True Blood season 4 episode 9 review: Let’s Get Out of Here

This review contains spoilers.

4.9 Let’s Get Out Of Here

True Blood has always had a penchant for the darkly ironic, and in this week’s episode, Team TB take that penchant to its natural conclusion. In a re-run of the Midnight Massacre, the wiccans are once again ready to face off against the vamps, but this time in the very public arena of the annual tolerance festival. However many marbles Antonia may have lost, at least she kept her sense of humour, as far as genocide can be considered funny.

It might not seem like much of a fight, with two wiccans against a handful of vamps, but with Diet Eric even more helpless than before, and under orders to Kill Bill, The Big Showdown part two is likely to be more than a little interesting. Fingers crossed that the boys can fight it out undisturbed for a little while, at least – it’s the fight we’ve been waiting to see, and it would be a crime to deprive us of it.

Of course, with this all occurring under the watchful eye of the world’s media, the PR fallout, whatever the outcome, will be disastrous. Nan Flanagan may well be deposing yet another Monarch in the very near future. Providing Diet Eric doesn’t kill him first…

This week we got a glimpse of the ‘real’ Antonia – a kidnapping, megalomaniacal, easily as bad as any vamp wiccan spirit. Smart enough to incarcerate all but the most kiss ass of her followers before launching the above mentioned deeply ironic surprise attack, she seems to be getting more powerful by the hour, but in Laf and Jesus, we may well have seen a foreshadowing of Antonia’s future demise.

The Ghost Nanny/kidnap storyline came to a very neat conclusion thanks to Jesus’ own wiccan powers, and while it may have been a little too neat to be completely satisfying, as a demonstration of the magical couple’s capabilities, it was hopefully necessary and not just a diverting were-panther style dead end.

Perhaps this week’s most interesting development is Horrifically Needy Debbie’s sudden about turn with regard to Sookie, which is closely tied in to her return to the V. What’s interesting about this development is Deb’s need use the V at all – has she gone back to it for the lack of conscience necessary to get rid of Sookie, or is she just so intimidated by Sookie that she can’t handle being in a room with her? She’s become so pathetic that it would almost be sweet if she was intimidated, rather than murderous. Whatever the reason, Alcide will not be very happy.

Staying in the realm of unlikely alliances, Jason and Jess showed those vamps and wiccans just how tolerant they can be, and finally gave in to their attraction. The Stackhouse sibling/Sire and Fledgling symmetry here is lovely, but you’ve got to feel for poor Hoyt. Mama Fortenberry is going to have a field day, and no one deserves that cruel and unusual a punishment.

Hoyt isn’t the only one with complicated familial and relationship issues – Bon Temps is full of dysfunction, but the out and winners are without doubt the Mickens brothers. The elder Mickens might be off enjoying a rural idyll that only a tent and some bunnies can provide, but Mickens the younger is off messing where he shouldn’t be messing – in Sam’s life.

If it wasn’t for the omnipresent Alcide, Tommy would almost certainly be an ex-shifter. How Tommy’s misguided attempts at redemption will impact on Sam and Luna remains to be seen, but chances are it won’t be good, and that Alcide won’t be too far away.

Team TB did something a little unusual story-wise with Let’s Get Out Of Here. Having brought Alcide and Debbie into the regular character fold, this week we were shown just how involved in the major storylines they have become. Not only are they both involved in the war between the vamps and wiccans, but the feud between Marcus and Luna now has a Harveaux-shaped presence, in addition to the pack running, peace keeping and general entourage duties he’s recently taken on.

Clearly Alcide, with or without Debbie, is becoming a larger presence in Bon Temps, and Let’s Get Out Of Here was the clearest indication yet that he’s here to for the foreseeable future. What shape that future will take very much depends on the upcoming Ultimate Vamp And Wiccan Fighting Championship. Bon Temps could be a very different place in seven days time but one thing’s for sure – Alcide will definitely be there…

Read our review of episode 8, Spellbound, here.