True Blood – “Trouble”

Review by Paul Steven Brown

‘True Blood’
Season 3 – Episode 5
“Trouble”

A number of interesting developments took place in “Trouble”. For the most part, this was a really solid episode in an already strong season of ‘True Blood’. As predicted, Bill’s break up phone call was a means to protect Sookie. Of course, he should have known that she would still come looking for him. It is yet to be revealed if the genealogy information on the Stackhouse family was truly Bill’s research or planted in his house.

Speaking of Sookie’s background, we got to see her hit someone with a blast of light, again. The first and last time was when she was threatened by Maryann last season. What exactly is Sookie? A witch? Faerie folk? Telekinetic as well as telepathic? Also, why doesn’t her brother exhibit any of these strange abilities?

As for Jason, his story arc is still failing to be of any interest. The montage of him goofing off in the police office did little to endear him to me. The only thing interesting about his budding romance with Crystal is her connection to the drug dealers that Eric and Lafayette had a run in with last episode.

It was great to see Lafayette get flustered in the presence of Jesus, the orderly at the rest home his mother stays at. Normally, Lafayette is able to project an air of not giving a damn and cool, but once Jesus admitted to being interested in him, he got all shy and nervous. I don’t know what this might lead to or how it could relate to the other plots circling around this season, but I really like Lafayette as a character and after the hell he went through last season, he deserves a little happiness.

His cousin, Tara, is in a hell of a predicament. Franklin is very insane, but attempts to impress Tara with dinner at Shoney’s and ability to text at super speed were hilarious. Still, it was great to see her come to the realization that she may be able to use Franklin’s obsession with her to her advantage. If anything, it could keep the other vampires away from her while she formulates another escape plan. Unfortunately, Franklin is of the mind to turn her. Now, a vampire Tara, that could be very interesting.

Another big development was the reveal of Eric’s princely origins. We knew he was a Viking, but this episode exposed the fact that he is the son of a king. This king was also murdered by werewolves under the control of a certain Russell Edgington, who happens to have the crown of Eric’s father in his possession. I can’t wait to see how this one plays out.

“Trouble” was probably the best episode of the season so far. There was a lot of piece moving and a handful of interesting revelations. If the previews are any indication, the action is going to really heat up just in time for the season mid-point.