Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
True Blood | Season 2 | Episode 12

Beyond Here Lies Nothin'

TV-MA | 58 MIN

Directed by Michael Cuesta
Written by Alexander Woo

Inside Gran's bedroom, Sookie watches in horror as a black-eyed Lafayette advances and orders her to take off her clothes. She strips to her underwear, terrified, and he hands her a toga. He then marches her downstairs, where Maryann holds court, wearing Gran's wedding dress and surrounded by frenzy-eyed women in togas. "You're going to be my maid of honor," she tells Sookie, who's as enraged as she is frightened.

Sookie promises she won't let Maryann get away with taking over the town, but the maenad is more interested in Sookie's strange powers. Ordering the rest of the bridesmaids away, Maryann prods Sookie to reveal what she is and how she was able to shoot electricity from her hands. The waitress has no answer, but Maryann doesn't care - Sookie will serve as perfect bait to lure Sam back into the sacrificial circle.

At the Queen's mansion, Eric plays a bored game of Yahtzee, waiting for his opening to ask about the maenad. Sophie-Anne has other concerns, however - like how Bill found out that she's been having Eric sell vampire blood. Pouncing on top of him, Sopie-Anne extends her fangs menacingly. He swears that Bill has no idea she's involved, and the Queen accepts Eric's assurance that he'll take care of the situation.

Jason and Andy creep toward the mania unfolding at the old Stackhouse place. Jason, feeling like an action hero with a gun in his hand, tosses a weapon to Andy, who's almost ashamed to admit that he's never killed anyone. Both men are spared the deflowering, however. They don't even make it to the porch before they're overcome by Maryann's power, their eyes flipping to black.

Inside the house, Maryann forces everyone in her wedding party to lick the giant ostrich egg she's chosen to "represent fertility" at her ritual. Grossed out, Sookie follows suit, but she still defies Maryann, telling the maenad that her God is not going to show up. Jason enters to tell Maryann that the "vessel" has arrived, and when Sookie refuses to cooperate, Maryann subdues her with the threat of killing her brother.

Outside the house, Bill arrives with Sam in tow. The vampire offers Maryann her "vessel" in exchange for Sookie, and despite the waitresses screams, hands Sam over. The crowd becomes even more agitated and starts to chant as Sam is bound to a plank and placed before the totem. As Sookie shrieks in the background, Eggs plunges Maryann's ceremonial dagger deep into Sam's chest. But when Sookie meets her dying friend's eyes, she's shocked to receive a mental message from him: Distract Maryann! In a fit of confusion and grief, Sookie pushes the totem over and confronts Maryann, whose rage is absolute. Before the maenad can use her power to destroy everyone around her, however, a giant bull approaches. Her God has come. She raises her arms in welcome, and the beast gores her, unleashing a torrent of her black blood. Just as she expires, a willing sacrifice to her own God, the bull changes shape...into Sam. He pulls his arm from Maryann's chest, gripping her darkened heart.

Bill explains that Sam drank enough of his vampire blood to heal the dagger wound, apologizing that he couldn't inform Sookie about their risky plan. As Sookie hurries back toward the house, Bill and Sam share an awkward but agreeable moment before the vampire follows his girlfriend. The townspeople immediately snap out of Maryann's trance, astounded by the scene surrounding them. Sookie orders everyone off her lawn and goes inside, where Tara's trying her best to reassure Eggs, who's beside himself after finding his hands covered in blood. Upstairs, Bill holds Sookie until dawn.

The next day at Merlotte's, everyone takes guesses at why the whole town blacked out, ranging from pharmaceutical experimentation to space aliens. Sam even contributes his own rumor: A tainted shipment of vodka. Mostly, though, the town is ready to get back to normal - except for Eggs, who's tortured by guilt over atrocities he can't remember committing. He catches Sookie in the parking lot and begs her to unshackle his memory, like she did with Tara. Hoping to lessen his suffering, she agrees, but when Eggs sees Miss Jeanette, Daphne and Sam all killed at his hand, he runs off, totally overcome.

Later that night, Eggs comes back to the bar parking lot clutching the dagger and begging Andy to arrest him for murder. When Jason steps outside and finds Eggs threatening the police officer, he fires a shot, hitting Eggs in the head and killing him instantly. Andy takes the gun and tells Jason to run before anyone sees him. As the bar empties into the parking lot to see what's happened, Tara runs to her boyfriend's body, wailing.

Bill prepares for a date, as does Jessica, who says she's going to try to smooth things over with Hoyt at his house. Bill comments that the young man would be a fool not to accept her apology. He bids Jessica a warm goodnight as he leaves to take Sookie to a French restaurant. Across town, Hoyt leaves his mother's house to come patch things up with Jessica, but his ex-girlfriend is at a truck stop, having a big-rig driver for a midnight snack.

Bill's date with Sookie goes off just as he'd hoped. The two dine in a restaurant he's rented just for the occasion, and as she finishes her dessert, Bill pulls out a small black box. "Miss Stackhouse," he asks, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" Struggling for words, Sookie eventually manages to spit out that she's not even sure if she's human, let alone ready to get married. She asks for a moment to collect herself and flees to the bathroom, where after looking at herself in the mirror she realizes that she's in love with Bill and wants to marry him. She bursts back into the dining room, shouting, "Yes! I will marry you!" But she's greeted by an empty room, where Bill has been replaced by an overturned chair and the signs of a struggle.

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