Shake and Fingerpop
True Blood | Season 2 | Episode 4

Shake and Fingerpop

TV-MA | 55 MIN

Directed by Michael Lehmann
Written by Alan Ball

At the Light of Day Institute, Jason walks down an unlit path on the way to his bunk house. Upon arriving, he finds the door ajar, and after creeping inside, he's horrified to find his roommates scattered about the room, covered in blood. Before he can react, a dark figure sneaks up behind Jason and grabs him, subduing him before biting viciously into his throat ... but there's no blood, only hysterical laughter as the lights come on and his "dead" friends stand up and mock him. When the attacker reveals himself as Luke, at first Jason plays it cool, but then he punches Luke in the face, breaking his nose. "Vampires are not a joke," Jason yells at everyone in the room. "There's a war going on!" The others look at him, intimidated.

Bill glowers in his living room, furious to find Hoyt alone with Jessica. He kicks the young man out of the house, warning him that it's not Jessica he's trying to protect. But Hoyt refuses to believe she'd hurt him - and says as much as he leaves. Hurt and embarrassed, Jessica tells Bill that she wants to take things slow with Hoyt; then she heads upstairs. Sookie is starting to like Jessica - and though she's learned firsthand how dangerous the vampire can be, she thinks Bill should add her to their Dallas trip. Admitting that he's somewhat envious that Jessica doesn't have to feel as cut off from humans as he did early in his vampire life, Bill agrees to bring her along.

Still swimming in a pond out in the woods, Sam and Daphne talk about Bon Temps - particularly about how much Sam likes the town. As they get ready to leave the water to go eat some sweet potato pancakes, Daphne jokes about seeing him naked, promising he doesn't have anything she hasn't seen before. But when she pulls herself out of the water, Sam notices the deep scars winding down her back.

In Maryann's kitchen, Tara wraps up a phone call with Sookie, who's excited about her friend moving in. Maryann walks in, overhearing the last of it and saying she's disappointed to see Tara go. When her houseguest thanks her for everything she's done, Maryann responds simply, "I'm sure you'd do the same for me."

Jason sits around at the LODI compound, discussing the biblical implications of vampirism with his equally dim buddies. Before they can settle on whether Jesus or Dracula was the first vampire, a voice echoes over a loudspeaker, calling Jason to Rev. Steve Newlin's office. His friends jeer, thinking he's about to get in trouble, and Jason still isn't sure what he's in for after he shows up to find Steve sitting in a Utility Terrain Vehicle and holding a pistol.

Sookie welcomes Tara to her new home, pouring a couple glass of iced tea and handing over a birthday gift. Touched, Tara opens the present - a framed photograph of Gran with Sookie and Tara as children - and asks Sookie why she's going to Dallas. Hoping to get by with the excuse that Bill "has business" in the city, Sookie eventually tells Tara about the deal she struck to save Lafayette.

Mike Spencer examines the body of Miss Jeanette at the morgue, explaining to the police that though the woman was paralyzed by animal scratches, her heart was cut out with a knife. As Bud and Kenya discuss the case, Andy stumbles in drunk, holding a file folder and asking Kenya about the pig Tara reported seeing during her car accident. Bud reprimands him for drinking on the job, and when Andy pushes back, the sheriff relieves the detective of his badge.

Banging on Lafayette's door, Tara says she knows he's inside and may as well open up. He gives in, and Tara immediately jumps down his throat for not telling her that he'd returned, let alone that he was locked up in a vampire dungeon, shot and fed upon. Refusing to go to the hospital, he advises her to keep her mouth shut about the vampires. In no mood to entertain Tara - even if it is her birthday - Lafayette sends her on her way.

At Merlotte's, when Sam shows up, Terry asks whether he's still planning on leaving town. Cagey about providing a straight answer, the owner ducks into the walk-in cooler as Sookie arrives in the kitchen. When Terry tells her that he's afraid to take on the responsibility of looking after the restaurant, she tracks down Sam, wanting to know what's going on with him. He's not interested in talking, though, and the conversation ends with Sookie taking a few days off to go to Dallas - and possibly returning to find him gone.

In the forest at the LODI camp, Jason and Steve speed down a trail in the UTV, firing the paintball pistol at pop-up vampire targets. Steve commends Jason for being a dead-on shot and suggests he use wooden bullets - the modern-day stake. When Jason replies that he's seen a vampire dissolve after getting staked, Steve practically swoons in awe. After finishing the target course, the two of them head back to Steve's house, where Sarah cooks up her famous ribs. As she tends the grill, Jason zones out, fantasizing over the Reverend's wife dancing and licking barbecue sauce off her fingers. As they all bite into their dinners, Steve tells Jason that he's training a holy army to do God's work, and he needs Jason to join up.

Alone at Sookie's house, Tara hears someone outside on the front porch, which puts her immediately on edge. Totally creeped out, she sneaks over to the door, and as she pushes it open ... a shout of "Surprise!" comes from Maryann, Eggs and Karl. Holding a cake, Maryann explains they've been planning the party for days and have called all her friends.

That night at Merlotte's, the draw of Tara's party leaves the bar empty except for Andy, Sam and the waitresses. The now ex-cop drinks away his troubles until Sam cuts him off and closes up the place - if the whole town's out at the Stackhouse place, they might as well go, too. As they're leaving, Lettie Mae stops by to see Sam, and though he explains he's not "together" with her daughter anymore, he accepts a birthday present for Tara.

Bill and Sookie's Anubis Air flight lands in Dallas, where a limo driver waits for the two travel coffins to be loaded into his vehicle. Sookie can hear the man's nervous thoughts, worrying that night has already fallen. Still, she's surprised when he tries to grab her and stifle her scream with his hand. Within seconds, Bill's coffin has exploded and he's standing behind the driver, pinning his arms and warning him not to make a sound.

Sam arrives at Tara's house and immediately runs into Maryann. He tries to warn her against hurting the people he cares about, saying that revealing his secret would mean giving up her own, but the woman calls his bluff. As she walks off, Sam spots Daphne. Tara and Eggs dance together in the crowd as the party starts to get rowdier. Outside, away from the party, Maryann closes her eyes and begins to chant in a strange language. As her incantation builds, so does the intensity of the carousing. Tara and Eggs make out while dancing as everything slips a shade out of control.

Jason returns to the bunk house after his dinner with the Newlins, quite proud of his new promotion. But when he gloats slightly over Luke and the others, they take him down a peg, saying that almost 20 recruits have been selected. Luke rubs it in by pointing out that Jason shouldn't expect special treatment just because the Reverend's wife has the hots for him. Angry but embarrassed, Jason packs his gear, leaving the bunk to go stay with the Newlins.

At the Hotel Camilla, Sookie and Bill check in while Jessica plays with the limo driver, who she's glamoured thanks to Bill's instruction. When Bill returns to interrogate the man, he finds out that the Fellowship of the Sun sent him to kidnap Sookie, though they didn't know her name.

Eric appears outside Lafayette's window, asking for an invitation but making it clear he has all the time in the world to wait. His human friend, on the other hand, isn't going to last long with an infected gunshot wound, so Eric offers his blood as the cure, which Lafayette has no choice but to accept. Drinking greedily from the vampire's wrist, the cook heals so quickly that he immediately starts dancing. A call from Bill interrupts them, and Eric departs hastily. When he arrives at the hotel in Dallas, Bill is irritated that he allowed them to walk into an ambush. Conversation turns to Godric, the missing vampire, and Bill can't understand why Eric cares about him so much. The older vampire explains that the Dallas vampires are on the verge of attacking humans if Godric isn't found, but the answer doesn't completely satisfy Bill.

The party in Bon Temps is quickly going haywire. Maryann continues to chant and vibrate, and the partygoers start to lose themselves completely, removing clothing and reveling in unison to the music. Upstairs, Tara and Eggs have sex in Sookie's bed. Maryann raises her arms, and her hands transform into wicked-looking, three-fingered claws. In the kitchen, Sam and Daphne are unaware of the pandemonium breaking loose outside, but Daphne throws him completely when she leans into his ear and whispers, "I know what you are."

Sookie opens the door to her hotel room to find a bellhop named Barry dropping off an attractive young man that Jessica ordered from the in-room menu. Shocked as she is by the delivery, Sookie is even more surprised when she can hear the bellhop reading her thoughts. The two of them have a brief conversation entirely in their minds - until the bellhop flees down the hallway.

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