Bill senses Lafayette drowning Sookie, but since it's daytime that means Ben has to be the one to save her. He fingerblasts the ghost out of Lala, and Bill immediately summons him back to the Castle, so in a last-ditch teleportation to finish their conversation, Sookie randomly takes Ben back to that one part of Faerieland I liked so much, the one in the graveyard between her house and Bill's house.

There, we learn that Ben will be vamping out once the sun sets in the real world, the better to eat her as his shadow self takes over, so she has to tie him up with fairy powers and also vines. I thought maybe this was a kinky thing, and for once I did guess correctly. She takes to questioning him like a lawyer from the south, pacing back and forth, and we learn that -- for this particular pair of faerie vampires, at least -- their marriage was meant to be a sort of cure: They were to be together forever, feeding only ever on each other, never hurting another living soul.

As a metaphor for a relationship, that is motherfucking horrible and scary and like what a cokehead would say, but as an out for both Ben and Sookie, it has a perverse sense to it: She's all about gross stuff, and he's all about getting his shit together, and maybe together they will be gross enough to not be gross anymore? I don't know, I just hate that Ben has finally done something I don't love. In the end, of course, Sookie makes sure to drink his blood and make him drink some of her blood and then fuck him while he's still tied up and his blood is dripping off her face. Which, it's Sookie: That's something you should have been able to divine from the moment she tied him up in the previous paragraph. It's great.

Out in the IRL, Bon Temps is a shitshow as usual: Andy gives the living daughter four random rural-type names like a racecar driver would have, so they're good; Sam finally gives Emma back to the werewolves after only six episodes of fucking around for no reason; Alcide and his dad are gross and threaten Sam for some other reason; and then it's actually very sad. Terry spooks the hell out of Lafayette with his suicidal goodbyes, so Arlene gets Holly's gay vampire friend Matt (who is awesome) to glamour the PTSD out of him altogether -- and with it, sadly and ironically, the memory of his murder contract. He gets one sweet day with Arlene, Big John and the rest of the Merlotte's family, and then dies in Arlene's arms out back, near the garbage bins. None of these things do I have any idea where they go from here. It was one of those episodes.

Bill takes the entire episode -- including a heroically bitchy meeting with Lilith, who is just about sick of his whole Bill Thing he's constantly doing all the time -- to figure out where his visions are leading him. Once he does, though, it's amazing: He drinks a vial of Ben's faerie blood, gets all Dark Phoenix on some motherfuckers, and ends the day by beheading Governor Burrell on the grounds of the camp, before heading inside.

If only things were that easy inside, though. A secret standoff with Sarah, as her newest LAVTF recruit, puts Jason at the center of a complicated rape attempt in which Sarah tries to force another young vampire, James, to have sex with Jessica so everybody can watch. (Jessica, out of her mind with shame and grief, is pretty much dissociated from everything, but in the end it doesn't go down anyway.)

And upstairs -- after Pam and her Maker handily (and beautifully) depressurize the whole "death duel" thing from last week -- Eric's rewarded with a close-up look as Nora slowly succumbs to a new hyperstrain, Hep V. Turns out, of course, that the whole facility is not only a concentration camp for LA vampires, but also a factory for turning out TruBlood that will kill you: Sold, at a discount, with the promise that the curfews will be ending soon once they've restocked it everywhere. Devilish! So, nobody actually escapes, because they've got to warn everybody and get ahold of Pam and Tara before they leave, but ASAP because Nora's about to die.

Next Week: Terry's funeral, and possibly Nora's -- but only after Eric throws himself on Bill's divine mercy, sadly enough -- and at the least, Jessica gets rescued. Heading in I was thinking this week would be a lead-up to the big twists of next week's act-break, but honestly at this point I can't see what else could possibly change. Mostly, I'm just proud of Sookie. She's made some truly excellent decisions before, but this I think may just be the Sookiest of all time. Well done.