Really surprised at the split thoughts from the extremes. I thought last season was better than the prior ones but it still took too long to resolve a lot of the storylines.

As I was watching this episode, I kept pausing to see how much time was left because I couldn't believe it was moving so quickly.

I think everyone knows this show is a campy feast. And when it's campy good is really great. Like Eric drinking the blood. That was great.

Marnie acting dumb all season, that was really bad. Weakest bad guy ever.

Surprised by the reactions I thought this episode was awesome. Very badass what they did with Marnie and Alcide/Sam confronting Marcus. Jesus really won me over as a character too.

I like last season better but it's still better than Mary-Ann season.

I think the season has been all over the place and no real cohesiveness. A scene there with that character. A scene across town with another character. Most of the core characters aren't even interacting anymore. The last couple episodes have been good but the rest have been kinda uneventful for me.

Funny. Another thing I find weird is the V Blood. They make out that only a couple of drops will get you hooked, and you'll turn in meth-style addict immediately. Then dudes will get injured and drink V blood by the gallon and they're not addicted at all. Odd.

^^ maybe it only gets you addicted if you don't need it because you're healthy, but if you're injured then all of its healing properties get used up right then and there so it wouldn't have much of an effect otherwise?

They've never really explained it but that's always been my assumption.

Well, at least this episode was consistent such that it kept up the inconsistency of the season Not sure what to expect of the finale -- it'll likely be all across the board.

From the first season, I thought that taking more than a drop of V would give a man an enormous erection that won't go away with a trip to the ER. I guess Andy knows exactly what the limit is. Or did Jason take a lot more in the first season?

As far as the Lafayette thing goes, earlier in the season when Jesus first took him to the coven, I seem to remember a spell not working very well until Lafayette joined the circle. I thought it had already been hinted at that Lafayette had greater powers than he has shown or that he even knows.

As for the debate about this season and this episode, I don't think this was the best episode, but after a slightly shaky start, I thought this season was a nice improvement over last season. I've begun to think that this is one of those shows that is strong on setup but weak when it comes to wrap-up. Aside from season 1, I can't think of a truly satisfying season-ender.

I agree that this show really walks a fine line of camp. Last season with Russell, I thought it veered way too much into camp and ridiculousness and it sort of lost me. I thought they handled that balance much better this season.

That has been my assumption as well, though they have been inconsistent when it comes to the V.

I agree with the majority - the writing and pacing for this episode were awful. Hopefully they'll recover in time for next season. True Blood really seems to be setting up for a 24-type pattern, where a good season is followed by an atrocious one.

Youre completely right!

The mystery has been completely dropped from this storyline.

In the book, the witch character was SO powerful that there was some level of mystery as to how the vampires would overcome her power right up to the end.

On the show, Marnie's character has had moments that suggested this only to have them squandered by the supporting characters acting completely stupid or just bad writing in general.

This season could have been a LOT more fun to watch if they had made the witches as scary as they seemed in the book and not led by this conflicted, post-menopausal wiccan palm reader who wants vengeance for being bullied.

I thought he downed a whole vial for that to happen.

I liked that marnie's promise to let Sookie go was that she would be " free as a resurrected bird," which of course died the second it left the circle.

One thing going for this season...the Tara hate seems to have died down, at least in these threads.

She really hasn't had her own storyline except for earlier in the season. And lately she's stuck in the background of the witch storyline.

Personally, I hope Tara bites it - so to speak - in the season finale. It just seems like she has run her course. I never saw any real storylines with her in it. And the one she did have with....Eggs (I fucking hated hearing/seeing that guy) was just plain awful. I actually miss it more when she was just a sidekick friend like in the first season.

There's less hate because there's less Tara, which I love. I still go into every episode hoping someone rips her head off. But at least she's not speaking much. That is nothing but a positive for me.

PIIIIIIIIIGGG!

Great episode, but that CGI ring of fire was awful - the current crop of Canadian filmed shows on SyFy can do better (didn't help that my satellite provider is heavily compressing HBO HD channels.) This, and Andy's romp in the forest as a blatant sneak preview/setup of next season broke the steady rhythm of suspense during the hour.

Alcide's speech ending his relationship with Debbie was well done. I absolutely felt bad for her here.

Pam...wow
Also loved Marnie's quip about her lips falling off.

Yup I don't get how Jason was blasting Andy for his V in a vial addiction when Jason's pretty much drinking it straight from the redheaded tap. But much like the glamor thing, the writers gave themselves an out in season 1 when it was mentioned that V affects people differently...just like some people can or can't hold their liquor, painkiller meds, etc .