I think most of us were in agreement that Terry doesn’t really count as a “major character death” on ‘True Blood’, despite what the show’s advertising and promotion may have promised us. This week’s episode took out another recurring role. Do two minor characters equal one major?

In episode ‘In the Evening’, Eric’s sister Nora meets the true death. After escaping from the prison, Eric rushes Nora to Bill, begging him to feed her some of his blood. Eric even supplicates himself to Bill, telling him, “I believe that you are divine.” At first, Nora refuses to drink, remembering what chaos Lilith’s blood brought to the Vampire Authority. Later, Eric and Bill force-feed her. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to stop the progression of her “Hepatitis V.” Desperate, Eric believes that Warlow’s blood may be the answer, but Bill is all out of it and can’t find Warlow (who’s been hiding in the fairy dimension, making sweet love to Sookie).

A flashback to 1665 shows us that Eric first met Nora under similar circumstances, as she suffered from the Black Plague. This time, however, she tells him that she’s ready to go and wants to do so on her own terms: “My death shall be my own.” She dies and melts into a puddle of goo in Eric’s arms as he balls his eyes out and Bill looks on. It looks like Eric blames Bill for not doing enough to save her.

Other Stuff That Happens

• Arlene is pretty messed up over Terry’s death, especially when she needs to tell her kids. How is it that Terry’s already buried but hardly anybody knows about it? Didn’t they have a funeral for him? Sookie can hear Arlene’s crying all the way in Fairy Land, and throws on some clothes to return home to comfort her. Warlow stays hidden where he is.
• Lafayette opens Terry’s safety deposit box and finds that he had taken out a life insurance policy just days before his death. Lafayette puts two and two together and figures out that Terry planned his own murder.
• Willa remains behind in the prison to warn Pam not to drink the tainted Tru Blood. Eric promises to come back for her.
• Pam seduces the prison shrink in return for him releasing her into Gen. Pop. with the other vampires. She tells Willa not to inform anyone other than Tara and Jessica about the Hep V, so as not to arouse suspicion if none of the vampires drink the Tru Blood.
• With Jason’s help, Jessica gets a quiet moment with James, the sensitive vampire who refused to rape her. She apparently finds his not being a rapist really hot, because she throws herself at him and follows through in private with what they were supposed to do under scrutiny earlier.
• Male viewers remain disappointed that Deborah Ann Woll still refuses to show any serious skin on the show.
• After promising not to return to Bon Temps, Sam reneges on his word and heads back as soon as he hears the news about Terry. Nicole’s mother comes to pick her up and bring her home.
• Alcide returns to his wolf pack and claims that he killed Sam and Nicole. They have a hard time believing him, being that they’ve captured Nicole and her mother. I don’t think Alcide will be packmaster for long.
• Sarah Newlin enlists the help of a corrupt senator to cover up Governor Burrell’s death. They will release a press statement that the governor has gone into hiding after surviving a vampire attack, and the senator will act as his agent in government. Returning to the prison, the first thing Sarah does is tell Jason that he no longer has any leverage over her, cuts a big gash on his arm, and then throws him into Gen. Pop. with all the hungry vampires.

Even though we’re barreling towards the season finale and only have a few episodes left, the strength of this episode is that it manages to slow down a little and take some time for good character moments with the surviving cast. That’s really needed, given that much of the plotting this season feels perfunctory and we still don’t have a clear indication of exactly who the main antagonist is supposed to be.