MIAMI SLICE

What would you do if you found out your adopted son was a bit strange? This is the age-old parental dilemma facing Harry Morgan, a Miami cop, who has discovered his son Dexter is a sociopath with a predilection for dissecting the local wildlife. Initially Harry figures Dexter will grow out of his hobby but as Dexter continues to get caught with bloodied knives, saws, machetes, hatchets, pretty much any shiny implement with a sharp edge, Harry decides his best course of action might be to channel Dexter's talents. So naturally, this being a television show, Harry turns Dexter into a good serial killer.

Dexter, the latest crime drama from Showtime, is based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter and started last night on Foxtel Showcase.

By day, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a blood-spatter expert with the Miami PD; by night, Dexter is a vigilante who hunts down and slices up criminals who have gotten off on technicalities.

"Another beautiful Miami day: mutilated corpses with the chance of afternoon showers."

Not that Dexter is a good guy, he's not; he's a very bad guy with no heart, no conscience and no self control over his compulsion to chop up people. It's just that, due to his father's guidance, he has been able to fake being normal and rather than chopping up good people, he only chops up bad people.

Nor is Dexter a creepy loner; quite the contrary, he's a creepy Mr Popular. He has a sister who loves him, lots of friends at the PD and a female commanding officer who, as they say in the classics, has designs. (At least in the first episode, anyway.) In fact, the only person who doesn't like him is Sgt Jimmy Doakes, who suspects Dexter is a freak, but doesn't know what sort of freak. Dexter even has a girlfriend, Rita, although she's not your normal girlfriend. Dexter likes her just fine because she hates sex. It's only in her occasional "better" moments when she gets all smoochy that Dexter finds her company distasteful. But he loves her kids, so that's good. Role model, anyone?

One of the great things about The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire, apart from their greatness, is that they provide a template for all other TV series to be compared against. (Yes! I should be better at assessing shows on their merit; but I'm not, alright.) The Sopranos' mood, Deadwood's over-the-top dialogue, The Wire's intricate, interweaving plots and all three's superb characters and interpersonal relationships. You can pretty much hold any TV show up against them and say "Well, it's not as good as The Sopranos". Which is what you'd say for Dexter, at least on watching the first two episodes. There's a sense those involved might be trying too hard to copy Six Feet Under for the quirk, Death Wish for the vigilante, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer for the laughs and Dirty Harry for the cool, but not quite yet getting the balance right.

Still, there's plenty of time for the show to settle and the makings of an excellent Series One thread in the form of another serial killer who knows Dexter's identity and seems to want to challenge him to a chop off. And while Dexter is indeed "not as good as The Sopranos", if your taste in TV runs to macabre murders and merry mutilation, Dexter is the show for you.

Comments

[Sara]

1.

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[13th Man]

2.

Having seen the first season of Dexter (downloaded it last year), I can attest to it being a pretty good series. The Sopranos bored me into near catatonia, however, so we must be coming from completely different angles.
I reckon the Doakes character (albeit completely over the top) is a gem, and the needy/whiny girlfriend is a monumental pain in the arse.
I'm currently burning s2 of Dexter to DVD, and very much looking forward to it. I'm particularly hoping that he offs the girlfriend, although I don't hold out much hope of that happening.

[fm]

3.

Whatever the quality of this particular series, I'm appreciating the new cable channel. The more HBO clones there are, the better. I'll be tuning in more than a couple of times a week because there's bugger all on the free to air jokes. Hopefully the long-standing Christmas tradition of crap television is abated.

[Patrick]

4.

Dexter is great. I would rather compare it with Supernatural though.

Someone lent me season 1 and we sat and watched it pretty much all at once. Great stuff.

[Nabakov]

5.

Snap! Just recently watched the 1st series of Dexter on DVD and it's certainly a good bone deep cut above CSI: Fucking Everwhere and all that crap. V. snappy dialogue and art direction (Dex turns recreating bloodsplattered crime scenes into works of art) and some damn good acting and nifty subplots, 'specially with Doake's wandering dick and departmental politics.

The 1st series does bog down a bit in Eps 5 and 6 but picks up steam again by the end. By about three quarters of the way in you can sorta see the final twist coming but the showrunners know you know this and deliver a final unexpected twist on the twist. And the final scene both neatly sets up the second series while giving you pause about why you're barracking for Dexter. Although he is cuter and funnier than Hannibal Lector.

Triva time! Which daughter of John Carpenter plays Dexter's step sister and eager beaver homicide detective?

And in the 2nd series (no spoilers ahead), the Department that Dex works for discovers his dumping ground for his victims. Then the media reveals who he was killing and he becomes a anonymous cult hero for the citizens of Miami. "Someone should make a TV series about this guy!"

[Nabakov]

6.

Also, if you're a plastic sheeting and glad-wrap fetishist, Dexter's the show for you. He's a very tidy serial killer. And the actor playing his stepdad, a burnt out cop carefully raising and training a dangerous beast to do some good instead of lots of bad, has not won enough awards for that performance.

[Nabakov]

7.

And speaking of serial killers, finally saw Fincher's "Zodiac". Not as quite good as I hoped but better than I expected. But quite haunting in a way I can't quite put my finger on. Not unlike the haunted if not throughly spooked main characters.

Like Matt Saville's "Noise", it shows you how the damage and pyschic disturbance from a killing keeps rippling out from like a stone thrown in a pool. And the second murder sequence by the lake is as hauntingly off kilter as Lynch or Hitchcock at their best. Plus Robert Downey Jr just keeps getting better and better. Like a 21st century Nicholson but with a bigger range.

[Francis Xavier Holden]

8.

Not having seen the Sopressas I don't have a yardstick.(What was a a yardstick for? measuring backyards ro 3 feet?)

What I want to know is how is that new Wildside type cop show on SBS measuring up. I haven't seen it yet. Better then REX?

[Tony T.]

9.

On the recommendation of a friend I ordered Zodiac a couple of weeks ago from my local internet. I hope it's a bit better than The Game and a LOT better than the tedious Seven and Fight Club. But I liked Alien Cubed, so what do I know.

FX, do you mean East West 101? Haven't seen it, either.

[Amanda]

10.

Luurve Dexter. Was part way through S2 when I came overseas in early November, will have alot of catching p to do when I get back in Jan. S5 of The Wire also starts January 6th.

[Tony T.]

11.

One of these days I will have to work out how to download TV shows. But do you have to watch them on monitors? That would suck.

Time to get with the programs.

[Amanda]

12.

If your DVD player plays Divx (most do nowadays) its a simple matter to put the files on a disc or USB to watch on your three metre plasma or whatever. My teev is barely bigger than my emac screen though so I dont bother ....

[13th Man]

13.

Wot Amanda said. Although I don't use that method - I just convert the file (almost always downloaded as an .avi) to either VCD (if I'm in a hurry), or DVD (which gives better quality, enables me to create menus, and fit 3-4 40ish minute episodes per disc). May sound complicated, but isn't. As my wife watches this stuff with me, it also enables us both to just relax in front of the box instead of cozying up to the PC.

[nick]

14.

Vote Dexter for Aurukun!

[tigtog]

15.

I just caught my first episode of Dexter (I think it was Ep 2, Series 1).

Very interesting set-up etc. I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses, and these reviews have made me hopeful that I won't be disappointed with it.

[Tony T.]

16.

Thanks, Amanda and 13th. I'll try those techniques out on a downloaded video; will see how it goes.

It's not too shabby at all, TT. Hope you enjoy it.

[Tony T.]

17.

This is written with all due respect, but Dexter looks remarkably like Matt Price; same face, same hair, same style of clothes.

[Amanda]

18.

Also, I have heard/read numerous people say the TV show is better than the books its based on ...

[Tony T]

19.

That could be the case seeing I never would have heard of Dexter Morgan if it wasn't for the TV show.