they never actually showed Lafayette dead though, right? we just assumed. or am i remembering wrong?

I think that the very end of the finale showed part of his body hanging out of the car and someone said "Lafayette?" (I may be inventing the last bit, perhaps I just assumed because we knew he was supposed to die)

All we saw was a foot.

I don't think anyone actually said "Lafayette", but I too may be misremembering. I haven't read the books, so I was holding onto hope that it somehow wasn't really him.

I don't think we actually know that body is Lafayette, but I've been assuming that it was him. I will miss him tremendously. I loved hearing him say "cornbread" at Gran's funeral. He rocked mightily.

I really started to care about Tara's character once the whole exorcism storyline kicked in. All of the actors in that arc kicked major amounts of ass, especially Tara's mom and Miss Jeanette. And I do enjoy the Tara/Sam relationship and am intrigued to see what happens now that Tara's been sucked into the world of the shapeshifters. I haven't read the books, so I have no clue where they are going with that, but I find that whole subplot way more entertaining than anything cooking with Bookie (love that!).

I came to love Jason's storyline without actually enjoying Jason all that much. I really thought the whole thing with Eddie in the basement was fantastically done, and I loved his hippy, dippy girlfriend right up until Rene strangled her. But since I don't really like Jason, I'm ambivalent about the upcoming religious nut storyline. I'm hoping that there'll be enough people that I do like involved in that tale to keep me hooked.

I want to see more of Pam, Eric and Bill's vampire baby.

I get woken from sound sleeps by the drunken bellows and revving motorcycle engines of far too many entitled redneck halfwits exactly like Jason (but for the lack of a dedicated personal trainer) to feel any sympathy or fondness for him. The way Ryan Kwanten looks out of his clothes is the only thing that makes the character's screentime remotely tolerable.

I despised Jason's psycho hippy girlfriend the moment she walked on screen. She reminds me of an old girlfriend of mine. Just substitute vegan for homicidal.

I cannot frickin' stand Bill's vampire baby. I liked the character and her transformation right up to the point where the "new vampire = sullen teenager" metaphor kicked in, and then I wanted to stake her. Between that and the religious-nut storyline, the other subplots are going to have to be riveting to get me to keep watching.

I'm rather relieved to know that I'm not the only one totally uninterested in Bookie.

See Bill's vampire baby turning out to be a sullen teenager made total sense to me since prior to Bill turning her she was a repressed teenager from a religious nut family. If I had that background and then got turned into a soulless, super powered being that was basically all id, I'd kind of go crazy in exactly the way that she did, especially given that I would have found myself escaping from one overbearing, repressive father who never let me do anything naughty or fun right into the arms of another overbearing, repressive father who never let me do anything naughty or fun. It made sense to me. Plus, I just think she's funny.

Fay, how could you forget Lafayette? His character didn't get much love in the books (seeing as how he died fairly quickly), but I really like him in the series. That scene where he takes off his earrings to beat the crap out of the rednecks is priceless.

Christ, how DID I forget Lafayette? I mean, I wasn't actively thinking through all the characters, but still, fuck, he's totally one of my favourite characters. And, yeah - did he even get ANY 'screentime' in the book? The one that mentioned Lafayette was actually the one that made me lose all patience and stop reading for a year or two, because it was so appallingly reductive and patronising and OMFGWhut??? ("Our cook is dead! I haven't ever mentioned him before, but look, his death will be a plot point! The others didn't like him, because he is black and gay, and they are not liberal like me! But I liked him, because I am Just That Lovely And Caring! Even though he was black! And gay! And because he was gay, he wore makeup, like all gay people do, and had unsafe kinky orgies, like all gay people do, so really, he had it coming, what with being black and gay! But I will still shed a tear for his death, even though he was black and gay! Because I am Just That Sweet! And because now I can't say I have a friend who is black or gay! He was a two-fer! Although he wasn't actually a friend, of course, more of an acquaintance - I mean, I wouldn't have invited him over for a glass of iced tea or anything - but if he'd shown up unannounced, I would totally have let him in, because I am a real lady, even if I'm not rich like some people, and I know the meaning of Southern courtesy even when faced with people who are black and gay." ...er, I'm sure she didn't actually SAY any of that, but this is how I remember the book.)

Whereas in the show, he is absofuckinglutely made of win, and I was wildly hoping that somehow he would be saved from his fate. I love what they did with him and with Tara, and their extended family. The two of them were my favourite part of the show.

And I do enjoy the Tara/Sam relationship and am intrigued to see what happens now that Tara's been sucked into the world of the shapeshifters. I haven't read the books, so I have no clue where they are going with that, but I find that whole subplot way more entertaining than anything cooking with Bookie (love that!).

Yes, I'm very disarmed by Tara/Sam too, and I'm rooting for those crazy kids.

I'm not sure that Tara's been sucked into the world of the shapeshifters, though. My impression was that she'd fallen afoul of a REAL witch (after her previous witch turned out to be an awesome fake), and that Sam, when he was wee and vulnerable, had also run afoul of the same witch back in the day, and been her bitch, and managed to get away. But i may be misremembering? (I'm not sure if I've read all of the books, but Tara's onscreen character and plot is TOTALLY different from what we get in the books, so no clues there. The TV show does kick the books' asses in terms of worldbuilding and characterisation, imho.)

And I enjoyed Bill's awful sullen!teenage!vampirebaby for the same reasons kat outlines - it made sense to me, and I quite enjoyed seeing Bill within the context of that relationship, since it's so resolutely unAngsty and unEpic. I like that he (and Erik and Pam) is all OMGWTF and at the end of his tether; particularly since the act of making her was so dripping with tragic emo angstcakes (as it rightly should be). I liked the juxtaposition.

It's so trippy reading a thread about vampire Erik while thinking Eric-from-Queens...well, the shades would make more sense, huh? And, well, Vamps are a dime a dozen in Bon Temps, but they would be vamps from(whisper) New York. Euw... (And, no, not writing that.)