After an opening stint that resembled a sequence you'd expect from Charmed (albeit, a really awesome episode of Charmed); Sookie finds herself on planet earth once again, away from all of that pointy-eared nonsense, only to discover things have changed. Drastically.

True Blood boldly leaps one year ahead, as we learn that Sookie's short trip to Never Never Land of the fairies took longer than expected. It's an ambitious move for a show already beaming with countless storytelling possibilities, given the plethora of magical creatures inhabiting Bon Temps (is it sitting on a Hellmouth, by any chance?), but will it pay off?

Time shifts, when done right, can be awesome. Take BSG, for example -- the one-year jump into the future, replete with questionable wigs and fat suits, added so much tension to an already tension-filled series, and allowed otherwise boring characters to gain some credible street cred, that it made the opening episodes some of the best the series had to offer.

True Blood's jump is fairly hit or miss. Mostly miss, if I'm being honest. But it also makes sense to a certain extent. By allowing plots that had been stewing all last year new life (literally in Arlene's case), it can propel some story-lines forward, adding some much needed momentum to the show. It also allows us to finally get a grip on the show's baffling timeline. Let's hope we can keep up this year!

As of now, it feels like I'm playing catch up to a series I just latched onto and not a show I have been following for 3 years. And so, instead of doing a proper review, I'll just throw scattered opinions at you of what I think of everyone's new status:

♦ Andy is lookin' pretty buff, ain't he? V looks good on him. Obviously he's heading down a dangerous path, but I really don't care when there's the possibility of seeing him trip out on V!
♦ Tommy, on the other hand, isn't looking so good, but is alive and limping; it seems Sam didn't have it in him to kill his brother after all.
♦ Jason appears to be... normal?! He's also a fully fledged police officer now. I fear even more for the safety of Bon Temps' residents. I'm not sure why those inbreds locked him up in that freezer. I don't really give a rats either. Hotshot never worked in season 3. Drop this or make something happen!
♦ Speaking of Hoyt, things seem a little on edge with Bons Temp's cutest couple. Me no like. Their fight felt extremely forced in an episode that could have used a few less plots to bring us up to speed and hammer home how different everyone is...
♦ Time has changed. We get that. How many characters kept bringing that up? Annoying!
♦ Tara is now a cage fighting lesbian named Toni. (I smell a spin-off!) But really, this was probably the hardest storyline to chew. She's my favorite character on TB, and yes, her decisions make sense: cage fighting because she doesn't want to feel victimized anymore; and lesbian, because she was horribly brutalized by a crazy vampire, and her boyfriend before that could turn into a dog. I get it. Men suck. But to have it all thrown at me at once? Hold the extra sauce next time, ya dig?

Bill is King now. Uhm, ok... this is probably the most interesting development of the hour but there isn't that much to go on as of right now. He's clearly (almost) over Sookie; I am very intrigued to see how Bill as a character will cope without a blonde attacthed to his hip. I am most certainly behind the decision to split Bill and Sookie up.

As for our wiccan contigent this season, it's fairly blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff. Boo! I am really excited to see where they'll take this arc, and hopefully it won't suffer the same fate as out furry friends last year and simply fizzle out...

I'm probably missing a ton of other new twists to shake up Season 4. The only person unscathed by all of this timey-wimey nonsense as a character is Sookie, which is a relief. SOMEONE is still remotely normal, as fairy hybrids go.

I wasn't expecting this time jump, I clearly have to warm to it. But I'm not going to lie, it could offer up quite a few exciting new avenues that could really make this an awesome season.

Welcome back, True Blood! This may not have been your finest hour, but any episode that has Jessica dancing like that is OK by me.
 
   -- Mark Ritchie