(hbo)

All favorite shows are littered with jilted spouses — Xander left Anya at the altar on “Buffy,” Kate Austen fled her drugged husband on “Lost” and Veronica Mars’ mother just evaporated one day. But it should go without saying that I was praying Maryann would find herself jilted on “True Blood’s” grand finale last night. After all, if her horned lovah showed up, Bon Temps would burn.

And while I absolutely loved how Sam dealt with Ms. Maenad, I was bummed to see it go down so early in the hour — and even more upset that nothing really happened in the aftermath. Everything that led to Maryann finding herself on the business end of Sam’s bull horn was perfection — Maryann forcing Sookie to search within herself, the whole sacrifice scene, Michelle Forbes gleefully enduring her character’s goring … amazing. I just wish I could say the same of what followed.

First off, I am willing to take a large leap of faith for “TB,” but I can not accept that everyone would just be back at Merlotte’s the next day. That place was torn to shreds by Terry’s band of black-eyed hooligans. Second, I would imagine everyone to be a wee bit exhausted from the week-long orgy of booze, sex and drugs that has just occurred.

But there Arlene was back in her uniform. Even Jane Bodehouse was swilling at Merlotte’s with a miraculously reattached digit. It felt almost as incongruous as Bill proposing to Sookie in the hour’s closing minutes. Thank god she balked at his offer … OK, only for a hot minute, then she returned to her lover and proclaimed, “yes, Bill Compton, I will marry thee!” Sadly, her time in the loo offered someone (Eric, right?) enough time to kidnap Bill, leaving our purple dress clad heroine standing all by her lonesome, looking ahead to season three’s potential plotlines.

Speaking of, EW.com rang up Alan Ball for some scoop on the new season and he started off by charting Sookie’s year-three path. “We will find out what Sookie is [next season]. People who have read the books know exactly what I’m talking about. People who haven’t, it will be revealed.” This confirms that Alan plans to follow the “Sookie is a fairy” storyline from Charlaine Harris’ novels.

Her true self was also hinted at in a flashback to season one. Pre-tusking Maryann was trying to get Sookie to figure out what she is, and asks, has there ever been a time you felt like someone was watching you. She remembers how the chain tightened around itself around Mack Rattray’s neck in the second episode. What viewers didn’t see at the time was the original scene Alan Ball shot, which I have scoured for an embedded below.

According to my sources (the comments from YouTube), that figure in the forrest is Claudine, who is Sookie’s fairy godmother in the books and has a twin brother named Claude who is described as “six-feet tall, with rippling black hair, muscles and a six-pack. He has a pair of brown velour-soft eyes, a chiseled jaw and a sensuous mouth with a pouty bottom lip.” So look forward to the show with a penchant for employing gorgeous men to top even themselves with that casting.

Also, according to Alan, we will meet Sam’s blood relatives, the super bad vampire Franklin Mott, Debbie Pelt and the people who live in Hotshot next season. As for year three, fans can expect it to rise up around the same time next year — so June-ish 2010. Just enough time for me to forget the incredibly anticlimactic note one of the most exciting seasons of TV in a long time ended on.