In Bon Temps, everyone has something to hide, but when new threats emerge, no one can conceal the secrets of their past. After Sookie discovers that Bill has been kidnapped, she heads to Mississippi where she becomes entangled in a world ruled by a pack of vicious werewolves and the powerful Vampire King, Russell Edgington. There, her powers resurface and she learns that Bill may not be trusted. Eric is also drawn to the King's domain to settle an old score; Tara dives deep into turmoil; Jason falls for a mysterious woman; Lafayette can't avoid love or demons; Jessica sharpens her vampire skills; and Sam uncovers the truth about his birth family. It all leads up to the revelation of the series... Sookie's real identity...

Season Three of True Blood picks up the storylines from Season Two. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan of the show's second series, but the writers have stepped up their game for the third season, and I really enjoyed it. Yes, the plot archs are still paper thin (just take your favourite characters and think about what actually happens to them and... er... it's not very much), but you really do start to care for these characters. And the overall soap opera feel is quite satisfying.

This season introduces a number of new characters including the brooding Alcide Herveaux, a reclusive werewolf from Mississippi set on leading a legitimate life away from the pack but forced to carry out favours and pay back his debt to Eric. And there's this season's main villain (you know, the one you just know will be dead or incarcerated by the end of the season) Russell Edgington, the 3000-year-old vampire king of Mississippi. We are also introduced a little more to the world of werewolfs; Sam tracks down his real family to discover if they're shape shifters too; and Sookie discovers something surprising about herself.

Yes, there's the usual gratuitous sex scenes, but to be honest I started to notice that there were entire episodes where you wouldn't see a naked bottom or pair of heaving breasts - maybe the writers have realised they no longer need sex to sell this show, the well rounded story telling does that job for them.

Extras include Enhanced Viewing on each episode (this sees a small screen pop up from time to time which has videos of some of the actors, in character, giving their thoughts on goings on); Post Mortems on a number of episodes (I particularly enjoyed the spoof Nazi propaganda film on werewolfs); Analogy of a Scene (again there are several of these, and they give the viewer a look behind the scenes); several audio commentaries; Character Perspectives (this is the to-camera pieces that appear on the Enhanced Viewing extra, but you can play each character's videos in order); Snoop Dogg - "Oh Sookie" Video; and True Blood Lines (which is a text based feature that allows you to discover more about the main characters in the show.

While five discs is a little excessive for this Blu-ray release (the content would easily have fitted onto two discs at most) what I loved about this release is that all of the episodes are accessible on each disc. So, if you chose the next episode and it's on the next disc, you are prompted to put in the correct disc and then the episode plays straight away.

So True Blood's third season is well worth adding to your Blu-ray collection - especially if you're a hardcore fanger banger.

9

Darren Rea