True Blood: I Wish I Was the Moon

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

With this episode, "I Wish I Was the Moon", True Blood gets to the half-way point for this summer series fourth season. Any other normal TV series would have hinted or addressed what direction their show is going by this point in the season but True Blood isn't just another normal TV series. In "I Wish I Was the Moon" things do get revealed, characters get some long overdue scenes together, and some much awaited backstory is given to additional characters. Yet because of this show's vast cast of uncanny individuals its just another crazy couple of nights in Bon Temps.

If you couldn't tell by this episode's title there is a full moon over Bon Temps and some interesting things happen to its residents. Still shocked and broken after being responsible for his parent's deaths Tommy unknowing discovers his new shifter ability. Against Sookie's protest Bill detains Eric while struggling to believe if his current condition is genuine or just another con. Jason's were-panther panic attack turns out to be for nothing. Tara and her girlfriend patch things up when she comes into town. Marnie finally gets what she has been chanting for and is possessed by the powerful witch spirit of Antonia. During all of this Lafayette and Jesus dine out on some goat tongue and get put through blood leading 101 while calling on Jesus' grandfather. All that craziness only one of those stories ties into there being a full moon.

After an episode like this trying to figure out which bizarre direction True Blood's fourth season is headed is like trying to use a magnetized paranormal compass. With Alcide and Debbie both possibly joining a new wolf pack this opens up some promising new potential story lines. I'm glad they didn't waste a whole lot of time between Tara and her girlfriend Naomi getting things straightened out. With those story-lines mostly getting back to normal at least one obviously has to become more confusing. That story-line being: whatever mix bag of supernatural that seems to be surrounding Arlene & Terry's baby boy. Their house fire ties into some kind of female ghost figure, on top of that creep old doll from before. I've given up on that story for now and just plan on waiting it out for the rest of the season.

The cool new angle True Blood has planned out for this season has finally started to unfold with Tommy and his skin walker/shifter abilities. Sam's shifter crush Luna hinted at it earlier this season but since the deaths of Tommy's parents were by his hands it seems to have unlocked, if you will, an expanded form of shifting for him in becoming other humans. Not sure just quite yet if Tommy can morph into anyone but it should be fun for Sam Trammel because he does a great job playing Tommy playing Sam. If you watch the show you can follow that crazy logic. Trammel got Marshall Allman's Tommy mannerisms and speech down pat, and even added his limp for good measure. This new feature for the show may mean less scene time for Allman but for Trammel and the rest of the cast his character could shift into, they will probably have some fun with it.

The story-line most people are tuning in for is the love triangle between this series three leads. When Bill informs Nan about both Eric and Marnie being his custody he recommends a warrant for the 'True Death' on Eric. Nan tells Bill that she and the vampire authority have to consider Eric being a possible liability before granting that warrant. Even though by the end of the episode Bill sets Eric free, there is that moment in the last ten minutes of the episode where Bill was about to impose Eric's death warrant without hearing back from Nan and the authority. There could be something there to get Bill in some hot water by going over the authorities' head. On a side note Nan also mentions something about a tolerance meeting or seminar that might come into play later this season.

After last episode's introduction I was hoping the see more from one of Bill's older sheriffs Luis, the vampire there during the Spanish massacre involving this season's formidable witch; Antonia. He may not be shown getting killed at the end of this episode but it's not looking to go for him now since Antonia has now possessed Marnie. Spirits and them possessing other characters like Lafayette in this episode seems to be the only clear direction this season is going (for part of the season at least). If this ever expanding cast from the spirit realm is going to work True Blood is doing it properly (so far) by actually showing their backstory's to give both the characters and the viewers some context.

For this episode's True Blood quote of the week it comes from Ryan Kwanten's humorously dense Jason Stackhouse. As his sister Sookie is trying to explain to him everybody is good and something Jason reverts to his ultra male one track mind:

"Like how I'm extra good at sex and shootin' stuff"

Tags: True Blood, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Ryan Kwaten, Marshall Allman, Fiona Shaw

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Andrew Burns loves film and comics, and can be found writing about when those worlds converge. You can follow him on Twitter at @myAndrewBurns.

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