Dexter

Books, comics, TV, music
41

I’m worried.

I really like the main characters (Dexter, Rita, Debra, and Rudy; plus the flashbacks with Harry and the young Dexters). They’ve got really strong actors, particularly when they’re working with each other. Although it’s pretty amazing how well Michael Hall can just hold the camera. I didn’t watch much Six Feet Under, but he’s got serious presence. Consider how much of the show is just shots of his face being supposedly impassive. Great job, Michael C. Hall!

But whenever the show veers off to try to make me care about Angel, Doakes, or Laguardia, my eyes kind of glaze over. It’s partly because none of those actors are strong enough to hold my attention, but mainly because they just feel so peripheral to the core of the series. It’s a story about a serial killer, and bland cop shenanigans don’t have any place here. Every time it cuts to something about Laguardia’s career, or Angel’s marriage, or Doakes being attracted to Debra, it bogs down. The show is called Dexter, not Dexter and Friends.

It’s also not nearly as dark as it could be, or even as dark as it seemed like it was going to be early on. They go to such great pains to villify everyone Dexter kills, almost to the point of caricature. I want more ambiguous moments like when the coyote and his wife say they love each other before Dexter kills them, or the subplot with the young serial killer who commits suicide. Did Dexter ever consider killing the child witness to protect himself? Now that he’s an adult, does he struggle with wanting to kill people for petty reasons, like he did the bully when he was a child? And how come we can’t see him while he’s working? In one of the early episodes, there was a great sequence when Rita calls him while he’s cutting someone up. C’mon, Showtime, don’t get coy on us after we’ve come this far!

I’m worried they’re going to saccharine Dexter up too much, making him love kids, develop a healthy sexual relationship with Rita, and learning more constructive ways to deal with problems like Rita’s ex, Paul. Is this the portrait of the serial killer as a young man, or is it a dueling serial killer tale (Dexter and Rudy’s cat-and-mouse), or – and this is my concern – a comfortably successful series that gets too squeamish to sustain a truly dark serial killer as its main character?

Anyway, I am hooked, and I’m really liking it. But I’m bracing myself to be disappointed before long.

-Tom
42

Yeah, Angel, Doakes and Laguardia seem like caricatures :/

43

Agreed. With two shows remaining, I think it will be difficult to have the same ending as the book. There have been a lot of clues scattered about, including what I think is a foreshadowing of the second season.

44

I recently finished watching season 1 of Six Feet Under – Hall is pretty awesome at displaying subtle emotional changes. AND I finally just watched the first episode of Dexter last night and, while there were about ten times when I thought “This doesn’t make sense”, I plan to keep watching. The serial killer theme has been so done to death; I’ve kind of avoided the genre since the high points of Seven and Silence of the Lambs, burned out by reading too many Patricia Cornwell novels. Dexter looks pretty good and twisty and original. I’ll try and get caught up ASAP so I can read the whole thread and register my kudos & complaints.

45

Wait, there’s a book?

And I agree with Tom abut the sidestories. snooze

46

I like the side-stories. It would be nice if the other actors were better, but… good luck with that. I think the side-stories add a touch of mundanity to the show that make it seem more real. Plus…

SPOILARS TO FOLLOW!! AVERT THINE EYES!!!one!

A couple of the side-stories have dovetailed into the main plot. Dex’s sister dates losers, then she finally meets a great guy and he’s the ice truck killer. Angel’s marriage is failing so he goes out to clubs with Masuka and happens to see a woman with her fake hand painted up like one of the victims.

If they didn’t show you any of the side characters except when they were doing something related to the main plot, then it would seem much more contrived and predictable. You’d always be looking at the scene thinking “how does this relate to Dexter?” Instead, they lull you with an ongoing story that’s utterly mundane and then get you with the hook. It’s added a couple of “Holy shit!” moments that you couldn’t have otherwise.

47

Love the show too, easily the best thing on TV right now. Keep waiting for it to fall on it’s face but it’s had no problems keeping the pace up.

SMALL SPOILER BUT SPOILER NONE THE LESS

When Dexter smacked the loser ex husband with the frying pan the look on his face afterward was just priceless. Had me in stitches.

48

Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.

49

I’ve read them both, and the TV show is still doing a great job of sucking me in, even though I know how it’s going to turn out. They’ve taken enough liberties with story changes, and the main character acting is so excellent, that it’s something I look forward to each week.

Dexter is great television. The novels are fun, quick reads, but the quality of Hall’s acting elevates the series to the next level. Plus I love Miami, and there’s a lot of the visual “essence of Miami” in the show.

50

Good point, Eph. The show does a great job of bringing the location to life, and really making it part of the story. I don’t feel like I’m watching something out of a studio back lot with the occasional location shoot spliced in.

(BTW, Dexter is actually filmed in Miami, right?)

-Tom
51

I watched the first 10 episodes over the past few days, and the show is good, but for being a cable show, I’m a bit dissapointed.

I get tired of hearing Dex’s little one liners and the direction is inconsistent. Sometimes it’s brilliant, other times it’s forced, and the rest of the time I feel like I’m watching a sitcom on ABC. This show needs more moments that juxtapose the two sides of Dexter. It could use a lot less voice over about how he’s emotionless. I get it already. Dexter shouldn’t have to remind himself of that all the time. It’s best when it’s not told but shown. For example, when he finds out about his real father’s death and has to go up there. Dexter has this matter of fact way of dealing with it and Rita comes over and “reads” something that isn’t there. So Dexter just goes along and incorporates it into his persona.

I barely recognized Hall from 6ft Under. He just felt thinner in that show. His neck seems huge in this.

52

The first episode of Dexter alone adapted 50% of the first book, so you know the screenwriters have to add some serious filler to stretch it out an entire season.

Even so, I’m really digging this show.

53

I love this show.

That said, I think the actors that play Doakes and the sister both suck rocks. Wooden and annoying. Doakes in particular looks like he’s trying to channel Wesley Snipes.

54

I think she’s getting better.

SPOILER

Her high point was when she chewed out Dex for talking to Rudy rather than her.

55

Dexter is filmed in Los Angeles. The pilot episode was shot in Miami and after that the hurricane insurance was too expensive for the production to afford. In episode 10, when they go to the blood covered motel room by the marina they’re in Marina Del Rey, CA, which is where CSI: Miami also shoots quite often.

56

Ha, so it is shot in LA. I guess since I didn’t recognize any of the locations, I figured they were in Miami.

Didn’t care much for tonight’s episode. Not much new info and lots of time frittered on ancillary stuff (lieutenant’s career troubles, Angel’s marriage). They finally got around to executing a long-delayed plot twist that you could see coming down Fifth Avenue (Debra being kidnapped). There wasn’t enough screen time with Michael Hall and the one scene that should have been electric (Dexter and Rudy talking about Debra) was flat and seemed cut short.

There better be a slam-bang season finale next week!

-Tom

57

I’m new to the show but thanks to the net I’ve caught up on every episode. I agree with you on the sis, altough she is getting better. But Doakes? Come one, his dead pans are funny. “And hurry up with my report! You freak mother fucker.” He’s developed over the show just as sis has. We see he’s not as hard as he pretends to be. But he does have the cop sense that sees Dex for a freak.

I enjoy this show’s intro every single viewing. Strange and quirky and kind of dark like the show itself. All the characters are played decently, with Dex, Rita, and the father Harry Morgan being the best of the bunch. The setting (even if not in Miami) reminds me of the good things I remember about Miami Vice (i.e. the setting). The culture and setting play well in the story. So does the music.

As for where the show is going I have a friend who told me each season would equate to a book. Not having read the books is this true? I’ve not heard if there is a planned end to the show but I hope I get to enjoy it for a while longer.

58

I have really enjoyed the show so far, but I’m worried about investing myself in it. Seems every time I really like something on cable it disappears.

The little preview of the season finale has me pretty jazzed. What ever happens, I hope it’s grizzly and dark.

59

I think you’re probably safe. It’s on Showtime so it’s probably more solidly funded that a run of the mill cable program. I hope so anyway.

60

Sadly, Rita was a lot more interesting when she was on the brink only propped up by Dexter than she is now that she’s slowly regained some confidence.

I know this sin’t gonna happen unless they are actually trying to kill the show, but I’d love to see Dexter get caught and see Rita spiral downwards as she realises her new life was built on an even bigger lie than the old one.