True Blood 2x12 - "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" Recap and Review

And so another season of True Blood draws to a close amidst yet more Yahtzee, people being gored by bulls, murdered truckers and the ritual licking of ostrich eggs. Just another day in Bon Temps.

Previously on True Blood… Jessica snacked on Zombie-Maxine who later told Hoyt the truth about his suicidal father, Sam tried to promote interspecies solidarity by asking Eric for help with Maryann, Eric flew, Sookie and Bill worked their mojo to de-zombify Tara who promptly ran off to save Eggs,  Sookie worked yet further mojo on Maryann, Lafayette inadvertently killed Carl and became Maryann’s latest cabana boy, Bill get the lowdown on how to deal with Maenads from Sophie-Anne, and… well, a whole lot more happened. This “Previously” section is two minutes long, which goes some way to showing how awesomely layered this show has become.

Skipping ahead to the start of the episode and we find Sookie exercising her lungs once more with a good old-fashioned horror movie scream as she realises Lafayette isn’t going to be backing her up any time soon. He gives the order for the giant egg to be delivered to Maryann before making Sookie change into a white dress and hauling her downstairs into the Bridal Suite o’ The Damned where Maryann, apparently wearing Gran’s wedding dress, is being attended to by her bridesmaids. Maryann gleefully declares that Sookie will be her maid of honour, and we cut to the opening titles whilst wondering; what wedding gift do you give to the immortal demon-god-summoning sociopath who has it all?

Maryann says that she’s just “borrowing” Sookie to go with “old, new and blue over here”. It’s only at this point that I notice Lafayette is wearing the same bridesmaids dress as everyone else, and I’m reminded just how cool True Blood is. Sookie pluckily vows to stop Maryann’s evil scheming, leading the Maenad to request a private moment with her maid of honour.

Turns out that Maryann wants Sookie to try and stop her, which makes an awful lot of sense; Maryann is thousands of years old and has never encountered anything that could harm her, and for a creature that started its life embracing dangerous excess and abandonment, the temptation to feel Sookie’s “electricity” is too much for Maryann. Sookie decides to give it her best, scrunches up her face, and slams her palms down onto Maryann’s chest.

“That’s hitting me”, Maryann chides her. “You’re not committing to this at all.” (Can we make a new rule that Michelle Forbes has to appear in every TV show? She’s been the absolute highlight of this season.) The Maenad proves to Sookie that the waitress does have powers, and certainly isn’t human, by trying and failing to shimmy her into zombie subservience. “Come on, it’ll be our little secret. What are you?” she asks.

“I’m a waitress. What the fuck are you?”

Back at the Fortenberry’s house Zombie-Maxine is busy busting some moves in the kitchen when she realises that Hoyt is asleep, and seizes the opportunity to try and deliver her homemade “pie” to Maryann. Luckily Hoyt has rigged up a trap, waking him so that he can catch Maxine just in time; he gets accused of being Norman Bates, but he succeeds in keeping his mother away from the festivities, even as she insists that “a god is coming”.

Maryann and Sookie are still debating just how human the latter is, as Sookie flashes back to the moment from the pilot episode where she telekinetically throttled the V-dealer. It’s reassuring that Alan Ball hadn’t just changed his mind about the extent of Sookie’s powers and hoped that we’d forget all about that moment, even though it’s taken a few years for it to be brought up again.

Talk moves on to wedding plans, as Maryann turns into a weepy bride-to-be and tells Sookie that she’s marrying a god, with Sam intended to be the perfect wedding gift; apparently this all relates back to Sam’s first encounter with Maryann. In her twisted Maenad logic she saw not a terrified shapeshifter but a naked virgin, drawn to the statue of the mad-god, delivered to her doorstep. I think one of the most wonderful touches that has been added to the show in the last few episodes is learning the truth about what Maryann really is; she’s essentially a sad, desperate spinster. All Maenads are. They live for thousands of years, unable to seduce the one person (or god) they desire and clinging to abstract notions of How To Get Their Man. Maryann may as well have picked Sam based on a horoscope, for all the good it would do her, but she’s deluded enough that she can see signs in absolutely anything. Handled incorrectly, this de-fanging of Maryann could have been the downfall of her effectiveness as a character, but if anything it makes her more compelling. Forbes has said in interviews that she never tried to play Maryann as a villain, and of course Maryann herself certainly doesn’t consider what she’s doing evil. She’s simply lived so long that she has no concept of morality any longer.

Speaking of long-lived immoral creatures, the action now shifts over to Sophie-Anne’s palace, where Eric has been conscripted into a game of Yahtzee, much to his frustration, with the Queen, Sookie’s cousin Hadley and Latvian Ludis. Sophie-Anne insists they “play to 5 million” and endorses Yahtzee as the most egalitarian game there is, since even her social, physical and intellectual inferiors (indicating her three opponents) have the same chance of winning. Sophie-Anne offers a brief moment of sympathy to Eric over the loss of Godric – “That blows.” – before scoring Yahtzee again. The topic of conversation swiftly turns to Bill’s discovery of Eric’s V-dealing, but the Viking insists that Bill doesn’t know Sophie-Anne is the supplier.

Hmm… so it’s Sophie-Anne’s blood that they’re handing out to the local population. Considering that a vampire gains a psychic link with anyone who drinks their blood, could this all be part of a larger plan by Sophie-Anne? She could potentially have a connection to thousands of humans through dealing V. Just a way of keeping tabs on what’s going on in her part of the neighbourhood, or the first step in something bigger? Methinks we smell a Season 3 plot thread developing…

In Bon Temps Jason and Andy are approaching the Stackhouse residence, with Jason spouting off gung-ho catchphrases such as “I love the smell of nail polish in the morning.” Says it all, really. They turn a corner and find a zombie party in full-swing, and interestingly, Jason sheds a tear at the sight of his grandmothers house being defiled. Enraged, he and Andy sweep through the throng of revellers in full commando mode, with Jason apparently putting his Fellowship of the Sun training into practice. Clearly none of the party guests feel threatened as they quickly overwhelm the duo, allowing Maryann’s influence to take them over.

Which answers one question about Jason, anyway. Whatever Sookie is, Jason clearly isn’t. In an interview following the finale Alan Ball confirmed that Sookie and Jason are brother and sister, so it’ll be interesting to learn why Jason doesn’t have the same powers as his sister.

At Merlotte’s Bill confronts Sam about the Maenad situation, telling the shifter that he has to do the right thing for the town and for Sookie. Sam insists that it would do no good, since “killers don’t just stop killing.” Bill knows that only too well but tells Sam he has no choice, baring his fangs at him. To me, scenes like this sum up why I’m not such a big fan of Sookie’s relationship with Bill; if she could see him here, forcing Sam towards his death, there wouldn’t be enough “Sookeh is mahn” drawls in the world to convince her Bill is right.

And now, Arlene licking blood off an ostrich egg. Naturally. Sookie says what we’re all thinking, asking what the egg is all about, even wondering if Maryann laid it. There’s a scene for the DVD extras. Maryann says no, it’s simply symbolic, and represents fertility. The bridesmaids force Sookie to play along, with Maryann insisting “You’re the maid of honour. You have to lick the egg.” You know how people have Star Trek-themed weddings? I dread the day that True Blood becomes cult enough for Maenad-themed weddings. Yikes.

Bill drags Sam through the zombie party towards the house as Andy and Jason burst in on the egg ritual to tell Maryann that the sacrifice has arrived. The Maenad announces that the time has come, but with Sookie refusing to participate, threatens to kill Jason instead to seal the deal.

To the strains of the wedding march the group assemble in the front yard around the giant meat stick figure as Bill offers up Sam in exchange for Sookie; since she’s served her purpose Maryann agrees, sending Sam off to be prepared for sacrifice while she regales the crowd with the story of Dionysus. In short order Sam is trussed up and gagged, as Maryann reassures him that his death is a good thing: “You’re lucky, Sam. It’s everyones wish to have their lives mean something. So few ever get to realise it.”

As the crowd scream for blood Bill hisses at Sookie for her to use her powers, just as Eggs drives the sacrificial knife into Sam. And it looks like it hurts. Maryann anoints herself with the blood as Sookie hears a psychic message from Sam to “destroy it all”, sending her into an egg-smashing and stick figure dismantling frenzy (with the help of yet more sparkly electrical powers). Maryann is devestated that her offering has been ruined, and decides to sacrifice the entire wedding party to Dionysus to make up for things. A nice, balanced response I think. It’s only when Sookie begs for Maryann to leave them alone that the Maenad does, realising that Sookie is the only one who has done anything to harm her. It’s an interesting little moment for Maryann; she’s perfectly willing to destroy anyone if it suits her purpose but she still has a little shred of sanity that tells her Sookie is the only one to have earned vengeance. With that in mind, Maryann slams her fists down into the earth and emerges with claws. She gives chase to Sookie, these two strange white dress-clad women thundering through the trees, and eventually catches her. Just as she’s about to tear Sookie’s head off, she hears the low bellowing of an animal as a huge, white-horned bull emerges from the shadows.

Maryann approaches, tentatively, in awe. After thousands of years of struggle and desire she finally has what she’s been fighting for. Maryann greets her husband, spreading her arms wide and the bull… The bull drives a horn up through Maryann’s chest, impaling her, her thick black blood spewing out. “My God,” Maryann gasps. “I am the one to be sacrificed? I am the vessel? Yes. I’m happy to die. I’m yours.” The bull repeatedly gores Maryann, her face halfway between agony and rapture, before shapeshifting.

The bull is Sam, whose arms is now reaching through Maryann. He pulls it out, bringing her heart along with it. The Maenad takes one last pained long at Sam and, like a lost child, asks: “Was there no God?”

Beyond here lies nothing indeed. Without her faith, Maryann immediately wizens and mummifies. And I actually feel sorry for her at this stage, because she was ultimately such a pathetic creature. Dangerous, but pathetic. Now dead, her control over the town is broken as everyone regains their senses.

Sam reveals that his “sacrifice” was planned by he and Bill, and that Sam only survived by feeding from Bill’s blood. Ugh. Another Get Out Of Jail Free card for Compton. It still doesn’t change the fact that, even if Sam hadn’t agreed to it, I’m sure Bill would have dragged him off to Maryann anyway.

At the Fortenberry’s Hoyt is relieved that Maxine has returned to normal, glad to be free of all the lies she was telling under Maryann’s spell. Maxine’s eyes give her away, however. She was telling the truth; Hoyt’s father committed suicide, and Maxine has spent the last twenty years manipulating Hoyt with the secret. Hoyt tells Maxine that he wishes Jessica had finished her off and storms out. Hoyt has been one of the most surprising characters this season; I initially thought that he would be a compelling character purely from his relationship with Jessica, but the writers have given the time to develop him as his own man as well. That’s the great thing about a large ensemble cast; anyone can step to the forefront and become a great new addition to the main cast. I suspect that, given the talk about Arlene’s ex-husband a few weeks back, we might be seeing everyone’s favourite redhead waitress take on a bigger role next season.

It’s around this point that the focus of the episode shifts, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that. On the one hand it’s good to see the fallout from Maryann’s reign of terror, but the shift in tone at the halfway point of the episode feels almost like a false climax. I suppose as viewers we’re conditioned into appreciating a more formulaic structure, where the bad guy gets their comeuppance in the last ten minutes and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. In “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” there are several elements that feel like they could have been the Season 3 opener, but there are a few critical points that had to be addressed this season. One is Eggs. He asks Sookie to read his mind and uncover the memories that Maryann buried, and he quickly learns that he was responsible for murdering Ms. Jeanette and Daphne, as well as trying to kill Sam. Traumatised, he later hands himself in to Andy, but his reckless waving around of the sacrificial knife leads to a misunderstanding as Jason shoots and kills him to “protect” Andy.

We also see Jessica fall down the slippery slope into evil vampireness. Without Hoyt to give her some kind of hope and connection to humanity she’s now spending her evenings seducing and murdering truckers. I’d always hoped that she could avoid that, and perhaps Hoyt will be able to pull her back next year, but she might be too far gone already.

And so to the big cliffhanger, as Bill takes Sookie out to a privately-booked French restaurant and presents her with two gifts; the first is plane tickets to Vermont, and the second is an engagement ring. (Presumably Vermont being one of the only places to allow inter-species marriage!) Confused and emotional Sookie dashes off to the bathroom, where on second thought, she places the ring on her finger. Rushing back to Bill to deliver her verdict, she finds he has been abducted. We’ve just seen him dragged away with a silver chain around his neck. Cue next seasons mystery! The obvious culprit is Eric, having promised the Queen he would deal with Bill, but I’ve got a feeling it might be something bigger than that.

And that was Season 2. I really thought it was a much stronger year than the first season, mainly because of the consistency in style and tone. S1 felt slightly lost at times, but S2 seems to have nailed it. I’m very sad to see Michelle Forbes leave, but there was no way her character was sustainable; much like another great character she played recently, BSG’s Admiral Cain, Maryann had such a great impact on the show because she came and went fairly swiftly, leaving disaster in her wake.

This season I started watching True Blood as a big fan, but it’s now safely (in my view, anyway) one of the very best shows on television. The cast are consistently strong, the writing is sharp and funny, the horror is handled well and the real-world parallels that viewers can draw are seemingly endless. Or they can just enjoy a love story between a vampire and a human. True Blood has something for everyone, but without trying to pander to every audience. The appeal is effortless, which makes it such addictive viewing. Roll on Season 3, please, where we will apparently learn more about Sookie’s heritage, be introduced to the Vampire King of Mississippi, and see new relationships for Tara, Jason and Lafayette.

Now it’s your turn to rate the episode! Just click the stars below to have your say.