Turns out the whole Russell Hunt was really just about leading the Chancellors to Russell, so after a brief tussle with some of his werewolf henchmen -- including Marcus's father and the new leader of the Shreveport Pack, JD -- the Authority SWATs immediately arrive and take over. They eat all of Russell's food people that are left, and plan on killing Sookie and Alcide until Bill and Eric promise to glamour them, with sad and sexy results.

Bill's glamour spell -- that Sookie forget he and Eric ever existed, and that she return to the sun forevermore and just be "normal" -- doesn't take at all, while Eric gives Alcide a little taste of V for his wounds before glamouring him to keep his hands off Sookie. Next morning, a sad -- and outstandingly awesome, even for this season -- Sookie helps Alcide remember their adventure, and he goes off to challenge JD for Packmaster, picking up some sassy tail in the process.

Sam and Luna survive their shooting, and little Emma shows up with Martha Bozeman in tow, still being a total class act. Against maybe her better judgment, Luna decides let Emma stay with Grandma for a while until they figure out who's gunning for shifters. Andy eventually agrees to help Sam track down the killers, considering he's one of the few humans that even knows what shifters are, and this eventually leads them back to one of the ringleaders: That dirtbag dude who owns the anti-supe weapon shop, whom Sam takes out with a crossbow and some worrisome anti-human rhetoric.

After Pam cools Tara's jets, Hoyt approaches Jessica about her fight and ruined friendship, but things go south and sour real fast once Hoyt shows just how damaged he's become. Later, the Obama guys show up and kill the dude Hoyt ended up with, taking him away in their big old van. No idea where any of that is going, but it sure is sad to watch Jessica get trounced by all her buds like this.

Jason dreams some more about their parents' vampire-related deaths, approaches Sookie about it, and before you can say "rebound project" she's dragged him back to the faerie nightclub, where we finally meet the show version of Claude, who is an adorable little guy that wouldn't be out of place in One Direction, and learn the truth: The Stackhouse "drowning" was actually caused by a vampire who smelled Sookie's blood on a Band-Aid in the backseat of their car. So Sookie goes nuts, again, some more.

Lafayette visits Ruby Jean in the hospital to discuss their mutual visitation by a tormented Jesus, and put together the pieces -- his spirit is being held captive by his creepy brujo grandfather, Don Bartolo -- in a memorably awesome sequence. Over at Merlotte's, Terry returns to tell Arlene that he is leaving her so she won't be killed by a fire monster demon from Iraq, to which she responds that he should go back on his meds. Eventually she lets him go, though, because neither possibility is all that encouraging.

And finally, the big news. Bill and Eric, unsure of their fates, are toasted by the Chancellors back at Authority HQ and freed from their iStakes. Salome acts super cagey about both Nora and King Russell, Nora continues to pray, and eventually Roman decides to set Russell's execution for that very night... Which is apparently exactly what the Mysterious Authority Lady who freed him wanted. Seems it's Lilith's will that Roman try to give Russell the True Death... Which makes a lot more sense once his iStake malfunctions and he totally stakes Guardian Roman in front of everybody.

Not sold on the purely divine nature of this whole switcheroo, but the confounding shifts in loyalty -- and abrupt removal of the main force behind mainstreaming -- means the Authority continues to be a fascinating area of play. This episode was maybe a bit harder to track, altogether, but spirited performances from (especially) Sookie, Hoyt and Ruby Jean kept the vibe going, and at this halfway-point I can still say personally that I haven't loved the show this much in years.

Next week: Russell goes apeshit on everybody's ass, Sookie learns about her powers finally, and Bill begins a possible religious conversion?