There’s good news for True Blood fans. HBO has announced that the popular supernatural series will return next year for a fourth season with a full 12 episodes. This comes after news that the premiere last week was up in viewership 38% from last year’s opener.

Spoilers for last episode of True Blood, mild future spoilers below
True Blood was back in fine form Sunday with a more even pace, better plotlines and the introduction of several new characters. My favorite was Tara’s new love interest, vampire Franklin Mott, who helped her kick a couple of rednecks’ asses outside Merlotte’s. Mott is played by underrated British actor James Frain, who I distinctly remember from the cheesy 2000 film Where the Heart Is with Natalie Portman. He’s had solid work in television ever since and I hope this role will help raise his profile. As much as I dislike Tara’s self-pitying storyline, it could get very interesting now that she’s hooked up with Mott. The scene where they met was genius. When Franklin asked Tara if she was a waitress, they had this pithy exchange. “I’m a bartender and I ain’t working tonight.”
“Then what are you doing here?” he asked.
“Honestly, I’m trying not to kill myself.”
“How’s that going for you?”
“Well, I’m still alive.”
“Makes one of us.”

Also in this episode, Sookie’s brother Jason helped Andy bust a meth ring in Hotshot, where he got a glimpse of a beautiful blonde lit up through a clearing. Spoilers for future episodes here. In the book series this is Crystal, Jason’s new love interest and a member of a mysterious shapeshifting community.

We met Lafayette’s mom, Ruby Jean, played by Alfre Woodard. Ruby is in a psychiatric assisted living facility and has lost her mind. Lafayette revealed his motivation for selling drugs while taking Tara to visit Ruby as a kind of warning after her suicide attempt. “You know how much it costs to keep her here? More than two legal jobs worth, that’s how much.” Ruby was being attended to by an attractive male nurse, Jesus, who had a mild flirtation with Lafayette.

Some of my favorite lines in this week’s episode came from Jason, who marveled when Sookie told him about the existence of werewolves. “There’s werewolves? Bigfoot is he real too? Santa?” Jason also had some humorous moments with Andy, who was telling him to put his nose to the grindstone. “You’re a good guy, Stackhouse. You’ve got a lot of heart. You’re prettier than most girls. If you just applied yourself right you could accomplish almost anything.”

There was an incredible scene between Jessica and Hoyt in which she tried to push him away primarily because she was afraid he’d see the dead guy she had stowed under the house. Hoyt tried to convince her they could make it work but she closed the door in his face. They ended up crying on either side of the door, each pining for the other.

Sookie and Eric had a flirtation as Eric arrived to protect her from the werewolves. Eric pleaded his case. “You’re going to invite me in, so I can protect you. Or have passionate primal sex with you.”
“You’re not going to distract me by talking nasty.”
“I already have.”

Eric confided in Sookie by revealing an experience during World War II in which he’d encountered a werewolf that was made by a vampire and powered by vampire blood. The vamp-army weres were fighting on the side of the Nazis, but predated that time by centuries. This is a conspiracy plotline introduced by creator Alan Ball that doesn’t follow the books, much like the “V” drug dealing plot. It’s hard to tell where he’s going with it.

Bill was held hostage in the fabulous mansion of the king of Mississippi in a plotline that also varies from the book series. In the book Club Dead, Bill was kidnapped by his maker, Lorena, and then taken to an outbuilding near the mansion. On the show, he was captured by werewolves who were (allegedly) disobeying orders from the king by feeding from him. At the end of Club Dead, Sookie saves Bill from Lorena by killing her. The outcome is probably the same as Bill threw a lantern on Lorena in the closing scene when she showed up unexpectedly during dinner. We see Lorena screaming as flames engulf her, although the episode ends without revealing her fate.

Which were your favorite moments this week? I feel like I left out so much, particularly Sam’s reunion with his birth family and rivalry with his brother. There’s also the issue of the King of Mississippi’s motivations for kidnapping Bill and offering him a sheriff’s position. It doesn’t add up for me that he would kidnap Bill to get to the Queen of Louisiana, but that’s probably because I’m still focused on how this played out in the books.

Photos from HBO and Fanpop