‘True Blood’ 4.11 Recap: “No One Lives Forever, Not Even You”

For the second-to-last episode of the season, this week’s new ‘True Blood’ sure feels an awfully lot like a season finale. While it’s unfortunately not a great episode, it does end with a great twist.

Without any particular sense of revelation about it, the opening of ‘Soul of Fire’ confirms that Marnie teleported Sookie, Tara, et al. back into the magic shop when she zapped them at the end of the last episode. They and most of the Wiccans are upset about the stand-off with the vampires. When one Wiccan girl named Casey decides she can’t take it anymore and tries to run away, Marnie kills her by magically throwing a dagger into her chest. This scares most everyone in the shop shitless.

This was a last straw of sorts for Antonia, who ejects herself from Marnie’s body (or, in the words of Lafayette, the only other person who can see Antonia: “Marnie just puked the bitch out.”) Antonia cannot accept that Marnie murdered an innocent. She’s had enough and wants nothing more to do with Marnie. Unfortunately, Marnie casts a binding spell that forces Antonia back in and fuses them together again.

The vampires outside cannot get into the shop. The magic forcefield is made of sunlight and will kill them at a touch. Bill attempts to negotiate for Sookie’s release. Marnie says that she’ll let all the humans go if Bill and Eric both voluntarily kill themselves. They agree, much to Sookie’s angst. But we already know that there’s no chance of them going through with it. Before they can do anything, Pam defies the direct orders of both her maker and her king, and tries to blow the whole place up with a rocket launcher. The explosion causes a big mess but can’t break the barrier.

Back inside the shop, Marnie sees a vision of herself dead. Freaked out by this, she forces the Wiccans and Sookie to form a magic circle and cast a spell that will draw the vampires into the sun shield. Only Jason outside can try to pull them in the opposite direction, and he’s not very effective at it. As the vamps get close, Sookie uses her fairy magic to break the spell. Pissed off, Marnie traps her in a ring of fire that slowly draws in around her.

While Marnie is distracted, Jesus and Lafayette conjure some dark brujo magic that unties the bond between Marnie and Antonia. Without Antonia’s power, Marnie’s spell breaks and the forcefield drops. The vamps run in. Eric rips out the heart of Marnie’s chief henchman, and Bill shoots Marnie in the head, just as she saw in her vision.

The episode then has a few quiet moments, where it really seems like the season is winding down and all of the storylines have been tied up. Jesus is left shaken by the fact that he essentially caused Marnie (formerly his friend) to be murdered. Lafayette reassures him that he did the right thing, and that everything will make sense again in the morning. However, as they start to go to sleep, Lafayette looks up and sees Marnie’s spirit hovering over him. She immediately pounces and possesses his body, much as Mavis had earlier in the season. Cut to credits.

The episode as a whole seems to lack energy and feels anticlimactic, but that’s one hell of a good twist at the end. Even so, I’m left wondering how Marnie even knew that Lafayette was a medium she could possess. Did I miss her being told this?

Other Notable Developments:
  • Sam and Alcide track Marcus to Alcide’s own house, where he has kidnapped his daughter from Luna and is shacking up with Debbie. Acting all macho, Sam challenges Marcus to a fight, no shifting. Sam eventually wins, but feels mercy at the end and lets Marcus live. When Marcus pulls a bitch move and grabs a gun, Alcide leaps in and breaks his neck, killing him. While I understand that Alcide was pissed at Marcus for several reasons (not the least of which is sleeping with Debbie), what I don’t get is why he’s all of a sudden Sam’s best friend and vigilante partner. Did they even know each other before last week’s episode?
  • In the aftermath of this, Alcide officially breaks up with Debbie.
  • Jason is badly burned in the rocket explosion. Jessica gives him more of her blood to heal him up again. This solidifies their bond, and he no longer feels so guilty about stealing Hoyt’s girlfriend.
  • Eric is super angry at Pam for defying him with the rocket launcher stunt, which could have killed Sookie. He orders her out of his sight.
  • Walking home through the woods on his way back from last week’s intervention, Andy meets and is seduced by a fairy. Afterwards, he thinks that the whole thing may have been a drug hallucination. We know better.
  • Ugh. This means that the fairies are back. Dammit.

5 comments

  1. How does Marnie jumping into Layfayette’s body do anything? She was helpless without Antoina…logic would suggest she’d be just as helpless inside Layfayette.

    Oh, wait a minute, the writers of this show don’t follow logic…at least not this season.

  2. JoeRo

    I’m guessing Marnie is going to “fuck with the Jesus” since she’s in Lala’s body, that or really mess up his credit. I couldn’t be assed to care one way or another seeing as how this show has managed to make season three look like the original Godfather.

    Andy’s sexy business with the ET-fairy put this one well over the summit of suck mountain for me. And here I was thinking the writers would be kind to us and let that bullshit fall by the wayside.

  3. Megz

    Marnie may have been ghost-stalking Jesus, since he was her friend-turned-brujo crowbar. Spirits seem to recognize mediums (like the ghost earlier this season, she knew Lafayette could see her) so maybe she saw an opportunity and seized it.

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