Tuesday, August 07, 2012

My Review of True Blood's 5x09: "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"


Written by Raelle Tucker
Directed by Daniel Attias

Eric (to Nora): “It must be peaceful to be so sure of something, no room for doubt.”

Unless the thing you’re sure of is Lilith and the resulting chaos that stems from it is the start of a war between vampires and humans that might cause mass casualties on both sides really. Eric at least had the sense to realise just how bad things have become at Camp Authority. Unfortunately, the one vampire who should be on his side turned out to be the same one to screw him over.

Right now, even I can’t muster up any excuses for Bill. I wanted to believe that he was playing some kind of long game with Salome and the rest of the Lilith worshipping idiots but the fact that he’s screwing Salome, seeing Lilith during sex and even betrayed Eric at the end of this episode just showed how dangerous Bill has become now.

Eric and Molly’s attempts to try and use Nora in order to escape from the Authority wasn’t the best idea either of them has had but they were desperate and sadly, it backfired on them. I’m not worried about Eric but I do hope that Molly isn’t killed off given that she’s the only person from the Authority who isn’t a raging psychotic at the moment.

As for Salome – will she just die already? As a villain, she’s becoming less and less magnetic to watch and Valentina Cervi’s acting hasn’t been particularly inspiring, especially considering the high standard of baddies that the show has produced in previous seasons and while we’re at it, Nora can meet the true death as well.

I started the season rooting for Nora as a character because earlier on, it seemed like she had her own personality as well as an unwavering loyalty to her “brother”. Over the course of the season, she’s become little more than Salome’s lapdog and has chosen the stupidity of Lilith over both Eric and common sense. For those reasons alone, she can definitely receive the true death as far as I’m concerned. As for Bill, jury’s still out on him.

Keeping with vampires with whom I’d like to see the true death befall onto them – the new Sheriff for Area 5 who caused chaos in Fangtasia and humiliated Pam, yeah he can die too. Not that Pam doesn’t deserve some type of a smackdown but it shouldn’t be at the fangs of an idiotic little usurper like that guy for starters.

I did like that Tara tried to comfort Pam in spite of the fact that the latter has continued to blow hot and cold with her throughout the season. I’ve said in a previous review but it does merit repeating – isn’t it time that Tara, Pam and Jessica got involved in the Authority plot right about now? Let’s face it – Eric and Molly need all the allies they can get at the moment.

Last but not least when it comes to the vampire plots of the episode – I did enjoy seeing Steve and Russell continuing with their flirting but seeing them claim poor Emma as a pet wasn’t cool. I did wish that Martha had put up a bit more of a fight (though why was she at that meeting in the first place?) in trying to get her grandchild back, though something tells me that Luna is going to be giving one of the Newlin/Edgington couple the true death if they don’t return Emma to her.

Speaking of Luna – when did she suddenly become more of a dynamic character? The argument with Sam when it came to helping him tracking the Obamas was one thing but seeing her beating the crap out of Sweetie was another. I have to say I was bloody proud of Luna in this episode. She’s definitely improving a lot as a character, isn’t it?

As for the Obama plot – is it really over? I was disappointed that Bud would try and kill Sookie but Sweetie earned no sympathy from me. Her hatred for supernaturals was just pathetic and the character herself just felt like a rather unfunny joke. At least both Sookie and Hoyt managed to avoid being eaten by pigs. The fact that this show would even try that isn’t surprising but it was certainly amusing.

As for the rest of the subplots – at least the Ifrit rubbish is finally done and dusted. I will not miss Patrick one bit as a character, even if his death was caused by Terry and Arlene and hopefully Alcide meeting up with his father will be of some importance in the last few episode as well.

Also in “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”

I was kind of relieved that Sweetie just turned out to be a new character rather than Maxine. In the books, she had a better motive for hating on supernaturals, which should’ve been used here.

Eric (to Molly): “I’m a thousand years older than you. Put the baby fangs away before you piss me off.”

The biggest Tru Blood factory was the first one to be blown up. Presumably not much time will be wasted on destroying the other four.

Lafayette (to Sookie): “I ain’t Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, although I am way prettier.”

Sam: “You’re really fucking annoying, you know that?”
Luna: “And you’re old fashioned and surprisingly sexist.”
Sam: “Trying to protect someone I love, that’s sexist?”
Luna: “I love you too.”

Jason and Andy figured out the dragon was Bud through his boots. I really wish we had seen Bud more during the last year or so, which would’ve made his turn more logical.

Pam: “Just because we drank a bitch together does not make us Oprah and Gayle. Get the fuck back to work.”
Tara: “Suck me, vampire Barbie.”

Andy (to Jason): “Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all fall short somewhere. You use your dick for a compass. Me, I’m just a bad cop.”

Andy proved in this episode that he isn’t actually a bad cop and his whole stance about wanting to protect everyone was lovely.

Salome (to Bill): “So few have had the chance to shape history, not once, twice. It’s not an accident I have been chosen and so have you.”

I’m wondering if there’s something fae like in Salome’s blood when Bill imagined when she was Sookie during their sex scene together. I’m also wondering whether or not Claude has any brothers too, given that he has a lot of sisters.

Luna (to Sweetie): “That’s for shooting me, that’s for my boyfriend and this is for my daughter, you human trash.”

Standout music: That rather tepid version of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Care Bears On Fire. Why couldn’t Tears For Fears have been used?

Bill (to Eric): “I am doing this for you. You have been chosen by Lilith. This is what God wants.”

Chronology: From where “Somebody That I Used To Know” left off.

“Everybody Wants To Rule The World” was a solid, enjoyable enough episode but like the previous one, the end moment should’ve packed more of a punch than it actually did. Oh and the sooner that Salome meets the true death, the bleeding better.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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