A Bloody Good Time - Dexter Season 1

Dexter – Season One
Showtime










I had heard of Dexter, and seen it in the store, but I never knew what it was until I bought the first season on DVD.  I got it on the cheap on eBay. 

This is an ingenious show with great writing that is on Showtime, and is currently about to start its 5th Season.  After I watched the first season, I went out and bought the next two seasons.  It stars Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under), this time as a serial killer with an impulse to kill who keeps his killer impulses in check by killing people who deserve it – often people who are let back on the street by the cops for one reason or another.

There is quite a bit of blood in this show, especially in the later half of the season, but if you can get past this, the show is engaging and offbeat, clever and complex, as is the character of Dexter Morgan himself, a severely damaged personality who is able to conform on the surface to societies social norms, but hidden behind this lies a deep disconnect from the world he is forcing himself to live in and be a part of.   It takes a good writer and a good plot to get the viewer to sympathize with such an emotionally dead character as Dexter Morgan.

He is deeply disturbed, seemingly beyond his control, and yet later in the season, sparks of humanity do seem to creep up on us and Dexter as well. This is especially the case when it comes to Dexter's adopted sister Debra Morgan, who is the only person he seems genuinely attached to.  It is unclear whether his attachment to Debra is real or just for show.  Dexter would have us believe it is just for show, but that comes into question later in the season.

Dexter feels he must fit in so he doesn't stand out, and having a relationship is part of this.  His girlfriend, Rita Bennett( played by Julie Benz) is a severely damaged individual, who he feels comfortable around because he does not need to get emotionally attached or be intimate with her. Things get more complicate between them midway through the season.

Debra is a cop for the Miami police department, and Dexter is a “blood spatter” specialist on the forensics team.  Most of the other supporting cast are either cops or forensic specialists.  The scenes flashback scenes with Dexter father are among the more interesting scenes in the show, if only because they help explain how he is so well able to fake emotion and get everyone at the Miami police department to like him so much, even though in reality he is their worst enemy, a serial killer operating right under their radar.  The only person who sees something in Dexter that is unsettling is Sgt. James Doakes, a member of the police force.  Later in the season, this plot line is in full force and adds some needed believability to Dexter's seemingly invincible cover as the friendly neighborhood forensics specialist. 

The first season revolves around the “Ice Truck Killer” who kills prostitutes and leaves the bodies for the police (and Dexter) to find in a specific way – I don't want to mention anymore, except to say that the final reveal at the end of the season is surprising.  Most probably won't see it coming, but it makes sense, and adds another layer to what little humanity Dexter has.

I give this show 4 out of 5 stars...because if Dexter was a real person, I'd hate him.