Welcome to Vulture Precaps, where we combine recaps, news, and (often informed) speculation into a pre-Sunday night TV-viewing primer.
Girls
What happened last week: Hannah experienced a jealousy-fueled crisis after attending a book party for a college frenemy. An old writing teacher invited her to do a reading, but she kind of blew it by reading something she wrote on the train instead of the piece he had in mind, sending her into further crisis. Jessa’s former boss showed up at her apartment to ask that she return to babysitting, which ended in a conversation about how Jessa needs to start acting more like a real human being. Marnie got sick of Hannah’s complaining, and they got into a lengthy fight about who was more of a “wound.†Doors were slammed.
What’s happened since then: Lena Dunham bought a grownup Brooklyn apartment and revealed that she had to fight for episode eight’s shower peeing scene (God bless her.) We learned that a surprising percentage of the Girls audience is made up of middle-aged men. The Atlantic praised the endless online discussion surrounding the show, and Slate sort of praised Adam.
What to look for tonight: It’s the season finale, so we’re expecting some kind of cliffhanger (or the Girls version of one, anyway.) Hannah and Marnie seem committed to their plan to part ways, living-situation-wise, and it looks like Hannah — for some reason — thinks that her gay ex-boyfriend Elijah would be a good roommate option. (Adam will likely disagree.) Plus: Shoshanna virginity-loss?
True Blood
What happened last week: The series returned with a pickup from last season’s cliffhanger: With Tara bleeding out on Sookie’s kitchen floor
after taking Debbie’s bullet, Pam arrived and agreed to turn Tara in exchange for Sookie “making things right†between Pam and Eric. Bill and Eric, having killed the queen of Louisiana, got captured by the Authority just as they’re about to bromance on the lam. Luckily Eric’s incesty sister, one of the arresting vamps, had his back. Jessica rescued Jason from the now-vampire Reverend Steve. Sam nobly (and falsely) confessed to killing wolf pack leader Marcus, though Alcide eventually owned up to it. Eric and Bill got captured again, and Sookie and Lafayette found that turning Tara into a vampire was maybe not the best idea.
What’s happened since then: We spoke to Rutina Wesley (Tara) about crossing over to the other side and put forth the Lafayette Theory. Robert Patrick was cast as Alcide’s father. Actor Todd Lowe talked to the L.A. Times about playing Terry, and Sam Trammell talked to the Las Vegas Sun about playing Sam, and Anna Paquin talked to Bust about playing Sookie, and also her teeth.
What to look for tonight: Tara’s new life as a bad, aggro-seeming vampire, Eric and Bill’s visit to the Authority’s vampire Guantanamo, and some kind of altercation between Jessica and Reverend Steve. Also, it seems that we’re about to learn something dark about Terry, possibly from the war buddy who showed up in the last episode.