Variety:True Blood season 5 is “a welcome return to pleasure far outweighing guilt.”

Variety critic Brian Lowry has posted his review of True Blood season 5, based on advance screening of the first four episodes, and he is overwhelmingly positive about the new season.

Admittedly, the past edition of “True Blood” almost veered off the rails as it layered one fantastic creature on top of another, with werewolves, shape-shifters, witches and faeries eventually adding so many horror and fantasy denizens to the tiny New Orleans town as to feel like the folklore contingent outnumbers the conventional human population.

Still, series creator Alan Ball and company have assembled a solid ensemble and instilled such a cheeky attitude the show remains great fun, and clearly benefits from being back on a better-directed course. That also includes a recurring interlude regarding the backstory for one of the supporting players, who suddenly becomes much more interesting in the process.

(Read the full – non-spoilery – review here…)