True Blood season 7 episode 6 review: Karma

This review contains spoilers.

7.6 Karma

As the consequences of the H-Vamp attack continue to ripple around Bon Temps, this week’s episode dealt mostly with what happens when you genetically engineer a virus aimed at killing super-strong, super-powerful beings and then run away to Los Angeles, leaving the world to suffer. Calling it Karma is all very well, but there is that pesky insinuation that you deserve your fate – with what Karma had in store for us, perhaps it would have been better titled Oh, the Irony. Yes, not only is Sookie on her way to killing Bill, but her special blood has at least one more surprise in store for Vampire-kind. And as if that wasn’t irony enough for you, go and see Sarah Newlin. She’s full of it…

No, you didn’t have a brain storm during the episode, Sarah Newlin is in fact the Hep-V cure. Finally, she gets to fulfil every inch of her Christ-like ambition. It’s a sublime irony that instead of using the body of Christ to save souls, she’ll be using the body of the ex-Mrs Reverend Newlin to save vampires. God bless the guru who helped Sarah see her saviour potential, persuading her that her horrific crimes – including but not limited to the attempted genocide of an entire species – were all predetermined because she’s so special, and nothing at all to do with the free sex with a much younger woman. Despite her delusions of spiritual grandeur, thanks to her sister, the secret is out, leaving Eric with quite the dilemma – kill or cure? At the mercy of the Yakuza, will he kill Sarah – and therefore himself – anyway? Or will Mr Gus Jr. see the business opportunity before him? The ideal resolution is that they first part Sarah from her valuable blood, and then kill her anyway. Lest we forget, the only reason she swallowed the antidote in the first place was to prevent anyone else ever getting their hands on it. It isn’t necessary to keep her alive to save the vamps, and nor should they. As the episode has suggested, karma is a bitch.

Speaking of karma, it seems that Lettie Mae is finally attempting to make amends for her past transgressions, although it’s just a tad too late to be much use to Tara. Just what is buried in the front yard? Given Lettie Mae’s violently alcoholic past, you have to wonder if Tara’s dad has been much closer than she could ever have imagined – just outside the front door perhaps? The thought that Lettie Mae’s redemption could take the form of a murder charge is, frankly, delicious. That woman could well have more in common with Bill and Eric than she would ever admit to…

Although, these days, Bill doesn’t have that much in common with Bill anymore, having gone from bona fide Vampire God to the only vamp unlucky enough to catch Hep-V from a fairy in just six short months. Of course, while it was fab to see him taking the law into his own hands, if by some miracle they get what’s left of Sarah Newlin to him in time, Bill is still going to get done for murder. Luckily, there’s unlikely to be a judge in the land that would convict him – he’ll probably get a medal for services to humanity.

All of which means that we’re faced with the possibility that either Eric will outlive Bill, or, even more bizarrely, that everyone will make it out alive-ish. Having prepared ourselves for heavy casualties, it would seem churlish to stop killing off characters now. But that’s the beauty of True Blood – you never know what’s coming next.

Thankfully, that was exactly the case with the star-crossed teens. Despite it looking like the show had lost its mind and started believing it was some kind of supernatural Hotel New Hampshire, it turns out that the whole thing existed just so Violet would have something to take her rage out on. They’ve taken the long way round, but this is probably going to end in a Violet/Jessica bitch fight, which, frankly, doesn’t bode well for Jess. Maybe the deaths aren’t done with just yet.

As soapy as ever, Karma gave us a detailed look at the sort of hell that Bon Temps is headed for – Crazy Town, apparently – and while the episode spent way too much time setting up the kidnap, and not enough time on Bill’s accelerated disease, or Sarah’s miracle cure, there was plenty of soapy fun to be had. From Pam’s always wonderful turn of phrase, to the extra-slimy lawyer, and even Eric beating the Yakuzas with the jawbone of their leader, Karma was in places delicious. There was one very disturbing revelation however, and it’s that domestic toilets in Dallas apparently have exterior doors. Perhaps it’s best not to dwell on that, and instead hope that we’re about to witness Sarah Newlin’s last days…

Read Emma’s review of the previous episode, Return To Oz, here.

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