True Blood Returns with a New Kind of Crazy

True Blood returned for a fourth season last night on HBO, and there’s a new craziness in Bon Temps. Her name is Marnie (Fiona Shaw) and she’s the leader of a new coven that has moved into town. At first glance, Marnie is kind of a timid eccentric bag lady. But when she meets with her coven, suddenly weird and scary things begin to happen. Even Holly (Lauren Bowles) is puzzled by what she sees in Marnie. By the way, Fiona Shaw is nothing less than superb in this role.

Moving on, one of the biggest twists to come out of “She’s Not There” was the fact that Sookie (Anna Paquin) had been in Fairyland for a year and a half. What! To her it only seemed like a matter of minutes, showing us that time moves at a different pace there. She meets her Granddad, Earl Stackhouse (Gary Cole) in Fairyland, and he’s shocked to see Sookie all grown up. He thinks he just left her still a little girl. Sadly, Granddaddy Earl doesn’t survive leaving Fairyland with Sookie. Shortly after arriving in Bon Temps he dies, but not before a tender moment where he gives Sookie his pocket watch for Jason (Ryan Kwanten). At this point we begin to hear the sad “Take Me Home” music from Gran’s death, playing in the background and she begins to cry, I was sad at remembering all that she had lost.

This jump forward in time allows for a lot of storylines to move forward quicker. For instance, Jason is now a full-on officer of the law, Andy (Chris Bauer) is hooked on V, Tara changes her life completely, Sam (Sam Trammell) meets some new shifter friends, Hoyt (Jim Parrack) and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) are living together and getting on each other’s nerves, Arlene’s (Carrie Preston) baby is about a year old and acting strangely, Nan (Jessica Tuck) and Bill (Stephen Moyer) are trying to repair the damage left by Russell Edgington’s (Denis O’Hare) violent act and threats on public television, Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) has bought Sookie’s house and cleaned and repaired it, and the next big shocker of the evening – Bill is now King of Louisiana. What?!

I loved this entire episode, but some things that struck me the most were:

• Tara’s cage fight: When we first see Tara (Rutina Wesley), she’s involved in a cage fight with another woman who turns out to be her lover, Naomi (Vedette Lim). She looks different, but more importantly, there’s a new calm but dangerous serenity about her.
• Jesus pulls Lafayette further into the witch world – Jesus (Kevin Alejandro) is trying to get Lafayette to tap into the magic inside of himself. Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) is doubtful, especially after his first meeting with Marnie and the coven.
• Jason and Sookie moment – these are the little moments of calm that Sookie needs from her brother. I loved that he opened up enough to her to let her know how much he missed her while she was gone.
• Bill – looks awful good this season, I tell you! He also seems to have moved on from Sookie quite well. Hurtful but interesting.
• Pam’s interview – Nan is trying to win back human/vampire good will “one smile at a time”, but Pam’s monotone, uninterested reply to her Q & A will never do.

Yes indeed, True Blood is back and the fans can’t stop talking about it. Watch next week’s episode, “You Smell Like Dinner” now on HBO GO and Sunday night at 9/8 central.