What About Eric?! -- It's Wickham and Darcy.

This post is coming a little later than usual because I, like I suspect many of you, needed a moment or two to collect my muddled thoughts. And to stop drooling. And spazzing in front of the TV. I also felt it was quite necessary to watch the dream sequence again, not only to enjoy the... splendor... but to catch the lines of dialogue due to my distractedness during the first viewing. Oh, Eric. Yes, please.

In Episode 9, "I Will Rise Up," we saw a bit more emotion, and a focus on the family units in True Blood. That means there was Lettie Mae Thorton and Maxine Fortenberry acting maternal. (Surprisingly strong in Lettie Mae's case and unsurprisingly bitchy in Maxine's.) The babies remark from Mamma Hoyt was a low blow. But we know she's "full of hate."

But I can't contain myself any longer over the Eric scenes, and the explosion, so I must leave the family stuff for later.

How incredible was the bullet suck? I have been on pins and needles waiting to see if that scene would be cut in the book-to-show transition. Gladly, it remained, with a little tweaking.

So, the bomb goes off and there's squishy guts everywhere. And there goes Eric, covering Sookie. To protect her... maybe. Or because he's "opportunistic" (wink wink)? In the book, I imagined this as a face-to-face positioning, and I think it was. But, it worked out well here. When Eric leans back and grins fangily, I swore he was about to wink at the camera. I wish he had.

I lament the omission of the book Eric-Sookie kiss, after Eric's lust is kindled by the blood and Sookie taking his, where he says, "Your lips are bloody," and proceeds to... rectify that situation with his own.

Bill then explains that Sookie and Eric will have a blood bond of sorts. Sookie reacts to this by girly punching Eric and calling him an "A-hole." I kind of love it when he's all, "Yes, Bill, I do believe I can sense her emotions." and after she calls him a "monster," there's the classic, "I think I'm gonna cry." I love Eric.

Things I don't understand: Bill grabbing the Fellowship dudes and biting then claiming to have shown mercy. Hey, I guess he didn't chain them up in a basement or rip of their extremities, but he's no Mother Theresa.

Oh, and Bill: Why did you have to say SEXUAL like someone's Health teacher? No complaints about Eric and SEXUAL anything, Mr. Compton. At least not from me. His attractions are working without that blood bond, unless you know something I don't. The way Bill talks about it, you'd think Eric was frickin' Quasimodo or something.

I loved Jason's thumbs up for guts! I eeeewwwed after Luke's severed hand, of course it was the honesty ring one. (Sidebar: You know you're Twittering too much when you see a severed hand and think, NEW Twitter account for someone! @LukesHand... Hey, there's @EricsButt.)

Sookie and Jason's hotel conversation was very real, and touching, if not a teensy bit sullied by the fact that Jason was in a robe and chatting about his "sexual abilities." Maybe I'm more of a prude than Sookie, but I don't think I'm cool enough to be comfortable with that kind of talk with mon frere.

Lafayette was a big hero this week. He may be a "person of low moral character," but I loved him for being a good cousin and for taking Tara out of a bad situation whether she wants to be taken or not. The mix of emotions you felt when he tossed Tara over his shoulder pretty much embodied the show's appeal for me. It was a little funny, but it was sad and also strange and creepy with her hollering and black eyes.

So sick of Maryann, btw. And give Sam something better to do than run from Maryann. Or be a fly. Yeah, that was Sam Trammell's best performance so far! He really pulled off the fly. Geez. I like Sam, not every woodland creature that is good at fleeing from mobs and maenads.

Maxine's culinary prowess astounded me. Yeah. It was cheese toast with chips. And it was even the plastic cheese. Hoyt standing up for himself made me smile, and the fact that he's all, "I'm a grown-ass man!" ...but I'll take this sandwich!

I'll admit that I thought he looked a little more attractive to me standing up in that room with the low ceiling. Is Eric Northman inspiring tall guy fetishes? What? Who said that? For a moment, I thought Hoyt would deserve a card on Blood Work this week over Eric, even with the bullet suck. Little did I know...

Listen, I took notes during this scene, and just for a picture of how muddled my thoughts were, I will type them out verbatim, and then translate/elaborate with my real, second viewing notes.

Alison's notes, Take 1: HOLY CRAP! Hard to focus on dialogue... AAAAH! Hair. Just a taste of later. "There's love in you." "Only for Sookie." HE DESERVES A CARD. Guilty sex! Good Lord that was hot.

So, let's translate that, and add in my real notes (albeit still forcing my brain to focus when there's naked Skarsgard): I fully expected a guilty sex scene when Sookie wakes and turns to Bill. But, I guess that'll happen later, since it follows the formula (See the original post at Blood Bonds Blog).

NOTE POSSIBLE SPOILERS for non-book readers this paragraph... One of the things about the dream sequence is the fact that you pretty much could have taken it out of Dead to the World. And I appreciate the fact that they dropped another hint at Sookie's lineage. "Can't trade the sun for the moon and the stars."

You'll notice that he didn't bite her, which I expected, but they really meant to humanize him, yet again. But isn't this all coming at once for people who haven't been waiting all this time for Eric's real personality to come out? There weren't as many breadcrumbs left to lead you home to our "sense of humor" or love for "only Sookie" Eric. The first we saw of him was last episode. Hell, I loved it. But that doesn't mean everyone else will if you didn't set it up from day one like Charlaine Harris did.

This episode really showed the Eric I loved since Loving Dead in Dallas. The impish flirt, the loyal, the sensitive and noble man. He smirks and plays at a time when many of his brethren are dead. Bill punches Eric at a really, really bad time and he walks away. He cares for Godric enough to cry in front of Sookie, enough to offer himself to die in support of his maker. The dream Eric is really our future Eric, and the one we know is in there, it's both touching and painful, to see him like that now. Let me tell you, there are going to be a lot of red faces come two years from now, if there is a True Blood god.

The Godric parts were emotional, and I'm not a Godric fan, but you really saw the Sookie that Charlaine Harris wrote, come out. Maybe that's because the "Meeting the Sun" scene was done very similarly in print. I loved Sookie for taking Eric's hand and crying while Godric burned. And I loved her for being herself and doing what was right and not hiding behind Bill, for once.

I've talked to people who only watch the show and they ask me why when I say Sookie is my favorite character next to Eric. Well, this is why. I like the flirting with Eric-Sookie and the crying for Godric-Sookie and the cares for her brother-Sookie. I even like the cares for Bill-Sookie. But enough is enough. You are your own woman, Sookie Stackhouse, and it's not your job to run to Bill every time something goes south! At the very least you should run to Eric. He's not going to coddle you.

You know what my Bill and Eric philosophy is? Why would you want Mr. Wickham when Mr. Darcy's right there? I mean, HE'S GOING TO MARRY YOUR SISTER! Metaphorically speaking, Ms. Stackhouse. Wake up and smell your Mr. Northman. Preferably naked. Take a note from Elizabeth Bennet. She got it right, and I'm getting tired of waiting for you to follow suit.