I just finished watching the latest episode of True Blood and I have to admit that I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, Bill’s acting evil again and I hate it when Bill acts evil.

On the other hand, Eric is being all dangerous and sexy and you know how much I love that.

So, as often happens when it comes to True Blood, I’m conflicted.

After spending most of the previous episode in a catatonic state, Bill spent most of this latest episode acting like a jerk.  First off, he decided to test his new powers by standing outside while the sun rose and ignoring Jessica as she pleaded with him to come back inside.  At first, it looked like Bill might actually be onto something but then the sun actually rose, Bill burst into flames, and barely managed to make it back inside the mansion.

Once Bill had healed, he sent Jessica to kidnap one of the men who first created true blood so that Bill could force the man to synthesize a new type of blood.  Not surprisingly, this involved Jessica dressing up all trampy (though I have to say that I own that same outfit and I’m thinking about being Jessica for Halloween this year, again) and flirting with the man until they were alone and she could grab him.

Bill’s plan also involved finding the perfect donor for this new blood and, as always, this led to him showing up at Sookie’s.  Even though Sookie refused to invite him in, Bill was able to enter her house and cause Jason to float in the air while he talked to Sookie.  Only after Sookie emphatically refused to be his donor did Bill leave the house.

However, Sookie isn’t the only faerie around.  As Bill walks back to his home, he runs into dumbass Andy.  While Andy explains to Bill that the governor’s curfew is in effect, he lets slip that he now has four half-faerie daughters.  A small smile comes to Bill’s lip as he congratulates Andy on his luck.

See what I mean?  Bill is acting totally evil!

Meanwhile, Eric has gained entry to the bedroom of Willa, the Governor’s daughter.  Despite initially saying that he’s going to kill her, Eric instead kidnaps her and, with the reluctant help of Pam and Tara, holds her prisoner.  Willa (who actually looks a lot like Eric’s “sister,” Nora) doesn’t really seem to mind the idea of being Eric’s prisoner and you know what?  I don’t blame her!  Seriously, for those of us who love True Blood when Eric is being all sexy and dangerous, tonight’s episode was for us!

Along with all of that, we also had Niall (played, perfectly, by Rutger Hauer) attempting to recruit a faerie army so that he could defeat Warlow.  However, it turned out that Warlow had already found most of the faeries before Niall did.  The only faerie that Niall was able to find and recruit was Ben, who — with Bill crazy and Eric kidnapping — appears to be destined to become Sookie’s love interest for the season.

Speaking of love interests, Nicole and those annoying activists showed up in tonight’s episode but the majority of them ended up getting killed by the werewolves.  A wounded Nicole was last spotted (by Sam, who was there to rescue Emma) stumbling into the woods.  Saying that Nicole needed their help, Sam followed after her.  As I said last week, I think Sam could do better.

And finally — Rev. Newlin’s back!  In case you were wondering what happened to everyone’s favorite spokesvamp, he’s currently being held prisoner and interrogated about Eric by the creepiest government doctor that I’ve ever seen.

As I said, I had mixed feelings about tonight’s episode.  On the one hand, I could tell that it was obviously laying the groundwork for something pretty spectacular.  On the other hand, Bill’s evil and I don’t want that.

So, as of this writing, I’m conflicted but hopefully, things will be a bit more clear after next week.

Random Thoughts and Observations:

• Unofficial scene count: 58
• Alexander Skarsgard is so freaking hot.  I know I point that out a lot but seriously…
• Whenever I watch True Blood, I’m reminded of how happy I am that I don’t cry bloody tears.
• Did anybody else instantly hate Nicole’s boyfriend?
• Unlike Jessica, I was actually surprised when Bill burst into flames.
• As far as fan service goes, I got Eric seducing the governor’s daughter and Arleigh got Jessica’s entrance at the lecture.
• “The girl is sleeping with me because I don’t trust you not to kill her!”
• “Fuckin’ science!”
• “Do they have names?” “Right now, I’m just using numbers.  It seems to work.”
• “You’re not God, Bill.  You’re just an asshole!”