'True Blood' Season 6 Episode 3 Recap: One Giant Red Flag

You know that moment when you’re dating someone and you start realizing all of their bad behavior, and suddenly it clicks for you — you can recall all the little red flags weeks ago but you chose to ignore the signs? That’s kind of what the third episode of True Blood was like last night: one big red flag.

“You’re No Good” wasn’t the most exciting episode. But it did plant tiny little seeds for what’s to come. This way, when we’re further along in the season, we can say “Ahh, yes, I remember him saying that”, and so on.

First up in the foreshadowing factory, Bill is fresh out of his revelation that his friends are heading for the True Death, and he’s intent on saving them. Bill believes Lilith has shown him ‘day-walking’ is the path to vampire salvation. We all know Lilith likes to play games, so unsurprisingly Bill’s attempt to walk in the sun fails miserably, resulting with him bursting into flames and frantically running back into the house. As Jessica cradles a horribly burned Bill in her arms, he cries, “I don’t understand.” I actually felt bad for Bill :(

Jessica warns him that “something” killed Lilith, so he shouldn’t think he’s immortal either. This got me thinking about the last episode, when Nora exclaimed, “The people led Lilith to the sun!” while reading the Vampire Bible. Will Bill sacrifice himself for the greater good of the vampire race in a future episode? Red flag number one.

At the Stackhouse estate, Grandpa Nile and Jason are holding down the fort. What they believe to be Warlow running around outside the house is actually Nora, as we find out later, who is also looking for Warlow. Grandpa Nile recruits Sookie’s fae-boyfriend Ben to fight with him (Ben bores me, by the way). We learn that Grandpa Niall is not only a king, but the fae King — which explains why Warlow is thirsting for his granddaughter. 

Meanwhile, Jason’s recuperating from another zap to the head (this time from Grandpa Niall), which eventually leads to him being knocked unconscious by Bill. Poor Jason. Let me rewind a bit. Bill visits the Stackhouse residence with the hope of getting some of Sookie’s fae-blood to synthesize. He’s found the man who created Tru Blood, Professor Takahashi, and wants him to do the same with fae-blood so that he’ll be able to walk in the sun. After letting himself in to their home (Bill doesn’t require an invite to enter a human residence anymore), Bill zaps Jason and he and Sookie get in to it. She refuses to go. He says that she’s dead to him. I said, “meh.” Red flag number two?

Speaking of dead, Eric was this close to killing the governor’s daughter, Willa, until her fight or flight mode kicks in and she willingly reveals her daddy’s secrets. Turns out the government is “arresting” vampires and taking them to a camp that’s half-prison-half-research facility to conduct experiments and study them. We see Reverend Newlin get arrested, where he confronts his former wife and is forced to spill the beans on everything he knows about Eric Northman. I seriously doubt the little bit of information Reverend Newlin has on Eric will be enough to capture the man, er, vampire. 

What they do know, though, is Eric’s cell phone number. Eric moves his crew (the governor’s daughter and a highly resistant duo, Pam and Tara) to Ginger’s house (the human who worked at Fangtasia). Pam wants to kill Willa, Tara wants to free her, and Eric wants to use her as a negotiating tool. When Governor Burrell calls Eric’s cell phone, he’s able to trace the call to Ginger’s house. Eric realizes they have to flee, but before they do, both Tara and Willa are gone. Eric and Pam go chasing after the two.

Oh, one detail that I feel may be important later: Willa reveals that Governor Burrell’s wife cheated on him with a vampire. This possibly explains his targeting of vampires, but I suspect it will be the source of greater conflict later in the season. Red flag number three.

We find Alcide, Martha, Rikki and crew being questioned by the police about the whereabouts of Emma. Rikki takes serious issue with having Emma there, considering all of the trouble she’s liable to bring to the pack. Alcide stands his ground and forces an indignant Rikki to bow down. 

When Nicole and her VUS crew show up on the wolf pack’s territory, with cameras, Rikki’s rebelliousness is again on display as she leads in attacking the crew. Meanwhile, Sam, who’s shifted into an owl, seizes the opportunity to grab Emma while the rest of the pack is in attack mode. Sam and Emma see a limping Nicole (with a fresh bite wound from Rikki) and they run off to help her. 

Rounding out the episode, Andy and Holly are working on their relationship — as friends. Andy’s four fae-girls are now tweenagers. Also, Andy has to start enforcing a vampire curfew in Bon Temps. He stumbles on “Vampire Bill” out past curfew, but the most important piece of information from this exchange is Bill smelling the fae-blood in the police car. Bill smirks, knowing exactly who he’s going to use to synthesize fae-blood. Until next week!

Liner notes:

-Did anyone else feel a pang of nostalgia when Eric looked back at his throne in Fangtasia? I miss the good old days.

-I’m totally Team Bill this season. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.

-Sam never fails to find a new love interest.

-Looks like we won’t be getting any good storyline for Lafayette anytime soon.