Fangover Day 5: Jason's 19th Nervous Breakdown

Jason, Jason, Jason.
What a season you're had.
In the space of 12 episodes you went from the biggest slut in the parish to a man who turned down an eager college coed, a fairy and finally the girl I think you really love (even if she is a vampire).
You also lost your best friend and support system by banging his ex-girlfriend before he had gotten over her, causing a breach that broke Hoyt's spirit and trust in anyone from his home town.
Most of all though, you were trying to grow up. I was so proud when you gently disengaged from the college girl, made her put on more clothing and drove her back to her dorm.
I frankly was floored, but could see you had matured.
You  also starting falling for Jessica, considering a real monogamous relationship, not realizing Jessica still wanted a chance to play around. Forever is a long time when you measure time in millenia.
It didn't matter really, the feelings between you and Jess are real, try though you might to deny them.
The real trouble started when the Judge took you and Andy to the Fairy Bar. When you saw Hadley and learned that Hunter was there too, you were at first happy they were both alive, then shocked to learn that the Fae wanted your sister there as soon as possible, and forever. You learned about the allure of Fae blood to vampires.
The big blow, though, was learning that vampires, not a flash flood, had killed your parents. When you caused a scene at the club, you were ejected by white light, which finally clicked on the bit of Fairy in you. You started hallucinating about your parents, and it seemed so real.
That caused a major crack in the armor built of your beliefs.
Because you enjoy detective work, you grabbed Sookie and headed back to the Fairy Bar, not just for you, but for your sister to hear she was in danger from the men she loved and maybe she should spend some time relaxing at the club.
In the middle of this, a gang in Obama masks started shooting shifters. Sam Merlotte was great at tracking the group and you discovered retired sheriff Bud Dearborn and his girlfriend were behind it.
You got to the hog farm just before Bud was going to kill both Hoyt and Sookie, and though it cost Bud his life, you saved two of the most important people in your life.
You hoped that this event would help heal the breach between you and Hoyt, especially when he invited you to meet him at Merlottes.
You were surprised when you saw Jess was already there, but heartbroken when you discovered the reason he had called you there.
First, how could Hoyt just leave Bon Temps for Alaska, and worst of all, ask Jessica to glamour him so deeply he would forget his relationship not only with her, but with you too?
You could understand he wanted a new start, but how, really, could he do it without you? He's your Bubba, your running buddy, your very closest friend. You were heartbroken, and though you'd never heard the word, bereft.
Things continued to fall apart when you and Sookie discovered the clue about what was going on with the Stackhouse family under Gran's bed. Neither one of you could make head or tail of the strange document.
Back to the Fairy Bar you went. Learning your sister has been pledged to someone named Warlow 300 hears ago -- whom the Fae imply is a vampire -- ripped the walls down. You were determined to protect your sister with everything at your disposal.
You left Sookie there, sure she would be safe and cared for.
You had no idea that Russell Edgington was so much closer than you knew, and you can't help that you get glamoured with ridiculous ease. You ratted their location right out and not even the eldest Fairy there could survive a full-on onslaught of a ravenous and raving vampire.
Russell sent you flying, and you hit your head -- hard -- when you landed.
You missed Russell's inglorious end, but when you awoke, you found your parents were with you, standing right there, telling you to take care of your sister and to start killing vampires.
Since those desires dovetailed so nicely, you went right along to the Authority with Eric and his sister Nora, as well as Sookie's best friend Tara, now a vampire too.
What's a man to do? You did well. You armed yourself to the teeth with all manner of  weapons designed to kill vampires, and went to work. With your parents egging you on and seeing and smelling the blood and the muck of dead vampires, your grip on sanity finally slipped away.
You looked at the woman you love straight in the eyes and told her you could never, ever, love her. Then, you just went on, oblivious to the sound of her heart breaking.
Right now, you're in an elevator with four vampires and the voices in that damaged head are telling you that you could take them out too.
Man I hope your sister gets to you before you try.

Fangover Day 4: Adios, Hoyt

There has been only one truly normal guy in Bon Temps.
Yeah, he started out a bit of a mama's boy, but he grew up and we watched him do it.
He met a nice dead girl, fell in love for the first time and wanted to spend a really long time with his flame-haired lover.
Poor Hoyt.
His karma pretty much was "Day late, dollar short."
How was he to know his virginal little vampire Jessica was on a learning curve so steep only a fighter jet could keep up, and sadly, that fighter jet was his best friend, stud muffin Jason Stackhouse?
When Jessica and Hoyt's relationship went up in flames last season, we all were a little worried about Hoyt would do.

 

Actor Jim Parrack put in an amazing performance as the heartsick, angry and hurt  young man this season.
No one felt too bad for Jason when Hoyt pounded on him, even though Hoyt and Jessica were broken up before Jason slept with the baby vamp.
I was happy he had plenty of other friends to hang with, but it seems like his broken heart gave him both an attitude and a death wish.
I could understand his Fanger look. He thought if he lived that way, perhaps Jessica would see him with other vampires and be jealous, and if that didn't work, maybe one would kill him.
He needed rescuing, but by anyone but the hate-group nicknamed the Obamas.
They turned his grief to disgust and the easily-swayed Hoyt found himself kidnapping the girl who caused all this troubles.
It's good he is easily swayed or we'd be short one Jessica Hamby, as the Obamas  were happy to let Hoyt kill her himself.
By now, Jess has realized how deeply she hurt her first love, and pleads for her life. Hoyt has a lightning bolt of clarity and frees her, nearly getting killed in the process.
When Sheriff Andy Bellefleur and Deputy Jason Stackhouse break up the Obama gang, Hoyt is injured, but alive, and both Jessica and Jason can see what their feelings have done to the once sweet, kind Hoyt Fortenberry.
His next request was a stunner and was the catalyst for the most wrenching scenes in "True Blood" history.
When Hoyt realized Bon Temps was really too small for him, Jason and Jessica, he pulled himself together and made the necessary decisions that would allow him to move forward and have a chance at a happy life.
I will never forget the knot in the pit of my stomach when Hoyt demanded Jessica glamour him, wiping out all memories of her altogether, and memories of his friendship with Jason starting in childhood.
It was perfect. He allowed himelfs a clean break and gave was the perfect punishment to the two people who loved him the most. I don't see how Jessica and Jason can get past this and have a romantic relationship. Hoyt has put himself between them, even though he is off to Alaska to try his fortune.
The glamouring scene made me cry. I'm sure I wasn't alone. It broke my heart that such a kind, sweet man as Hoyt felt his only recourse was to pretend it never happened.
The scene where Jason uses his patrol car to pull Hoyt over on his way out of town was brilliantly poignant. Jason started in with his standard lines and Hoyt pretty much gave a psychic sucker punch to Jason when he had no real idea that he and Jason had any history.
I hope Hoyt makes some good friends in Alaska, makes some money and meets a girl who will know what a gem Hoyt is, snatch him up and make him a happy man.
I hope too he brings that woman back to Bon Temps so we can meet her.

Fangover: Day 3 Eric and Nora

Sookie decided to give her heart a rest at the end of Season 4, where she broke up with both Eric and Bill.

I honestly thought both men would be at her house about a second after Tara was shot, but they were otherwise diverted -- snuggling in the trunk of a car driven by a dark-haired woman we soon discover is Eric's long-lost sister Nora, a member of the Vampire Authority High Command. 

We discovered quickly how fast Eric got over Sookie as he had loud, loud sex with is "blood-sister" Nora. I've got the image of her smashed against the side of the trailer by Eric burned in my mind. I swear I can see it when I close my eyes, as well as hear that line, "We fight like siblings, but we fuck like champions."

Thanks so much for that.

I am not at all impressed by Nora. I found her to be a whining little tramp, hypnotized by Lilith and Salome and determined to get her sib on the same side.

As the season progressed, we saw both Nora and Eric escape the true death, and by the end of this season, she is the only original Authority member still standing.

Eric and Bill were made members after they brought in Russell Edgington, but then he became a member at Roman's death. 

Sigh.

I am so happy Eric was able to fight the "Lilith" virus successfully, and to convince Nora that their father Godric was right, Lilith was a fraud, and she had been wrong too.

Eric, and his alter-ego Alexander Skarsgard, have had a great season. In one of the greatest scenes in this series' history, Eric's release of Pam's bond was award-worthy. I cried for both of them. The quick, sunny smile he gave Pam when he saw her in the final episode was beatifically beaming, even covered with blood. He may have released her, but those two will always stay together because they truly love and respect the other.  

I was so happy to see the tenderness in Eric as he held Sookie when Bill had puddled out. He was in total defense mode when Bill was reborn, and his first thought was to tell Sookie what she hears way too much: "Run!"

Now, with Bill turned into some super-vampire, we are left to wonder what he'll do next.

I think Eric will grab Sookie and get her the hell out of there, and since we all know Nora knows who (and what) Warlow is, Jason will probably let her live, at least for a while.

I really hope Nora heeds Eric's warnings about not snacking on our favorite fairy, but I think it would be funny if she developed a little girl-crush on Sook because she smells so damn good.

I'm guessing Nora will stay with Eric in Shreveport and she'll help run the bar for awhile, since I'm guessing Pam and Tara will be busy enriching their maker/child bond in various ways.

In the end, I'm hoping Nora will go back and take over the nightly duties of running the Authority and dealing with Bill, in whatever form he lands in.

Perhaps Eric and Nora will celebrate whatever holidays vampires celebrate together, but go their separate ways, leaving Eric to brighten our lives every summer with his escapades in Louisiana, and that he also keeps close to Sookie. They're a much more fun combination.

Fangover: Day 2: Jessica the broken-hearted

My all-time favorite baby-vamp has had a bad couple of years.
I loved how this uber-Christian girl embraced her inner vampire with gusto, flummoxing her maker Bill, as well as Eric and Pam with her teenage angst.
When Bill finally becomes a father figure different from her intolerant human father, she settles happily into immortal life.
I truly enjoyed watching Jessica and Hoyt find first love together, even though she discovered sex was going to hurt eternally if she kept regenerating one particular part. Hoyt didn't care. He simply loved his flame-haired little vixen.
Other than how Jessica solved the hymen-problem, I have no problem with her growing in to a sexual vampire. I was dismayed, but not surprised that she fell for Jason. Seriously, every girl in Bon Temps that isn't related to him has fallen for Jason one way or another.
Last season, my heart ached for Jessica when both Hoyt and Jason threw her out of their lives in the same episode, if not night. She had tasted forbidden fruit, loved it, and "Whammo!" both guys ditch her, thinking they're doing the right thing.
The problem there was: Jason could handle it.  Hoyt could not. But enough about him for now. We'll deal with him in a later post.

I thought Jessica looked especially toothsome in her Halloween costume. Little Red Riding Hood suited her perfectly, and Jason was happy to succumb to her charms.
Things looked pretty rosy for Jessica and Jason until he got an attack of maturity and at the same time the shit kicked out of him by Hoyt.
Jason tried to man up, but losing his friends wasn't as easy as he hoped.
Add to that, Jessica decided to try out the local college scene, where she was readily accepted. I mean really, wouldn't you hang with a girl whose guardian is mysteriously absent, who can provide endless booze, has rocking parties and that vampire charm to boot?
Jason was at an impasse. He loved Jessica, but she was ready to start sowing the very wild  oats Jason had just finished. What is a deputy sheriff to do?
While his first experience with the Fae left him dreaming about his long dead parents, the massive head injury inflicted by Russell Edgington  had them hanging out with him and Sookie, hearing them  trash vampire after vampire.
I think at this time he is damaged, and all he can think of is protecting his only living family, Sookie, from all the "dead boys" she likes.
When Jessica, finally free, runs up to Jason, throws her arms around him proclaiming her love for him at last, she did not expect him to stare at her like she was something diseased and tell her he could never, ever, love a vampire.
You could hear her heart crack into pieces as the news soaked in.
I think right now she is either in complete shock or taking it in stride, because she has to smell his blood and know he has a bad head wound.
We'll have to wait until next June to discover if the damage is permanent or if he can learn to love our ginger-haired girl again.

Fangover: Day 1: Goodbye Russell

He was fun while he lasted.
Russell Edgington, the 3000-year-old blood-drinker who met Jesus and was not impressed, met death by Eric with a belly full of Fae.
His final words? The less than memorable, "Oh, fuck."

It's a whole lot different than his defiant appearance on a national news show, where he ripped an anchorman's heart out, said he'd eat everyone's children, then calmly asked Tiffany about the weather.
He was fun to hate. He had such a gleeful way of doing the most horrific things and making us secretly wish we could have that much fun doing anything.
Irish actor Denis O'Hare infused the King of Mississippi with such panache. The first time I recall seeing him he was wearing a red riding jacket, atop a beautiful white horse. As he leaned down from the saddle, he invited a befuddled Bill Compton to have a ride back to his place.
We learned his terrible connection to Eric Northman and saw how Russell indulged the love of his life, the drop-undead gorgeous Talbot. When Eric (Who can ever forget that baby blue V-neck sweater?) first took revenge on Russell, it was to kill Talbot, who mis-"Staken"-ly thought he was in for a night of pleasure with our favorite Viking vamp.
I loved watching Russell drag that crystal jug of ex-Talbot around Bon Temps, and delighted right along with Sookie as she dumped the goo into Fangtasia's garbage disposal, turning it on while watching Russell scream.
I did enjoy the season without him, but what fun it was when he escaped his cement grave via Salome and returned to form to take his place on the Authority board.
Maybe it was his advanced age or having delved into orgies before, the Lilith-fueled bloodbaths didn't seem to affect him as much as Salome, Bill, Steve, Nora or the rest of the Authority. While he delighted in drinking as much human blood as he could stand, he thirsted for the headier stuff--Fairy blood--and its light-walking ability.
His one foray into the sun wasn't enough for the guy I believe to have been the oldest vampire around.
Stalking Sookie, he used her dimmer brother Jason to discover her hideout.
His final meal was probably a Fae woman as old as he was and the glory of her blood made him vulnerable for one of the few times of his long, long life.
It cost him dearly.
He was staked and dying before he could realize what had happened. I don't think  he realized he was meeting the true death until he looked down and saw a stake sticking out of his chest. Being held up by Eric, who was enjoying every last minute of Russell's life, all the vamp could do was utter those final, sad words.