Damages Recap & Review (5.2: Have You Met the Eel Yet?)

Ellen's not having the easiest time trying to represent Channing McClaren, mostly because he refuses to listen to or do what Ellen and Rutger, his chief adviser at McClarenTruth.org, tell him. During an interview McClaren publicly admits that his organisation made a mistake by publishing Noami Walling's personal communications. As Patty watches online McClaren receives a subpoena she served him while onstage, ensuring that he cannot leave the country while she tries to build a case against him by proving McClaren knew Walling personally and had intent to harm her. She asks Bill to find her proof that the pair knew each other.

Back at McClarenTruth.org Ellen questions Channing McClaren about Naomi Walling. He claims he never met her in person and that all their correspondence occurred online. As Ellen is leaving Rutger tells her that the company is having cash flow problems since the Naomi Walling story came out. Ellen tells him to find the money to pay her or hire another lawyer, and he questions her ability to represent McClaren, considering she does not appear to have much experience and has no staff. She informs him she is starting to hire, and that he should be more worried by the fact that the Judge assigned to their case favours Patty.

As Ellen has a name plaque installed outside her firm, an older woman named Kate Franklin approaches her with her resume and additional anecdotes. While Ellen accepts the resume she seems uninterested but later reads it and discovers Kate worked with Patty decades ago when Patty was establishing her legal practice. Kate also approaches Patty at Hewes & Associates and tells Patty she wants a job, and that Ellen as given her one, but she wants double the money to work for Patty. While Patty notices the proposition is out of character for Kate, she agrees. Kate returns to Ellen telling her that Patty was willing to pay her double the amount, revealing that she definitely doesn't want Kate working for Ellen. Ellen tells her she passed the test, but asked why she wouldn't want to work with Patty, to which she replies that she doesn't like her.

Despite being told to stay out of the public eye, Channing leaves the confines of McClarenTruth.org to meet with a man who claims he has more information about what happened with the Princefield leak. He asks Channing for money, which he refuses to give, saying he has never paid for information. After the man leaves and McClaren is kicked out of the bar for smoking, he is followed out by a brunette who recognises him. The pair start to flirt, and soon find themselves out the front of her apartment building, kissing, unaware that a man is watching them from the shadows. She asks him if he wants to come up, and after hesitantly looking at the security camera above the entrance to her building, he puts on a long black wig and agrees to come in.

At McClarenTruth.org, Rutger gives Ellen a USB containing damning evidence against Judge Haring. While she is hesitant to take it from him, they are both desperate to win the case, so she's takes it and approaches Haring outside his house. He initially doesn't believe that Ellen has anything on him, but when she produces the USB he agrees to step down as judge on the case, citing that his wife has become ill.

Later, the man that was watching Channing and the brunette them from the shadows arrives unannounced in Ellen's office. It is revealed he is a friend of Chris's, who Ellen hired to keep an eye on McClaren. He reveals that he has proof that McClaren meet with Naomi Walling at a hotel, using the hotel security footage and a photo he took of McClaren putting on the wig before heading into the brunette's. Ellen realises that this means McClaren is lying to her.

At Hewes & Associates, Bill is awoken by a drycleaner as he sleeps on a couch. After he tells the drycleaner he's wearing all the clothes he owns, he grabs out a flask from the side of the couch and starts to drink. Patty continues to ask him how his investigation into finding the link between McClaren and Naomi Walling is going, but it is obvious he has been half-heartedly doing the work, getting other employees to do most of it for him. Bill reviews the hotel security that Ellen also receives, but doesn't pick up that the man in the wig is McClaren and tells Patty that he can't find any evidence McClaren and Naomi ever met.

The next morning Channing returns to McClarenTruth.org and tells Rutger they need their employees back, after having angrily fired them earlier, because he knows that there is still more information to uncover about the Princefield leak and they need to get to work.

Ellen quietly celebrates back at her office with a glass of bourbon, but she is interrupted by a phone call from Patty Hewes. Patty congratulates her on removing the judge from the trail, but tells her that paranoia can lead to one seeing things that aren't actually there. Patty reveals that her conversation with Judge Haring that Ellen saw after the first hearing was misinterpreted, and that when Ellen sent Kate to Hewes & Associates she asked her assistant to lie and say she was receiving a personal phone call from Haring, to give Ellen the idea they shared a personal relationship. Patty tells Ellen that they actually didn't like each other, and he would have made her case very difficult, but the judge replacing him, Richard Gearheart, are on good terms. In court, Judge Gearheart tells them that Haring was not going to allow Patty to continue the case against McClaren, but that he thinks otherwise and will let Patty establish her case against him.

Three months in the future, Ellen stands and watches a pigeon on the top of a building, seemingly waiting for someone. The pigeon is suddenly flustered and flies away, and Ellen turns to see what caused that reaction. At the police station, a phone is given to Patty in the interogration room for her to make her call. As Ellen lies lifeless in an alleyway, her phone starts to ring. Presumably it is Patty calling her. Above, an unknown man looks over the edge of the building down at Ellen's body.

While again Patty bests Ellen in the match, the game is only just beginning, and now that Ellen has Kate on her side she might be a formidable force. Patty has problems on her hands with the lacklustre Bill, but because McClaren is such a loose cannon, and obviously lying to Ellen, it will be interesting to see which one is able to overcome and remove their obstacles before the other one gets the better of them.

Rating: 4/5

True Blood Recap & Review (5.6: Hopeless)

So the Authority aren't as useless as the seem to be. Just as Russell looked to have the upper hand over Sookie, Bill, Eric and Alcide with his wolves Councilman Kibwe and a swat team arrive to take Russell back to their headquarters. Sookie and Alcide know too much, and are glamoured by Bill and Eric respectively. While Sookie can't be glamoured as a faerie, Bill takes the opportunity and pretends to glamour her anyway, telling her she'll remember nothing of the night, nothing of him or Eric. He tells her that it will be as though they never met, and that she should live her life as she was meant to live it, in the sun with other human. Always the gentleman, Bill, but on the other end of the spectrum there's Eric, who not only glamours the nights events away in Alcide's mind, but convinces him he will not pursue Sookie romantically and that he actually finds her repulsive.

The morning after having returned to Sookie's, Alcide is unable to remember whether or not they slept together. Sookie uses her faerie powers (yet again she seems to have mastered them suddenly) and he remembers everything. He recognises one of the wolves from the night before as JD, and realises that some members of his pack are once again on vampire blood. He returns to Shreveport and tells JD he's stepping up and taking on the role of pack master saying he won't allow him to take down the pack. After receiving a second from a female wolf named Rikki, allowing him to challenge JD as pack master, Alcide leaves.

After having another dream about their parents, and adamant he will kill the vampires that killed them, Jason visits Merlotte's and tells Sookie about the faerie nightclub, and she demands he takes her there. He takes her to the field where the faerie club manifested, and while he can't see anything, Sookie uses her powers to find the opening and drags him inside. Inside, they find Hadley and Claudine's brother, Claude, as well. Claude tells them he heard that a vampire ambushed their parents on a bridge because he was drawn to something he smelled in the back seat of their car, a bandage of Sookie's. Sookie angrily says she doesn't believe him and tries to manifest her faerie fire, but it fails, and a group of faeries in the bar shoot their beams at her as she screams.

As Sam and Luna, somehow both still alive, arrive at the hospital, wolf-pup Emma, unfortunately, goes to the only place she can think of: her werewolf grandmother, Martha Bozeman. Despite suffering a mortal bullet wound, Sam is determined to stay with Luna at the hospital, and while Luna is less than impressed when Martha shows up with her daughter, the arrangement is somewhat timely, considering Luna is in hospital and there's a shifter killer on the loose. Sam tries to convince Andy that he should help him find the shifter killers, and because Andy is incapable of good police work he agrees. The pair return to a store that specialises in selling weapons to kill vampires, and as Andy questions the shop owner, Sam walks around the store inspecting weapons. Andy asks to look at something behind the counter and the man grabs a gun, but he is shot by Sam, who explains he could smell the owner go into survival mode.

At Fangtasia, Pam has to break up Tara and Jessica's fight, and she drags Tara into a back room, scornfully telling her that Fangtasia is her house, that Tara just works there. However, she is pleased that Tara held her own against Jessica. Jessica is approached by Hoyt as she sulks in the corner of the bar. He tells her that her fighting Tara proves she's still in love with him, which she denies. Annoyed, she jumps on him, and he then asks her if she'll glamour him, bite him, do anything she wants to him, and that he is desperate for her to do so. Sickened she gets up and leaves. Later on outside Fangtasia Hoyt lets a male vampire drain him. The vampire notices his heart beat is fading, but Hoyt tells him to keep going. As he's about to do so the men that attacked Sam and Luna pull up in their fan and shoot the vampire with a wooden bullet. He explodes all over Hoyt, and one of the assailants recognises him and proceeds to pull him into the fan, telling him they just saved his life.

Having killed Eller, the Irift comes after Terry and Patrick as they're leaving. As they run, Terry yells at Patrick for not believing him. Later on, an extremely emotional and scared Terry jumps from Patrick's car as they're driving. Patrick chases him down, and Terry tells him that they will both die because of what they did in Iraq. Terry arrives back in Bon Temps at Merlotte's and he tells Arlene about everything that happened in Iraq, that he's cursed, and the the Irift is after him. Arlene tells him that he needs to get back on his meds and that he can't leave because she and her children depend on him, but he makes it clear that if he stays with them, they will all die, so Arlene lets him leave.

Lafayette goes to visit his mother, Ruby Jean, in her nursing home. She tells that Jesus appeared to her too and wants to talk to him. Lafayette asks why she saw him, and she says that she doesn't know, that the electricity has always run through her. She then tells him to save Jesus from his Uncle.

Upon arriving at the Authority headquarters Bill and Eric have their I-stakes removed, and are toasted by the members of the Authority for finding Russell. Salome tells Bill and Eric that Nora confessed to being a Sanguinista while they were gone and she offers to go and continue Russell's interrogation, but Roman tells her not to bother as he plans to execute him. Salome seems shocked about this decision, but offers to go give him an extra dose of intravenous silver and bring him forth. Eric asks to visit Nora in her cell, telling the members of the Authority that she's his sister. While visiting Nora in her cell, Eric is unable to get her attention, as she is too busy praying and praising Lilith to notice him. Salome and some guards pass by dragging Russell with them, and Salome tells her that Russell is to be executed. They drag Russell off and Nora seems ecstatic claiming that Lilith's plans are coming to fruition. In the main chamber Russell is fitted with an I-stake, but when Roman tries to activate it, it fails. Suddenly Russell is on his feet, with a stake in his hand. He pushes Roman onto the table and slams a stake into his heart.

The pace picked up significantly in this episode, and other than the Fangtasia storylines and Terry, all of the others were solid. Andy and Sam are on the trail of the hunters, who have kidnapped Hoyt; Russell has killed Roman, and Lilith's plans are apparently coming together, and Sookie and Jason find themselves in an interesting predicament in the land of faerie's, so there's plenty to look forward too.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) lives with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Fields), attends Midtown Science High School, has bullying problems, and is infatuated with a girl named Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). He's a typical teenage boy. When Peter discovers a briefcase that used to belong to his scientist father, who along with his mother, disappeared when he was a young boy and was never seen or heard from again, learns he worked with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) at Oscorp, where they were attempting to engineer a revolutionary regeneration serum to help regrow limbs and human tissue with the use of animal DNA. Sneaking into Oscorp, Peter enters a lab where a "biocable" is being created from genetically modified spiders, one of which bites him. On the subway ride home, he discovers that he has developed spider-like abilities.

From there, naturally, Peter must learn to control his new powers, and soon realises that he must use them for good, after a shocking incident that results in the death of his Uncle. Meanwhile, he tries to investigate the source of his powers, and unwillingly provides Dr. Connors with the decay rate algorithm he found in his father's briefcase, leading to a disabled Conners to try the regenerating serum on himself, turning him into a human/ lizard hybrid.

While Peter's typical teenage boy problems, bullying, girl troubles and the strenuous relationship with his Uncle and Aunt were all typical eye-rolling fare, Garfield's portrayal of a hero coming to terms, and coming of age, in which a little bit of teenage recklessness and arrogance is necessary, was great. The way in which Uncle Ben's death was handled was a wonderful, albeit dark, scene in which Peter learns a valuable lesson. The film allows Garfield to be smug and sarcastic as Spiderman, yet never lets him get away with too much without being severely punished or learning a thing or two.

Suspension of disbelief always goes out the window when watching films like this, and audiences have to take human/ animal regenerative DNA experiments, biochemical antidotes and the sort as extremely common occurrences. While Ifans is fine as scientist-turned-bad Dr. Connors, his character motivation is weak. He has a missing arm, so his life's work is understandable, but when exactly he decided to turn the entire world into human reptiles, or why, is beyond me. Again, Sheen and fields are fine as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, but the words of wisdom they share with Peter every time he's at home are instantaneously cheesy and overly sentimental.

The actions scenes were good, but nothing special, and the same can be said for the CGI, which actually didn't seem to be up to scratch with the special effects audiences are used to in superhero films today. Furthermore, the film spends a fair bit of time on the mystery surrounding Peter's parents, a conclusion left for one of the many sequels the film is going to have, but one feels time may have been better spent in the film then posing questions for a later date.

The Amazing Spider-Man is typical superhero stuff, but Andrew Garfield is a breathe of fresh air as the newly born character, which allows the film to stand a little more firmly on his shoulders.

Rating: 3/5

Breaking Bad Recap & Review (5.1: Live Free or Die)

Breaking Bad has always made use of it's intriguing openings, giving audiences a glimpse into the future, and this season starts no differently. Somewhere in New Mexico an unkempt Walt is at a Denny's restaurant. In the bathroom he hands over an envelope full of cash in exchange for a set of keys. He goes out into the parking lot, finds the car the keys belong to, and opens the trunk revealing M60 machine gun with ammunition. This sets up what is sure to be an intriguing journey. Walt looks to be on the run, and needs to take matters into his own hands.

Back in the present, having 'bet' Gus, Walt returns home to get rid of the evidence of the pipe bomb as well as the Lily of the Valley plant he used to poison Brock. Skyler and Walt Jr. return from Hank's, and Walt Jr. is excited by all the new coverage Gus's death is getting on the news, as well as for Hank. Skyler is acting hesitant towards Walt, revealing she's afraid of him.

Walt can never stand still for long anymore, and he realises that the camera's in the lab may have left evidence for the police to find. He and Jesse go to meet Mike, who is on his way to find them after hearing about Gus's death, and a tense, and slightly amusing stand off ensues. I'm not surprised Mike wanted to kill Walter, and I think the only thing that stops him from doing so at this stage is his loyalty to Jesse. While initially amusing, Mike and Walt's bickering became quickly annoying, especially in the scene where they ignore Jesse, who had a legitimate solution to the problem of Gus's laptop that has the lab footage on it.

Saul goes to the car wash revealing to Skyler that Ted survived his accident. Skyler goes to visit him and finds him in a neck brace, much to her dismay. He promises her that he will not breath a word about how his accident occurred.

It's always fun when old characters/ sets are revisited on a television show, so it was nice to see the junkyard and Old Joe again.

I simultaneously loved and hated that Walt turned the magnet up too high and turned over the truck. On the one hand it demonstrates that he's a flawed character, which I've always enjoyed. On the other it continues to highlight just how debilitating his paranoia has become, and I'm waiting for the moment he makes a mistake that will ruin him, because he's made so many, yet somehow manages to get past them with minimal repercussions. This time, as the police are cataloguing broken items of evidence at the station, a smashed photo of Gus reveals account numbers of a bank account in the Cayman Islands hidden behind the photo.

Saul tries to explain to Walt the situation that occurred with Skyler and Ted, and Walt remains responsive until Saul tells him he no longer feels comfortable with their arrangement, especially after Walt poisoned Jesse, and says that they're done. Walt  walks over to Saul, intimidating him, and replies that he says when they're done.

I am very interested to see what Skyler will do now that she's afraid of Walt. Up until this point in the series she's been extremely loyal to him, but now that she knows that he is capable and willing to commit murder, It'll be interesting to see if she's remains passive and sticks by him, or tries to find a way out of the situation for her and her kids. At the end of this episode it's obvious she's trapped in a relationship with a man she no longer loves or really knows. Walter may forgive her, but can she forgive him?
Rating: 3/5

Damages Recap & Review (5.1: You Want to End This Once and For All?)

The setup of the McClaren case so far has been good. I was hesitant that the show was again using parallels from current media headlines to form the shape of the main legal battle this season, and it's obvious corporate America is once again in the spotlight, as well as Wikileaks founder David Assange. However, at this stage, the case has yet to be clearly defined, and there are still plenty of questions that need to be answered about what happened. Did Noami willingly give information about her company to McClaren, if so, why? Or Did McClaren steal it? Or someone else? And again, why? And why add all the dirty details of Noami's sex-life too? I love that guilty and innocence are relative terms in the world of Damages, nothing is that simple, and I hope, in terms of the characters involved in the legal battle, at least some ambiguity remains.

Noami's death was certainly shocking, and while Damages has never shined away from violence, I found myself feeling squeamish when the two masked men ambushed her in her bathtub and slit her wrists with a box cutter. It'll be interesting to find out who did it. While the obvious answer is Patty, as usual, you can't be certain.

Obviously, the courtroom confession of Ellen had to wait, but the custody of Catherine storyline seemed to fall by the wayside as the episode progressed and as Bill suggested, what is the point of keeping it around? I hope Michael starts to become a more aggressive character rather then just acting like an immature smart-ass. I can see him trying to dig up inofmration about his mother to build his case, possibly from Ellen. I hope this occurs, after all he's Patty's son, he's not just going to let her take his child. Hopefully Catherine is used more to, she provoked some very entertaining emotions from Patty during her dream.

While I understand the need for Patty and Ellen to have people to confide in, the inclusion of Bill and Chris respectively as the people they turn to to discuss their problems doesn't excite. At this stage, we know little about Bill, other than his loyalty to Patty. I could see him easily getting his hands dirty, but he pales in comparison to Pete. I'm hoping that he'll develop into a more three-dimensional character and not just be Patty's lackey, I'd love to see him start to question her as the season goes on, possibly even betray her. As for Chris, he's a liability to Ellen if there ever was one, and I can see a David-esque situation occurring all over again. Obviously the longer he hangs around, the more he's going to learn about Ellen and Patty's relationship, and that can't end well. He's just a distraction Ellen doesn't need. She's thinks she can do it all, be a successfully lawyer, have the perfect relationship, but she's needs to learn she can't.

While of course, for the sake of the story, Ellen had to represent McClaren in order to set up her showdown with Patty, it still always annoys me a little when Ellen plays right into Patty's hands. She knows she is giving Patty exactly what she wants by doing this, yet she still does it because she seems to have the delusion that somehow she will be able to truly triumph over Patty. It's a self-centred move, and while I don't necessarily like it in her character, hopefully it will lead to a sense of self-realisation before the end of the season. Ellen can't beat Patty without becoming exactly like her.

Flash-forwards have always been a staple of Damages' storytelling, and they're the perfect way to entice viewers to keep watching. Unfortunately, the adds for this season spoiled what would have surely been the episode's main talking point: Three months later Ellen is shown to be lying on a road, dead, a pool of blood surrounding her body. So what lead Ellen to her untimely end? Or perhaps more importantly, how was Patty involved, if she indeed was involved at all. Other flashbacks within the episode show Patty being taken away in handcuffs, and interrogated about Ellen's disappearance, revealing that Ellen was meant to tesify against her in court that day. Given that Ellen agreed not to do that in this episode, either she changes her mind about representing McClaren, or possibly fails at doing so, and goes back to testifying for Michael as a last attempt to get Patty. Or there's the possibility that she's testifying against Patty for a whole other reason, perhaps she finds out Patty's responsible for Noami's death during her investigation for McClaren, and plans to reveal it to the court? Either way, despite the giveaway in the trailer, the flashbacks have certainly intensified the build up for the rest of the season.

A solid start to the season, the introduction of the McClaren case was perfect, and the tantalising flashbacks ensure us that the showdown betwen Patty and Ellen is not to be missed.

Rating: 4/5

True Blood Recap & Review (5.5: Let's Boot and Rally)

A drunken Sookie vomits on Alcide's shoes just as they're about to get it on, and if that ain't a mood killer, then her two other vampire love interests, Bill and Eric, show up to inform them they need to find Russell, and they need Sookie to do it. I'm loving her this season, and maybe it was just because she was drunk, but the way in which she hilariously resigned to the fact that even without Bill or Eric in her life that her life will always and forever more be a mess involving supernatural occurrences was a great character moment. Alcide takes them to Doug, an employee of Alcide who was glamoured the night Russell was broken free in the parking lot. Sookie uses her fairie powers (which she seems to have somehow skillfully mastered) to partially deglamour a very freaked out Doug, revealing that a woman with a necklace, a vampire Authority necklace at that, broke Russell free. They quickly move along to where Doug was glamoured to take Russell, because Eric and Bill receive a call from Molly saying find him by morning or die. It's the perfect horror movie set: the abandoned Babcock hospital/ asylum. Appropriately, a number of scary things occur, strange noises, rats, dead bodies, and live ones hanging from the ceiling. Y'know, the usual. But True Blood's style was to save the best until last, and that just what they did, after five episodes of waiting we finally got to see Russell! And he was all gentlemanly, seductive, creepy, and quite a bit angry all at the same time and I loved it all so much. Just as things got heated between a bed ridden Russell and Eric though, growling noises were heard, and it looked at though something has Alcide by the leg. Cut to credits. Oh, True Blood!

Tara took what seems to be a right of passage for a vampire on True Blood during this episode, working at Fangtasia. But as seems to be the way with Tara and Pam is that basically Pam has to force Tara to do everything as her maker which is getting old, and apparently for no pay either. Don't vampires have rights or something? Despite having worked at Merlotte's she wasn't very good. Number one rule of bartending, don't eat the the customers! Jessica takes pity on Tara and tries to tell her everything will get better with time, and that their urges aren't wrong, and I can't help but feel that vampires have never been a clearer metaphor for homosexuality on the show. I wasn't enjoying the vampire-gal pal thing, so I was glad that it didn't last long. A truly misguided Hoyt once again came to Fangtasia to get his fangbang on, and upon meeting Tara outside they both muse how unlike themselves they are. They moved this connection into the bathroom stall, but with Tara still learning, she took a little too much out of Hoyt. Jessica, who happened to be in the next stall with a female fangbanger of her own, heard this and was not impressed. Cue fast-forward vampire fighting. Also, what is someone actually wanted to use the bathroom in Fangtasia, to, y'know, go to the bathroom?

At The Authority Roman continues to have some inner turmoil of his own about the future of The Authority and their mainstreaming movement. Salome is acting increasingly suspicious and if it turns out she released Russell I will let out a long, indifferent and bored sigh. Nora also continues to praise Lillith and get punished with UV rays. Oh, The Authority, you're as useless as I always thought you were. After a long speech in which he considered giving in to the Sanguinista movement because they seem to have successfully infiltrated everyone and everything, Ramon reveals that no he, and the other members of the Authority with stay true to the cause of mainstreaming. Thanks for clearing that up.

After his little trip to faerie land Jason has a dream (or distorted memory) in which his parents suddenly have mortal neck wounds during breakfast on Christmas morning. He and Andy, both wake up naked at home to the call about the murder's of Sam's shifter friends, Suzanne and Emory. At the crime scene, Jason and Andy discuss and are both perturbed by their trip with the faeries, Jason saying that supernatural being have gotten away with murders for too long. They find wooden bullets, with a silver interior, and they conclude that however killed Suzanne and Emory may be after supernatural beings in general. After this, Jason visits his parents grave, and Sam goes to inform Luna of Suzanne and Emory's deaths. As Sam leaves, he is shot by a group of men with rifles on a pickup truck. Luna steps out to help Sam, but they shoot her twice, killing her. Emma then runs out to Luna, but Sam warns her of the gunmen. As the men aim their rifles, Emma shifts into a wolf and runs off, avoiding the bullets.

It seems Terry will be on the run for his life very soon, too. After Eller, their old navy buddy from Iraq, has Terry and Patrick tied to chairs in his creepy basement, Terry has some more flashbacks in which he sees a dying Iraqi woman, which Patrick tells him to kill. Terry does as he is ordered, but beforehand the dying woman curses them. When they burn the bodies he sees the face of the Ifrit fire demon in the flames. He tells Eller this and Eller is pleased that Terry believes him. Terry convinces Eller to untie them because otherwise the Ifrit will kill them all, he does so, but then Patrick knocks Eller unconscious saying that he and Terry are both crazy, and ties Eller up. Terry leaves and Patrick following him, telling him that they were on drugs that night and that he is just imagining everything. In Eller's basement he regains consciousness as a sudden rise in smoke surrounds him. In the smoke, a demonic looking creature reaches for Eller as he screams in terror.

Terrified of what his inner demon might have done to Sookie, Lafayette returns home and a bunch of crazy stuff happens, he sees the demon in the mirror again, and his praying statues come to life before he throws them to the floor. Scared, he calls for Jesus. Later, Lafayette wakes up on the couch to see Jesus' severed head, with his mouth sewn shut, on his coffee table. The head is also seen by Ruby Jean, Lafayette's mother, and she seems to understand what he is trying to say. She tells Jesus that she'll tell Lafayette what he's saying and screams for her son.

With Russell found, and a group intent on killing supernatural beings on the loose, this episode sets up a lot of interesting storylines. But others I'm still not so certain about, how much more can be done with Tara before it gets old? When will the Ifrit kill Terry and put us out of our misery? And can viewers really just be expected to pick up Lafayette's weirdo magic storyline when we just has faeries last week?

Rating: 3/5

True Blood Recap & Review (5.4: We'll Meet Again)

Sookie's not in a good way, and it's one of the few plots I'm interested in on True Blood at the moment. Lafayette gives her some harsh truths after she reveals to Alcide she killed Debbie, but her attempt to repent by also confessing her crimes to Jason, of course, don't end up in her being punished. The citizens of Bon Temps try their best to make her feel super guilty about turning Tara into a vampire with their super hateful thoughts, but Lafayette's demon alter-ego seems to hate her the most when he puts some mojo on Sookie's car so when she hops in it and starts driving the gas pedal decides to go full-throttle. Of course, she manages to jump out of the car before it crashes into a pole, providing the most exciting moment in an otherwise boring episode. It's not all bad for Sookie though, Jessica overhears her conversation with Jason and glamours Andy into forgetting Debbie's case (if only True Blood could glamour it's viewers into thinking they don't just magic away plots whenever they went). Annoyingly loyal Alcide also helps Sookie out by telling Debbie's parents that Marcus killed Debbie, and that he killed Marcus in retaliation. Well at least he was only half-lying. Not only that, but Sookie also gets to have a drunken make out session with the werewolf when he comes to tell her his good deed. Too bad Bill and Eric, who jealously decide to use Sookie in their attempt to find Russell (hurry up Denis O'Hare, and make this show awesome again).

So while Bill and Eric were freed from the boringness that is The Authority at the beginning of the episode, it looks like they were paying too much attention as to how their vampire overlords like to do things and decided to act extremely boring themselves. The very amateur investigators decide to confront Pam, who was the one other person to know about Russell's hole in the ground other than them an Alcide. Pam has just returned from child troubles of her own, having saved Tara from death by tanning booth. Eric is unnecessarily mean to Pam, Pam continues to become increasingly annoying in her devotion to Eric, and neither Bill nor Eric seemed the slightest bit phased that Tara was now a vampire. It's turns out to be a case or being cruel to be kind, when Eric tells Pam later on that either The Authority or Russell will kill him, and he wants her as her progeny to live on. He releases her from their blood bond, and it's a whole much of seriousness, sappiness and crying. Meanwhile, Bill searches his house for bugs, him and Eric having concluded that if neither of them told anyone else of Russell whereabouts, that someone must have overheard them. Jessica is helping him, and she's aware something serious is going on with Bill, but he refuses to tell her. She tries to convince him to go see Sookie, and he tells her that she that he did a good job as her Maker and that she should look after herself. These vampire family moments are all exactly the same... boring. Jessica seems to have surpassed Bill, but for Pam, unfortunately, Tara is as stubborn as ever and refuses to drink a human she offers her (the only in-character thing Tara does all episode). But again, vampire powers solve everyone's problems and Pam forces her to drink.

The Authority, as usual, are having vampire problems of their own. Roman decides Nora is still withholding information about the Sanguinistas and he asks Salome to help in retrieving it from her. After threatening her with the true death and failing, Roman offers Nora Bill and Eric's safety in return for her revealing who the real leader of the Sanguinistas is, to which she agrees. Later, Roman confronts the other members of The Authority and reveals Alexander as another traitor. He plays a video of Alexander feeding on a human, and Alexander tries to plead his case, but Roman tells the other members that the video has been sent to all of the Authority's enemies and kills him. With the most annoying member of The Authority dead, Roman says there will be no more rebellion or opposition to his cause and they will all fall in line. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

Despite being glamoured to forget Debbie's case, Andy continues to try and be a good sheriff by agreeing to that night on the town Judge Clements offered him in exchange her making his sons speeding fine disappear. The Judge also invites Jason along. Judge Clements arrives at the station later on in a limousine pull of beautiful women. Although they all have bags placed over there heads Andy and Jason don't seem to put up much of a fight. They're lead to a field and then through a portal into a nightclub in the fairy world, where Andy once again meets Maurella the fairy. That's not the only recognizable face there though, as Jason sees his cousin Natalie. Jason tells her that Sookie is alive and Natalie is glad then asks if Jason was a refugee from vampires. He says no, then realizes he's in a fairy safe house from all the vampires. Natalie says they should get Sookie before she gets killed by vampires just like Jason and Sookie's parents were. Natalie mutters that she's said too much and leaves once Layda tells her to. Jason tries to catch up to her, but other fairies attempt to stop him. Andy intervenes and tries to help Jason. Both are kicked out of the fairy safe house. When they look around and realize they were in the middle of a field, Andy warns Jason of the two male fairies in front of them. Andy and Jason screams as they are hit with a beam of light from both fairies, which of course will make them forget everything.

Unfortunately, Terry seems more concerned with remembering is past rather than forgetting it. While he and Patrick are on route to South Dakota on their search for Brian Eller, their old navy buddy, Terry has nightmares about his time in Iraq. He and his fellow soldiers were acting incompetent, innocent civilians got killed, boring. Later on they search Eller's barn at night and notice a hidden opening below. They both go down, they see pictures taken and drawn of homes on fire. Eller then appears aiming a shotgun at both of them, and hopefully he will put Terry, Patrick and this annoying storyline out of its misery.

At Merlotte's, Sam sees Suzanne and Emory, two of his former shape shifting friends who beg him to shift and run with them again. Sam agrees, but later that night when he goes to meet them he finds them shot dead.

A very slow week on True Blood, basically undoing any excitement I may have held for the future of the show after the end of last week's episode. I don't think The Authority and Bill and Eric could move at a slower pace if they tried. I love where Sookie's at at the moment, but the way in which Marcus's and Debbie's deaths have just being tied up in a neat little bow annoys me a lot. Hopefully Sookie can improve Bill and Eric's situation next time. The fairies always hold promise, but they failed dismally last time they were used on the show, and I don't want to get my hopes up. The same goes for Sam's storylines, I want to get excited, but what's the bet it just means the werewolves are back?

Rating: 2/5