Episode 3 of HBO’s new True Blood series begins with Sookie being approached and almost attacked by 3 vampire visitors at Bill Compton’s house. They spend a bit of time taunting her and flashing their fangs but eventually turn her neck and get ready to attack. Fortunately, Bill steps in and “claims” Sookie as his own. He had to repeat his mandate to leave her alone several times but they eventually let her go.

These 3 vampires live in a “nest” and are therefore more removed from humanity than vampires like Bill that are trying to mainstream. As such they think nothing of killing humans or using them for their pleasure. In fact, one of them orders the female human to accompany them to, let’s say, pleasure him. What’s amazing about this scene is its graphic nature and how the vampire (and the human) are so oblivious to the others around them.  During this scene Sookie discovers that one of the humans is infected with Hepatitis-D, a disease that affects vampires.  The vampires leave shortly thereafter and Sookie follows suit a few minutes later, rejecting Bill’s request for a kiss because she’s so grossed out at the behavior of his vampire visitors and because she learns that Bill had sex with the female vampire in the group.

In the meantime Sookie’s good friend Tara, who now works at Merlotte’s bar, provides more insight into her home life by way of a conversation with Sam, the bar’s owner. It seems Tara doesn’t want to go home after the bar closes because she doesn’t want to face her mother, an alcoholic. Tara often comes home at night to find her mother passed out in her own vomit; it’s Tara’s job to get her cleaned up. She confides in Sam, telling him how difficult it is to see her mother in that condition.  The actress Rutina Wesley does a good job of getting the audience to empathize with her character.  In the first episode I couldn’t stand her.  She was brash and rude. 

By now, in the 3rd episode, I’m a BIG fan of hers.  Her home life explains a lot about her attitude.  She’s never had much stability and structure in her life.  Think about it.  As children, most of us had parents waiting for us when we came home each day.  As such our lives were fairly routinized.  Tara’s life has been unpredictable; from one day to the next she never knew what to expect when she got home. Ii can see how someone like that would have a hard time keeping a steady job or having steady relationships.  Now that doesn’t totally excuse her attitude toward others, but it does help explain why she seems to have trouble in those areas.

The conversation between Tara and Sam makes its way from the bar, to the porch of Sam’s house, and eventually ends up inside Sam’s home. At that point Tara poses a very interesting and surprising proposition to Sam. He initially rejects her suggestion but when she introduces a “no strings attached” clause, he agrees. This is interesting because it NEVER happens in the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Mystery books, the urban fantasy series on which the HBO series is based. Sure, I don’t expect Alan Ball, the director, to follow the books verbatim, but I’m curious about where he plans to take the series. Actually, that adds to the attraction; people like me who have read the books don’t know what to expect from week to week.

Later in the episode Sookie returns to Bill’s house and tells him that, although she’s never been with a man before, she feels drawn to him and would like to know what it’s like to have sex.  Bill kisses her and begins taking off her clothes.  The next scene shows Sookie waking up alone in bed.  This whole scene may have been a dream because later in the day Sookie tells her grandmother about her internal struggles with wanting to have sex.  If this was a dream, it marks the 2nd scene in which Sookie is “dreaming” about having sex with Bill.  Okay, these “alleged” sex scenes between Sookie and Bill are getting a little confusing.

Meanwhile, when Tara comes home she’s attacked by her drunk mother.  Tara runs out and ends up at Lafayette’s house.  Lafayette looks her over, tells her she doesn’t need stitches, and proceeds to give her Vicodin (and some marijuana) to soothe both mind and body. 

Jason Stackhouse arrives a bit later asking for Viagra.  Jason (both in the books and onscreen) is the resident “ho” in Bon Temps.  This guy sleeps with everyone.  He’s looking for Viagra because he’s unable to perform with Dawn, one of his women (while having sex he imagined he was having sex with a vampire, which killed his mood).  Lafayette doesn’t have any Viagra but he does have vampire blood, which is known to be a libido enhancer.  Because it’s so expensive he proposes a trade: he’ll give Jason some of the blood if he strips and dances in front of a video camera.  As you can guess, Jason agrees.  I mean come on, this guy has no shame. But guess what? I LOVE JASON’S CHARACTER! He doesn’t pretend to be something he isn’t. He’s a ladies man/horndog/ho and he’s proud of it!

Before I end this review I have to say a few things about Lafayette, the gay cook that works at Merlotte’s.  I love the way he’s portrayed on the screen.  He’s a free spirit that clearly loves to party but he also shows lots of compassion for others, based on his kind treatment to both Tara and Sookie. He’s the funniest character in the series to this point.  I hope we see more of him in the next few episodes.

That’s basically what happens in Episode 3.  I have to tell you that I find it hard to write reviews of these episodes because each show is comprised of a series of very brief scenes.  It’s not like a regular drama series; it’s full of short takes.  Additionally, the scenes don’t always occur in sequence.

Having said that, the shows are interesting to watch and I plan to tune in each week.

See also:
HBO’s True Blood Series: Episode 2

True Blood Episode 4: Meet Eric the Vampire