Were I describing True Blood to anyone (Boy meets girl. Boy is a vampire. Girl is a telepath) I'd never quite peg the series as an all out laugh riot. The wit is there, that darkness always underlined with a splice of humor, but there hasn't been an episode yet that was consistently funny, and dare I say it, borderline sit-com, with its snappy one-liners, hilarious interplay, and cheesy montages. But that's pretty much what we get here with 03.05, “Trouble”, as story-lines finally merge together, characters isolated for far too long finally crossing paths, and it's hysterical. I didn't like this episode on first viewing, but after a second round, I loved it. This may not be the most compelling episode of True Blood ever, or even on par with the show's strongest offerings, but it's certainly the most entertaining installment of the series to date.

There are a couple of misfires here and there (Jason's boredom montage might have been a step too far), and the idea of setting up Jesus (pronounced Hey-zeus) as a suitor for Lafayette didn't quite work for me, and that's mainly because I want him to fly away with Eric and not have to endure such corny conversation, though admittedly, Kevin Alejandro does his best to stay on the right side of cheese while he's flirting away with my favorite fry cook (sorry, Spongebob!).

Elsewhere, Eric's flashback may have impressed those whom have never had the pleasure of watching a certain episode of Buffy, but I couldn't help but look on with a smirk and the occasional chuckle as I recalled the Season 7 episode ''Selfless'' -- there's a flashback in that, too, around the same time period, and it basically takes the piss out of that whole Viking era, with husky men having it away with various wenches, awful wigs, and in-jokes that I won't delve into here. In short, it'd be like re-watching Scream after you've seen Scary Movie: it simply takes the edge off. And, seriously, guys... Eric's wig looked ridiculous.

But enough of the unintentional funnies -- Franklin steals the show with an over the top performance and some of the most brilliantly conceived lines of the series. The entire sequence where he attempts to impress Tara (who is tied to a bed, by the way) with his super-speedy texting abilities floored me. His dialogue was just soooo good, and yet it if I were to type it up now, I'm sure your reaction would ''reaaally? That sounds lame,'' but James Frain is an absolute pro and his line delivery is impeccable. Tara also becomes increasingly more tolerable because of him, and the woman I used to love seeps through for a wee moment, latching onto the fact that Franklin is an absolute ''freak'' and playing along to his tune. He may be cuckoo crazy but he's still a lethal monster, and he certainly reminds us of that: ''Don't say that. Women say that, and everything goes black and I wake up surrounded by body parts.'' And it looks like Tara isn't long for this world. As a human, at any rate. I doubt the writers will turn Tara into a vampire since they're already tackling that new-vamp scenario with Jessica (who gets one really funny scene where she glamours folk not to tip Arlene) so it's still up in the air where they'll take this whole marriage thing.

Again, while there's still not enough meat on them bones to justify Sam and Jason an entire paragraph to themselves, their respective story-lines are shaping up. The mysterious woman that Jason found crying in the woods a few episodes back (Crystal, played by cutie-tutie Lyndsay Pulsipher) seems to have Jason floating on air. My theory that she is, in fact, a wood nymph only continues to build, as Jason describes her as an outdoors-y person, she wears a green dress and they make out in a forest of all places. [You could maybe read the books and find out? - Ed.] As for big brother Sam, watchin' out for Tommy is gonna be a 24-hour job, especially with their father banging down the door at all hours of the night, claiming his son, telling Sam that he owns Tommy. ''What the fuck was that?'' indeed. I have a feeling that Joe-lee is using Tommy for dog fights (it would explain those scars we saw a few episodes back, and Tommy did say he liked to fight).

Sookie is still being side-lined, yet she asserts herself admirably here. Threatening to use her powers of telepathy to rip what she needs from Alcide's mind, taking on Debbie in a verbal showdown, and sneaking into the pack leader's thoughts to find information on Bill's whereabouts, Sookie is on a mission. And don't get me started on her newfangled HADOOOKEN power! Seriously. WHAT?! As Russell says, cackling away upon witnessing her sending Coot flying across the room with a beam of florescent light from her hands, ''Fantastic!''.

While there's not a lot of progress made here in terms of an overall arc, the chess pieces are set in place. As the title would suggest, there will be trouble ahead: Eric knows that Russell had his family killed; Debbie wants Sookie dead; Tara is being held captive and Franklin plans on turning her into a vampire; Sam is caught in the middle of his own family feud; and even though Jesus is all coy smiles and cheesy one-liners, there has to be something iffy about him. This is True Blood, there's very rarely even a modicum of normalcy to be found in Bon Temps.

The Checklist

Vampires Vs Werewolves:	While we do get some nifty wolf visuals, the pups are being slaughtered left, right and center. Eric manages to kill one in human form! Bill kicks the crap out of Coot. And the pack leader leaves town, he's that afraid!
Cliff-hanger:	Bill and Sookie reunite, but their relief is short-lived as Russell shows up with Coot to take Sookie. She tries to defend herself and inadvertently triggers her light power, only it's a much more impressive blast than before. Russell finally figures out what's so special about her.
Pam's Corner:	No Pam this week... I'm sure she's off being tortured somewhere. Sniff.

  -- Mark Ritchie