Dexter Season 1 DVD Review

Posted by Film-Critic

September 17, 2008

It’s difficult to know where to begin when reviewing a DVD set of a show quite so twisted as Dexter. With Season 2 currently drawing in the viewers on FX and the Region 2 box set of season 1 selling well, it’s clear that Dexter has an audience, as is the news that a third season is forthcoming from the US. But don’t be fooled, it can be tough watching at times.

Dexter is based on a very simple premise. What if CSI ended up employing a serial killer and didn’t know it. Transfer the action from Vegas to Miami (actually..that’s been done) and put in in the Metro Police Department and you have the set-up complete. Dexter externally appears to be a normal guy. Almost a poster-child for the decade if you will in the level of cross-society check-boxes he fills in; the adopted son of a policeman who has a girlfriend who is divorcing her husband, who is the father of her two children. Dexter hangs out with his friends in bars, he works as a blood-spatter analyst in the Police Department his adoptive father worked for and he teases his sister. He is also, in the evenings, a serial killer.

It is this side of Dexter we are introduced to first and Michael C Hall’s portrayal of the titular character is unnerving from the offset. He does not experience remorse, nor does he spend the series searching for a way to stop killing. He does it, it is a fact and one he sees no real issue with. He abides by a code (only kill those who deserve it), but the series pulls no punches and doesn’t make it easy for you. It presents death in all of it’s gory glory and juxtaposes characters who are remarkably blasé about death with some of the most brutal murders commited to mainstream television. This is not kid’s programming. That being said, Hall’s performances have been good enough to garner both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Dexter is no recluse. He fits in because he has to and so we are given your standard array of supporting characters. For the most part, I found the lot of them to be quite annoying. Julie Benz (Darla from Angel/Buffy and more recently Sarah in Rambo) plays the aforementioned girlfriend and along with David Zayas (playing the good-cop Batista) they play the most likeable characters surrounding Dexter. To be honest, most of the rest annoyed me. I particularly want to single out Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter’s sister for one of those characters you spend an entire series wishing would end up like Dexter’s victims. The same can be said for Lauren Velez’s Lt. LaGuertia and Erik King’s portrayal of the hard-man cop Doakes (who may or may not be on to Dexter) ticks every single box in the “cliche” category.

However, what you will keep coming back for is the plot, which surrounds a mysterious killer who appears to know a lot more about Dexter than he wants anyone to. This show is very well written and a lot of thought has gone into the plot which unfolds very well over the course of 12 episodes. By the end there is palpable tension and the “final showdown”, as it were, is a moment of rare emotion in a series which seems to do its damndest to remain detached. It is a testament to just how good the plot is and just how compelling I found Dexter as a character that I encourage people to see this series, and I’ll be checking out Season 2 myself.