"True Blood," in a New Season, Seems to Renew Its Vows John P. Johnson/HBO From far left, Rutina Wesley, Anna Paquin and Lucy Griffiths in "True Blood," the supernatural soap opera that begins its sixth season on HBO on Sunday night. Back at home in Bon Temps, La., momentarily safe from attack by vampires hungry for her tasty fairy blood, Sookie Stackhouse recalls the simple days of white dresses and well-mannered, if fanged, admirers. "I want to be that girl again," she says, wearily. Fans of "True Blood," hearing their heroine speak that line in the show's Season 6 premiere on Sunday night, can only reply, Amen, sister. "True Blood," HBO's popular supernatural soap opera, went a long way down a bad road in its fifth season, chasing a labored and unconvincing allegory about religious fundamentalism that incorporated a vampire god and bible and jackbooted vampire storm troopers. The increasingly comical proceedings culminated in an episode that played like a parody of the standard cliffhanger finale, with a Rambo-like raid and shootout, exploding bodies and a blood-soaked resurrection. Alan Ball, the show's creator, stepped away after the season and was replaced as show runner by Brian Buckner, a "True Blood" writer whose previous experience was primarily in sitcoms ("Friends," "Spin City"). Sookie's desire to be the girl in the white dress once more could be taken as a coded message from the new regime: Stick with us. We can get this right. "Right," in this case, meaning as it was at the beginning, when Mr. Ball surprised us by showing that he could create a light and amusing combination of occult thriller, love story and murder mystery whose message about tolerance of minorities was clear but not obtrusive. But as the seasons went on, the storytelling lost some of its steam, and the various subtexts - sexual, religious, racial - moved into the vacuum, becoming obvious and heavy-handed in the fashion of Mr. Ball's previous HBO series, "Six Feet Under," and his screenplay for "American Beauty." The new season begins mid-cliffhanger, with Sookie (Anna Paquin) and the vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) fleeing Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), the third leg of the Sookie-Eric-Bill romantic triangle and a newly risen, seemingly all-powerful vampire god. Along with their small crew of world savers, including Eric's sister (Lucy Griffiths), Sookie's brother (the hilarious Ryan Kwanten) and the bickering vampire couple Pam and Tara (Kristin Bauer van Straten and Rutina Wesley), they head back to the show's rural-gothic base in the fictional hamlet of Bon Temps. Based on the evidence of the first three episodes, the action will be centered there again, good news after so much of last season was spent at the sterile Vampire Authority in New Orleans. As to whether the show will get back on track, the early signals are mixed. Rutger Hauer joins the cast, perhaps playing two diametrically opposed roles, in a plotline involving Sookie's family history and her parents" death. That's potentially a good thing, as is the continuing story of the half-fairy children of the bumbling Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), which offers comic relief as well as tension - they are, after all, a new source of fairy blood. On the down side, the none-too-subtle messagemongering continues, with the emphasis of the allegory shifting from fundamentalism back to racial and religious discrimination. The fine actor Arliss Howard also joins the show, playing a Louisiana governor who exploits the antivampire feelings in the wake of Season 5"s events. There are references to concentration camps and a repeated motif of vampires being dragged behind trucks. In case the liberal-progressive piety isn't obvious enough, Mr. Howard's slick politician encourages his constituents to buy guns, announcing, "This is still America, you have a right to defend yourselves and the people you love." There's nothing wrong with a little social relevance, but that's never been what made "True Blood" worthwhile - if the show isn't fast, funny, scary and sexy, it's nothing. You hope the writers will realize that one funny line from Mr. Kwanten - like "I'm sick of you bloodsuckers brain-raping me against my will!" - is worth more than all the sturm und fang.