True Blood is HBO at its most gloriously unhinged: a southern Gothic vampire soap that knows exactly what it is and commits fully.

Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepathic waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana, minding her own business until Bill Compton — a 173-year-old vampire with a drawl and a conscience — walks into Merlotte's. Their romance is the show's anchor, but True Blood never stays still for long. Werepanthers, maenads, vampire kings, and a scene-stealing Eric Northman keep the chaos churning.

The show wears its metaphors on its sleeve — vampires as a civil rights allegory, complete with lobbyists and hate groups — but it works because the cast sells every absurd inch of it. Lafayette remains one of HBO's best characters. Tara deserved better writing but never phoned it in. The Louisiana atmosphere is so thick you can practically feel the humidity.

It is not subtle television. It is, however, consistently entertaining, surprisingly heartfelt, and impossible to look away from.

Worth watching. Worth rewatching.