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Dexter Morgan is good at his day job, that of a blood spatter analyst in Miami PD's forensics unit. But he's bloody brilliant at his other job, the one where he gets to murder. Whatever effed up sitch it was that caused Dexter's amnesia regarding his early childhood, it's left him dead inside, an empty shell, a calculating cold fish. He co-exists with something he calls a "Dark Passenger," essentially this urge that compels him to kill and kill. Recognizing the predatory beast inside Dex, his ex-cop foster father, Harry (James Remar), took the boy under his wing, reoriented his twisted appetites to a more productive cause. He instilled in Dex an elaborate code of ethics, taught him to target only other serial killers. He taught Dexter how not to get caught, how to blend in. Dads are awesome. And Dexter has steadfastly abided by the Code of Harry. His kills have been righteous kills.
This Showtime adaptation is based on Jeff Lindsay's riveting series of books, and if you haven't read them, well, what's the hold up? Dexter Morgan is so emotionally detached he makes Dr. Temperance Brennan seem positively warm and cuddly. Social cues to which we effortlessly respond are baffling puzzles for him. Perversely, there is something innately likable about Dexter. Michael C. Hall plays him with stunning complexity. It helps that, like in BURN NOTICE, we're privy to his inner musings. Dexter is often humorous and whimsical. The girlfriend (Julie Benz) he pretends to care for doesn't suspect a thing. Even Dexter's jittery, potty-mouthed cop sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), doesn't have an inkling.
DEXTER THE FIRST SEASON hooks you in straight away as Dexter finds his bragging rights as Miami's resident monster challenged by an innovative fellow serial killer whom the press eventually dubs the Ice Truck Killer. It's an edgy cat-and-mouse game that would span the entire season and cause Dexter to ask serious questions of himself. The lovely twist is that Dexter accepts the Ice Truck Killer's tauntings with glee, perhaps like calling to like. For Dexter, it's an opportunity to play with someone just like him. Never mind that it's readily apparent that this rival knows everything about Dexter Morgan. Dexter shrugs this off. He's having fun.
The Ice Truck Killer's modus operandi is eye-catching. He drains his victims completely of their blood and he freezes the corpses, amputates their limbs to a precise measurement. It's fun - and creepy - watching Dexter try to contain his excitement as each perfect frozen body part surfaces, each bit a gauntlet thrown in Dexter's mug.
Most each episode also features a "serial killer of the week" motif, some heinous repeat murderer targeted and eventually carved up by Dexter, and these lesser villains are required so that we don't lose faith in Dex as a badasss dude, given his inability to track down the elusive Ice Truck Killer. It's a pretty good supporting cast, too. It wasn't long before I was keen into what these other characters were up to. Jennifer Carpenter is my second favorite actor on this show. She is one sexy, combustible, never-stop-cussing cop chick. But I do question her instincts. She's Miami PD - an ex-Vice, newly minted Homicide Detective - and yet in all these years she hasn't caught a whiff of her adopted brother's true nature? And then she does something else which ends up absolutely mortifying. And then there's Erik King whose angry, loose cannon character, Sgt. Doakes, is the only one who gets the heebie jeebies from Dexter. Doakes bullies Dexter so much, I sort of wish Dexter would just disregard the Code of Harry for once. Except that Dexter remains as cool as the other side of the pillow. He's a monster who's got his priorities straight. You need to not miss this show. It's wicked funny, cleverly written, and terrifically acted (especially by Michael C. Hall). Rife with moral ambivalence, DEXTER rewards its audience with unexpected - and frequently unsettling - moments. And you're hooked before you know it.
The DVD set's bonus features:
- 2 Audio Commentaries by the Cast & Producers: "Return to Sender" (with Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, Lauren Velez, and Erik King) and "Born Free" (with producers Sara Coleton, Clyde Philips, & Daniel Cerone)
- "The Academy of Blood - A Killer Course"
- "Witnessed in Blood - A True Murder Investigation" - feature on a real-life police investigation in 2001 with particulars on blood spatter analysis
- 2 Free Episodes of Showtime's Hit series BROTHERHOOD
- A computer-compatible function which allows you to stream two episodes of THE TUDORS, to read the First 2 Chapters of Jeff Lindsay's newest novel DEXTER IN THE DARK, and play the newest CSI Video Game "CSI: HARD EVIDENCE"
- Cast Biographies
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Customer reviews
Great Show, Poor DVDs, Advertised Content Hidden Online For PC Users Only
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2008
This is a review of this product: Dexter: The First Season DVD. Amazon may display this review on the page of another version of this product, for which this review may not apply. After reading this review, please click on the link so that you can be assured that the product this review applies to is the same one you thought it was for.--------------------------------------------------Showtime really messed up the bonus material on this set. A bunch of the material is available as online content, but there's NOTHING on the packaging that indicates this, or the fact that you need a PC to view it; you can't view the content on a Mac or Linux machine. You insert Disc 4 into your DVD-ROM drive and if it doesn't run automatically, you can either run start.exe or \bonus\Bonus.exe (the direct route), which compiles information about your computer to generate a unique ID that then grants you access to the Dexter Bonus Content site.On this site you can enter a contest which expired in January 2008, get a coupon for twenty five bucks off a new subscription to Showtime, watch the first two episodes of The Tutors, download a 241MB demo of the "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Hard Evidence" game, download an excerpt from "Dexter in the Dark" by Jeff Lindsay in PDF format, and finally view "The Academy of Blood - A Killer Course" featurette (a 3 minute 20 second piece about a real-life blood splatter expert and not directly related to the series).The featurette should have been on the video portion of the DVD itself (the two unrelated hour-long episodes of the "Brotherhood" series should never have been included), and the novel excerpt should have been on the DVD-ROM portion of the disc itself. There's no reason to force customers to view these materials online, where they are guaranteed to be taken down at some point in time. On top of that, putting the materials online excludes Mac and Linux users, who wouldn't otherwise be excluded if the materials were on the disc itself.With the exception of stating that the Tutors episodes were "downloads" (technically Showtime only wants you to view them streaming, not download them), Showtime made no indication on the packing that any of these noted bonus materials were only accessible via online, much less that you need the disc and a DVD-ROM drive in a PC to trigger the access to the site.Even more annoying is that there are several short cast and crew featurettes created for Dexter that were shown on Showtime On Demand (and probably many more that weren't shown) that should have been included on the DVD in place of the two hour-long Brotherhood episodes. (For the record, the "The Academy of Blood - A Killer Course" featurette was shown on Showtime On Demand back in 2006 where I recorded it in much better quality than the small online video.)Plus there is a Target exclusive bonus disc that from what I've read contains the Paley Festival Q&A with the cast, which is about 1 hour long. Rather than pandering to the big box retailers, pander to the customers and include this instead of the Brotherhood episodes.Shame on you Showtime!Find my full review on The Corner Penthouse.For more Ghostbusters content, check out SpookCentral.tkFor my detailed reviews, check out TheCornerPenthouse.tk-- Paul
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2008
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