True Blood Season 6, Episode 6 Recap: His Fairy Vampire Bride-to-Be

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In contrast to True Blood’s world of stone-faced, killing, and emotionless vampires, yesterday's episode, "Don't You Feel Me," was driven entirely by feelings — specifically, by love. The episode begins with Sookie Stackhouse being drowned by Lafayette (who's possessed by Sookie's father, Papa Stackhouse). Bill senses that Sookie is in danger, and proving that he still very much cares about her, puts his cause at risk by allowing day-walker Ben to go rescue her. Ben then blasts Lafayette to release him from Papa Stackhouse's control, and Sookie tells her father to never return again.

When Billith summons Ben to return, Sookie hides him in the fae realm. Frustrated with his inherited progeny, Bill goes to look for Jessica, only to find an empty room. He realizes his vision of the white room where his vamp friends were burning is coming true, and seeks out Lilith for more precise details on where this room might be. Professor Hido Takahashi drains Bill of most of his blood to induce him into a unconscious state where he can meet Lilith. Bill and Lilith have a pretty (immature) emotional exchange about who’s responsible for theis current vampire-human crisis. Luckily, their conversation adds more fuel to Bill’s fire. When he awakens, he downs Ben’s blood to acquire day-walking abilities, and proceeds to the Governor Burrell’s headquarters. 

Returning to the second cliff-hanger from last week, we find Eric Northman and Pam being prompted to face off at camp, both with stakes in hand, midair, in vampire stance. Pam’s a little offended that Eric produced another vampire, but not enough to kill her maker. Instead, the two advance on the Louisiana Vampire Task Force (LAVTF) officers controlling the ultraviolet lights within the cell, and stake one poor guy against the the double-sided mirror, behind which, Steve Newlin, Sarah Newlin, and the Governor look on in terror. I was glad to see that Pam and Eric still love and trust each other. (Go teamwork!)

The Governor then finally meets with his daughter, Willa, at camp. She convinces him to let her interact with the other vampire prisoners. He shares his hopes that all of the testing they're performing on vampires at camp will result in a cure for Willa — but it’s hard to imagine those “tests” are anything more than a means to torture and degrade the vampire race. Case in point: seeking vengeance against Eric, the Governor forces him to watch Nora die after she's been injected with a presumably deadly virus called Hepatitis V. However, luckily for Eric, he’s able to summon Willa and have her glamour a LATVF guard into releasing himself and Nora. 

With Eric dressed in the guard’s uniform, the two set off to look for Pam (and Tara and Jessica). Eric stumbles on a Tru Blood manufacturing line (I guess Governor Burrell couldn’t afford separate facilities?) and discovers the bottles are being contaminated with Hepatitis V.

Outside of the camp, our favorite public servant, Jason Stackhouse, passes the LAVTF vetting process with flying colors. He’s on a mission to save his vampire girlfriend, Jessica, but is still able to convincingly tell his “war stories” of killing vamps, including the most recent massacre at the Vampire Authority headquarters.

When crazy-Sarah realizes Jason is the newest recruit, she attempts to weaken Jason’s resolve and mess with his head by forcing him to watch Jessica have sex with a male vampire for a “population study.” Luckily, the other vamp has some moral ground (saying, “I’m a vampire, not a rapist”), and we’re all all spared a really awkward sex scene. 

Little does Sarah know that her beau, Governor Burrell, is in for a rude awakening. Bill arrives at the camp to find the Governor outside, flanked by security. In a very Matrix-like scene,the LAVTF officers riddle Bill with bullets, only to find him not only still standing, but able to turn the guns on each of the officers. Bill demands that Governor Burrell reveal the location of “the white room where the vampires meet the sun,” but his demand falls on deaf ears. The Governor would rather be a martyr for the cause of exterminating vampires than reveal any details. Bill grants the Governor's wish, and rips his head off (Billith 1, Governor 0).

Meanwhile, True Blood’s other supernatural characters are still at odds with each other. Alcide’s father reveals the whereabouts of Sam and Nicole to his power-hungry son. Sam rightfully returns Emma back to her grandmother Martha. When Alcide confronts Sam and Nicole, he most likely intends to kill the two, but he makes the more Alcide-like decision to simply warn Sam and Nicole that they can never return to Bon Temps, Shreveport, or anywhere else where his pack can sniff them out — otherwise, they’re “goners.”. 

Speaking of goners, Terry Bellefleur attempts to provide Lafayette with a key to a safety deposit box, as he ties up loose ends before his Marines buddy delivers the final kill shot. Lafayette warns Arlene, who assumes Terry is planning on committing suicide. She devises a plan (with the help of Holly Cleary and a soccer-dad vampire’s help) to glamour Terry into forgetting the war and returning to a nice, simple way of life. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late, as Terry winds up shot to death in the parking lot of Merlotte’s while taking out the trash. All I can say is that, I hope this is the big character death we were expecting this season, because I don’t want to see any other characters go.

Back to Sookie and Ben in fairyland. With nightfall looming, Ben asks Sookie to tie him up. No, it doesn’t actually get dark in the fae realm, but Ben can still sense nightfall and doesn’t want to hurt (precious) Sookie. Apparently Ben and Sookie have gotten over any beef they once had. Ben promises to tear up the contract he made with her kin, and attempts to convince Sookie that becoming a vampire, like him, might be the best thing for her. Sookie then, at least, gives in to her attraction to Barlow and begins having sex with him right then and there. I was tempted to believe this whole part was a dream (they begin to glow while they’re having sex, for goodness' sake), or that I had missed the part where Sookie also became a vampire, but I guess she was just using her good old human teeth to bite into Ben for that bit of fantasy foreplay.

As one of the PolicyMic commenters noted on a previous recap, this whole season has been a bit more campy than usual. The campiest parts of this episode:

- Andy's decision to finally give one of his daughters a name: Adeline-Braelynne-Charlaigne-Dannica.

- Were Tara and Willa really playing Connect Four in the common area?

- The Barlow-Sookie-fae sex scene. Enough said.