Having joined the 21st century by acquiring a DVR, I’ve found that there are few programs these days that I consider to be genuine appointment programming.
One of them is Showtime’s “Dexter.” I simply do not want to wait even an additional hour to find out what happens next, much less a couple of days. “Dexter” is one of those few programs that has outstripped the source material, a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay about a police blood spatter specialist who moonlights as a serial killer. While the books went hideously off the rails with the misguided “Dexter in the Dark,” (although early word seems to be that the latest book has Dexter back on track) the TV series has gone from strength to strength and this new season seems no exception.
Last season gave us Jimmy Smits as Dexter’s friend and eventual adversary, and I was quite frankly blown away. I thought of Smits as a handsome guy who could hit his marks and remember his lines, but never seemed to display much depth. My God, was I wrong. Smits quite frankly blew me away. Another interesting development was that the relationship that Dexter carefully crafted with blonde, widowed Rita (deftly played by Julie Benz, who I’ve finally stopped waiting to see burst into flame during any scene in daylight) to serve as camouflage for his homicidal activities has become all too real: They got married because she’s pregnant with his child.
Plus of course there’s Michael C. Hall’s Dexter, far less cloying and far more complex than his literary equivalent, struggling to follow his justice-driven compulsion to kill murderers who have managed to sidestep the law, but not Dexter’s knives and plastic-enshrouded killing fields. Now, though, with a wife and children in the mix, Dexter has to ask himself whether he can actually “have it all.”
The problem is that, as the season kicks off, a sleep-deprived Dexter (baby is now three months old) is off his game. A hilarious send up of the opening credits shows Dexter misfiring on all levels: Missing a mosquito he normally swats, his shirt is covered with baby spit up, and he breaks a shoelace that he routinely knots. By the end of the season opener, that exhaustion winds up sending one of his ritual murders horrifically off course, leaving him seriously exposed to potential discovery and arrest.
And it could not come at a worse time, because his latest opponent promises to be the most formidable yet. The Trinity Killer–so called because he always kills in threes–has been operating for thirty years, and he’s in Dexter’s neck of the woods. He’s portrayed by John Lithgow, an actor capable of moving from comedy to villainy with the ease of shifting from one foot to another (not to mention comic villains), but here he reaches a whole new level of terrifying lunacy, murdering a terrified woman in the bath (and bathing with her as he does so) in one scene and then breaking down and sobbing over his misdeeds in another.) Lithgow has never portrayed a more naked evil, in every sense of the word.
So if you’re not watching “Dexter” yet, hurry up. It won’t kill you.
PAD
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Actually, I’ve heard quite a lot about the show, but I’m one of those anal have-to-see-every-episode viewers, but I’m assuming this wouldn’t be insurmountable to watch fresh. (I’ve jumped on “Curb” this season without really any previous context.) That Lithgow description sounds…interesting.
I don’t have the hours that would make subscribing to Showtime worthwhile, but I do follow “Dexter” whenever the seasons come out on DVD.
And, Peter, forgive me, but I have to share the Dexter joke I sent to you some months ago.
Q: What’s the real reason Dexter is the way he is?
A: When he was a kid, Dee Dee entered his lab one too many times.
“HI DEXTER!!!”
Actually, I’ve heard quite a lot about the show, but I’m one of those anal have-to-see-every-episode viewers, but I’m assuming this wouldn’t be insurmountable to watch fresh.
I think you’re right. The one thing that you might want to know about a previous season is that Keith Carradine’s now-retired FBI character had appeared in the second season where he had a romance with Dexter’s sister. But I don’t think you need to know much more about him than that…at least not more than you’ll likely get from the “Previously on Dexter” snippets before each episode.
Mind you, even though you can probably jump right in. And then you’ll probably get so hooked that you’ll want to seek out the earlier seasons for more Dexter awesomeness.
This is the one show that I’ve gotten people hooked on by just having them watch the opening credits, let alone any episode.
(Still, I haven’t read the books, and feel I really ought to…)
I think it was interesting that they seemed to really go out of there way to show Dexter at work both in the lab and setting up his kill room more than we have seen before. The set up is nice but the Dexter off his game story has been played before so I’m interested in where its going than where we are now. Also anyone with Nexflix streaming can want the first ep between now and oct. 12
I do warn it will leave you wanted more and if your DVD person Season 4 will most likely not be out til summer of 2010
My girlfriend loves Dexter and tries to put the kids to bed early on the night it is on. She’s trying to get me hooked, too.
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I’ve seen two episodes and liked both of them. But, I don’t know if I have time to add another show. I haven’t seen any episodes of Psych or House yet this season.
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Theno
I watched the pilot, but I wasn’t sufficiently intrigued to keep watching. The premise doesn’t remotely appeal to me, and it just seemed like it was too in love with its own “coolness.”
You would be amazed how far the series has come since the pilot, or even the entire first season. Much of the first season was entrenched in adapting the books and, as I said, it has improved hugely on the books in the succeeding series.
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PAD
Two things that got me out of watching Dexter:
1. The idea that his stepfather realized he was going to become a serial killer (I love how that’s just a fait accompli in this universe) and decides to help him become the best (including staging killings) instead of putting him in a psych ward where he might be cured.
2. Hearing Dexter say over and over (especially in the last half of the first season) something to the tune of, “Hmm, he/she is emoting. I wonder what that feels like,” and constantly referring to his “dark passenger.”
I too felt like it was too in love with itself.
The best thing about Jimmy Smits’ character last season was his phoniness. Even his dark, tortured past was a story he stole from his brother. It was great seeing Smits play a character who could be so sincere in friendship or anger, then let the mask slide a little bit so we could see that it was all fake.
Peter, there is a show called Supernatural. You need to watch it. Two brothers trained since birth to kill monsters. A cool car. A classic rock soundtrack. You need to watch this show.
I do.
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Trying to get Caz laid. Boy, was THAT a bad idea.
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Did you know they’re doing an episode with a demon who looks like Paris Hilton, played by Paris Hilton?
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PAD
Yes, I hope they kill her in the most painful way possible.
I’m just hoping that Dexter breaks the pattern this season.
***SPOILERS FOR FIRST THREE SEASONS***
1st Season: Dexter meets his brother, who is also a serial killer. He questions whether or not he’s finally found someone like himself. Then he kills him.
2nd Season: Dexter becomes attracted to a dark haired woman with a darker past. He wonders if he can “let the mask slip” with her because he’s finally found someone like himself. Then he kills her.
3rd Season. Dexter trains Jimmy Smits to be like himself, then kills him.
My hubby and I are seriously addicted to Dexter. I had never read the books, but we were watching other Showtime shows like The Tudors and Weeds and kept seeing the commercials. I’m not sure there is a better written show on TV right now than Dexter.
For all those not addicted yet, the first season has a twist that blows you away. Rent the DVDs. It is well worth it.
I am so excited about John Lithgow. They could not have brought in a better actor to portray this season’s villian.
Tammie
My girlfriend and started getting close after we discovered a mutual love for Dexter.
We buy the DVD sets so we can watch the whole season in two days. But it’s torture waiting for them to come out, especially when we know the 4th season is on Showtime right now. I almost plunked down the extra $7.99 to add the station while Dexter is on, but the girl insisted we wait. For the past three years the DVDs have come out in August, so we literally have 10 months of suffering to look forward to…