TV Review: Dexter, Season 2

A few days ago I finished watching the second season DVDs of the much-buzzed about Showtime series, Dexter and I just wanted to let everyone know how much I adore this show! :D

My history with this series is actually kinda unusual (although it appears that it is something that I found myself doing more and more this past season, given the TV-deprived months brought about by the writers' strike...): I had screened the pilot when it first came out almost two years ago and I had not like it so I had given up on it right away. The thing is I should have known better: just like we do not judge a book by its cover, it is bad to judge a TV series only based on its first episode and to give up on it right after that if we didn't like the first hour. After all, the best shows out there only started to be could after a few episodes, even after a few seasons for some... And, in a way, I'm thankful to the writers who walked the picket lines for three months last season because the lack of fresh episodes of my favorite shows enabled me to turn to other series that I would not have been watching otherwise. Dexter was one of those lucky shows.

I got caught up on the first season pretty quick and really enjoyed it. I thought it was really catchy, and dark, and edgy. Once you've started, you just cannot stop watching! The character of Dexter Morgan is such an intrguing and complex character with a lot of different facets and even though he is a killer, you cannot stop rooting for him and caring about him. Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) is a terrific actor and his performance on this show is just phenomenal!

Contrary to what I thought before watching the show, there is so much more to the character than the "Dexter-works-for-the-police-during-the-day-and-is-a-serial-killer-at-night" summary. This is so much more complex and smarter than just that. You've got to watch to show to fully understand the many dimensions, layers and complexity of Dexter's life and personnality. First, he's not killing for fun or because he's deranged but because he has to and needs to. This is part of who he is and cannot fight it. Second, he only kills bad people, criminals and other killers, something that makes him immensely likeable.

The first season arc was focused on finding the Ice Truck Killer, a psychopath and a serial killer that really much intrigues Dexter by its technique (some even happen to be pretty similar to Dexter's own techniques...) The second season is, I think, even better because the killer the Miami Metro Police Department and Dexter (who works for the police as a blood splatter) try to catch is no other than Dexter himself when the dead bodies he's been hiding in the ocean all resurface! Our hero, whose "hobby" is known by no other than himself, must then find a way to get out of this mess and he does everything he can in order not to get caught... this include puting the blame of these killings on someone else... And while he tries to hide his previous kills, he continues to murder other people (who deserve it!), which makes this all thing even more risky! Anyway, I don't want to give too much away if you plan on watching it so I'll just say that it was an awesome season!

I finished watching just in time as Season 3 starts next Sunday on Showtime and I cannot wait to see it! As much as I've tried to fight it given the great number of shows I'm already following, I couldn't help it, I'm definitely hooked by Dexter! A+

Here's one of the Season 3 teasers I particularly enjoyed (contains no spoilers):