Dexter Season 1

So I didn't think it would happen, and it took me almost a month to do it, but I finally finished the first season of Dexter.

And... it alright.

I'll give the show a lot more credit than I originally did. I thought it was overhyped and didn't really see how its was so great. And sitting through the entire season has given me at least a little bit of an appreciation for the show.

So what happens in season 1.

As I've explained in past reviews, Dexter follows the story of a serial killer who lives by a certain code. This code prohibits him from killing at random, only people who are truly evil. Instead, he serves as a kind of vigilante, taking out the murderers who slipped through the system. This code he lives by is established by his adoptive father who was a cop who realized what Dexter was before he grew up

The show also centers around his sister, a cop who gets detective in the first episode in homicide. Dexter himself is a blood spatter analyst, he analyzes the blood at crime scenes and based on the way it spatters on the crime scene, he can paint a picture of how the crime was committed. Again, very interesting.

Other characters include other detectives at Miami Metro including the Lieutenant La Guerta, a overly masculine Sergeant Dokes (Suprise Muthafucker), and others.

While these characters were alright, throughout the season, none of them topped Dexters emotionally damaged girlfriend Rita. A victim of domestic violence, she attaches onto Dexter because he's initially not interested in sex and she is too emotionally disturbed to have sex so it works.

But she really develops, especially when her ex husband is released from prison. And the great part about it is that while Dexter does help out a little bit with that problem, for the most part her ex-husband is her problem and she deals with it for the majority of the season. While I wanted Dexter to just off the ex-husband, he never does and for the most part he lets Rita deal with it herself and she does. I definitely think Rita was my favorite characters.

But the main story arc from the first season is Dexter's secret rivalry with another serial killer infamously known as "The Ice Truck Killer". This nemesis occasionally leaves clues and pokes at Dexter in order to egg on a game between the two. And I think the resolve to that storyline is pretty good.

Overall, the writing for Dexter is very good. Its a smart show and its good to see a show about a serial killer on a network like Showtime where they're not restricted by primetime censorship and they can just go nuts with the fact that this is a show about serial killers.

The Following did a pretty good job, especially with showing somebody with their eyes gouged out, but at the same time, there are avenues that Dexter can go down that The Following can't. Dexter just has the opportunity to go places primetime would never let them.

So that is a plus of the show.

Also the cast is pretty decent.

Starting from minor roles, there are definitely some memorable characters... and then there are the one note characters that you can't really care about. As funny as I think Sergeant Dokes is, I wasn't a huge fan of him throughout. Angel is good but under utilized. Lieutenant La Guerta was a pretty good character sometimes and of course I loved Rita.

And then we get to Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter's adoptive sister Debra. I can't stand her. I may have mentioned that Deb is kind of an insecure, winey character in the pilot, well that doesn't really change throughout. I think I got to a point where I tuned out whenever Deb was angry at Dexter for stupid stuff like talking to her boyfriend instead of her or getting angry at him for wanting to know who his biological father was. And in the first episode she had this voice that would crack when she was nervous or something and I thought that would go away... fore warning, it doesn't. She was really the only character I really didn't like.

And then there's Michael C Hall as Dexter. In my pilot review I said he was just bland. Well Dexter is suppose to be masking all his emotions because apparently he doesn't feel any. Yeah they ditch that pretty quick. And I'm fine with Dexter having a personality, I just don't see the point in saying he fakes it all? I don't know if this is a complaint of the lack of a convincing emotionless serial killer or a compliment of Michael C Hall making a likable serial killer.

He's still pretty vanilla in his performance but as the season went on, I warmed up to him a little bit, especially when the relationship with Rita develops and things actually start picking up.

I also mentioned that the pilot was kind of slow. And the rest of the season... was too.

I think I may have just gotten used to the pace but it still remained a show that I can only watch an episode or so of at a time because I could feel the time I was wasting instead of using to do something else productive.

So I guess the next question is, will I continue watching the show?

And the answer is... maybe?

Again, I have begun to appreciate the writing and most of the characters are semi-memorable characters. But the show is slow. I feel like it will be a long time till I do a review of the second season, if ever, if I decide to keep watching this show. Not to mention, the finale of the first season closed things up pretty well. It had a couple teases to entice viewers to go onto the next season but for right now, I feel pretty satisfied with the ending. I guess time will tell.

Overall, the show is better than alright but for the most part is just a matter of personal preference, not really my cup of tea.

So what do you think? Do you think I should keep going with Dexter? Have you seen it? What do you think? Comment and discuss below.

I'll leave you with this. I already left you with the Surprise Motherfucker montage. So I'll leave you with something quite unrelated. This is a video a buddy of mine did. I'm in it, its kind of funny. I ended up with a huge bruise from it. Check it out!