True Blood season 1 episode 10 review

10. I Don’t Wanna Know

After Sam’s etiquette faux pas last episode – never appear naked on a friend’s bed without a prior invitation – he’s got some explaining to do. Sookie, more open-minded than most, has a hard time taking in all the shifting talk, not least because Sam kept it from her for so long. He offers the best explanation he can, considering he never knew his real parents, and his adopted family abandoned him when he was a teenager; he also gets a little touchy when compared to a werewolf because, apparently, they exist.

Of all people, Sookie should be the one to understand why he kept the shifting a secret, but, still smarting from Bill’s sudden departure, she doesn’t want to know and throws a trademark strop.

Unfortunately, the moody psychic is the least of Sam’s problems. Det. Andy finally corners the bar owner at Arlene and Renee’s engagement party. Not only is he not a nudist, but there is no record of Sam Merlotte’s existence before he arrived in Bon Temps. With a murderer on the loose, Andy’s interest is piqued, and it looks like Sam just jumped to the top of the suspect list. Luckily, he’s saved by a drunken Tara, dolled up in her prom dress, and feistier than ever.

Despite what she considered a successful exorcism- inclusive of copious vomiting and hallucinations – all the positivity in the world can’t take away from the fact that Miss Jeanette is a fake. After a chance encounter at the drug store Miss J works in – resplendent in comedy wig and enormous glasses – Tara’s last shred of dignity is destroyed. She steadily offends her way around the engagement party, before driving home while drowning in a bottle of vodka, swerving to avoid a naked woman with a pig, and she smashes head first into a tree. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Tara has, hopefully, escaped death, but the same can’t be said for poor Eddie. The toxic twins, not being very bright, had started responding to the vamps attempts to play them off one another. Jason had even decided to let Eddie go, despite Amy’s new found desire for a pet.

When the man whore makes the mistake of shoving the hippie away so he can untie Eddie, the psychotic bitch totally loses it and stakes the poor vamp there and then. Having been warned by a rattled Lafayette about the consequences of messing with vamps, Jason is all too aware that his life has just gotten very complicated.

We might have lost poor Eddie, but thanks to Bill, the captive vampire vacancy is quickly filled. The tribunal concerning Longshadow’s death finally gets under way, and Bill narrowly misses out on the statutory five years in a coffin for murdering a higher life form. Instead, he must replace the vampire he took by forcibly turning a god-fearing teenager while she fights for her life. Despite his initial reluctance, it’s clear he has no choice, and Bill becomes a maker for the first time.

While Bill is busy killing a teenager, Sookie is busy trying to stay alive. At the engagement party, she’s attacked by the terror of fang bangers himself. Luckily, she hears his thoughts before she sees him, and just about manages to escape, before conveniently running into suspect number one, also known as Sam Merlotte…

As series one races towards its conclusion, I Don’t Wanna Know sets up many of the storylines that will take us into the close of the season, as well as, no doubt, one or two that may well carry into season two.

One of the most intriguing things about this show is that nothing ever feels like filler. Every scene has the potential to be pivotal, and it seems as though nothing can be disregarded. When there’s as much going on in Bon Temps as there is right now, that’s a lot of potential! For instance, Eddie’s death must surely have consequences, likewise, the attack on Sookie. But even Tara’s complete meltdown can’t have gone unnoticed. Although, considering how preoccupied her friends are at the moment, she might get away with it. We can only hope the toxic twins aren’t so lucky – if an uppance is coming it’s coming for the psychotic hippy, sooner would be far preferable to later.

I Don’t Wanna Know continues to peel back the layers, and brings us ever closer to the heart of the Bon Temps mystery. With only two episodes to go almost all of the clues are in place. Who is the scourge of Merlotte’s fang loving waitresses? The answer is tantalizingly close… 

Check out our review of episode 9 here.