Spoilers – do not read this if you’re waiting to watch the finale, which aired last night
After watching the True Blood finale I have to say there were about 15 minutes of very good material and the rest seemed like decent filler to me, as is typical for an episode this season. The major revelation, where Eric told Sookie that Bill was hired by the Queen of Louisiana to get close to her, was a welcome plot change. I’ve read the books and suspected that was coming, but you never know where Alan Ball is going to take it. Bill and Sookie needed a wrench in their relationship, and I was hoping they would break up. They did – in spectacular fashion.

The other plotlines were only a fraction as interesting. Jason saved the town of Hotshot from a DEA raid and seemed to take responsibility for helping the people there after Crystal’s crazed fiance shot their leader, her dad, in the face. Sam may or may not have shot his little brother after he stole all the money from his safe. Tara chopped her hair off and seemed to be saying goodbye to the town after she had a romp with Sam. I doubt she will be missed. She’s seen a lot and is clearly haunted by it, but the angst from her was too much. Lafayette started hallucinating, a likely after-effect of the V, and learned that his boyfriend, Jesus, is a witch.

Hoyt had an amusing run-in with his mother and his simpering ex girlfriend, who tried to stage an intervention at his job along with his high school guidance counselor. He asserted his love for Jessica and told them where to stick it. He called his mom a “mean, prejudiced old control freak” and told the counselor “You’re not even a real therapist. Everybody knows you’ve got a bottle of Malibu rum in your desk.” Hoyt and Jessica got a house together and got engaged but we were forewarned that it wouldn’t last. A baby doll lay abandoned on the floor in one of the rooms, warning us of their trouble to come.

We figured out that Sookie didn’t want anything to do with Eric or Bill when she was bargaining with a chained-up burnt-to-a-crisp Russell at Fangtasia. She was watching him during the day while the other vamps slept. Russell promised Sookie a million dollars and the option that he would kill either Bill and/or Eric if she set him free. She bargained him up to $5 million and told him she wanted both of them dead. She didn’t release Russell though, and Bill and Eric later took him to a construction site where they encased Russell in concrete and told him he’d go mad. Eric’s maker, Godrick, kept appearing to him in visions and telling him to forgive Russell, but Eric went through with it anyway.

The show was at its best and most shocking when Bill unexpectedly double-crossed Eric, throwing him into a vat of fresh concrete and stealing his phone. He then imitated Eric’s voice to call one of his minions and order him to kill Pam.

Bill rushed over to Sookie’s house to declare his undead love for her immediately afterwards. She was starting to buy his pleas when a very gray-looking Eric showed up at the door. Here’s part of their dialogue:

Bill to Sookie: “I ended Eric. He tasted you, he knows what you are. I intend to bring the true death to all that have tasted you and know what you are. Eric, Pam, the queen… I will do anything it takes to keep you safe, even if it means me not being a part of your life. This I swear to you. I have never loved, nor will I ever love, as I have loved you.”

Eric shows up at the door.

Eric: “You did tell her you were originally sent by the Queen of Louisiana to procure her because of what she might be.”

Bill to Sookie: “I did not know why she wanted you. As I grew to know you, I purposely kept you from her.”

Sookie: “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Bill: “I hoped to, someday.”

Eric: “What about you letting two psychos beat her until an inch of her life so you could feed her your blood the night you met. You think she’ll forgive you for that?”

Sookie to Bill: “Oh my God? Is it true?”

Bill: “Yes”

Eric: “He tried to silence me tonight so you would never know. He doesn’t want to protect you, he only wants to protect himself.”

Sookie to Bill: “Get out of my house. Don’t ever come here. Don’t ever call me, don’t ever talk to me. Ever. You manipulated me into falling in love with you.”

Bill: “It is who you are, Sookie, not what you are that I love. I will love always until I meet the true death.”

Sookie: “Love, you don’t even get to use that word.

“I rescind my invitation.”

Bill is propelled out the door and is sitting on the dirt outside, dazed, when Eric gives the best line ever.

Eric: “I want my phone back.”

Sookie to Eric: “You too, get the f*ck off my porch and out of my life.”

Eric: “For the record, I would never have given you to Russell.”

Sookie: “Go back to hell where you came from, you f*cking dead piece of sh*t.”

Eric: “I’m sorry to see you suffer like this. I thought you had the right to know.”

When Eric got back to Pam at Fangtasia, we learned that she killed the guy that Bill sent to kill her and then rescued Eric. Next, Bill invited the Queen of Louisiana over to his place and told her that only one of them was leaving the house. She said “You dare challenge me. I’m over twice your age?”

“Yes, but I have nothing left to lose”

Mild spoilers for future episodes
At the end of the episode, Sookie went out to the cemetery to sit at her grandmother’s grave and was visited by her fairy relatives. It was all kind of ethereal and unnecessary. I know it’s a big part of the plot to come in the book series but the whole fairy business is too much in the books, and it seems cheesy on screen. The vampires need a motivation for lusting after Sookie, though, and there it is. I’m hoping that the show follows some of the other plot points in the books, specifically a new romance for Sookie and another guy I won’t name. Most of you know who I’m talking about, though. It will be a whole 9 months before we find out. Damnit.