Customer Reviews

Dexter: The Second Season

5 star:		(292)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Season two of this Showtime piece of excellence is just as good as the first season, if not better. If you haven't already met Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall), he's a Miami police forensic expert - he specialises in blood spatter - with a taste for murder all of his own. By twist of tale, Dexter's past comes back to haunt him this season and Dexter the hunter becomes Dexter the hunted. This takes the excitement and suspense up to new heights.

Dexter is still coming to terms with the season one's shock ending and initially finds (to his horror) that his killing skills are not what they used to be. And as if he didn't have enough worries, Sergeant Doakes (played by the lovely Erik King), the only one around who senses that Dexter is not all that he seems, is still very much on his case. Add to that the fact that his sister Debra (played by Jennifer Carpenter), who is still recovering from her own trauma from season one, is asked to join the FBI manhunt for him. The team is being led by Special Agent Lundy (played by Keith Carradine) and this is a development, Dexter remarks sardonically, that "makes for an awkward family dynamic".

Also very interesting to see this season, is the relationship between just-demoted Lt. Maria Laguerta (played by the brilliant Lauren Velez) and the new Lieutenant parachuted in over her head to take over her shift command, Lt. Esme Pasquale (played by Judith Scott). The cracks in Dexter's seemingly perfect relationship with girlfriend Rita (played by Julie Benz) that began to appear in season one, also begin to get wider this season so look out for Jaime Murray, fresh off her stint on BBC's drama "Hustle", playing the sexy, free-spirited Lila.

There's much more but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Twists and turns abound and each episode seems to bring a new shock for the viewer to take in. The humour is dark but it is hysterically funny - a shock in itself, considering the over-arching subject matter. Unless you're someone who gets squeamish easily (most of the violence is implied rather than shown but there's still violence and there's still plenty of blood) this is a definite must-see. I never thought the day would come when I would be rooting for a serial killer - even a fictional one - but here we are. That I'm doing so is more down to the excellent writing and Hall's easy charm, than to anything else. I'm as happy as Larry to know that there's already a season three on its way and I hope they take this series as far as is logically possible.

I say long live Dexter!

Miami blood-spatter analyst and moonlighting serial killer Dexter Morgan spent the first season of Showtime's groundbreaking drama helping his police department track the Ice Truck Killer, a man who turned out to be the brother Dexter never knew. In Season Two, he helps hunt someone even closer...himself. When his Glad-bag graveyard is discovered at the bottom of the ocean, all of Miami buzzes about the Bay Harbor Butcher, the nocturnal crime fighter who litters the sea with body parts of bad guys.

The search for the Bay Harbor Butcher (and the ensuing cat and mouse game between Dexter and his colleagues) provides the overarching glue for Season Two. The middle episodes of the season feature the slippery Dexter trying to wiggle his way out of the grasp of the investigation, lead by new character FBI Special Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine), a professional everyman as unassuming as he is brilliant. Lundy's dedication and focus rival Dexter's and present a challenge for our hero even greater than his "game" with the Ice Truck Killer. Lundy's ritual and disciplined life of cucumber sandwich lunches and Chopin interludes clears his mind, giving him almost clairvoyance into the heart of his target.

The second principle plot centers on Dexter's new love interest, Lila. Early in the season, Dexter is able to explain away his erratic behavior to Doakes and Rita by pretending to be a recovering drug addict. His relationship with his sultry and insightful sponsor sparks tension between Dexter and his girlfriend and forces Dexter into chambers of his mind that have been closed for decades. In the arms of a troubled figure with a past nearly as dark as his own, Dexter feels understood for the first time.

Dexter's "improvements" in rehab, coupled with the relentless investigation of him by Doakes causes a reduction in body count for Season Two. Just as Season One established the winning formula of building a 12 episode serial plot accentuated with weekly self contained subplots with payoffs, Season Two also has small stories to keep the viewers entertained as the search for the Butcher continues. The difference between Seasons One and Two is that these small plots don't always involve Dexter killing someone. Season One almost had a reality-tv consistency with Dexter "voting someone off the island" each week. But sometimes Season Two episode plots are about his relationships with Rita, Lila or Doakes.

This is part of the more human Dexter presented in Season Two. His conscience gets to him a few times; he underestimates one of his victim's strength and then walks into a trap; he routinely gets outsmarted by Lundy; and he's unable to control his feelings toward Rita and her kids. He's come a long way from the unemotional science project of the first season. The extra dimensions to his character and a season-long plot that amazingly trumps the edge-of-your-seat plight of Season One's Ice Truck Killer are only two reasons why the series has improved since its sublime debut season and now fills the void left by The Sopranos as television's finest hour.

Even though I am a huge fan of "Dexter--the First Season," I couldn't imagine a better second season. In fact, I'm going to need imagination-stretching exercises because all the people behind "Dexter-The Second Season" give us just that--a BETTER second season!

An observation: Whoever determines casting definitely has an eye for borderline anorexic women with small breasts. Dexter's sister Debra, his girlfriend Rita, and newcomer Lila, an English woman he meets in a 12-step program and who becomes his sponsor for Season Two--all match that description.

In Season One Dexter tells us over and over he is emotionally dead, but as the season progresses, Dexter truly develops feelings for Rita and her two children. In Season Two he no longer denies his feelings, making it clear how much Rita means to him. However, Lila's presence and declaration that she understands him moves Dexter off-kilter.

Throw into the boiling pot the discovery of all Dexter's plastic bags of body parts hidden at the edge of the ocean's currents and the viewer has an explosive combination that keeps him/her on the edge for all of the second season.

But I neglect to include Special Agent Lundy, who has come to Miami to solve the serial killer case after the plastic bag discovery. He always gets his man and in one scene in particular, I could not imagine how Dexter would escape being identified. But remember? I have an imagination problem. I was wrong. Lundy (wonderfully played by Keith Carradine) also plays a pivotal role in a sub-plot. Nah, I'm not saying.

As the season nears the end, I am astonished to think that the program will end the way it seems to be heading. However, by season's end all loose ends are tied, and concludes, better than first season, with a promise of even better things to come in the third season.

I've described the bones of Second Season, but not the flesh. Season Two is about relationships: lovers, friends, lust, love, co-workers. It is also about character development. I did not care for Dexter's sister Debra in the first season, but her character development made me become quite fond of her in the second. Lila's character becomes more and more annoying as the season progressea, but I did not like her to begin with.

Sometimes the tension is thick enough to cut and once I actually screamed out loud! I scared both me and my cats! In one episode when Dexter drags a torso from one of his victims into the police department with Debra nipping at his heels, I kept thinking, How will Dexter get out of this?

Michael C. Hall is brilliant as Dexter.

I didn't think the second season of "Dexter" could even come close to to the brilliance of the first season, but I was wrong. Instead of the Ice Truck Killer, Season 2 begins with the Miami P.D. hot on the trail of another mass-murderer dubbed as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter (Michael C. Hall) already knows the identity of the killer right off the bat, because it happens to be him. The FBI is brought in to help investigate the case, and Dexter is under pressure to stay off the radar and figure out how to get himself out of this huge mess.

Season 2 introduces some great new characters, including Special Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine) and the mysterious Lila (Jaime Murray), a woman who interferes with Dexter's relationship with Rita (Julie Benz). Meanwhile, La Guerta (Lauren Vélez) pulls some very dirty tricks out of her hat in an effort to get her job back, and Dexter's relationship with Doakes (Erik King) escalates and is finally put to the ultimate test.

There are some exciting twists and turns in Season 2, but everything wraps up very nicely at the end. I have no idea what will happen to Dexter in Season 3, but I can't wait to find out!

Showtime has blown HBO off the map with the these two seasons of Dexter. Now that The Sopranos, Deadwood and Rome no longer around, HBO will need a miracle to compete with the quality of this show.

Season two is all about conflict and questions. Lila or Rita? Serial killer or turn himself in? There isn't as much "Dexter Morgan justice" this time around, but the suspense and top notch acting are here in bucket loads. Just give Michael C. Hall an award already!

If you liked the first season (how could you not?) then the second will take you to a different place. They change things up a bit to add freshness, but they never veer too far off course. I think season one was a bit stronger overall, yet I found this one more interesting. I guess it just means that this show is full of surprises.

My opinion of Dexter's second season may be skewed by the fact that I began watching it almost as soon as I had finished Season One. While the first season kept me on edge and in constant anticipation of what would come next, this season left me much less inspired. Some of the story arcs felt wooden and not nearly as creative or engaging as the original twelve episodes. I worried that the absence of the Ice Truck Killer plot might negatively affect this season, and unfortunately I found this to be the case. Not to mention many of the scenarios stretch the imagination a bit too far.

I can see from other Amazon reviews that I'm in the minority opinion on this. To each their own, right? It's funny how people can respond so differently to things like films and books and television series.

While I didn't particularly enjoy this season of Dexter, I still find it to be a very crafty show that, even when it's not that good, is impossible to look away from. While I was hoping for a more commanding follow-up to the amazing first season, Dexter is still one of the better programs on television. It's easy to see why Showtime has found its greatest success with this show.

first, the second season does not follow the order of the books: season 2 begins where most cliffhangers end: Dexter's victims get hauled up out of the water. Dexter's sister becomes a stronger character, following the character as she appears in the book series. Given alla that, this is a crown jewel of cable TV writing: their writers are so over-the-top that they continually seem to write the next episode better than the last: no kidding; a singular reason to get Showtime.

The incidental music of both seasons are on CD with a few tracks on itunes as exclusives: get them.

Enter a lady who is clear from the first glance serious trouble and this is a spectacular edge-of-your-seat season worth watching again and again (and btw, that'd help just to take in the small stuff that gest missed on one viewing; particularly the Doakes/Dex showdown). And Dex will do something unthinkable: he chuckles. Wanna guess why? Here's a clue: Dex begins to become more human, despite his insistence that he's not quite human. Harry's Law gets an upheaval.

Now for the BOOK fans, Doakes meets some cruel cutting time in Dexter's 2nd book. In the TV series, Doakes, well, gives Dex a problem: whack a great cop who refuses to back down or surrender to him: what do YOU think Dex would do?

Kudos to a killer (sorry) cast for a job very, very well done. While the CBS edited version is still looming in the near future, ya gotta wonder how they'll work around Doakes's profanity, profuse bloodletting and pieces of weekly corpses. If CBS can pull in new fans of a PG-rated Dexter season one, imagine their absolute shock to see unedited season two with enough meatcutting madness to even freak out die-hard horrorheads like me.

Remember the days when HBO shows kicked arse? Whether it was AL SWEARENGEN ruling the roost of THE GEM, or TITUS PULLO skewering some poor plebe, or even BEN HAWKINS touching someone back to life. Well, we all know those days are sadly gone, but thanks to some gutsy, creative thinking on SHOWTIME's part we have DEXTER MORGAN. Take either one - season one's ICE TRUCK KILLER, or season two's BAY HARBOR BUTCHER, and you have what is (fact, not opinion) one of the best shows ever aired. Every TV series you've ever seen has had a quandary about the second season equaling the first. This one don't. Both seasons are on par Fan-friggin-tastic. MICHAEL C HALL (pulling a 180 from his superb character of DAVID FISHER from the superb SIX FEET UNDER) plays the best television character possibly ever. Hey, the guy likes to chop people (albeit, bad people) up into little pieces, but YOU LOVE HIM, that makes for compelling viewing any day of the week. Best show on the tube right now, HANDS DOWN. Can't wait for season 3!

After a blistering first series, I felt that much of the second series of "Dexter" was a bit of a letdown. The basic premise of the series, which I am not going into here, is very solid and allows the viewer to be concerned about the central character (which in itself creates the weird scenario of rooting for very dubious guy indeed), but before long we are introduced to the very irritating character of Lyla Turney. This is where the interesting central premise of the show gets eclipsed somewhat by a cheap soap-opera-like "which girl will Dexter end up with" type narrative that is, quite frankly boring.

The main fault of season 2 is that the producers have seen fit to add in some Hollywood sex (in the first season he couldn't really do it), some soap-opera plot devices and have chosen to give Dexter more human emotions. This is a bad move, as by humanising Dexter too much, it tends to make him less interesting. The charm of the Dexter series is that the viewer becomes attached to a guy who is essentially a nutter (albeit with a somewhat justifiable moral code). But as this gets eroded, I felt that that my interest was being eroded too. To a point where there was considerable time between my viewing of episode 7 and episode 8. In contrast, I watched the first series in two sittings. There were times in season 2 that was just waiting for Dexter to kill someone...anyone.

I do recommend the second season though, don't get me wrong. It has a good central story, mostly good acting and returns with all the strong characters from the first season and develops them somewhat further. The only problem with the secondary characters is with Debra's unrealistic relationship with her new boyfriend. It's ok, but I felt her character could have been developed in a much better way, especially after her experiences in the first series. Again, the result is very soap-opera and made me tune out to a degree.

The best character (other than Dexter) is James Doakes and he returns in the second season too in one of the more interesting subplots of the series that has a great conclusion.

The bottom line is that Dexter Season 2 is just not as good as the utterly brilliant season 1 (which was simply the best thing on TV for a long, long time).

But for about 8 episodes, I felt myself continually losing interest rapidly. However, by episode 9 or so, I was hooked again and the season builds to a great finale. So much so, that I cannot wait for season 3.

What I would like to see in season 3 is a little more ambiguity from Dexter, certainly I want to see more of his serial killer exploits...and a little more blood'n'gore for good measure.

I have seen over half of this season thus far, and I can honestly say it holds nothing, not a grain of salt to the first season. I read that seasons 2 and 3 are not based on the books by Jeff Lindsay and have largely original story lines. It is horrifically apparent in the second season. Our Darkly Dreaming Dexter has fallen into the hands of terrible and uncharacteristic television writing. I lost all hope for the show as soon as he cheated on Rita. This absolutely destroyed the show for me. His calm cool precise ways of dealing with life(and death) that gave the first season such a thrilling feel of accomplishment and originality, has dissapeared and left this serial killing protagonist a unlikable antagonistic [...]. I am still watching the show with the hopes of it in some way redeeming itself by scrapping its "days of our lives" generic plot twists and continuing on the path of the books to keep this show from being cut up, stuffed in hefty bags, and tossed into the gulf stream and washed into the North Atlantic for good. With all my gripes it is still gripping and intriguing, and is still very above average, but our new character Lila, the English (con)artist (or as Deborah calls her, the pale tittie Vampire Girl)is the wrench that throws itself into this series story,and Dexter's life. It is a deconstructing insult to almost everything that was so incredible about the first season. I hope Dexter is a deep sea diver, cause he has some swimming to do to get this show back on track.