Anyhoo, a much better episode than most of the second half of season 2. Mainly because there's no piece-of-shit Mary-Anne plot. Also, pluses for separating Bill and Sookie, as they're much less irritating that way. Well, Bill is, anyway.
Tara - god, that girl's a mess, for obvious reasons. I liked the way that what broke her was not Eggs' death, nor Sookie being a complete bitch to her(sorry, honey, but "Mah precious Beel has gawn all missin'" does not compare to "I just lost my first love and only real parental figure to horrific mind rape"), but rather two hours of non-stop preaching

Lafayette - yeah, this guy continues to rock. I don't know what Nelson Ellis is getting paid, but it ain't enough. It takes guts to call a female vampire who can rip out your throat in seconds "Hooker". And he... actually demonstrates normal fucking compassion, a rarity on this show.
Jessica = Awwwwww. I thought they'd take her the serial-killer route, but apparantly she remains a scared little girl, which seems more interesting.
As for Jason - automatic win for use of the term "pussy overflow". Although I was kind of getting used to competent-Jason, it's always funny to see Ryan Kwan play stupid. Although the threesome scene seemed to veer a bit too much into the realm of needless porn.
Sam - uh..... I think the writers realized his plotline looks dull to start with. Which is why we got the Scene Of A Thousand Slashfics. Dear me, they do love their female fangirls, don't they? Although I suppose it's fair enough, given how many half-naked females we get. Which brings us to....
Eric. Who, for those of us who are straight male and therefore not too enamoured with seeing Alexander Skaarsgard in the altogether.... did not have a whole lot to do, sort of sleepwalking through his scenes. Fortunately, he had Pam around to make up for it("Why is it people always think I CARE about THEIR problems?!").
And to end - Vampires vs Werewolves? Seriously? BAD Alan Ball. BAD. I wonder if this was an executive thing - "Do it like Twilight!".