Dexter - Season One

I remember reading about Dexter before it aired and being mildly interested; a show about a forensics expert who kills other serial killers by night sounded like it had promise. I was also intrigued by the show's star, Michael C. Hall. As a fan of HBO's fantastic series Six Feet Under, I was really interested to see how much range Hall had. As it turns out, he's got a lot.

Dexter is the first Showtime original series I've ever watched, and after watching series after magical series on HBO I consider being "HBO quality" the yardstick by which all shows are judged. After watching the entire first season, I've got to say that Dexter is HBO quality in every way; the acting is top-notch, the production values are high and the writing is great. Heck, four of the actors happen to be from Oz, another HBO show that I love, and to top it all off Dexter even has an extremely clever credit sequence accompanied by a quirky and memorable theme song.

The main plot arc of the first season revolves around a serial killer that is striking Miami and baffling its police squad, and by the end of the pilot the killer makes a personal connection with Dexter. I won't say more than that, though my one remaining fear for the show is that each subsequent season will follow a "serial killer of the season" formula and get stale. By the end of season one, however, the characters and relationships have unbelievable depth, so I think there's plenty to work with going forward without relying on a new diabolical killer each season to keep things going.

Dexter himself was traumatized as a child and taken in by foster parents. Even at a young age he found himself devoid of normal human emotion, a bad trait to have given that he also discovered in himself a compulsive desire to kill. By the time of the show's current-day narrative Dexter has trained himself only to kill those who deserve it (murderers who got off on technicalities, immigrant slave traders, serial rapists), which he sees as a righteous application of his unique "talents." He's still emotionless, though, which leads him to fake his way through his relationships and social obligations (think Patrick Bateman in American Psycho); every now and then you'll even hear his inner monologue, when he says things like, "everyone else is smiling, so I should laugh and pretend I'm having a good time." He does a pretty good job of faking things, too, as only a few people detect the slightest hint that something is wrong under the surface. This aspect of the show alone offers a lot of interesting things to watch.

The depth of the show, however, comes not only from Dexter's complex character but also from the people surrounding him: his loving, earnest and somewhat dopey detective sister, his aggressive and overbearing police superiors, and his equally damaged girlfriend. Since he has no sex drive whatsoever he defines his relationship with his girlfriend as the perfect relationship; she's the victim of repeated rape and abuse and is horrified of ever opening up emotionally or sexually again. They both fake their way through what they see as a "normal" relationship and are happy to do it. Things get interesting, of course, when Dexter's pitch-perfect nice-guy act begins to put his girlfriend back into her comfort zone, which ironically moves Dexter out of his. Brilliant.

The details of Dexter's job as a blood spatter expert are fascinating, especially when we get a chance to see the reconstruction of a crime scene as he pieces together what took place. It's all the more interesting knowing that by night he's spilling blood himself. Meticulously careful, he kills without a trace and does enough research to be absolutely certain that he's killing someone who deserves it; to take an innocent life would be wrong.

It's the balancing of these elements that makes Dexter such a quality show, as does the fact that the characters go through changes and grow in different ways over the course of the first season. Shows begin to stagnate when the characters stop changing (I'm looking at you, Sopranos), and so far Dexter is doing an admirable job of putting well-realized characters into interesting situations and showing what happens. The beginning of season two will find the characters in new places with new dynamics and challenges, which is all you can ask of the establishing season of a series. I know I'll be there with my Showtime HD subscription, ready to see where Dexter goes next.

Rating: 4/5 Stars