Previously, On "True Blood ..."

We're four episodes into season 4 of "True Blood," and I'm finally caught up!

I watched the first three seasons on DVD, and then caught up on the show so, starting Sunday, I can watch the episodes as they come out and, because I love all three of our readers, I will recap them!

But first ... we should do a quick catch-up of this season. So, there will be spoilers in this recap. Obviously.

Last season ended with Sookie being wisked off to fairy land because she has fairy blood ... which is part of the reason that vampires all want to bite/have sexytimes with her. At the beginning of season 4, we find out that Sookie's grandfather (played by Gary Cole!) is also there, and he thinks it's only been a few hours but he's really been gone 20 years. Anyway, he's there because the fairies are gathering up everyone with fae blood and they plan to close the portal and keep them all there. Sookie and Grandpa Earl escape, but Earl ate the fairy fruit so he dies. But Sookie survives! The problem is, Sookie has been gone for more than 12 months, and they all thought she had been killed by Bill. Except Eric, who has bought and fixed up her house. (The better to come in uninvited, my dear!)

The whole "let's jump forward a year!" was brilliant, though. The characters were all starting to stagnate a bit after three seasons, and this gave them an opportunity to tweak all the characters a bit and jump them ahead in their continuities. So now, Jason is a cop and provider for the town of Hotshot; Lafayette is seriously dating Jesus, the nurse; Lafayette and Jesus are into witchcraft and wizardry with Marnie (Fiona Shaw), someone as dippy and unaware of what she's doing as Professor Trelawney (which is funny because she actually played Aunt Petunia in the "Harry Potter" movies, but I digress); Tara is living in New Orleans with her girlfriend and cage-fighting for a living; Hoyt and Jessica are living together in not-so-blissful monogamy; Sam is hanging out with other shifters, including the beautiful Luna, to help himself get over the anger that lead him to shoot his stupid brother Tommy; Tommy is living with Maxine Fortenberry as her surrogate son since Hoyt is dead to her; Alcide is living with Debbie Pelt, who is no longer a V addict/raging bitch (or so she says!); Andy Bellefleur is addicted to V; Arlene is worried that her baby, now born, is evil; and Bill is the Vampire King of Louisiana. And we didn't have to watch them actually go through the character development to get them all to this spot!!!!

So after Sookie gets back, shit gets real.

The biggest thing - the driving plot of this season - is that Marnie's coven, helped by Jesus and Lafayette, wipe Eric's memory. This is also the plot of the fourth Sookie Stackhouse book upon which "True Blood" is (VERY loosely) based ... and it is one of my favorites because of it. As a result, Eric is rather tame and a little scared and very, very, very adorable in his hopeless devotion to Sookie. Alexander Skarsgaard is perfect in this role . He's like a guard dog puppy - sweet, curious and a little lost, but also deceptively dangerous, especially where Sookie is concerned. At the end of episode 3, Claudine (Sookie's fairy godmother) startles him, so he kills her. Then, in episode 4, he gets drunk on her blood, pinches Sookie's ass and runs off to swim in the sunlight. Sookie has to call Alcide and have him track Eric before he burns to death in the sun, which leads to the best and most hilarious scene of 'True Blood" yet, prominently naked Eric and naked Alcide in a manly naked standoff. It was hilarious and hot all at the same time. Now Eric is back in Sookie's basement and they talked about how Eric is sad to be in the dark forever, and they almost kissed, and I am pretty sure there will be some Sookie/Eric sexytimes soon. At least, there better be! I am so loving Eric right about now.

In other subplots:

Marnie, Jesus and Lafayette are trying to get Eric's memories back, but Marnie keeps seeing visions of a witch burning at the stake and she can never remember what she does because she is apparently being possessed by the witch, which is a necromancer who is messing with vampires. At least, I assume so, because in addition to taking Eric's memory, she also makes Pam's face go all rotten. If something bad happens to Pam, I will be sad, because she is a highlight of this show, with her deadpan delivery. Tara is also there, menacingly pointing guns at vampires to try to get things done, but not really believing all the magic stuff. She needs more to do!

Jason got captured by the Hotshot crew, bit repeatedly so he'd turn into a werepanther, raped by the women of Hotshot so he could propagate the werepanther race, and let go by a little girl. He killed Felton, rejected Crystal (who is doing a great job bringing the crazy to the show, now that Franklin and Russell Edgington are dead) and was found unconscious in the road by Jessica and Hoyt. Oh, and Jessica gave Jason some of her blood.

Bill figured out he's related to the Bellefleurs, though unfortunately he didn't figure out that Portia Bellefleur is her great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter until after Portia propositioned him and they had nasty sex. (P.S. - Ewww!) He is also trying to find Eric and keep the humans from taking away vampire rights following the tide of anti-vampire sentiment after Russell Edgington pulled out a guy's spine on national television.

Sam goes over to Luna's house and finds out that she's got a little girl named Emma. They play Barbies and watch TV, but then Sam finds out that Emma's dad is a werewolf and very protective.

Tommy goes back to his parents, and Joe Lee captures him so Tommy can go back into the dogfighting ring. I'm getting pretty close to done with the Tommy subplot.

And finally, Mikey (Arlene's baby) writes "BABY NOT YOURS" on the wall in marker when nobody's looking! Yay, creepy baby subplot! Or was it the creepy, dirty doll that kept showing up at Hoyt and Jessica's house even after they threw it away? (They gave it to Mikey as a gift. Gee, thanks.)

So, what do y'all think of the first four episodes of "True Blood?" I think it's the best we've had in a while - definitely better than season 3, which I thought was just OK. They're bringing the right level of comedy and heartbreak into the whole Eric storyline - this could be a huge turning point for the character of Eric and for Sookie's relationship with Eric. I'm intrigued most by the Mikey subplot, actually - gotta love creepy kids! - and I am really looking forward to seeing what happens with Jason once he turns into a panther for the first time.

I'll be back Sunday with a recap of the next episode! Can't wait!