The vampire series known for lots of gratuitous sex and heavy violence, True Blood, made its return on Monday night.  The Season 2 premiere picked up right where Season 1 left off: with Sookie, Tara, and a very drunk Andy Bellefleur staring in horror at a dead body found in the back of Andy’s car.  Season 1 took its time developing its characters and started off slow, but Season 2 – after a brief and pretty complete Season 1 summary – hits the ground running and shows no signs of slowing down.  This is good, and Monday’s premiere episode was any indication, True Blood should remain as one of the most watchable series on television.  Keep reading for the Season 2 premiere review.  Naturally, spoilers after the jump.

So it turns out that Season 1 ended with a bit of misdirection, as it wasn’t Lafayette with the painted toenails in the back of Andy’s car, but Miss Jeanette, the woman who “exorcised” Tara’s mother’s demon.  And this is one of the things I like about the show – before the opening credits and that great opening song, the show essentially tells you, “Lafayette wasn’t killed, so let’s get moving.”  It was the same thing last season when we discovered that Rene was the killer.  There’s no huge, melodramatic, cliched reveal; the show simply tells you what’s up and continues forward seamlessly.

The death of Miss Jeanette leads to an investigation, but more importantly it helps shine some light on one of True Blood’s many themes – in this case, religion.  Tara explains to her mother than Miss Jeanette was a fraud and so she wasn’t really saved, but Tara’s mother insists that she herself is living proof that she was saved, as she is no longer an abusive alcoholic.  This, of course, begs the question: if organized religion and evangelists are shams – and there’s plenty of evidence to support this claim – then how do people who fall for these schemes end up being “saved” and transformed into better people?  It’s a question without a simple answer, and hopefully one that True Blood comes back to.

Speaking of religion, Jason has become a Jesus-freak and enlists with The Fellowship of the Sun.  He takes their pitch zealously, and it’s hard not to be intrigued by the Fellowship’s logic in concluding that vampires are the agents of Satan.  The underlying theme of Season 1 was tolerance; in Season 2, I’d bet it’s religion.

Bill and Sookie are in full-on relationship mode, and despite Bill keeping certain secrets from Sookie (like turning Jessica into a vampire), his confession of love is all she needs to hear to calm her down.  I like the action and suspense of this show better than anything, but it was nice to see a tender, well-acted scene between Bill and Sookie.  It goes to making their on-screen relationship that much more believable.

But what about the good stuff (read: sex and violence)?  Thankfully, there’s plenty of it.  Bill and Sookie have intense, bloody (literally) sex, and lucky us, we get to see Anna Paquin’s criminally underrated chest.  Sam’s history with Maryann is revealed, and I’m still not sure what to make of her.  Last season, I thought she was a telepath like Sookie, and everything she had given Tara – shelter, food, and a handsome black dude – was all a mental projection.  That’s not the case, it seems, so just what is it with all that vibrating?  And that hog?  Guess we’ll have to see.

Lafayette is trapped in a dungeon where humans are being interrogated with regard to the deaths of the three vampires killed in Season 1, and it’s none other than Eric doing the questioning.  Eric is undeniably a bad ass – even with foil in his hair from getting highlights, he’s terrifying.  How many people can you actually say that about?  The show ends with some over-the-top violence, as Eric dismembers one of the rednecks who harassed Lafayette at Merlotte’s and helped torch the house nest of the three now-dead vamps.  And it f*cking rules.  True Blood has returned firing on all cylinders, giving us graphic violence, steamy sex, intriguing plotlines, and further, deeper character development.  I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but with the cancellation of The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Heroes turning to sh*t, True Blood is currently one of the best shows on television.  I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.  Also, I’m pretty proud of myself for not making one vampire-related pun this entire article.  You really have no idea how difficult that was.