‘True Blood’ keeps killing off characters, because that’s apparently what you do when your series finale approaches and it doesn’t matter what happens to them anymore anyway. However, determining exactly which characters get killed off seems to be a very arbitrary process for this show’s writers.

R.I.P. Violet. You were kind of a fun character for a little while, not that I ever had much of a stake invested in you or feel particularly shocked that you’re gone.

Here’s how it happens: Jason receives a text message from Violet with a photo of a bound and gagged Jessica. Clearly, she had used Adilyn and Wade as bait to lure Jessica to her, and in turn is using Jessica as bait to lure Jason. Of course, Jason bites. Before Jason can leave, Hoyt acts like a total dick to his girlfriend Brigette for no reason whatsoever, which prompts Brigette to hop into Jason’s car and insist on going with him. This does not seem wise, and Jason could easily kick her out of the car, but he doesn’t because the episode’s plot requires that she be with him.

As they pull up to Violet’s mansion, Jason leaves Brigette in the car and gives her a gun loaded with wooden bullets. He enters the house and is promptly captured by Violet, who also wheels out Jessica, Adilyn and Wade – all chained to medieval torture racks. She revels in describing how (and in which order) she plans to torture and kill each of them. Just at that moment, BOOM! Splatter. Violet is goo. Standing behind is… Hoyt? He must have followed Brigette, taken Jason’s gun from her, and for some reason thought it would be a great idea to walk into an active crime scene with a loaded weapon and kill the first person he sees.

Well, anyway, Hoyt is a hero. This affords the show an excuse to let him and Jessica reconnect, suggesting that they’ll reignite their love affair as soon as he breaks up with Brigette – which will no doubt be imminently as she’s clearly set to be paired up with Jason now. Because what Jason’s character arc needs most is a random new girlfriend introduced at the last minute. Wait, isn’t Jason supposed to be madly in love with Jessica? That gets tidily wrapped up with a brief conversation in which they agree that what they have should be a “beautiful friendship” and nothing more.

Meanwhile, Sarah Newlin surrenders to Eric, Mr. Gus and the Yakuza. She has deluded herself into believing that she’s a messiah, a “Princess of Peace” who will save the world. Eric wants to kill her, but resists at the urging of Pam. Instead, he drinks from her and is immediately cured.

Eric goes to tell Sookie the good news, only for her to inform him about Bill being sick. Eric tells Sookie that he’ll be back the next day. Sookie being Sookie, she’s not having any of that. She follows Eric to Fangtasia, where she gets grabbed by the Yakuza baddies. Eric tells Mr. Gus that Sookie is just some fangbanger who’s stalking him, and pretends to glamour her into leaving. Sookie reads Mr. Gus’ mind and learns that something important is in the basement. She leaves Fangtasia through the front door, but circles around and sneaks into the basement from the secret tunnels that were important earlier this season. There she finds Sarah, who explains that she’s the cure for Hep-V. Rather than free Sarah and bring her back to Bill, Sookie leaves her there and goes back to Bon Temps to fetch Bill, in order to bring him to Fangtasia. This doesn’t seem like the most efficient plan.

That night, Sookie, Bill, Jessica, Pam and Eric all converge in the Fangtasia basement to get Sarah. Just when they have her, Bill suddenly stops and refuses to drink her blood for reasons that he’ll explain next week, which will no doubt amount to a contrived need to prolong the storyline for another two episodes.

Sigh. Just get it over with already.

Other Stuff

• Tying up loose ends, Sookie asks Bill why Queen Sophie-Anne ordered him to find and seduce her in the first place (back before the start of Season 1). Bill explains that Sophie-Anne wanted to capture and breed fairies. He also says that he lied to Sophie-Anne about Sookie being a fairy. I suppose we’re meant to believe this means that he was really a nice guy all along.
• Lafayette and Lettie Mae convince the Reverend to trip on vampire blood with them so that he can share the vision of Tara. This leads to a flashback where we learn about Tara’s drunken, abusive dad. Tara and her mom have a good cry and all is forgiven. I believe this brings Rutina Wesley’s dialogue count this season up to almost three whole lines.
• Mr. Gus, Jr. has already synthesized Sarah’s blood, but does not want to release the Hep-V cure to the world vampire population too quickly. He wants “NewBlood” (or “NuBlood”) to be imperfect, so as to prolong his profits.

At this point, I don’t even feel like judging or rating episodes of ‘True Blood’ anymore. I neither like nor dislike them. They’re just something that need to be watched so that I can see this commitment I’ve made all the way through.