This week’s episode keeps the excitement building as the second half of season two kicks into high gear. “Release Me” has a satisfying balance of answers to questions from previous episodes, brand new questions and a philosophical discussion on what we want and what we get from relationships. On all fronts, it was a corker.
This season’s overarching theme appears to be the nature of relationships, whether familial or romantic (to date, the two haven’t coincided on the show). Eric and Isabelle have a beautifully shot scene in moonlit blues in which they mull over the level of danger the Fellowship presents, and more importantly, the nature of human/vampire couples. Voice studiously casual, Eric asks Isabelle, "Tell me, what is it you find so fulfilling about human companionship?" Isabelle answers that she is attracted to the intensity of feeling from short-lived humans, to which Eric quips, "Yes, they certainly don’t keep well."
He then asks if she isn’t repulsed at the thought of Hugo aging, and she answers that far from repulsion, she feels curiosity and views the relationship as a science project. Following this rather cold snapshot of her interest in Hugo, she pushes past Eric’s air of nonchalance and asks him what Bill Compton thinks about his interest in Sookie. Eric’s denial of an interest in Sookie as he declares he cares only about Godric elicits an arch “of course” from his companion.
Calling back Lorena to mess with Bill isn’t a particularly necessary part of a plan to rescue the sheriff—nor is it looking like a particularly smart part, though Eric isn’t yet aware of how wrong the undercover work at the Light of Day Institute has gone. Isabelle has reassured him Hugo is fine, and therefore, so is Sookie. Too bad a quick chat with Bill is out of the question, as he has a completely different impression of Sookie’s safety.
Lorena and Bill are locked in a contest of wills as they have the mother of all relationship discussions. Lorena fires the opening salvo as she calls Sookie “sweet and cheap” and then lays out the crux of the issue between Bill and herself: “You’re still so sensitive. Some might say it’s a weakness, but I always find it . . . oddly cute.” However, through flashbacks, we see the two at the point they split up. Lorena shows the difference between the ways they see the world is not and never was cute. Bill’s disgust at murder, elicits from her an angry, “You are a vampire. They are food. That is our nature!” Bill, however, defines his nature differently and tells her, “I will never again be what you want me to be.” Back in the present, Lorena would like to sidestep their fundamental differences by focusing on Sookie as the problem. She sneers that Bill’s love for Sookie is so tragic, it’s funny. Like Eric, she thinks the physiological differences between humans and vampires preclude bonding over philosophical similarities.
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