Jo Bromilow | On 07, Jul 2014

Rising from the grave one final time, True Blood explodes back onto our screens in a mess of blood and gore, as the cliffhanger climax of Season 6’s finale comes crashing down on us in an incendiary opener.

At the ill-advised human/vampire cook-out, to help promote the new-found friendship between the two species, a band of vampires infected with the Hep V virus fall upon the group and start helping themselves to the buffet, before conveniently being summoned away by a mysterious call. But when they go, they leave suitable levels of devastation, notably the death of a character and the kidnap of several others. In just one scene, the laboriously built bridges between humans and their supernatural neighbours have gone up in smoke. Welcome back to Bon Temps, where you’re either melting in the sun… or walking on quicksand.

In the aftermath of the massacre, humans and vampires are encouraged to pair up to stay protected until sunrise, giving us the perfect plot device to watch the characters experience the emotional fallout of the nights’s events and old grievances being aired. From Sherriff Andy Bellefleur’s deep-seeded resentment of what Bill’s progeny, Jessica, did to Andy’s brood of half-fae daughters and Jason’s ongoing sexual frustration at the behaviour of his domineering companion, Violet, to Jessica’s struggle to undo the wrongs she’s done, and Vince’s – Mayor Sam Merlotte’s political opponent – attempts to use the event as a soapbox to climb up on (one that’s probably a bit slippery from all the blood spilled), by the end of the night a series of showdowns have been and gone. All except for the absent Pam, Eric’s progeny, whose quest to track down her Maker (last seen sunbathing in the buff on a snowy mountain) continues.

The most notable confrontation, of course, is for poor Sookie, whose terrible life choices come back to haunt her in very real time; the hate-filled thoughts and judgments of the townsfolk, even her beau Alcide, ring loud in her ears. Sookie’s perplexing insistence that she loves and is devoted to the town that has ostracized her, despite willingly returning to protect (and romantically involve herself with) the vampires who are supposedly the cause of all their problems, make her a logical pariah but, as she insists, is also likely to make her the only hope Bon Temps has left in its darkest hour.

The question is: will they accept her help?

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