A serial-killer who hunts serial-killers? Now I’ve heard everything!

Dexter
I finally got around to checking out the first two episodes of the new Showtime series Dexter last night. It was good. It was really good. Or maybe I should say Michael C. Hall was really good. Its hard to make out the difference between the two since he’s in almost every frame. Certainly he’s great in the show. It wouldn’t matter how violent Showtime made this series if the character of Dexter wasn’t played to perfection. Hall, in the role, has so much menace in his eyes he comes off as truly frightening, though perhaps the real scares come from how easily it is to empathize with him. Its no small feat to draw emotion from a character who himself claims to be void of any. Hall plays the role of a “shell” as if it were Jake Lamotta mixed with Stanley Kowalski.

If the show has any fault, its in the setup. The whole serial-killer who hunts serial-killers (who hunts serial-killers) is a little too The 3 for my tastes, and all the scenes with his sister revolving around the politics of police just makes me antsy for the next episode of The Wire. Still, the series is good, and I hope to be caught up by the time the next episode airs on Sunday.NOTE: The first two episodes are also available for free at Showtime.com.

Update at 6:12pm: I’ve just watched the next two episodes getting myself all caught up. The show isn’t as good four episodes in, but the character “Dexter” is amazing. Perhaps the problem is Dexter, himself, has taken a bit of a back-seat to the police-department’s hunt for the the “ice-truck killer.” This is frustrating for the obvious reason of everyone else on the force is horribly uninteresting and glaringly stupid, but also because we, the audience, know more than the people on screen (who aren’t Dexter) and watching them stumble all over themselves is near maddening when we could be watching one of the more complex characters on television doing his thang. Developing…

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Dexter, Showtime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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4 Responses to “A serial-killer who hunts serial-killers? Now I’ve heard everything!”

  1. AK Says:
    October 27th, 2006 at 6:50 pm

    Yes, but what did you think of the intro?

  2. rick Says:
    October 27th, 2006 at 8:14 pm

    The intro was, indeed, awesome. Great intro. Though I should ask: name a show on premium cable that doesn’t have an awesome intro.

  3. debby dil Says:
    October 30th, 2006 at 7:57 pm

    I watched the first show “Dexter” and although the idea for the show is “new” the concept, and story vision was very close to the original CSI show, mixing murder and death with humor. The show is clearly interesting, but I don’t feel it is morally acceptable. Dexter is being portrayed as a monster to cheer for. He makes a joke out of murder and torturing people, and the public accepts it as o.k. because he is murdering other murderers.
    Two wrongs don’t make a right. I feel there is enough violence out there, without now making it gleeful and fun to watch, and contary to the comments mentioned above i feel no empathy for the weird Dexter.
    I plan to boycott the show and let others know how i feel. My boyfriend who has been watching it even says “it makes entertainment out of murder.”
    I hope Michael C. Hall isn’t typecast by the monster he portrays, I think he’s better than that, and can’t believe he took the role.

  4. Bruce Says:
    October 31st, 2006 at 2:34 am

    the show is utterly amazing. it always has me on my seat thinking what kind of sick, twisted thing is dexter gonna do next and who he is gonna get, but with justified reasons of coarse.

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