True Blood offered up one of its greatest mysteries this week: How did Jason and Jessica end up in the back of his pickup truck?!? I can imagine a few scenarios:

Perhaps that's where Jason keeps his condoms... Maybe he got a flat tire, Jessica assisted and then he couldn't help but give her a few pumps, as well... They may have believed Bill was home and wanted to keep their affair a secret... Or possibly it was simply there and, hey, Alan Ball figured: why not?!?

I focus on this seemingly inane point because I found the setting of Jason and Jessica's lovemaking to be hilarious, and also because I wanted to start on a lighter note before stating: "Let's Get Out of Here" was my least favorite episode of what's likely been my favorite season.

Here's why:

Too much Lafayette. We get it. The guy is a medium. This will likely come in handy somehow during the final showdown with Antonia. But, wow, that was a long, excruciating way to draw out the extent of Lafayette's powers.

There wasn't any real suspense - did anyone think Arlene's baby was in danger? - and I simply don't care about any of the characters centrally involved. No offense, Lafayette, Arlene, Terry, Andy and Jesus. Okay, some offense.

Too much Tommy. Really, any Tommy is too much. Sure, it was noble of him to take a beating on behalf of Sam, but know what would be even more noble? To skip town. There's no storyline purpose for Tommy to be around, except to point out the obvious in this case:

My goodness, Alcide is enormous! But he's also predictable. It would be a refreshing change to see him possibly struggle with whether to embrace his pack or not. Instead, he's always the good guy, always smitten with Sookie, always, dare I say it, sort of boring.

A lack of build-up to the human/vampire tolerance event. I love Nan. (This may have been the funniest scene of the season.) I love King Bill. But I didn't love what felt like a missed opportunity here. Has there been an ongoing conflict between the pair over how to best settle human/vampire relations? I haven't really sensed one, despite Bill's outburst while the pair was chained.

It also would have been nice if we had heard a peep about the tolerance gathering prior to this episode. Such a build-up would have given the interruption that much more resonance. We would have been anticipating the speeches for weeks and wondering how they might go and then - bam! - Antonia and her minions wreak havoc. Instead, the event and the climactic bloodshed felt hastily thrown together.

On a positive note, this was great:

But one more negative: That Sookie/Eric/Bill dream sequence. Talk about a lazy way to illustrate how Sookie is in love with both these vampires. That fact has been clear for weeks and I'd prefer it to be dealt with in a more nuanced fashion, preferably one that takes place in the real world. It felt like the episode ran 10 minutes short and they needed to kill time.

As always, there are fun, pressing questions heading into next week: Will Hoyt learn about Jessica and Jason? Will Eric regain his memory? Did Sam and Luna wake up Emma with their wild Shifter sex? Will we ever hear from the fairies again?

But True Blood stalled tonight, dedicating too much time to side characters and wayward storylines, while not giving its core trio anything of substance.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.