*Warning, this post contains spoilers

This isn’t a detailed recap so much as a stream of consciousness about the ep this week.

True Blood this week was so good, I’m having a hard time waiting a whole week until it’s on again! This week’s ep was titled, “If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?” Which pretty much refers to Jason’s being tied up and used as a chew toy for panthers in the Hot Shot community’s bid to expand their gene pool. This storyline pretty much reflects the way it went down in the books, only with more lurid detail (including a lot of people snacking on raw animals, ick!) leading to Jason’s eventual joining with the shifters as one of their own. Only in this version, it looks like they’re planning on having him mate with every female in the town, down to the seriously underaged (double ick!) This isn’t my favorite storyline as I’m not a big fan of Crystal’s, but she’s at least nicer than she was in the books. Crazy insane, but nicer.

I am still getting a kick out of seeing Bill as the King of Louisiana. Yes, it’s a thin stretch of plot to see him in that position, even with their flashback to explain it, but it’s nice to see him have something to do instead of just mooning over Sookie or disapearing to South America or something. I liked watching him dole out paternal advice to Jessica over her infidelity to Hoyt. It was an interesting move when she decided to just glamour Hoyt into forgetting about her confession and their problems, I’m betting that comes back to bite her in the end. Speaking of them – how creepy is that old nasty babydoll? I can’t wait til they reveal the backstory on that! And how funny is it that Jess gave it to baby Mikey to play with!

I have to say that I’m of two minds on how they’re handling Eric’s amnesia on the show. I kind of like how it unfolded in the books a bit more, with absolute secrecy behing Eric staying with her (Instead of her blabbing to Alcide inside of fifteen minutes – although it was a hoot to see Debbie Pelt all clean and sober playing Susie-homemaker. Does anyone actually think that’ll last?) But I do like Alexander’s portrayal of Eric, especially that little sheepish grin at the very, very end of the ep just after he’d drained Claudine to death. Which was another huge upset! Claudine is dead? And what’s with the fae being all scary monstery? They look more like goblins than faeries to my way of thinking. But back to Eric, it’s an interesting idea keeping him a little wilder and unpredictable with the memory loss, instead of as meek as he was in the book where Sook was concerned. It certainly is keeping Sookie on her toes!

Also strange is the idea of the head witch being possessed into making Eric lose his memory instead of it being her just grubbing for power. It’s an interesting shift, and they’re sure adding a lot of drama by bringing Lafayette and Jesus into the mix, though Tara’s involvement in the storyline seems a little forced. Why isn’t she going back to New Orleans? Because she wants to help Lafayette out of the jam he’s in? What exactly does she think she can do against a thousand year old vampire? I’m pretty sure Pam’s not gonna just forgive and forget about them invading her territory to steal Lala back. It makes me wonder how they’re going to resolve all of this at season’s end.

What did you guys think of the episode? Is True Blood still pumping strong or are they losing their direction?