'True Blood' Recap: Russell Edgington Stakes his Claim, Sam Plots Revenge

Russell Edgington’s (Denis O’Hare) return (finally!) is the best thing that could happen to True Blood.

Finally, the recently-unburied vampire king of Mississippi got out of bed and got back into the action. Within the first 10 minutes of Sunday’s episode, the creepy king had attacked Sookie (Anna Paquin) and given a bloody, spit-y speech about the Vampire Authority. Oh, how we’ve missed you Russell!

That wasn’t all he accomplished, either. By the end of the episode it looked like he’s sunk a stake into a very important character.

In other storylines, the shifters survive the shooting, but need to figure out who’s hunting them, and Terry (Todd Lowe) is still dealing with that pesky fire/smoke monster.

Here are four highlights from Sunday's episode:

1. Russell’s Revenge

The strongest storyline goes to Russell Edgington and the characters who are (un)lucky enough to cross paths with him.

Just as Bill (Stephen Moyer), Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), Sookie and Alcide (Joe Manganiello) find Russell, Alcide is literally pulled away by werewolves, and Russell has a moment to try to attack Sookie for some of her juicy, part-fairy blood. But the Vampire Authority police show up in time to arrest Russell. They tell Eric and Bill to glamour Sookie and Alcide so they don’t remember anything. Eric takes this opportunity to glamour Alcide into thinking he isn’t interested Sookie in any romantic way.

Eric and Bill arrive at the Vampire Authority headquarters to a nice little reception from the leaders, and their iStakes are removed.

Roman (Christopher Meloni) joins the party and announces that they’ll be staking Russell that night. Eric asks to see Nora, and finds that she’s gone a little nutty, but she may not have been the woman who dug up Russell.

In a product placement moment that Apple would not be fond of, the iStake on Russell’s heart doesn’t activate through the iPhone app, and all of a sudden Russell is staking Roman. But is it a true, true death? There was so much build up to Meloni’s role on the show that it seems a little early to be killing him off. We hope there are more dramatic monologues in his future.

2. Pack Politics

After the werewolves jumped Alcide at the creepy basement with Russell, Alcide decides to claim his spot as the leader of the pack. We’re sure this is going to lead to some pretty nasty fighting in near future.

3. Shifters’ Survival

Sam (Sam Trammell) and Luna (Janina Gavankar) are alive! After being shot last week, the two are rushed to the hospital. This leaves Luna’s daughter, Emma, on her own, so the tiny wolf heads over to Grandma’s house.

Sam is determined to find out who is killing the supernatural folks in town, which is sure to lead to some sort of altercation in the near future.

4. Fire Monster… Again

After Terry and Patrick (Scott Foley) watch their marine buddy get burned up by the ifrit, aka fire monster, Terry seems to crack. He feels they’re damned for killing those people in Iraq, and that there’s no changing that.

Terry returns to Bon Temps to tell Arlene (Carrie Preston) that he’s cursed and has to leave her and the kids. Arlene is convinced Terry has just gone off his meds, but she lets him leave anyway.

At the end of the episode, we’re left with some new and important questions. Most importantly, is Roman dead? Also, how will the supernaturals deal with the gang that’s out to kill them? And will this fire monster story pick up some momentum eventually?

Favorite lines of the night:

"You did good out there fighting, made me proud. Proud the way a human is proud of a well trained dog." -- Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten)

"You will always protect Sookie with your life. But you'll keep your hands off her -- romantically speaking. She kind of disgusts you." -- Eric

What did you think of Sunday's episode of True Blood? Weigh in on the comment section below.


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