his lingonberries, or whatever stress he felt with the whole Nan situation. And if he is that much of a shithead, then fuck him, he’s nearly as bad as Bill. What shows our character is not just how we act when everything is cool, but how we act when the shit hits the fan and everyone hates us and everything hurts and nothing is beautiful. And Eric has been in that position before, and his reaction was never to stamp his feet and have a hissy fit because he didn’t get his way. “Fine if you don’t love me you can go die!”
Eric should not be more concerned about Bill’s safety than Sookie’s. And no, it’s not just because they were on the run, because clearly Eric doesn’t need Bill’s help to survive. Bill is nothing but a dead weight to him (apparently literally later in the season where he gives him a piggyback ride). I mean, you say he wouldn’t leave a man behind in battle (which is why he wouldn’t leave Bill), yet he was perfectly content to leave Sookie behind in battle, cause Fuck Sookie. Nope. If he was willing to save Bill, he’d be willing to save Sookie.
And that stupid fucking Champions line, and the trusting the mendacious Mr. Compton with sensitive information, and how the hell did he not sense or smell Nora’s presence? He can sense Sookie and Lala for fucks sake, but not his own blood sister? There would be no reason for Nora to block him, if she even could.
And the big slowmotion melodramatic kiss…sorry, but whenever shit goes all sappy and Hollywood Hokey like that in True Blood, you KNOW there’s bullshit afoot.
Quoting myself from another thread: “And the “Fuck Sookie”? Yes, I get that he was mad and hurt, but he’s also a grown-ass man and not an infatuated tween. He’s not so petulant as to abandon one of his people (and she is one of His People, she’s saved his ass a bunch of times, and he’s saved hers, they’re in the same Merry Band of Buggered, Comrades-in-Arms if nothing else) just because they need some Me Time. And Sookie is loyal to Eric when it matters, no matter how much she screams at him (seriously, she dragged him in from the sun while she was still under the impression that he almost drained her for entirely selfish reasons). Have we ever seen him repay anyone’s loyalty with anything other than the same? Jason and Lala get pardons, Sookie gets a Champion, Ginger still has employment despite being half-useless.
I don’t care how much of a glorious hard-ass he was being tonight, he wasn’t being Eric Northman. It was like fanfic written by someone who doesn’t like Sookie.
(Which may be the point, Eric may be playing a long con on Bill, we’ve seen him do it before with Russell. And he wants Bill to think he’s lost interest in Sookie.)”
And that was just Eric. Everyone else (save maybe Lala and Terry) were also discordant notes.
And Pam is still cursed. Even after Marnie’s death, when she broke down at Fangtasia, she still had those black lines running over her face that only appeared after getting cursed.
I know I keep talking about it, and I am probably annoying the actual fuck out of some people but LITERALLY with the exception of Pam I felt that all the characters were so out of character.
IS THIS REAL LIFE
That was my first impression too.
But I did loved Sookie in this episode.
I don’t understand the out of character charge. I didn’t expect Eric to be the Eric of seasons 1 - 4. It was inevitable that he was going to be different after his experiences with the amnesia and Sookie. I don’t think what we see now is who he’s going to be at the end of the season, either. He has some shit to work out. I also don’t think it was out of character for him not to leave Bill. They’re in battle, he’s a warrior, he has honor, he has lead men, and they loved him…you don’t leave a man behind in battle.
I think this is going to be a transitional season with most the characters changing from their recent experiences. The characters aren’t stagnate and I didn’t feel that anyone’s actions were so far removed from who they are and the situations they found themselves in.
Considering what happened over the past two weeks, I’m not surprised that they’re all being tested. I’m curious what exactly makes you feel like they’re out of character. :)
But Eric’s depiction tonight was not just Eric With More Experiences, this was Who The Fuck Are You? Like when you’re reading a truly awful fanfic.
Sorry, but the dude Eric Northman has been shown to be for four seasons would not tell Bill “I’m not going to leave you behind” while being perfectly content to abandon Sookie to some horrid fate. I don’t care how fucking upset he was that Sookie didn’t want to play with his lingonberries, or whatever stress he felt with the whole Nan situation. And if he is that much of a shithead, then fuck him, he’s nearly as bad as Bill. What shows our character is not just how we act when everything is cool, but how we act when the shit hits the fan and everyone hates us and everything hurts and nothing is beautiful. And Eric has been in that position before, and his reaction was never to stamp his feet and have a hissy fit because he didn’t get his way. “Fine if you don’t love me you can go die!”
Eric should not be more concerned about Bill’s safety than Sookie’s. And no, it’s not just because they were on the run, because clearly Eric doesn’t need Bill’s help to survive. Bill is nothing but a dead weight to him (apparently literally later in the season where he gives him a piggyback ride). I mean, you say he wouldn’t leave a man behind in battle (which is why he wouldn’t leave Bill), yet he was perfectly content to leave Sookie behind in battle, cause Fuck Sookie. Nope. If he was willing to save Bill, he’d be willing to save Sookie.
And that stupid fucking Champions line, and the trusting the mendacious Mr. Compton with sensitive information, and how the hell did he not sense or smell Nora’s presence? He can sense Sookie and Lala for fucks sake, but not his own blood sister? There would be no reason for Nora to block him, if she even could.
And the big slowmotion melodramatic kiss…sorry, but whenever shit goes all sappy and Hollywood Hokey like that in True Blood, you KNOW there’s bullshit afoot.
Quoting myself from another thread: “And the “Fuck Sookie”? Yes, I get that he was mad and hurt, but he’s also a grown-ass man and not an infatuated tween. He’s not so petulant as to abandon one of his people (and she is one of His People, she’s saved his ass a bunch of times, and he’s saved hers, they’re in the same Merry Band of Buggered, Comrades-in-Arms if nothing else) just because they need some Me Time. And Sookie is loyal to Eric when it matters, no matter how much she screams at him (seriously, she dragged him in from the sun while she was still under the impression that he almost drained her for entirely selfish reasons). Have we ever seen him repay anyone’s loyalty with anything other than the same? Jason and Lala get pardons, Sookie gets a Champion, Ginger still has employment despite being half-useless.
I don’t care how much of a glorious hard-ass he was being tonight, he wasn’t being Eric Northman. It was like fanfic written by someone who doesn’t like Sookie.
(Which may be the point, Eric may be playing a long con on Bill, we’ve seen him do it before with Russell. And he wants Bill to think he’s lost interest in Sookie.)”
And that was just Eric. Everyone else (save maybe Lala and Terry) were also discordant notes.
And Pam is still cursed. Even after Marnie’s death, when she broke down at Fangtasia, she still had those black lines running over her face that only appeared after getting cursed.
(have to think over and wait more episodes, but right now i am in the midst of thinking this, or thinking the exact opposite, that he is playing with Bill, and that this will bite him in the ass with Sookie)
What do you mean by playing? Like conning him? That this is a all a ruse, an act?
I actually agree with that, it was my whole point actually, if that’s what you’re saying. He was so badly out of character that this is all either an elaborate trap and he’s acting, or the writers got into some fucked-up weed again.
Whether or not this will bite him in the ass with Sookie depends on if she can get out from under Bill’s influence enough to be able to see what’s been going on. Hopefully her faerie kin will help her do that. Even if they have their own agenda, getting her away from their enemy would be something they’d need to do.
I know I keep talking about it, and I am probably annoying the actual fuck out of some people but LITERALLY with the exception of Pam I felt that all the characters were so out of character.
IS THIS REAL LIFE
That was my first impression too.
But I did loved Sookie in this episode.
I don’t understand the out of character charge. I didn’t expect Eric to be the Eric of seasons 1 - 4. It was inevitable that he was going to be different after his experiences with the amnesia and Sookie. I don’t think what we see now is who he’s going to be at the end of the season, either. He has some shit to work out. I also don’t think it was out of character for him not to leave Bill. They’re in battle, he’s a warrior, he has honor, he has lead men, and they loved him…you don’t leave a man behind in battle.
I think this is going to be a transitional season with most the characters changing from their recent experiences. The characters aren’t stagnate and I didn’t feel that anyone’s actions were so far removed from who they are and the situations they found themselves in.
Considering what happened over the past two weeks, I’m not surprised that they’re all being tested. I’m curious what exactly makes you feel like they’re out of character. :)
But Eric’s depiction tonight was not just Eric With More Experiences, this was Who The Fuck Are You? Like when you’re reading a truly awful fanfic.
Sorry, but the dude Eric Northman has been shown to be for four seasons would not tell Bill “I’m not going to leave you behind” while being perfectly content to abandon Sookie to some horrid fate. I don’t care how fucking upset he was that Sookie didn’t want to play with his lingonberries, or whatever stress he felt with the whole Nan situation. And if he is that much of a shithead, then fuck him, he’s nearly as bad as Bill. What shows our character is not just how we act when everything is cool, but how we act when the shit hits the fan and everyone hates us and everything hurts and nothing is beautiful. And Eric has been in that position before, and his reaction was never to stamp his feet and have a hissy fit because he didn’t get his way. “Fine if you don’t love me you can go die!”
Eric should not be more concerned about Bill’s safety than Sookie’s. And no, it’s not just because they were on the run, because clearly Eric doesn’t need Bill’s help to survive. Bill is nothing but a dead weight to him (apparently literally later in the season where he gives him a piggyback ride). I mean, you say he wouldn’t leave a man behind in battle (which is why he wouldn’t leave Bill), yet he was perfectly content to leave Sookie behind in battle, cause Fuck Sookie. Nope. If he was willing to save Bill, he’d be willing to save Sookie.
And that stupid fucking Champions line, and the trusting the mendacious Mr. Compton with sensitive information, and how the hell did he not sense or smell Nora’s presence? He can sense Sookie and Lala for fucks sake, but not his own blood sister? There would be no reason for Nora to block him, if she even could.
And the big slowmotion melodramatic kiss…sorry, but whenever shit goes all sappy and Hollywood Hokey like that in True Blood, you KNOW there’s bullshit afoot.
Quoting myself from another thread: “And the “Fuck Sookie”? Yes, I get that he was mad and hurt, but he’s also a grown-ass man and not an infatuated tween. He’s not so petulant as to abandon one of his people (and she is one of His People, she’s saved his ass a bunch of times, and he’s saved hers, they’re in the same Merry Band of Buggered, Comrades-in-Arms if nothing else) just because they need some Me Time. And Sookie is loyal to Eric when it matters, no matter how much she screams at him (seriously, she dragged him in from the sun while she was still under the impression that he almost drained her for entirely selfish reasons). Have we ever seen him repay anyone’s loyalty with anything other than the same? Jason and Lala get pardons, Sookie gets a Champion, Ginger still has employment despite being half-useless.
I don’t care how much of a glorious hard-ass he was being tonight, he wasn’t being Eric Northman. It was like fanfic written by someone who doesn’t like Sookie.
(Which may be the point, Eric may be playing a long con on Bill, we’ve seen him do it before with Russell. And he wants Bill to think he’s lost interest in Sookie.)”
And that was just Eric. Everyone else (save maybe Lala and Terry) were also discordant notes.
And Pam is still cursed. Even after Marnie’s death, when she broke down at Fangtasia, she still had those black lines running over her face that only appeared after getting cursed.
I agree that the “Fuck Sookie” comment was harsh and it made me cringe. However, I do think whatever he feels for Bill is disconnected from his feelings and more related to comrades in arms kind of thing. So my comment about battle pretty much puts them in that kind of role.
The Sookie thing is different, imo, because he isn’t thinking of her as his comrade, or as one of his people right now. She makes him feel things he doesn’t want to feel or deal with, and, frankly, my guess is he’s never really dealt with rejection before…ever. He was a total ass for doing what he did and I’m hugely disappointed, but I don’t believe this is the end of it. I think it’s going to come back to bite him, or he’s going to have some regret at how he’s dealing with her. I don’t know if he’s trying to convince himself and Bill that he doesn’t care about her, so he’s being a jerk, but you can see it in his eyes that he’s feeling something when he feels her anger/fear and he shoves it back down.
Sookie definitely deserves better than what Eric can give her right now. I guess I just have faith that it’s all going to lead to the right place. It’s the first episode and there’s a lot more story to tell.
All right, but how does abandoning his lady love and not his comrade make him any better? Bros before hoes, and all that bullshit.
You can be both Lover and Comrade at the same time. And with all they’ve been through, if Sookie isn’t deserving of Comrade-In-Arms status from him, he’s as big as shit as Bill.
Being mad and hurt? Fine. Abandoning a lover/comrade because she didn’t festoon your dick with tinsel and glitter? NOPE. That is not, in any way, Eric Northman. And if it is, he’s a big a shit as Bill.
And Sookie didn’t even reject him that harshly, it’s not like she rescinded his invitation or told him to die in a fire. She said, basically, I care about you but I can’t be with you. That shouldn’t be a rejection to Eric Northman, that should be a challenge. And since when the hell did Eric back down from a challenge? With all he’s had to go through to be with Sookie, having her say (after a REAL shitty couple of days) “I just can’t deal with this shit right now” is the stake to the heart?
I find it more believable that he was just trying to keep Bill the fuck away from her, and lead Bill into a trap he set up with Nora than that he was throwing a tantrum (and possibly had protection in place for Sookie, either in the form of Pam or faeries or whatever). Because what he did, if played straight, amounts to “You don’t love me, so you can go die.” How is that in character for Eric?
For that matter, how does letting Bill come up with the escape plan, the Champions line, the stupid way he answered the phone, the not sensing his blood sibling three feet away from him, the melodramatic slow-mo kiss, the letting his enemy know his secrets, how is any of that in character for Eric? Unless it is a Russell level ruse, of course. To entrap Bill. Who is a very very bad man who’s abusing Sookie, tried to kill his daughter, tried to kill him, fucked everything beyond all repair, because he is a great big bag of dicks.
