"True Blood" (1.07) recaplet: Afterglow

This episode's actual title is "Burning House of Love" (which is the name of my favorite song by the seminal L.A. band X), but it could also be called "Butt, seriously", or "Buns on the Bayou". Find out why after the break!

We open with Sookie and Bill still getting their freak on, and her startling invitation for him to give her the ole' hot fang injection. He happily obliges, and she experiences what every woman desires ... the Big O-positive blood loss.

After the credits, Sookie is relaxing in a hot bath, and we get our first good look at Stephen Moyer in the buff. It's only from behind, but I'm pretty sure he's wearing a "modesty pouch", aka a ... um ..."rooster sock". Anyway, they have a conversation in which he explains that the various myths about vampires are mostly untrue, and were started by them as a means of protecting their identities.

Contrary to popular belief, vampires do cast a reflection, they can't be hurt by holy water or crucifixes, and garlic is just irritating. Unfortunately, he doesn't answer the one question I've been dying to know: "Do vampires ever wear soft pastels?"

Sookie says she never thought she'd be able to be with a man, which we assumed was because she could read his thoughts, and it would be too awkward, but then she has a flashback and we learn the real reason. She remembers creepy old Uncle Bartlett, and how when she was ten years old, he touched her inappropriately, and she could read his perverted thoughts.

Bill listens intently (and we can already tell that this isn't a good thing for Uncle Perv), and promises that as long as she's with him, she's safe. He then shows her the one thing he's never shown any other person: his complete collection of Mac and Me memorabilia (including an empty Skittles wrapper and the original choreography notes for the McDonalds dance number). Okay, actually he shows her where he sleeps during the day, and Sookie laments that they'll never be able to sleep side by side.

Meanwhile, Lafayette is performing in front of his webcam and Jason walks in just in time to see him pulling his pants down to reveal a gold lame thong. Now, no one looks good in a gold lame thong, but Nelsan Ellis can almost make it work.

Lafayette is ticked that Jason barged in, and orders him out, but Jason is looking for a V blood fix. When Lafayette refuses, Jason say he'll do anything, even "show my wiener on camera", but Layayette isn't having it, and when Jason tries to make vague threats, he throws him out. Later, we see the depths to which Jason has sunk when Sookie catches him trying to pilfer some of their grandma's belongings to pawn for V money.

Over at Tara's house, her mother Lettie is pouring booze into her coffee, and asking Tara for money to get an exorcism. We then get a fairly hilarious scene of Tara's mother blaming every problem she has on "The Demon". It's not her drinking the booze, it's the demon. It's not her fault the bills weren't paid, it's the demon. What a brilliant idea! "Officer, it wasn't me offering that undercover cop sex in that restroom, it was the demon!"

Later, after she and Sam have a medium hot fight, they make up, then she gets a call that her mother is at the bank causing trouble. Once again, "the demon" is at work, as Lettie is turned down for a loan for the exorcism, and lets loose with a barrage of hysterics. My favorite part was when she told the Christian loan officer that they have to stick together, because "they're trying to take everything away from us, even Christmas!" OMG, you mean "the demon" is channeling ... Bill O'Reilly? Well, that explains a lot.

Tara comes in and tries to calm her mother down, but Lettie says she would rather die than have the demon inside of her, and Tara realizes she has to do something drastic for her mother. Back at home, as Lettie walks to her room to rest, Tara pulls a wad of cash out from under the sink, presumably for the exorcism.

Sookie arrives for work with a bounce in her step and a scarf around her neck, and everyone can tell that she's a little ... different tonight. Arlene is shocked and appalled when Sookie admits the truth about being with Bill, and worries that if Sookie gets pregnant: "How will she nurse a baby with fangs?" Sam is incensed, and rips the scarf off Sookie's neck, and they have a very public fight about her right to make her own decisions.

As expected, Bill pays a visit to Uncle Pervert, and after having a tasty midnight snack, dumps the body in the bayou. Unfortunately, all of this dirty work is going on at the same time Merlotte's is being visited by Liam, Diane, and Malcolm, who are in the mood for a fight.

They target Sookie after seeing her fang marks, and when Sam comes at them with a broken pool cue, Liam pins him to the bar and is about to break his neck when Bill comes in to save the day. He agrees to go with them, but it's obvious that he's just doing it to protect Sookie.

Tara and Lettie show up for the exorcism, which involves transferring the demon from her to a possum. After lots of drum beating and incantations, Lettie calms down, and the possum starts chewing the scenery, so it's obvious the transfer worked. It's confirmed when the possum starts drinking heavily, wearing bad wigs, and blaming all of it's problems on "the demon".

Jason shows up at Fangtasia, and is immediately put in his place by doorwoman Pam, who learns that he's Sookie's brother and concludes that he's "nothing like her". Inside, we finally get another glimpse of Eric as he toys with a "blood sack" who wants a picture, but that's all we're going to get of him this episode.

Jason asks the bartender for something stronger than a beer, and almost blurts out that he wants V blood (which surely would have signed his death warrant), when he's rescued by a new character named Amy, played by Lizzy Caplan (who looks like Zooey Deschanel playing Katy Perry ... in a flapper costume).

They go back to Jason's house, and it turns out she's one of those young hippie chick/earth-is-our-mother girls who all eventually marry corporate lawyers and Republican politicians later in life. She grinds up some V with a few aspirin, and she and Jason snort it. What happens next has to be seen to be believed, as Jason starts tripping, and at the end, both of their bodies are glowing like Bruce LeRoy at the end of Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon.

Andy and Terry are doing some fishing when Terry notices something odd. Across the way is the figure of man running past the forest. A naked man. On closer look, it turns out it's Sam, and he's running buck naked across a field, like he's trying to escape something ... or like he just woke up buck naked in a field. I tried to get some clues to what happened by watching the scene over and over, but I came up empty handed (so to speak).

Sookie is worried about Bill (because the rednecks at the bar have pledged revenge on the vampires) and rushes over to his house to warn him. Unfortunately, she discovers that he isn't at home, which means he must be resting with the other vampires at their new house. What's even worse is that the rednecks know where the vampires live and have decided to pay them a visit ... with molotov cocktails.

We hear screams coming from the house as it's set on fire, and back at Bill's house, Sookie hears the sirens and realizes that Bill is still missing. She rushes over to the vampire house in time to see them carting coffins of flame-broiled vampires out of the house. Four coffins.

There are a couple of things I noticed in this episode. There is definitely something up with the character of Terry. I thought he was just a glorified extra, but in this episode, they gave him a few choice scenes, and I'm thinking that there's more to him than I thought.

As much as I love seeing Ryan Kwanten's sweaty body, there's such a thing as overkill. Maybe he needs a shower scene to balance it out (Eddie Cibrian can show him the ropes). I hope that eventually we'll see some semblance of normalcy with Jason again.

What did you guys think? Let us know in the comments, and come back next week to see if Bill survived (I'm guessing he did).