‘True Blood’ season 7 spoilers: Kristin Bauer van Straten on Pam, Alexander Skarsgard’s Eric

Why is Eric such a jerk to Pam sometimes? This is a question that over the past year, many a “True Blood” fan has casually wondered to themselves. This is, after all, a woman who has been devoted to him for decades upon decades as his progeny, and even took it so far as to operate Fangtasia with him for many years.

While you can make some criticism over the way Alcide died on Sunday night’s episode “Fire in the Hole” or some of the other little threads here and there (we’re looking at that James / Lafayette story that came out of nowhere), nothing was more beautiful to us in this hour than the story of how Alexander Skarsgard’s character sacrificed his love at the time in Sylvie in order to ensure Pam’s survival. It showed the full extent of a maker’s devotion to who is basically his vampire spawn, and it also gives us the sense of why Pam feels so indebted to him, even to a point where she uses Sarah Newlin as a way to ensure that Eric doesn’t give up on life.

In reacting and discussing this moment of Eric’s sacrifice to The Hollywood Reporter, Kristin Bauer van Straten reflects on the emotions of the time, even though she admits that Pam may not have understood fully the emotions that he was feeling:

“She couldn’t really understand this undying love for a human, but she supports him in every way. It is complex because Pam sees that they should have left — she takes the Authority seriously where Eric didn’t, and that’s why they end up in this jam. Pam was right. She said, ‘Hey, take a lick if you want, but my god, we have to leave. Let’s move! Let’s travel!’ You get that male ego in there. For Pam, it’s hard to see. As much as she doesn’t understand his love for this girl, she hates to see him have to make that choice. She feels his pain, she feels only his pain — she doesn’t like to put him a bad position.”

If you look at the present, it is very well possible that Pam finally understands now much better than she did then, having made her own dramatic sacrifice in order to save Eric. Who knows what would have happened at she stayed in Bon Temps with Tara, and maybe she would not be dead right now.

We are definitely not done discussing the Eric story yet this week, so be sure to keep coming back for some further insight.