For all its flaws, True Blood has got one thing right: end every episode on a cliffhanger. While this technique will wear thin, and fast, for the first few episodes it’s vital to keep the viewers coming back. Both “Strange Love” and “First Taste” have ended with Sookie, Anna Paquin’s telepathic waitress, in mortal danger.

Other recurring, unexplained motifs include a dog who is always following Sookie around - is it a transformed vampire? (Some vampires, 173-year-old hunk Bill Compton admits, have a shapeshifting ability. But I’d think they’d be more likely to be bats than dogs.)

“First Taste” is better than the pilot. Not that the pilot didn’t make me squeal with delight because OMGSEXYVAMPIRE, but the show’s quality seems to be improving. We’ve also been introduced to a few more vampire legends, which brings the tally up somewhat. Let’s review:

1. Vampires are harmed and immobilized by silver.

2. Vampires only come out after dark.

3. Some vampires can shapeshift.

4. Vampires are extremely strong and extremely fast.

5. Vampires have the ability to hypnotize or bewitch people.

6. Vampires cannot enter the home of a mortal unless invited.

So far, so good. As of yet, no one has stepped forward to explain what vampires are, or why they are the way they are. The word “demon” has been thrown around - on Buffy, vampires were the spawn of demons and humans. But there is no such backstory here.

“First Taste” also raises the unique question of how you treat someone who’s been alive for 173 years. Sookie’s grandma treats him with reverence, while her brother treats him as a freak, and her black best friend is revolted that his family kept slaves. Sookie, however, takes to him immediately - Bill expresses surprise that she’s not more “squeamish.”

True Blood is heavy on the metaphors. Part of this is certainly Alan Ball’s fault, but part of it is the nature of the beast: vampires are mythical creatures, and everything about them is necessarily a symbol of something humans fear and desire. They symbolize death, darkness, sex, and power. They symbolize our human need to feed off of each other’s suffering. Will all this metaphor ultimately bog down True Blood to the point where it takes a backseat to its clumsy message?

We’ll see.

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