'True Blood' Season 5, Episode 8 Recap - 'Somebody That I Used to Know'

Yes, they really did it. "True Blood" went with a Gotye title for this episode. Thankfully, we don't have to hear that particular overplayed earworm in the episode; it just sets the tone with the title alone. [ADDENDUM: From the end credits, sounds like they actually meant the Elliott Smith song. Whew.]

Sam/Luna:

This seems a good place to start, doesn't it? We can get the weirdest of the weird out of the way. As Andy takes away the culprit that murdered Sam's friends, Luna has a bit of a freak out, saying that they should just go kill all the racist (paranormalist?) rednecks before they kill them.

After that, Luna inexplicably shifts into Sam and gets stuck. This is not explained, and is seemingly resolved by the end of the episode. It also provides for some incredibly odd scenes as Sam talks to Luna as Sam, and they get all romantic with each other. Hats off to Sam Trammell, though, for playing Luna and actually doing a decent job of it. He might do it better than Janina does.

Hoyt/Jessica:

Speaking of that hate group, they have a little surprise for Hoyt: they ensnare Jessica at Fangtasia and take her to their house, giving Hoyt the opportunity to kill her. This provides for a very stressful situation, as Hoyt is forced to choose between shooting Jessica with a silver/wooden bullet or proving to his new friends that he's not totally on board... and then it gets ruined when the rest of the guys LEAVE THE ROOM AND LOCK THE DOOR. Seriously. That's worse than Goldfinger leaving Bond strapped to a table with a painfully slow laser headed toward his crotch.

So of course Hoyt frees Jessica and she breaks at least one neck, but it's daytime, so Hoyt goes to send help. When Andy and the Sams arrive (there's a free band name for you), it would seem that Hoyt has disappeared. Also, he said "fuck you, Jess," so I guess they're still on bad terms. You know, just maybe.

Lafayette:

Poor Lafayette just wanted to go home and smoke a big joint, but Arlene came along asking him to do a little seance and get rid of the Ifrit... or at least pretend to, since she still thinks it doesn't exist.

So Lafayette plays along (for the price of "three hunnert"), but when Terry and Patrick actually show up, Lafayette finds himself channeling the Iraqi woman that Terry and Patrick killed, and delivers Terry a message: "Terry baby you gotta kill Patrick."

So Patrick splits, Terry has a big decision to make, and poor Lafayette has another spirit trying to "Ghost" him and shit.

Sookie/Jason:

Jason stops Sookie during her little fairy tantrum to convince her to keep her powers and use them to help find the vampire who killed their parents. "Wait," you might be saying, "how can she do that? She can just read minds and make hand flares." Well, as it turns out she can also experience the memories of those close to them because Albert Einstein was a half-fairy or something.

So she does that, and witnesses firsthand the murder of her parents by a vampire in a snazzy hat. It looks like Claudine tried to save them, though, and she called the murder by his name, "Warlow." If that is indeed the culprit, that would be a divergence from the novels. But it could be Bill, too: that would be exactly the kind of twist this show would throw in, and that apparition that appeared later, minus the weird accent, sounded like him when it said "you're mine."

Alcide:

After a very wolfy sex scene (literal doggystyle!), Alcide takes on JD in a challenge for head of the pack... but JD has a twist. He brings in a track star from the college for them to hunt and kill, which of course Alcide disagrees with. Eventually JD, hopped up on V, just whoops Alcide and then kicks him out of the pack, but luckily he doesn't kill him too.

Tara/Pam:

An old high school classmate of Tara's shows up to Fangtasia and is generally a major bitch. Tara gives her the usual lip, but apparently they do things a little differently at Fangtasia than at Merlotte's... Pam chides Tara and gives the girl a free drink. Later, though, we see Pam's actual intentions: she ties the girl up in the cellar and glamours her into being Tara's personal food source. Aww, Pam always knows just what to do.

Bill/Eric:

The vampires finally finish their Lilith trip, coming to the conclusion that since Lilith appeared to them, they were "on the right path" and should indeed be feeding on humans. Eric, having seen his own vision of Godric, disagrees, and that becomes a point of contention between him and Norah. By the time she says "fuck Godric," Eric has had quite enough of her.

Side note: don't these guys realize their faces are covered in blood? I know they're vampires, but if you have some food on your face, you get a napkin and wipe it off. Somebody in Bon Temps should start marketing a wetnap for vampires.

Bill, on the other hand, goes further and further into the fold: Salome invites him to feed on a girl she captured, and though her screaming makes him think of his own daughter, whom he refused to turn when she was terminally ill, he goes ahead and does it.

In fact, it's Bill who comes up with the group's big plan to convince vampires everywhere to do things their way: destroy all the Tru Blood factories. That would cut off the synthetic food supply, and vampires would have to start feeding on humans. Diabolical! See, he totally could have been the one who killed Sookie's parents.

Notes & Quotes:

- Luna/Sam's sweatshirt, "Free Mustache Rides." Awesome.

- "God has the most beautiful tits I've ever seen!"

- "I need a baby. Lilith wants me to eat a baby."

- Sam's Luna walk.

- "I hate this goddamn town."

- "I connected with your boyfriend well enough to fuck him.

- "You don't know me that well. My mad face and my happy face are the same."

Nudity Count:

2, male: Sambutt and most of Alcide

1, female: most of Rikki