Review: True Blood "F**k The Pain Away"

Non Spoiler Review:

Bill cleans up Jessica's mess at the mansion, and secures what he believes to be the final element in his plan to save vampire kind. Sookie attempts to get some answers via Lafayette. Jason meets an old flame. Eric embarks on a questionable plan. Pam gets some therapy.

While F**k the Pain Away was not as solid as last week, its saving grace was Bill and Warlow's interaction. What didn't work was Eric's ridiculous decisions, more useless Terry and Arlene subplots and the continued waste of Alcide. There was also a series of contrived events that were there for no other reason to advance the plot.

What I did enjoy was the backstory stuff—Warlow flashbacks tying the vampire/fairy storylines together, as well as more insight into Sookie's parents that provided answers to some questions going back to the beginning of the series.

Spoilers Now!

Warlow claims Sookie is his intended, and he's wandered the earth looking for her. On the night her parents were killed they were trying to kill Sookie, he adds. She strikes out at him. A distraught Jessica realizes she's killed all five girls. Bill detects something has happened with Sookie, tells Jessica to sleep it off and heads off to her house. Warlow warns Bill he best leave before he kills him. Instead Bill tells him, as his maker, that he commands him to come with him. And Warlow does.

Andy shows up at the mansion looking for Bill and walks in to find his dead kids as Jessica hides. He finds one still alive and takes her back to the sheriff's department where he searches the evidence room for some V. It manages to heal her and she reveals it was Jessica who did it.

Tara finds Eric to tell him Pam's been taken. They follow the authorities to the camp and walk over with hands up to surrender (because this is the extent of Eric's planning these days). Inside Pam is led by an assortment of brutal experiments. After he's processed, Eric and three other vampires are brought into a circular room. They become part of a battle to the death which Eric manages to win. Later in the common room Eric asks if anyone has seen Pam, but gets no response.

Pam is being interviewed by a scientist for her cooperation in their study. They have a more intellectual interest in her—how and what she thinks about. She opts to cooperate in order to be fed by a living donor. She explains most humans are just food to her. On the subject of makers, she reveals hers released her, but she feels nothing about it. Humans love their pain, she says. Pain is a worthless emotion. For a time her maker was everything to her, he released her and it hurt. But she's over it. He's not sure he believes her.

Bill brings Warlow down to the lab and explains Lilith is guiding him. There is a flashback to 3500 BC when Warlow was visited by Lilith outside his village. She was drawn by his fairy blood and had sex with him. She told him he was destined to save vampire kind, and turned him into one. Bill extracts some of his blood, explaining he was made into their salvation.

Willa is alive, but Burrell plans to take her to the camp himself. Sarah advises him to move on and suggests they should have a baby. He refuses to have that conversation. Jason comes home to find Sarah waiting for him. She manages to seduce him again. Jason is then woken up by a frantic and scattered Jessica who has no where else to go. Jason admits he did love her. Jessica wonders if Bill might actually be the devil. Sarah walks out and realizes Jason had a vampire girlfriend. She calls Jessica a demon. Jessica pins her down but Sarah manages to renounce Jessica's invitation to the house and she's sent right into the hands of the authorities waiting outside, as Sarah called them too.

Alcide finds his father in a bar while he's searching for Sam. Alcide tells him to get out of his life and gives him some cash to send him on his way. Nicole and Sam wake up in their hotel but he won't let her call her parents for fear the werewolves will kill them too. Coincidentally enough, Alcide's father is at the same hotel and hears them arguing.

Back in vampire Oz, Jessica finds Tara in general population. Jessica is still struggling with her actions, and wonders if vampires deserve to survive. Willa is brought by them and recognizes Tara but they won't let her mix with them. Willa is taken to her own cell.

Terry calls up an old army buddy, Justin, and asks him to kill him. Terry can't pull the trigger, but he feels he deserves to die. Justin says he will. Terry wants a few days to get his affairs in order and doesn't want to know when it's coming.

Andy plans to kill Bill but Holly warns him Bill is stronger than him and he needs to look after his daughter. Deciding to save Jessica, Jason goes to the vampire police recruitment center to make things right.

Sookie tells Lafayette everything about Warlow. She needs to find her way back to the truth, and asks his help to communicate with her parents. Lafayette prepares for the seance and manages to summon Corbet and Michelle Stackhouse. Sookie learns that Warlow had spoken with her parents when she was a child, asking for Sookie and revealing she was fae. He showed them the contract their ancestor made and promised to make her a princess. He also revealed he was a vampire and intended to make Sookie immortal to protect her forever, horrifying Corbet. They told him to leave them alone, but Warlow warned he was coming back when she was of age. Corbet decided to end it so Warlow could never turn her into a vampire. Despite Michelle protests, she drove off with him.

Meanwhile, Warlow threatens to kill the Japanese scientist. He accuses Bill/Lilith of ruining his life by having him massacre his entire village. In a flashback Warlow returned home after many years and was welcomed by his father. They quickly saw he was different and he lost control and killed them all, except for Niall whose mother had hidden him. He left him alive. Warlow then found Lilith sleeping in her cave and used his fairy powers to bring in the sunlight and burn her. Warlow has no desire to save the vampire race.

Sarah has a surprise for Burrell and brings him to see Newlin. Newlin reveals they have Eric. Burrell rails against him for what he's done to her, forcing him to intern her there. Eric realizes his plan didn't work, and he's given a stake. Sarah has Pam brought out, revealing that's his progeny. The doctor tells Pam to prove how little he means to her. 

Sookie realizes her father was going to kill her. Corbet takes over Lafayette and explains he still loves her, but she's fallen for Warlow already. He grabs her and puts Sookie in the trunk of the car. At the river he takes her into the water and pushes her head under.

The Verdict:

F**k the Pain Away had some decent Warlow backstory that made sense of the tales Niall and Lilith have told, and puts everything in perspective. It was novel to have Bill be able to command him around, and despite the loss of his fairy blood supply, he seems to have the perfect hybrid sample in Warlow. If Warlow is being completely honest that he wants Sookie for altruistic means, that doesn't completely align with his massacre of the fairy night club. But speaking of massacring faeries, I was pleased to see that four out of the five fairy kids are out of the picture, and that actually made for a nice dramatic scene for Andy rather than his usual comic relief.

Now on to the ridiculous—Eric's idea that getting captured and imprisoned is the best way to get to Pam? Really. That worked out great for everyone, and the maker-on-progeny battle at the end could be seen coming a mile away. And where was Nora?

I do hope this storyline means the end of Sarah once and for all. While it was good to see Jason interacting with Jessica again, and possibly heading off on a rescue mission, it's time to ship off the Newlins to the true death. As for Terry, I don't think the writers intend a sigh of relief from the audience when he enlists his friend's aid to kill him. What is the point of this continued torture? It's been six seasons of this. Just get it done already.

The sole purpose for Alcide this week was to contrive to get his dad staying at the same hotel with Sam. I didn't realize he and Alcide were having that many problems that he would take a hissy fit on him the moment he finds him in the backwoods werewolf bar (are there any other normal establishments in Louisiana aside from Merlotte's?). It's really sad to see the same thing week after week with Alcide.

Then there's Sookie and Lafayette. The true story of what happened to her parents is welcome, but how on earth could Sookie get led out of the house, thrown in the trunk, driven to the river, escorted down to the water and dumped in without once using some fairy blasts (that she can now conjure at will)? Come on.