Plaisir d'Amour
True Blood | Season 1 | Episode 9

Plaisir d'Amour

TV-MA | 54 MIN

Directed by Anthony Hemingway
Written by Brian Buckner

Longshadow pins Sookie to the table, preparing to tear into her throat. Eric and Pam look on almost curiously, but Bill springs to action, plunging a makeshift stake through Longshadow's back. Vomiting a torrent of blood onto Sookie, the vampire quickly dissolves into a puddle of gore. When Sookie leaves to clean herself up, Eric asks Bill why he'd commit such a serious crime - in front of vampire witnesses, no less - just to protect the girl. "You're not in love with her," the amused vampire asks, "are you?"

In Jason's basement, he watches, anxious and sickened, as Amy taps a vein on Eddie, the vampire they kidnapped. At first, Jason balks at the idea of drinking the blood right in front of its owner, but once Amy downs a thimbleful and starts to descend into a V-trip, he follows suit. Before long, they're having sex right in front of Eddie, navigating together through a shared hallucination.

Tara, finally decided about exorcising the demon that may or may not be living inside her, pays a visit to Miss Jeanette, who actually manages to give her an explanation that she's willing to swallow. The price tag however - nearly $800 - doesn't go down as easily. Miss Jeanette explains that different demons pose different risks, and Tara's is more dangerous than her mother's. The girl leaves with one more thing to be angry about.

Bill takes Sookie home, assuring her that he won't face any serious consequences for staking Longshadow, but Sookie's already worrying over some remarks that Pam made. The topic evaporates, however, when a splatter of blood falls from the ceiling and hits Sookie in the face. Looking up, they find her cat, Tina, decapitated and swinging from the ceiling fan.

The next morning, Jason and Amy lounge in the yard, enjoying the nature sounds reverberating through their post-V glow. Amy feeds Jason natural foods and explains that a clean diet makes for a clean soul. Their moment is interrupted by Eddie's screams wafting from the house, but Amy rebuffs Jason when he expresses sympathy for the vampire. Everything will work out, she promises him before saying, "I love you." Intoxicated by her - and the V - Jason repeats the words back to Amy.

When Jason goes to work, though, his newfound bliss nearly gets him and Rene killed. The Cajun starts to take a jackhammer to a knot of roots, and Jason pounces on him, trying to save the tree's life. Rene, furious and terrified, explodes on Jason, screaming that he's about to become a family man and has people relying on him.

Sam, swinging by Tara's house with a bouquet of flowers, also gets some rough treatment. "We were clear about it from the beginning that this was just gonna be us f**kin," she says. But Sam pushes through the antagonism, telling Tara that he wants something more with her, regardless of how screwed up she is. Even after she explains the dilemma of her exorcism, he stands by her. Then she tells him off and goes inside.

At Merlotte's, Sookie tries to work but can't shake the shock and rage of having her cat murdered. Amy pulls her aside, trying to comfort her by explaining that Jason loves her and feels terrible about the way he's behaved. "You're way too good for him," Sookie says, warming up. "You know that, right?"

Jason also tries - inadvisably perhaps - to make amends with Eddie by repositioning the vampire in the chair they've tied him to. Soon, Eddie tells Jason the story of how he came out of the closet, then became a vampire, just a few years ago. As Eddie details his struggles, Jason's guilt over kidnapping him starts to morph into all-out empathy. But their camaraderie hits a wall when Eddie warns Jason to stay away from Amy, calling her a psychopath. Angry but unnerved, Jason flees the basement and the vampire's implications, but later returns, sneaking in a Tru Blood to make Eddie more comfortable.

Bill hangs out at home - playing video games, of all things - when Eric and Pam show up with a new vampire named Chow. Before Bill will leave Bon Temps with them to attend his hearing for killing Longshadow, he insists on seeing Sookie at work. Once he gets to the bar, he asks Sam to watch over her, which the bar owner agrees to do "for her, not for you." Sookie herself is even less understanding about Bill's departure, especially after he'd told her that he'd get just a slap on the wrist. Eric ushers Bill out the door, but not before warning the bar patrons that he knows that some of them burned the local vampire nest. Menacing, he makes a vague promise of retribution.

After the vampires leave, Tara pulls Sam aside to discuss an envelope with $800 that he left with her personal effects. She refuses to take it, but he insists, telling her, "I've seen a lot of scary, messed-up s**t in my life that I can't explain. And if someday asked me to stake my life on the fact that demons don't exist, I don't think I could." She starts to thank him, but he stops her with a kiss. After she leaves, Sam steps out of the office and finds that Sookie has left work alone, but when he leaves to catch up with her, Andy stops him outside. The detective wants to question Sam because his "nudist parents" story didn't check out. Sam agrees, but goes back in the bar to take care of something first. A few moments later, the dog that has been hanging around comes trotting out the door, past Andy.

When Sookie arrives at Bill's house - a safer place to stay, she figures - the dog is there, too. She brings him inside, undressing as she decides to name him "Dean" and invites him into her bed. She falls asleep with the animal at her feet but wakes up when she realizes she can't move her legs. Kicking her feet, she senses something is wrong and looks down - to see Sam Merlotte sleeping at the end of her bed, naked.

HBO Max