She scoots past the kitchen; Lafayette calls out to her. "Baby girl, don't even let that get you down!" She's still unsure about Lafayette; he's Tara's cousin and her coworker, but he says things that are true and crude and frightening. He's a guide but she can't see that yet, because he's a guide to a world she's spent her life ignoring. "Don't let what get me down?" Why fall in love with a dead man unless you're afraid of the living? And there's nobody more living than Lafayette; he lives more lives than most of us ever will. "Don't let nothing get you down," he says, fanning himself. "It's the only way to live," he says, kicking one ironic, parodic heel in the air, Prior Walter for a moment and someone else the next. There's such ill-earned wisdom, such lofty sadness in this latest truth. He knows; the encyclopedia of things that don't get him down, half the things in it she can't even spell yet. Sookie leaves, not entirely convinced yet about Lafayette's awesomeness. But just like Sam, and the dog, and now Bill, just like Tara and Gran and Jason, he'll be there the moment that she needs him. That's how guides work. "Ain't that right, Big John?" You actually get a glimpse of the inordinately agreeable Big John for a second, running something to the stove: "Right."

Tara casually asks Dawn how Jason's doing, just making conversation, and Dawn laughs to herself about how he's probably pretty pissed at her right about how. "You know, I have to say I... I'm surprised you and him got back together," says Tara. Oh, Tara. High school must have been really bad for Tara, if she's still this cruddy at this game. "No more than I am, baby. Believe me," Dawn says easily. Tara asks if it's going to last, and Dawn asks if there's a reason she's asking. Tara pushes, all wrong, completely outmatched: "No. But ever since I've been friends with Sookie, I've just gotten a kick out of watching Jason's escapades with women, you know..." Tara! You can't play Mean Girls with an actual Mean Girl. Stick with fat white ladies and your boss and work your way up. Dawn rolls her eyes: "Mm-hmm." She turns to go, without taking her eyes off Tara: "Sort of." She cackles at the fumble as she goes; it's not even cruel, it's not even about disliking Tara or being jealous about Jason, it's just: For real? So: Dawn 2, Tara 0.5. Maybe forever.