‘True Blood’ season 7, episode 3 review: Who died in ‘Fire in the Hole’?

For most of Sunday night’s “True Blood’ entitled “Fire in the Hole,” we admittedly had little idea what was going on. The story jumped around in some weird ways, and we didn’t quite get (at first) why with so much interesting stuff happening in the present, the show was choosing still to put the focus on the past with Eric.

Still, finding out he was in love once with a human girl named Sylvie was a nice injection of humanity into this character, and it does inform us somewhat of his future feelings for Sookie Stackhouse. This sort of character development is definitely always nice to have. Eventually, these flashbacks made so much more sense when we learned that Eric actually saved Pam’s life while sacrificing that of Sylvie. Heartbreaking stuff. Eric says that he wants to give up on life, and it took a very interesting pep talk to encourage him to find some motivation. Namely, it was the news that Sarah Newlin was still out there. Sarah, apparently, was off sleeping with some yoga guru, and in the closing minutes we found out that there were multiple people chasing after her.

As for some other tales from this crazy world, and also a stunning death, read on.

Sookie has a plan – We’ve seen this from Ms. Stackhouse before in an effort to lure vampires out, but H-Vamps are a different story. Plus, this was a plan that she orchestrated without Alcide’s knowledge or consent.

Unfortunately, Sookie’s inability to properly judge Alcide’s strength is what doomed him in the end. He died angry at Bill and trying to protect her, and Sookie’s big decision was to not turn him into a vampire. This is probably what he would have wanted, but this is one of the first selfless decisions that we have seen of this variety on the show. It was painful to watch, but necessary to push this story along further. Also, it shows just how screwed Bon Temps really is right now.

The night’s other great scene – Interestingly, it was a scene between two lesser-known characters in Willa and the Reverend as she learned about his story, drank his blood, and then he rescinded her invitation, knowing that Tara’s mother would use her time and time again for her blood.

The weakest part of this episode tonight was the Lafayette / James relationship, largely because we still have little idea where it is coming from. While we are happy that Lafayette may have someone finally, it’s coming almost like the show just wanted to shoehorn a love interest in here at the last minute. This slowed down what was in an end the best episode of the season, even in spite of our original fears about it. Grade: B+.

Overall, what did you think about “Fire in the Hole” as an episode of “True Blood”? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.