Sookie and Alcide’s journey with Bill: After discovering Russell’s whereabouts, Alcide is taken by JD as Bill and Eric are attacked by two other wolves (Nate and Woody). Russell attempts to attack Sookie, but is stopped by her fairy light. Eric meets back up with Russell after Sookie’s light intervention and also after killing the wolves, but Bill thinks keeping him alive will also keep them alive. Kibwe (the Black Authority chancellor) arrives and takes Russell into custody, while Russell disagrees publicly with everything the AVL stands for (particularly the constant Lilith quoting). Kibwe questions Eric and Bill for having “a human and a wolf” around during their fight, and forces the duo to glamour them. Bill #fakeglamours Sookie (and makes it look very believable) while Eric #realglamours Alcide into forgetting everything and also pushing the thought that Sookie repulses him. On the way back to Bon Temps, Alcide remembers nothing as Sookie cries all the way home, hurt and confused with Bill’s actions. In possible Sanguinista-affiliated actions, Kibwe places Bill and Eric back into AVL custody and devours all the human survivors. Alcide awakens naked in Sookie’s bed and is invited for coffee (instead of sunglasses) and Advil. Alcide only remembers what lead up to Sookie throwing up on him, and she gives him back his memories causing him to go after JD.

Party With The Authority: Bill and Eric arrive back at AVL headquarters and are awarded by the chancellors as techie Molly removes their deadly ice stakes. Salome has been “interrogating” Russell to no avail and Eric asks to speak to Nora. Roman arrives with 18th century blood and thanks them repeatedly. Eric reveals a slight bias against the AVL’s message as he asserts his preference for only certain humans, not praising equality for all as Roman wishes. A disgusted Roman quotes Lilith and declares Russell’s execution immediately. Nora continues to pray to Lilith and feels oddly relieved when Salome coolly passes, informing her of Russell’s death sentence and referring to it as “their plan”. At the execution, Russell discredits both the AVL and the Sanguinista movements (“I like it – it makes my dick hard”) and taunts Roman. When the ice stake fails to detonate, all eyes are on Molly as Russell stakes Roman. Nora is seen thereafter with a spirit leaving her saying “Praise Lilith”.

Jason’s Fairy Heritage: Jason has another flashback with his father and envisions him still being alive. He vows to find the vampire that killed both his parents and seek retribution. At Merlotte’s, Jason tells Sookie that their parents died at the hands of a vampire, and not by a flood as they were told as toddlers. He also tells her about #fairyland, and when they visit the field later that evening, Sookie finds the portal immediately and is granted access – a feat only previously accomplished by full-blooded fairies. She brings Jason in and they reconcile with Hadley while also meeting Claude (Claudine’s brother). Sookie learns about her fallen fairy godmother’s six sisters and two brothers, as well as the truth about what happened to their parents – the vampire killed them because of being drawn to Sookie’s blood on a Band-Aid. In anger, Sookie tries to zap Claude but is stopped by his six fairy sisters.

The Shifter Sniper: Sam and Luna arrive at the hospital, as Emma (in wolf form) arrives at her grandmother Martha’s house. A persistent Sam goes to Luna’s room and refuses IV treatment. The two reconcile as Martha arrives with Emma. Although Luna is angry that Martha knows about Emma being a wolf, she remains more reluctant with letting her back in their lives. Andy meets with Sam and asks to help with the sniper investigations. That night, Andy visits the anti-vampire hunting group leader’s house and meets Junior. Sam arrives when smelling Junior’s survival instinct and shoots him just before he shoots Andy.

Before The Ifrit: The #firemonster reveals itself after killing Eller and Patrick sees it for the first time. On the way back from South Dakota, a frightened Terry jumps out of the car and into the forest. For the first time, he realizes they are all cursed and cries for forgiveness. Terry arrives back at Merlotte’s and tells Arlene about the ifrit and that he must leave her or they will die. Arlene doesn’t believe him, and thinks he needs to go back on his medication.

Other Plots: Tara and Pam: After discovering Tara with Hoyt, the two fight and Tara impresses Pam slightly. She’s immediately drawn to Tara’s tenacity and strength, but still treats her poorly and still regrets her maker decision. Hoyt and Jessica: The former couple meet while Tara gets consulted by Pam and Jessica discovers that Hoyt still wants her back. After another rejection, he gets drained to near death by a gay male vampire until the anti-vampire hunting group save Hoyt’s life after recognizing him and kill the vampire with wooden bullets. Lafayette: On an impromptu visit to his mother, Ruby Jean warns him about Jesus, who also came to visit him with a stitched mouth the previous night. Ruby Jean can feel his angst and knows he’s in danger because he’s with a #badman named Don Bartolo (Jesus’s brujo grandfather). Werewolves: Alcide arrives at the Shreveport pack and challenges JD, the new packmaster. After being informed that Nate and Woody died at the hands of vampires, JD accepts Alcide’s challenge and is shocked to see Rikki as his competitor’s “second” battler.

With the conclusion of “Hopeless” standing at the halfway point of season 5, it seems like viewers are in for an action-packed ride for episodes 7-12. Salome’s underhanded trickery has gone fairly unnoticed thus far, but I’d like to see her get dirty – meaning fighting or biting before season end. The Authority’s storyline has left me with five additional characters I really love, but I don’t want to see them all fall at the hands of Russell like Roman did. The Terry-ifrit storyline may seem like the one storyline that’s struggling this season, but his scenes with Patrick outside of South Dakota this week were both moving and prophetic. Lafayette’s touching scene with his mother sought to make him out to be a hero, and not a medium/witch freak as he’s constantly been feeling like since Jesus’s death. Saving his deceased boyfriend from the evil Don Bartolo should be an interesting ride, but will Lafayette survive? My favorite element of episode six is definitely the book elements being tied into the show. From the shifter snipers, the importance of Lilith, or Sookie/Arlene/Holly’s scene about hating men, episode producer Alan Ball did great justice to fans of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by adding these scenes from Charlaine Harris’s books and makes me even more excited for next week.

“You are just what the doctor order – my twee, fairy vixen.” (Russell)

“What do you expect when you come into my house and fuck with me?” (Tara)

“You need to get away from me before I hurt you.” (Martha)

“I ain’t got no fuckin’ clue baby, the electricity just runs through me. It always have. I be seein’ shit I ain’t got no right to be seein’. Shit that I don’t even know what it is.” (Ruby Jean)

“You are just too cool for school to admit that you believe in something other than yourself.” (Roman)