Best 'True Blood' episode ever?

Best 'True Blood' episode ever?
TV REVIEW: Season 3's sixth episode was funny-gory-sexy-sleazy TV, and we're loving it



What sucked us to Bon Temps and its labyrinth of otherworldly creatures for good in Season 2 was its commitment to graphic weirdness. Maryann's hypnotic, blood-lusting stronghold over the tiny Louisiana town's action-starved residents gave Alan Ball and his writers freedom to cinematically articulate True's source novels with a boundary-less "holy s&*t"-factor that rivaled Peter Jackson's early gross-out work.

It took Season 3 a little while to warm up (save for Franklin's hilariously screwball S & M courtship of Tara), but last night's sixth installment was far and away the finest we've seen since Sam shape-shifted into be-deviled cattle and tore out Maryann's charred heart at the close of Season 2, and possibly the most thoroughly enjoyable 60 minutes of True Blood yet, period. And here are five reasons why:



* 5. Last night was the first time it finally clicked in that Sookie and Bon Temps' world is one entirely unto its own, so questioning the plausibility of anything just means you're missing out on the fun.



* 4. Tara's (potential spoiler alert) brutal bashing-in of Franklin's head with a Medieval morning star wasn't a dream. But we still have no idea if that means he's really dead.



* 3. Franklin's pajamas.




* 2. Eric has never been so brutal, seductive, sympathetic and mysterious all at once.



* 1. Russell's distribution of vampire blood to werewolves was pure misdirection. Turns out the giddily effete Mississippi king is there to give us a slightly wider view of what makes every other character tick (which, in our True Blood/90210 doppleganger chart, might make him Andrea), and what can tick off a centuries-old gay lover.



IN OTHER WORDS: Words can't really describe. If you've never watched before, start watching now.

EPISODE 6 RATING: 9.5/10

FINALLY WAITING WITH RESTLESS BREATH FOR NEXT WEEK RATING: 10/10