“True Blood” is back for a third season, and the characters are as dumb as ever.

Let’s be honest, “True Blood” fans: We get ridiculed enough for liking a show that features vampires and werewolves — a little too close to “Twilight” for many respectable Americans — so we can at least admit this one thing. Objectively, “True Blood” is a bit goofy.

Pretty much its entire cast of characters has some kind of supernatural ability, whether it be vampire, werewolf, shape-shifter or mindreader. And they are all somehow centralized in the environment of this one bar in Louisiana, which brings into contention just what the percentages and chances are for having abilities in “True Blood.” I mean, is this a supernatural thriller, or is this the freaking “X-Men” we are talking about here?

But then, “True Blood” never really defined its terms. At first, viewers just knew that Eric the sheriff was in charge. Then we learned of the queen of Louisiana (played expertly by an edgy version of Evan Rachel Wood), and now we’ve been introduced to the king of Mississippi. So does every state have these designations?

And, for awhile, it was just vampires. But now a whole race of werewolves exists as well? Just how exactly did the mainstream world not know about these creatures for so long? Supposedly vampires have been around for thousands of years, but they were still considered myth as late as the 1800s? How does that work?

And it was just casually mentioned in the last season-three episode, but how on earth has only nine weeks passed from season one to season three? This show has the kind of nonsensical, frantic pacing of “24.”

As you can see, if viewers truly think about the dynamics of “True Blood,” there’s plenty of plotholes. And characters like Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) — the brother of protagonist Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) — make one question whether anyone in the show has an I.Q. higher than room temperature.

Just to recap, Jason has went from vampire-hater to vampire-blood addict to religious nut to vigilante to would-be cop in the span of, well, if you believe the show’s timeline, NINE WEEKS. What kind of schizophrenic lunatic is Jason anyway? But what really questions Jason’s brains is the fact that he says every line with the same wide-eyed, vacant look on his face.

Then there’s Sookie’s best friend Tara, who is ready to jump into bed with every potential killer or troublemaker that walks her way. In the season-three episode that aired Sunday, she was bedding new character and vampire Franklin Mott (James Frain). This is all despite the fact that the supposed love of her life got killed just days earlier and the fact that she knew Franklin was a vampire before she went to bed with him. Tara’s life is a baffling and frustrating trainwreck that viewers cannot help but watch.

There’s so much to critique about the show that it might be strange to hear how mindlessly enjoyable it is. The show’s mash-up of genres (horror, sci-fi, thriller), with its Southern setting and wealth of characters and possibilities makes for an enjoyable hour of television.

Plus season three gets amped up in quality with the cast addition of Frain, who played Thomas Cromwell in Showtime’s “The Tudors.” It’s an interesting contrast to see the guy who played the self-righteous Protestant right-hand man to King Henry VIII morph into the ashen vampire, dressed completely in black, in “True Blood.” Frain, with his five-o’clock shadow and authoritative style for finding out information, brings just one word to mind — awesome. It’s a quality that Eric the sheriff has started evoking more and more lately. (Why are the villains always the most fun?)

So while “True Blood” may make no sense or come off as just stupid from time to time, it has enough redeeming qualities to make it worth the watch. And, unless I have not set the bar low enough, at least it’s not “Twilight.”