Dexter is sublime ...

It is not everyday that a great series pops onto your radar. Especially one that isn't reality based or hyped to death.

Showtime's
Dexter has run 9 episodes so far, and Michael Hall is brilliant as the
adopted Miami forensics expert who dabbles in killing bad guys at night
to work through childhood issues. The superb acting and production
values let you overlook all the coincidences, etc in the plot that keep
the dramatic arc a-poppin for 52 minutes each week.

Dexter's
sister is conveniently on the force as well, and about a third of the
show, so far, is flashbacks to Dexter's troubled youth where his police
chief adopted father teaches him to harness his rage and "fake it".
Dexter's sister is played with surprising depth and realness by
newcomer Jennifer Carpenter. She is sort of a cross between JoanCusack and Lara Flynn Boyle - but she really nails the part of his sister.

The
series is also heavily dependent on voice over narration - but bucking
the "show don't tell principle" - it seems to work for the most part in
this series.


Dexter is made out to be multi-dimensional and funny - so the audience is almost
rooting for him to give up killing or to get his new girlfriends'
(played with nuance by Julie Benz
estranged husband.

The gore is not really horror movie variety but more akin to Shakespeare.

I
hope this series lasts as long as Six Feet Under. It will be
interesting to see where the writers can take this before they "jump
the shark". I think that, if they have their way, Dexter will pull a
DamienHirst on the shark and make art from death.

No Showtime?
Read
Jeff Lindsay's alliterative novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, upon
which the series was based. Picture of the author.