"Vampires are not immortal. They're only harder to kill. And that is where our humanity is our great advantage, for our human spirits are immortal. I stand before you as living proof of this very fact. I have matched my human spirit against their emptiness, and I have won."

They're zombies, in other words: Emptiness equals expendability.

MERLOTTE TRAILER

Sam surprises Tommy at their house and attacks immediately, and it's sad, but only because the actor is so good that he makes Tommy's stuttering apologies and pathetic attempts to explain how it all went down seem almost legit. But the Lunar aspect of things means it wouldn't matter if Tommy sat down and explained every moment of the last day to Sam, because that was the unforgivable one. So Sam's dark passenger shifter-self takes over, and one more time he strangles and kicks Tommy out the house altogether. Just like he does three times a season.

You even get to see Sam playing out the "assumption of conspiracy" angle that powers the Witch War, because in his formulation, Tommy was actually trying to eliminate him and become Sam: The bar, the life, the girl, everything. That once he killed their parents he became a killer, and Sam is next. Which is a compelling narrative, and takes a lot of the sting out of Sam's hysteria, because it's Tommy: There's no real reason to believe otherwise, if we hadn't seen how it all went down. How tempting it would be to actually do that, if he didn't love Sam so painfully much and so poorly.

SPELLTIME

Jason: "Sookie, are you home? Oh, hey. Why are you covered in blood and hanging out in an armoire?"
Sookie: "Dude I am very busy right now."
Jason: "Okay, well you seemed concerned that I might turn into a panther..."
Sookie: "--Aw man, my bad. You totally aren't going to."
Jason: "Thanks for the memo on that. Listen, why are you covered in blood, though?"
Sookie: "I've been tying up Eric in silver, and I got some of him on me."
Jason: "...I have to go."

She explains about the Witch War and the spell and how everybody's about to commit suicide, and as the little gerbil in his head starts ramping up toward the Jessica part of this, the sun goes black and the wind comes up and Eric starts screaming. And if he couldn't already feel Jessica, out there across the cemetery, Sookie completes the circuit for him: "He saved my life, Jason... He's not gonna make it without somebody there for him." That's all it takes -- that and a few seconds to sink in, and then he's on his way, out through the crazy wind, toward the Princess.