The first season of HBO’s Southern gothic vampire series True Blood—based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries books—snuck up on me slowly before it sunk its fangs in my subconscious—but truth be told I didn’t love it from the get-go. At first, I didn’t find it to be as much escapist fun as I’d been hoping for. But I gave Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball the benefit of the doubt—and it paid off in exactly the way he predicted it would when he called it popcorn for adults. I got hooked on the mysterious goings-on in Bons Temps, Louisiana, and the character of Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with ESP. By season’s end as more mysterious and intriguing storylines were teased in and the vampire-inhabited world began to get fleshed out and munched on, it emerged as my new fave in HBO’s unsteady 2008 lineup. I’m not the only one—the show sports fansites like Truebloodnet and wikis that would rival Harry Potter. Last night, HBO ran a True Blood Season 1 marathon, which has also just been issued on DVD. The cable network’s high hopes for the series can be seen in downtown Chicago right now, where dozens of bus stops sport True Blood ads and on this Gawker-produced fansite.

I highly recommend studying up Season 1, even the episode guides—if only to prep for the gorier, grander, and infinitely more satisfying Season 2. Four screener episodes in, I’m ready to bite somebody in the leg to get the next few. It’s that potent—more tightly written and perhaps more engaging overall as the series characters are emerging less as types from a pulp novel and more as humans pushed to the extreme. Episodes 3 and 4, in particular, had me by the throat. All the storylines are stronger this time—and some even take us away from, oh my golly, good ol’ Bons Temps.

What can I tell ya that won’t come across as a spoiler? Only a little—because True Blood changes directions in half a human heartbeat. Bill will increasingly have to choose between his human love interest and his duties as a vampire—such as taking care of his new houseguest. That Jason Stackhouse can’t seem to stay out of trouble or away from violence or keep his clothes on—even when he seeks salvation. Sookie’s good nature can get the best of her—and she can even piss her beau off when she tries to do the right thing which is basically all she ever does. It might be better to pose some questions. Will Lafayette prove that he is, above all, a survivor?  Things were getting extra weird for Sam last season—has his past caught up with him? And what the hell is up with that chick Maryann taking in Tara? Where did she come from? What is she? A self-help guru? Where does she get all that fruit?

The detail in True Blood, the way it uses the relationship between politics and the media as a backdrop, lends it a realistic edge that sets the stage for the bloodlust of fantastical beasts quite nicely but almost qualifies it as a satire at times. A satire of what I’m not sure? V? Check out the Fellowship of the Sun commercial for an example of this fleshed-out world. In Season 2, politics come to the fore as anti-vampire groups muster forces and vampires react to a formidable threat to their existence.

I’ve got a feeling it’s going to get bloody.

True Blood Season 2 “Nothing But the Blood” premieres Sunday, June 14, on HBO at 8pm CST.