Tonight’s True Blood season 7 premiere kicked off with some brutal action that left all of the surviving characters wheeling. Our recap breaks down the events of the episode!

True Blood season 7, episode 1 – which was directed by lead star Stephen Moyer – jumped right into the action: A party at the Bellefleur’s is disrupted by H-vamps who kill several people including… Tara! So quick? It would’ve been nice if we had a little extra time with her at the start so we could pay our respects, but we guess there’s no time for goodbyes during war. In addition to murdering several people, the H-vamps stole Arlene and Holly.

Detective Andy Bellefleur is at his home and hears about what happens from Jason. He arrives at the bar and Bill tells him that Alcide and Sam went after the H-vamps to try to save Arlene and Holly. That small search effort doesn’t bear fruit, so Bill suggests they look in buildings where the vamps could be nesting (places that have no windows and basements).

Bill and Sam make sure every human goes home with a Hep-V negative vampire in order to keep them safe. James (who’s now played by Nathan Parsons after Luke Grimes left) is paired up with Lafayette.

Bill and Andy make it to the building they wanted to search and do indeed find the nesting spot they were looking for. They see that several humans are dead and hanging upside down. But also in the building is wannabe mayor Vince, who doesn’t understand that vampires like Bill can be helpful to getting the H-Vamps situation under control. Andy agrees with Vince that they should kill Bill, but after receiving Vince’s gun so he can kill the vampire, Andy pulls it on the rebels and tells them to get out.

Thankfully, Holly and Arlene aren’t two of the people who were killed. We find out later that they’re trapped in a nest in Fangtasia. Andy drops Bill off at his house and tells him that he kept him alive because he needs Mr. Compton’s help finding Holly and Arlene. “But we are not good. We will never be good,” he warns.

Meanwhile…

– James and Lafayette return to the latter’s home and light up a bong. Lafayette says he feels relieved about Tara. “The first time she died I grieved, the second time she died I feel nothing inside,” he said. James added there’s no point in suffering over something because no one cares, and interestingly he alludes to being romantically involved with a friend from his past named Danny while he was still a human. Is this the start of a budding relationship between James and Lafayette? And is this the reason why Grimes, who played James last season, decided to leave the show? If so, it would be surprising for an actor to decide to depart a project because his character has a storyline about a gay relationship.

– Alcide lectures Sookie for walking home alone after the dangerous attack, but she explains that she did it because even he turned his back on her. Is Alcide capable of remembering Sookie’s mind reading? “Newsflash: I can read your fucking thoughts,” she reminds her man.

– Jason and Violet (who was an inmate at Burrell’s Camp) run into wannabe-mayor Vince and his crew who are looking to take the H-vamp problem into their own hands. Violet’s stern look and her insults about the size of the mayor’s manhood scare them off. Even though the trick worked, Jason’s pissed because A) she stepped over him and B) she won’t have sex with him, but C) happily feeds on him. He wins over her by saying forcefully – repeatedly – that he’s going to have sex with her.

– Jessica is tasked with protecting Adilyn Bellefleur at her home while Dad is out trying to get the H-vamp situation under control. Her scent is tempting to Jessica and all vampires, so Jessica is instructed to stay outside. Risking fate, Adilyn pulls down the window so she can talk to Jessica from a short distance away. The two bond over guy talk and we learn that Adilyn has a crush on Holly’s son, but the fun ends when a rogue vampire picks up Adilyn’s scent and wants a piece of her.

Hours pass and dawn begins to creep onto Bon Temp. With only minutes left until the sun rises, Adilyn invites Jessica into her house to end the standoff and keep her out of the sun. Jessica immediately is drawn to Adilyn but resists the temptation to bite her. The rogue vampire is stuck at the front door and burns when the sun comes up.

– Sam’s rival for mayor, Vince, sees that he’s a shape-shifter and threatens to tell the town. Sam begs him to keep it quiet so as to not cause any more stress on the residents. Vince, clearly, was causing a lot of problems this episode.

– Pam is in Morocco looking for Eric, and as usual, she drops several great lines (“I’ll be in hell having a three way with the devil,” for example).

– Eric’s new vamp Willa is taking care of Tara’s grieving mother Lettie Mae, who’s had a little too much vampire blood and is hallucinating. The pastor offers Willa a place to stay for the night since she’s without Pam and Eric.

Sookie can save you

The next morning, the people of Bon Temps are gathered at church. The pastor is offering his sermon when Sookie takes her seat behind Lettie Mae. The latter tells Sookie to not touch her because “it’s your fault Tara’s dead.” She tells her Sookie is not welcome in church. She turns on her mind reading and hears all of the churchgoers talking down to her, so Sookie reminds them all that she can hear them. “At least Lettie Mae’s got the decency to say what she thinks to my face,” she says with Alcide by her side.

Sookie tells them she loves this town but knows that their blame about what’s happened to Bon Temps isn’t misplaced. But, she argues, she can use her knowledge of vampires to make things right again. The episode ends there.

What did you think of ‘True Blood’ season 7, episode 1?

Episode 2, titled “I Found You,” airs Sunday, June 29 at 9 p.m. eastern/pacific on HBO.