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Dexter
Morgan works as a forensic expert for the Miami Police Department,
he’s quirky and a bit eccentric but he is the best there
is. He also has a loving girlfriend who has two small children,
now it’s true the kids are not his, but he treats them like
they are. He also has a younger sister who is also on the police
force and as any good big brother should, he looks after her as
much as he can. Dexter is also involved in local community events
and does his best to keep up outward appearances.
Yup,
Dexter is as normal as the come, on the outside. Deep inside,
however, Dexter is something different altogether, you see Dexter
is a serial killer, but don’t get to worried thanks to the
“Code of Harry” Dexter has learned to curb his blood
lusts and put them to good use by turning his dark attention on
those that slip through the judicial system and have not had to
take responsibility for their actions. But by the time he’s
done with them, they’ll have wished they had.
Based
on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter
is in it’s freshman season on Showtime and is laying
the ground work for what could become a truly groundbreaking show.
The
idea is simple behind Dexter, take a character who is supposed
to protect us during the day and turn him into what he is protecting
us from during the night and let the viewer hope that the hero,
or perhaps even villain, can keep from crossing that line between
good and evil when his urges get the better of him. It’s
easy, simple and makes for a hell of TV show that will draw you
in quickly after only an episode or two. Actor Michael C. Hall
of Six Feet Under plays Dexter and does a great job playing the
truly dual layered character.
Although
he has one of the worst haircuts on TV, Morgan has the role down
cold and nails both aspects of the character. Some of my favorite
scenes deal with the character of Dexter dealing with a situation
one way, while actually thinking about them another way and Hall
does a great job with the internal narrative as well. As it should
be, Dexter is the main focus of the show and his character development
is the main aspect of each episode, this is also the only flaw
in the show.
While
Dexter has been well thought out and developed down to
the last detail, the supporting cast has been more or less cut
and pasted into their roles, not that their bad or that the actors
do bad jobs, you can just tell that they have not been fleshed
out properly. This is the most evident with Dexter’s sister
Debra, played by Jennifer Carpenter who played Emily Rose in The
Exorcism of Emily Rose. From episode to episode she seems
to bounce around from character arch type to arch type, as do
some of the other supporting cast, to the point where at times,
you just don’t want to see them do to their annoyance factor.
Aside
from that the rest of Dexter is top notch. The storylines
are good, each episode is separate but there is a uniting storyline
the entire run as well. Each episode also takes time to show you
background information on Dexter to show you those glimpses into
his past to help you understand why he is the way he is. These
scenes with Dexter and his step-father Harry, played by James
Remar, are great and it also shows how the family had to learn
to deal with Dexter’s abnormal behavior as a child. As the
season goes on you can see where things are heading with the story,
but you want to stay with it to the end to see if it turns out
how you think it will or if there will be one hell of a swerve
at the ending.
Now
I’ve talked and rambled about the drama part of the show,
and since this is a horror site and the show is about a serial
killer, you may be asking “What about the blood Prime?”
Well it’s there and it’s by the buckets, quite literally
at times. There is some incredible brutality in this show, not
over the top and never unrealistic, Dexter likes what he does
and he’s damn good at it as well. I don’t think anyone
will be disappointed in any episode as the tension is as good
as the blood flow.
All
and all I really liked Dexter a lot and I think in the second
season if they fill in some character gaps here and there this
show could become the best thing on TV, well it will at least
rank up there with My Name is Earl, The Shield and
The Office.
8.5
out of 10.
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