'True Blood': The true Reverend revealed

"True Blood" begins to pick up the pace this week, with storylines that have long been on slow burn finally taking some dramatic turns.

We start out with a killer teaser this week featuring my favorite bad-boy vamp Eric feeding on one of the hotel's working girls. He stops when Lorena enters the room and he greets her with the revelation that he was the one who summoned her to Dallas. Naughty, naughty, Eric! I Methinks he wanted a little distraction for Bill, no? He confirms that he wants something from Sookie and needs Lorena to keep Bill busy while he gets it. I can't wait to see how this shakes out!

This week also features another lovely flashback! This time we get to see Lorena and Bill in Prohibition-era Chicago. It seems the Bill of 80 years ago wasn't so human friendly, as the flashback involves Lorena and Bill seducing, torturing and killing a rich couple for fun. Aw, they're just like old school Angelus and Darla! Them having sex on the bloody bed while their female victim lay there dying was deliciously disturbing. It's nice to be reminded that vamps aren't all kittens and TruBlood and rainbows.

Bill and Isabel decide to send a fellow human, Hugo, with Sookie to infiltrate the Fellowship, with them posing as an engaged couple. They exchange notes about dating vampires, which hee! It turns out Hugo wants to be turned so he can be with Isabel forever, which Sookie admits she has never even thought about before. I think it might come up at some point. Just a hunch. Sookie and Hugo go on their mission, which starts out great until Sookie reads Reverend and Sarah Newlin's minds and realizes they know EXACTLY who she is. Ruh roh! The Reverend tries to lure them into the basement, but when they try to flee he and his henchman drag them down there against their will. Bill senses Sookie's danger but is stopped by Lorena making her appearance. Will Jason be the one to discover his sister in danger? Here's hoping.

Jason gets tapped to participate in the infamous and prestigious "Meet the Sun" ceremony, which is basically a vampire torture/murder ritual. What an honor! While building the torture device, Jason and Luke get in a conversation about infidelity and abstinence. Jason considers becoming abstinent for at least 30 seconds, but I doubt it will stick. Especially when Sarah later cries on his shoulder, reveals to him that they are being trained to start a war with the vampires, and puts it out there that she is supposed to be with him, not the Reverend. God told her so and everything! Jason confirms that Sarah got the go-ahead from God for them to have an affair, and he dives right in there in the church. Now that's the Jason we know and love!

Andy questions Lafayette about his disappearance and loss of pizazz since he's been back. He starts yelling at Lafayette and this causes a PTSD-type reaction on Lafayette where he sees Andy's words coming out of Eric's mouth. Very effectively creepy. Terry recognizes Lafayette's pain, runs his cousin off and comforts Lafayette. Later, Pam shows up in Merlotte's walk-in and informs him that Eric is demanding Lafayette get back in the V business. Eeenteresting.

Hoyt's mother canceled his phone because Jessica was calling him late at night. Hoyt demands his mother turn the phone back on and one-ups her concern about Jessica not being a proper girl by confessing that the reason she only calls him late at night is because she's a vampire. Awesome. Hoyt drives to Dallas and surprises Jessica in her hotel room, and they have a very sweet reunion. I hope this doesn't end badly.

Tara and Eggs go on a water heater pump rescue mission to appease Maryann's completely bitchy reaction to the house's old one breaking. While on the road Eggs has a very strong deja vu moment that causes him to go wandering down a road he says he's never seen but can navigate with ease. His trek leads him to a ritual sacrifice-looking site where he senses he witnessed some very bad things go down. They return to find the house trashed and Maryann hosting a giant orgy in Sookie's backyard. An orgy in which Arlene and Terry are participating! They witness Maryann's obvious instigator role (and no doubt notice that the site they happened upon earlier looked just like this) but can't help but join in. It's like some sort of group forced rape, and it's icky. Cut it out, Maryann.

Sam must have listened to my pleading, because he finally asks Daphne about her scars! She doesn't know what happened, she says just got jumped in the woods. Daphne then encourages Sam to tell his loved ones about his shapeshifter status, as all her friends and family know about her. While frolicking in the woods together later, Daphne turns into a very familiar pig and catches the eye of Andy, who recognizes her and chases her through the woods. (Andy running through the woods yelling "PIG!" was the comedy highlight of my Sunday, by the way.) Sam questions her on why it seemed Andy knew her in pig form, and she slyly distracts him with sexual favors. She then leads him to the edge of the orgy, where several of Maryann's black-eyed followers drag him towards all the sex-having. That's when Maryann puts on the bull's head, starts chanting, and everything goes to black as we listen to Sam scream. Finally, things are starting to get good!

Random thoughts:

• I simultaneously like and hate the vamp necessity of "claiming" their humans amongst other vamps. This love/hate relationship is mostly because of how stupid the vamps sound when they are claiming someone. It makes me giggle.
• Bill's combination French/Southern accent in the flashback was sort of hilarious. He sings like an angel, though. Is that Stephen Moyer's real voice? If so, very nice, Steve.
• I loved the scene when Sookie and Hugo first meet the Reverend and his wife. Anna Paquin played that perfectly, and the actor playing Reverend Newlin was quite awesome as well.
• For all of you spoiler-hounds, don't forget to check out our Live Blog and an awesome trailer from Comic-Con!

Favorite quotes:

• "Baby? I'm over a thousand years old." - Eric
• "I considered booking you in the room adjoining theirs but I thought that might be a bit...over the top." - Eric, to Lorena
• "I don't know what to tell you. I wish I had a fancier crib for you to squat in, but I don't." - Tara, to Maryann
• "All of 'em put together ain't half as bad as if you do it to a vampire. Or to a dude. Or a vampire dude. That's, like, cream de la cream [sic] of sin, no repentance for that. Straight to hell, baby." - Luke, on sex outside of marriage
  
• "Stupid f***ing pig." - Andy
• "I'm so happy I could cry but I don't wanna because it's really gross when I do." - Jessica

Confession time: you might have noticed from some of the comments in my earlier recaps of the season, but I haven't been too impressed with the storylines so far this year. This episode (and the awesome trailer for the second half of the season linked above) give me hope that things are turning around. But I want to hear from you: what do you think about season two so far? Vote in the poll and leave your comments below!

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