Michael C Hall and Dexter - A powerful combination!
What a great story. What a great, and complex, character! What a great actor (Michael C Hall)...

This show has been the best thing to hit HBO/SHO since SFU and SATC for me. Michael C Hall's portrayal of the character Dexter is brilliant, chilling, and fascinating. You immediately are on his side and enamored with this character.

The other characters, many with intense backstories of their own, have been equally fascinating and complex, but the brilliance of the main character is something that should not be missed by anybody who is a fan of the psychological thriller.

Season one is a must see for anybody who is coming into the series late. You really must start from the beginning as the backstory starts right in and slowly develops throughout the first two seasons. I'm sure there will be more surprises in season three and beyond.

Dexter on DVD
This is a bizarre show by any stretch of the imagination. There is so much more that comes across in the DVD though than the TV series due to editing. Very good entertainment.

Dexter Gets it Right
Sometimes I find connections to Hollywood in the strangest places. In the case of Dexter, it was at my day job. Now my office job is not normally the place one associates with a show like Dexter, but it turns out that the sister of the guy I worked with worked on the show. The fact that the show is on Showtime and thus can portray gore and violence as appropriate to the medium (like HBO's Rome, for example) piqued my curiosity. Unfortunately, it took me over a year to actually view season one. I'm sorry I waited so long.

I've done enough research on serial killers (and their fictional cousin, slashers) to know that they're easy to mess up. And an entire season about a serial killer from the serial killer's perspective is fraught with peril. Fortunately, Dexter hits all the right notes to keep an audience engaged for the entire season.

Dexter Mogran (Michael C. Hall) is a serial killer with a cause. His father, Harry (James Remar) recognized his adopted son's homicidal tendencies and trained him to stalk the most despicable of prey. These were the lowest of the low, the scum that Harry in his job as a cop saw frequently escape justice. Dexter became a Final Solution of sorts, eliminating people neatly and efficiently while at the same time fulfilling insatiable desire for bloodshed. Literally.

In his day job, Dexter is a blood spatter analyst. He works side-by-side with his adopted sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), probably the most annoying character in the show. And yet, she's annoying on purpose - her frail, waif-like reactions to men and the rigors of her job make her alternately pathetic and vulnerable, feral and misguided. In short, she needs Dexter's calm, creepy presence. Rounding out the cast is career-climbing Maria Laguerta (Lauren Velez), coworkers Angel Batista (David Zayas) and Vince Masuka (C.S. Lee, formerly of the show Chuck) and my favorite character, foul-mouthed Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King). Doakes is the only person who sees Dexter for what he is, but he can't prove it.

Dexter feigns a personal life as well. He has a girlfriend, Rita Bennett (Julie Benz), whose last relationship was so emotionally scarring that she fears intimacy, which suits Dexter just fine. Indeed, all of Dexter's life is an act, from the jokes he cracks to the donuts he brings to the pleasantries he exchanges with Rita. He's a monster masquerading as a person, and the only reason it's not more obvious is because everyone else has more pressing problems.

Dexter's job puts him in a unique position to both appreciate the art of the kill and find new victims. Despite his penchant for murdering his victims, Dexter's murders are relatively clean - he drains his victims of blood, hacks the pieces up, and tosses them into the ocean. And so it goes: find some sleazeball who escaped justice, kidnap him or her, murder, dump the body, repeat. Until one day, another serial killer who seems to know intimate details about Dexter's past begins sending messages through his own unique style of doll-like murders.

The ending of season one won't be a shock to observant viewers. It's not the actual ending that matters but the journey getting there. Dexter's narration is amusing and wry, his cadence just off enough that he comes across as disturbed yet functional. Surprisingly, the show isn't very gory at all. Dexter would probably be less sympathetic if we were subjected to every grisly detail. In fact, by cutting away from the most gruesome scenes, Dexter has to remind us that he's one of the bad guys - the Code of Harry is as much the anti-hero's code that we see in a multitude of other crime-fighting shows. It's a credit to the writers that Dexter is both a monstrous, damaged human being and yet still human.

Can't wait for season two!

Outstanding writing! It will hook you with the first episode.
This series has earned the top spot in my house. Each episode contains interesting sub-plots as well as being able to continue on the longer story arch of our favorite serial killer. Dexter, we learn, was taught to channel his insatiable urge to kill towards those who deserve it most. His adoptive father recognized his "illness" early on and so set forth to instill a set of values that only a sociopath could implement. No suspension of disbelief is needed here - just riveting stories with extremely professional acting, production, and writing. We anxiously await for season 2 to be released on DVD.

Simply brilliant show
This show is simply brilliant.

If you like innovative, smart shows - then give this one a chance. You will
be sorry.

I want season 2 - NOW!