I think perhaps this was the best episode of the series so far.
The intro scene with Jason and Sarah was absolutely priceless, second only to, "was that good for you?". In fact, pretty much every scene with Jason was great. I've said it before, I'll say it again, but Ryan Kwanten is the best part of this show.
Sam... was dumb. Really dumb. You'd think he'd realize it was a set-up, and at least get Andy involved. I realized it was a set-up as soon as the phone rang. It was the only part I wasn't thrilled with.
I could have done with Jessica and Hoyt, but that storyline needed wrapping up. It also ties into the bigger theme (see below).
Tara and Eggs eating the hunter's pie was downright freaky, second only to the roughing around right afterward. The heart alone was creepy, but it really felt like shock value. Then you could tell it was doing something to them, and then they started hitting each other, and it rapidly went to a "holy crap" moment.
When Godric showed up last episode, I was wary. However, the actor totally pulled it off. A big part of this episode working was that Godric worked as a character. He was menacing and peaceful at the same time, and that's what you would expect from a 2000+ year old vampire. The difference between Godric, Eric, and Bill is striking, and telling. Godric is the epitome of serenity amongst the vampires, but he can still be menacing. Eric is less serene, but still calm, yet more overtly menacing. Bill is absolutely not serene, and all seems able to do is menace. It really establishes a timeline as to how vampires "grow up," so to speak. After 2000 years, you barely even need blood anymore... in other words, you become more human.
However, the best part of this episode, the part that really made it work, was the idea that the vampires are not all Evil. Until now, there's never really been any sort of reason for the audience to go along with the idea that vampires shouldn't be killed. Aside from Bill, they've been pretty uniformally evil. Even Bill has made a number of very questionable calls and actions. With Godric, we finally get the concept that it is indeed possible for vampires to be good. Godric even calls out the vampires on, basically, choosing to remain children. It puts Bill's argument in perspective - he's trying, and that's more than any other vampire we've seen can even claim. Godric needed to be saved not because he's Eric's maker, but because he's the moral compass, the moral force pushing them all to be good. So we see Eric forgive Jason's trespass with regards to the V. We see Bill's maker come around to the realization she is messed up. He even gets Jason to apologize to Bill. It's small steps, but they're steps, and that's what counts. Finally, we have a reason to say that not all of the vampires necessarily deserve to be wiped out, because there is good... they've just gone so long without trying for it. That's why Jessica/Hoyt is necessary in this story - a vampire is made evil through a tradition of evil, but they are not inherently made evil, and they don't have to stay evil.
I do think it's a bit of a cop out that Godric was the vampire the FotS "captured." If it were any other vampire, they would still be crazies, but they would be justified in what they were doing. Ah well, hopefully we'll see them again.
