Dexter is based on the compelling novel “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay. Orphaned at the age of four and harboring a traumatic secret, Dexter Morgan (Dexter Morgan (Emmy- and Golden Globe- nominated actor Michael C. Hall from “Six Feet Under”) is adopted by a police officer who recognizes Dexter’s homicidal tendencies and guides his son to channel his gruesome passion for human vivisection in a constructive way – by killing those heinous perpetrators that are above the law or who have slipped through the cracks of justice. A respected member of the police force, a perfect gentleman and a man with a soft spot for children, it’s hard not to like Dexter. Although his drive to kill is unflinching, he struggles to emulate normal emotions he doesn’t feel, and to keep up his appearance as a caring, socially responsible human being.An interesting and original idea that’s very skillfully executed, Showtime’s Dexter is never less than watchable, often quite compelling, and sometimes thoroughly riveting. As the 12 episodes from the show’s first season (packaged here in a four disc set) reveal, it’s also the epitome of “high concept,” a kind of Silence of the Lambs for the C.S.I. generation. Creator-executive producer James Manos Jr.’s title character, one Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under renown), works for the Miami Police Department as an blood spatter analyst, visiting crime scenes and helping figure out what happened. He has an avocation, too: during his off hours, he tracks down some very, very bad people who for various reasons have eluded the proper authorities. Seems his adoptive father, a cop himself, taught the kid how to channel his dark side in a “positive” direction; and so, having captured these evildoers (including a child molester-murderer and a recidivist drunk driver with a trail of bodies in his wake), Dex dispatches them with clinical precision, thus making him a serial killer who snuffs serial killers. But there’s more–much more, as it turns out. By his own description, Dexter is “a monster,” an empty shell who fakes all human interactions and admits to no real feelings for anything or anyone, including his foster sister (Jennifer Carter) and his nominal girlfriend (Julie Benz), a former crack addict and battered spouse who’s as uninterested in sex as he is. There’s an explanation for Dexter’s weirdness, of course, one so deep and traumatic that even he isn’t aware of it. It’s gradually revealed over the course of the season as he and the cops (who include Erik King, Lauren Velez, and David Zayas, all first-rate) track down the so-called “Ice Truck Killer,” a fellow monster whose grisly m.o. both fascinates and taunts our hero, leading to a genuinely shocking and squirm-inducing finale. Dexter can be a bit arch, with an ironic, too-hip-for-the-room tone that get a little old. Still, it’s a safe bet that anyone who views this first season will be salivating for the second. Extras include audio commentary on two episodes, a featurette about real-life blood spatter analysis, and a variety of DVD-ROM items. –Sam Graham
Beyond Dexter
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 The Book that Started It All |
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Stills from Dexter: The First Season (click for larger image)
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January 19, 2006
#1
typical that you people will glorify this kind of stuff. yeah, what a great concept, a serial killer who kills “bad” serial killers. oooooooooh. how NICE is that? one you could have for your VERY OWN, and not YOUR boogeyman, but the boogeyman to scare away all the OTHER boogeymen. oooooh.
while i can say it was entertaining, for laugh value mostly, i can also say that this should come as an insult to your run-of-the-mill, “normal” type of person. but, shockingly(lol), it doesnt. the reason it should insult, is that ol’ DEX here, with his “killer”(lol)personality, is so horrible at ACTING. trust me, it takes a little bit more than THAT to fool people into thinking youre the everyday JOE. and the characters on-screen buy into his retarded attempt at being CHARMING. wow. let me guess, is it because hes HANDSOME??? yeah, “one of us”, right? give me a break. this show is so hollow (“much like dexters emotions”, ill just bet youre saying), that even I cant see this as being realistic. just another of mankind’s fantasies, played out by meager actors, and presented to the vast bunch of retards. you all want to see a real psychopath in action, watch “american psycho”. or better yet, read the book. this comes only slightly close to the realism in your everyday maniac who wears a “mask of sanity”. take it from the real thing, kids. watch your shows, be entertained by them if you want, but know that this is delerious FICTION. your real “psychos” are a lot more cunning than this. i found this to be an insult. a funny one nonetheless, and not because of how it was presented to ME, but because of how it was presented to YOU.
January 19, 2006
#2
This is probably the crappiest, most irresponsible piece of dreck ever foisted on the public by Hollywood. It’s really just a warmed-over Clint Eastwood/John Wayne fantasy for idiots who think they (and society) are somehow served by some douchebag who believes he’s been touched by God with the ability to decide who is guilty and should die. Frankly, the main character is such a despicable bit of pond scum that it’s hard to imagine who with an IQ above the single digits could admire him. The most laughable part is those of you who say he “only kills bad guys”, and therefore it’s okay. That’s the sort of reasoning that grade-schoolers, bin Ladens, and Dubya Bushes accept as logical; the rest of us long ago grew out of it. Jeez. And does anyone, truly, wonder why we keep seeing massive homicides in this country?
Hard to believe that Showtime, which brings us the best two shows this season, sees fit to air this turd blossom.
January 19, 2006
#3
After my son received Dexter Season One DVD as a gift from me, he discovered it had one major scratch and a couple other minor scratches which caused it to skip. I wrote the seller with absolutely NO response to date. I also wrote a review of the problem on the amazon.com website. Although I have experienced excellent results with past purchases from Amazon, I would not recommend this seller to anyone in the future!
January 19, 2006
#4
The best words to describe the show . . . sick, twisted, perverse, and sadistic. As America’s fascination with sadism and death grows, so does our hunger to watch executions and gawk at grizzly car crash victims. Then, people who flock to “art shows” full of mutilated corpses and take sadistic pleasure in growing more sympathetic with a serial killer watch their evening news and wonder what’s wrong with everyone else and how this world got so sick and twisted. If you aren’t fascinated at the prospect of watching Internet videos of beheadings or snuff films for family entertainment, then you won’t like this show either. Its as though the people who brought this show are conducting an experiment on how desensitized they can make people and how little regard for human life they can instill in the mind numbed TV watching drones of America. I won’t even watch anything on ABC any more.
January 20, 2006
#5
first off, this is a review for the series as a whole and not just the first season. I HATE THIS SHOW!!! I can’t begin to fathom how this show ended up on a premium channel like showtime when it clearly belongs sandwiched between House, NCIS, Monk, or Burn Notice or any other of the god awful shows that the USA network craps out when it isn’t busy regurgitating reruns of Law and Order. “Characters Welcome,” this network bosts, while it should be adding to its slogun “Quirky Annoying Characters For A Not-so-Funny, Kinda Dark, Police-based, Comedy/Drama are Welcomed With Open Arms To Our Shamelessly Lame Network.” that may be a little long though. as far as dexter goes, the character is a new feeble attempt at rejuvinating the tired serial killer genre by making it so the killer is actually a forensic blood specialist with a painfully abnoxious habbit of letting the viewers listen to his oh so typical dark, brooding inner monologue such as “I have no emotions. I’m so mysterious. I don’t consider myself human. Even though I care about the well-being of other characters i still stick to the story that I have no emotions.” the supporting characters are so carefully cookie cut into their little quirks and isms that makes watching a man perform oral sex on a house cat seem more appealing. i will never understand how this show landed on showtime, a channel that pays the program creators themselves for their work rather than depend on advertizing for its program creators to make a living. don’t get me wrong, i absolutely love many other shows on both HBO and showtime. i love the Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome, Big Love, Oz, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm… I love Brotherhood, Californication, the Tudors, Weeds… dexter, however, has no right to compete with shows like these. the show’s title character is a complete coward becouse he needs to sedate and restrain is victims before killing them by means of nothing more original than a slit throat. seriel killers like patrick bateman from American Psycho and Hannibal Lecter from his character’s books and films are more respectable because they are physically dangerous and kill without the use of restraints. this is why i see dexter as a completely cowardly, unoriginal character. for your own preservation of taste, please stay away from this garbage.
p.s. hey USA network, i liked you better when all you had to offer was re-runs of Walker Texas Ranger and Jag.