People WeeklyTom Gliatto

Eclipsing even last summer's BBQ bacchanal involving an ancient spirit, the new season feels like one big undead sex party-a kinky alternate lifestyle where vampires and monsters do the nasty (and other violent acts) in roadhouses, backrooms, backwoods and the occasional antebellum mansion.

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

True Blood is, if anything, faster, sleeker, more vicious, more fun that it already was. Yum-yum.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

True Blood is worth the work, particularly since the main plot (Sookie's search for her kidnapped vampire lover Bill) is pretty much a self-starter.

NewsdayVerne Gay

Silly, gross, soapy, mysterious, intriguing, exotic, erotic True Blood is fun. Even more fun this season.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

Many viewers probably come to True Blood for the thrills and the romance but it's the humor that allows the show to rise a step above similar TV fare even as it falls short of HBO's loftier efforts.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It's unavoidable that True Blood will fall into some of the same dramas as other vampire shows. It's just got sharper teeth.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

The show, as fast-paced as ever, is crammed with subplots this season, some of which will be more engaging than others.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Whatever its chemistry, the show surely knows how to go for the throat. And like its mythical night-prowlers, once Blood sucks you in, its attraction is awfully difficult to resist.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

Whatever the reasons, True Blood has become stranger, more complicated and more satisfying to watch over time.

PopMattersRenee Scolaro Mora

For all the politics, though, what True Blood reveals most consistently is that Arlene is right: all of them—vampire, human, and were—are enslaved in one way or another, by appetites, gifts, power, and family (or pack) bonds, intimating an uneasy commonality across races.

SalonHeather Havrilesky

While the orgiastic madness of Season 2 might be hard to top, the first three episodes of Season 3 look promising indeed, serving up one juicy twist after another, plus a steady flow of great dialogue, intense conversations, brutality, blackmail, mystery, suspense and, best of all, some wickedly funny moments that are beyond compare.

San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck Barney

Initially, these and other fresh characters make Season 3 feel overcrowded--and we pity any new fan trying to make sense of it all. But by the middle of the second episode, the show begins to gain traction and sucks you in with its new set of tantalizing mysteries.

Slant MagazineAaron Riccio

True Blood lives up to another one of its character's promises: "I can protect you. Or have passionate primal sex with you. How about both?" Both it is.

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

There's just nothing else on TV with this level of jubilant satire.

Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard

The discussion of vampire politics seems toothless at times, but True excels at setting up episode-ending cliffhangers. The episode pacing is superb.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

The werewolves appear ready to supply some interesting, if rough-edged stories, but certain Season 3 plots wouldn't be missed if they faded away.

New York PostLinda Stasi

And better, this season the vamps and the shape-shifting alcoholics find themselves with too many werewolves on their hands. And the werewolves are pretty terrifying and very vicious. Very. How can you not love that?

Washington PostHank Stuever

But sprawl it must. "True Blood" is a soap opera at its core, which is why it is so overpopulated with sexy characters.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

That for those of you who love True Blood for its soapy mix of sex and horror--and occasional flashes of humor--nothing important is missing from the three episodes I've seen of the new season.