"True Blood" Hits the Home Stretch: Will Sookie Choose? WIll Lafayette Survive? Will Everyone Get Naked?

As we head into the final stretch of this season of True Blood, we can be sure of thing: Alexander Skarsgård has no problem flashing his derriere for the camera. Seriously, I've lost track of how much male butt cheek we've seen this season since this is one of those rare shows where we see see the guys as naked as much as the women, if not more.

Alas, having seen next week's episode, I'm sorry to report that Alexander's bare bum is nowhere to be seen. On the plus side, Joe Manganiello finds yet another reason to drop trou.

What else can you expect in next week's ep? Lafayette and Jesus get some nice moments together as things come to a head after Lafayette's recent possession by a dead woman looking for her child. Fans of the couple should be especially pleased as their relationship becomes central to how the storyline plays out.

John P. Johnson/HBO

Their storyline also includes a couple of funny and/or revealing moments about how the other characters view Lafayette. At one point a high-on-V Andy Bellefleur refers to Lafayette as a "shemale," which tells us more about Andy than it does Lafayette. More amusingly, at one point poor Jason is trying to figure what is going on with Lafayette. Not knowing Lafayette is a medium, he says to Jesus, "I've got a theory. When you guys, uh, role play, does Lafayette ever turn into a woman named Mavis?"

Let's just say Jesus doesn't react well to that particular stereotype. But fear not, fans of the couple will be happy with what happens next.

Elsewhere, everyone's been talking about what Sookie feels for Eric and Bill, and whether or not she is torn between the two. I won't say whether or not this episode resolves that, but I will say we have some interesting discussion of sexual politics that we don't often see addressed in popular culture. It will definitely be interesting to see what more they do with this.

Meanwhile, things are really heating up in the war between the vampires and the witches, and certain folks are realizing there are going to be serious consequences resulting from which side they choose. I'd say more, but I really don't want Alan Ball coming after me!

What's your take on the season so far? Are you Team Witch or Team Vamp? How does Antonia rate as the season's "Big Bad" in your opinion?