Bad Blood
True Blood | Season 3 | Episode 1

Bad Blood

TV-MA | 52 MIN

Directed by Daniel Minahan
Written by Brian Buckner

Dressed in a lavender gown and wearing her new engagement ring (even though she technically hasn't said yes), Sookie rushes out of a French restaurant, calling after Bill. But the vampire has disappeared, along with his car. In a different parking lot, outside Merlotte's, Tara weeps over Eggs's body as police and onlookers gather around her.

Jessica returns home to the Compton place, dragging a trucker named Hank who she's drained to the brink of death. She's terrified that Bill will come home and catch her, but that's not going to happen. Held hostage in the back seat of his own Bimmer, Bill has been bound in silver chains by a group of bikers. The vampire's cell phone rings, with Sookie's name appearing on the caller ID, but the lead biker, Coot, throws it out the window - and then viciously stabs Bill with a knife.

Deputy Kenya Jones arrives at the French restaurant to investigate Bill's disappearance, but she makes it pretty clear that she could care less about missing vampires, particularly this one, who seems to have simply left in a huff after his proposal was rejected. Sookie heads over to Bill's house, where Jessica is watching in horror as Hank squeezes out his last breath. She manages to hide the body in her cubby before Sookie bursts through the door. Jessica wants details about the proposal, but Sookie cuts her off, ordering her to call if Bill comes home.

At Merlotte's, Terry tries to console Andy in the aftermath of Eggs's death, explaining that he knows how it feels to take a life. Andy is touched but can't really relate - Jason is the one who actually killed Eggs, and now Andy is just trying to avoid going to jail as an accessory to murder. The bar is tense, and when Arlene tries to express her gratitude to Bud Dearborn for protecting Bon Temps, Tara erupts with rage and grief. Lafayette manages to steer Tara out the door, and Andy leaves to visit Jason. He finds the ex-jock shaken and edgy at his house. Warning Jason that their story has holes in it, Andy orders him to act normal, which for Jason means to go out and chase some tail. "Conscience off, dick on," Andy tells him.

Sookie goes to Eric for help and receives an eyeful of the Nordic vampire when she interrupts his escapades with Fangtasia's new go-go dancer Yvetta. She explains that Bill has vanished and insists they track down Bill's maker Lorena, convinced that she's involved . But Eric explains he's duty-bound as sheriff to investigate any missing vampires in his area. As Sookie leaves, it's clear that Eric's as blindsided as she is. Pam advises Eric to tell Sophie-Anne that Bill is missing - before she finds out from another source - but Eric's not yet willing to risk the queen's wrath for losing track of the one vampire who can link her to selling vampire blood.

Bill's car swerves down a country road, as the men inside drink Bill's blood, getting higher and higher. Bill warns them that he could quickly die from his wounds, but that doesn't stop them. Sneaking on a pair of gloves, the vampire manages to escape from his chains and immediately kills one of the thugs before grabbing the steering wheel and crashing the car. Bill crawls from the wreckage and staggers into the woods, sending a psychic "call" to Jessica, who feels her maker's contact but has no idea what it means.

Sookie returns home to find Lafayette comforting Tara, who's in a state of shock over Eggs's death. When Sookie hears how it happened, she immediately tells Tara how she tried to help Eggs by restoring his memories. Tara loses it, attacking Sookie and shrieking that the only man she's ever loved is dead. Lafayette takes Tara back to his house and Lettie Mae comes to take care of her daughter. After Lafayette leaves for work, Tara's mother enlists a reverend for help. His visit seems to calm Tara, and Lettie Mae feels she's saved her daughter from darkness. But when Tara goes to take a shower, she tries to overdose on pills before Lafayette returns and kicks the door in to stop her.

In a rundown motel room, Sam awakens to a knock at his door and answers it to find a shirtless Bill, asking to be invited in. Sam obliges - and wistfully agrees to take a shower with the vampire - but just as Bill leans in for a kiss, Sam hears his phone ring...and awakens from the vampire-blood-induced dream. Sitting up in the same motel room he dreamt of, Sam answers the call from a local official, who gives him the latest lead on tracking down his parents: He apparently has a brother, Tommy Mickens, who's earned a reputation for ripping people off at a local tire shop. Sam pays the business a visit, and a worker with "Tommy" stitched on his shirt insists that the Mickens kid left months ago. Sam is hardly convinced, and when he later follows Tommy home, a mailbox full of past-due bills confirms that he's located his biological family.

Hoyt calls Jessica, who has been unable to revive her dead trucker. Hoyt wants to know if she received his flowers, but Jessica has more pressing issues to deal with. Later, with Sookie's help, she figures out that Bill's "call" was guiding her toward a place, and when the two women rush to the spot, they find his overturned car and a corpse with a brand linked to something called "Operation Werewolf."

Queen Sophie-Anne brings the Magister to Fangtasia, where he tells Eric of his concern that vampires are colluding with humans to sell vampire blood. He makes it clear that the punishment for such an offense would be dire. Once Eric and Sophie are alone, she orders him to sell off his entire supply of the drug literally overnight. Pam delivers the message to Lafayette, who has no idea how he'll move so much product so fast, especially with everything that's going on with Tara. Pam is not sympathetic.

As the evening crowd at Merlotte's grows, Arlene is shocked when her sense of smell suddenly becomes unbelievably sensitive. There's only one explanation...she's pregnant again. In the barroom, Jason does his best to follow Andy's advice and act natural, so he flirts heavily with two beautiful veterinary students. He and an unwilling Hoyt bring the girls back to his house, but once things heat up, Jason can't perform. Every time he looks at the girls, he envisions bullet holes in their foreheads. He tries to explain the problem, and the girls can't get out of the house fast enough.

Bill, weakened and ravenous from being drained, visits the house of an old woman and glamours her into letting him feed. Once he's finished, he gives her a handful of cash, imprinting her memory with the idea that her son wanted her to have the money. As Bill flees into the night, howls echo around him, and when a pack of orange-eyed wolves surrounds him, ready to attack, Bill tells them: "I should warn you - I've fed."

HBO Max