Review of the Season Premiere of "True Blood"

The HBO network certainly turned up the heat this week with its release of the Season 3 premiere of their hit series True Blood, based on the novels by Southern mystery novelist Charlaine Harris. This titillating and utterly satisfying first episode picked up exactly where the last episode of Season Two left off, with Bill Compton kidnapped by a gang of possible werewolf allies, Eric Northman conspiring with the Queen of Louisiana to deal "V," and a host of other interconnecting plot lines involving Sookie, Eric, and Tara.

All in all, it was an excellent episode, and seems to have upped the ante from last season. Of course, it is also somewhat of a relief that Marryann, the maenad of last season, is gone, removing the air of excess that was a slight drawback to Season 2 of the series. Now, the focus has shifted once more to the vampires (and, it can be assumed the werewolves who may be their enemies,) which have always been one of the strongest parts of the series. Indeed, the vampire politics between Eric and his superior the queen (along with the magister, whose presence has cast everything into confusion,) made this episode both suspenseful and entertaining, and it revealed some depth to the character of Eric that we haven't seen in full depth before.

However, one of the strongest parts of this new episode was the enlarged role of Pam, who before now has been merely a side character and basically an assistant to Eric. Since the character has promoted to series regular, however, it can be safely assumed that we are going to see a lot more of her and will be treated to more of her delightful dialogue.

In a new twist on the show's typical hyper-sexuality, Sam has begun fantasizing about Bill in a very sexual way (due to the fact that he ingested Bill's blood.) This is definitely interesting and delightful addition to the series. Even more interestingly, the usual hypersexual Jason cannot seem to become truly engaged with his female sexual partners, due his ongoing angst about his shooting of Eggs. This allows Jason to show a more vulnerable side that we haven't seen in quite a while.

What the show does really well, however, is manage to bring all of these multiple strands together for a nice, compact, and easy-to-follow episode. In one episode we managed to see almost every character from the previous seasons engaged in some sort of dramatic action, and Sam's interaction was, while subdued, no less interesting. It remains to be seen what will come of his ongoing quest to find his biological family.

All in all, it was an excellent and fascinating beginning to the third season of True Blood. If the previews are anything to judge by, it looks like it's going to be quite a ride this season. We can all look forward to the future adventures of this modern progeny of the old genre of Southern Gothic.