Turns out Alcide did know that Russell was a vampire, but not that he's the King. I wonder if the Weres even know about that ridiculous system, where you're the King or Queen of like five other people. Bureaucracy, social order, etiquette, these are not things Weres are into. They have Packs, which is in some way much more rigid and doesn't allow for nearly as much bitchy behavior. No pun intended. So of course immediately Sookie's like, "Um, so take me to this vampire Russell so that I can act ridiculous and get myself murdered. Duh."

Eric charms his way through the many gay levels of security at the Compound and finally is received by old Talbot, who devours him with his whole gayface in about one second. Nobody seems to know that Eric is the Sheriff of Louisiana Area V, which again: This is what happens when you have a whole royal system that only a few other people know. They're like the Society for Creative Anachronism or whatever, that put on the costumes and rule their made-up duchies and whatnot: "I'm the King of Wyoming, and my three subjects are very loyal. One of them is a lesbian horse-trainer and the other two have a casino. We made t-shirts."

Talbot, "royal consort," offers to "facilitate," and then rudely does so by yelling up the stairs for Russell, I guess to impress upon Eric a "we're cool" thing, because he also snits at the bodyguards to let him go, like the three of them are all equals and so formality is cast aside, or something. Or maybe he's just actually that trashy and pretending to be cool, except he's a fairly old vampire so I don't know why that would be true. The actor and character of Talbot are either so terribly subtle that they both seem shitty and offensive, or else it's just actually that way.

Eric, pushing through with his Pam-centric plan of portraying Bill as a missing V dealer from his Area, manages to play Talbot and Russell pretty well with his good manners and hotness. He's there to hunt Russell's territory, and asking permission for that is very charming -- not to mention classy, considering nobody told Sophie-Anne they were sending Op Werewolf and Freakout Franklin into her territory -- but especially since they're just patronizing him basically because he's adorable. Of course, they immediately produce Bill, pointing out that he is five times too dorky to ever sell drugs of any kind. Bill's like, "You cast aspersions on mah dorkiness!" and then Russell explains how hardcore Bill sold everybody out, that he knows it's Sophie-Anne that's selling the blood and that Bill has turned his back on her and her Queendom. Which means, Eric notes dreamily, that he's also given up Sookie.