Television review: Dexter: Season 1 (2006)

So I’m a little behind the times here with Dexter, and it’s sickly unfortunate that I’m this late to the party.

I love Dexter!

This review isn’t intended for the people who are already fans, but mainly to persuade those of you who were just like me to give this show a chance.

I used to wonder why Michael C. Hall and Dexter were always up for Emmys and various other awards. Now I’m pulling for them to win, even against some of my other favorites.

It’s been awhile since I watched a series that was creepy, bloody and sometimes almost scary. The only other show I can remember that was like this would be The X-Files.

So what is Dexter all about? First off, it stars a guy named Dexter who is serial killer of justice.

Yes, a friggin’ serial killer. A murderer up there with the likes of Hannibal Lector or Norman Bates. But with one main difference:

He kills bad people.

But the cool thing about Dexter is that he could just have easily gone the other way if it wasn’t for his adopted father. When he took Dexter in at a young age, he saw something in those hollow eyes that told him this kid either needed to be killed now or taught how to channel his instinctive desires.

And channel them he does. When we first meet Dexter, he’s a forensics police officer in Miami specializing in blood splatter. To him, a crime scene with blood sprayed everywhere reveals a wonderful story that makes his eyes light up when he tries to explain it to other officers.

Don’t think that goes unnoticed. Especially by a pair of watchful eyes.

With his position in the department, he’s able to come across people who get away with crimes that the law cannot prosecute for whatever reason. Or perhaps, the law knows nothing about it yet, and never will, thanks to Dexter.

But as any good serial killer would, he has to follow his own set of rules. He only kills those that are truly guilty, which he discovers by doing his own investigation beforehand.

The show isn’t all about Dexter though. There is an awesome supporting cast of characters, including his adopted sister who is also in the police department. We get to see his adopted father Harry in flashback, played by the wonderful James Remar.

His sister (Jennifer Carpenter) is one of my favorite characters on the show. She’s driven to become a detective, but also has serious problems in her personal life when it comes to dating.

Julie Benz plays Dexter’s girlfriend, a woman he chose to be with because “she was broken.” He would rather not deal with the whole “relationship” aspect of life, but Harry taught him that above everything else, he needs to “pretend” to be normal.

And there are a bunch of other side characters, mostly in the department, who revolve around Dexter and occasionally have their own stories.

The beauty of this series is the depth in which Dexter is drawn for us. Never before have I been so amazed and intense about learning the background and motivations for a character. Every episode another layer is peeled back to reveal even more hidden and deeper roots of his demented personality.

He tries to be normal, because Harry told him that was the only way he could go undetected through life. No one would recognize the monster he truly is if he could only hide his inner self.

But during those times of pretending, real emotions can sneak in and catch him off guard, which are some of the better moments in the show.

The 13-episode first season is an awesome ride that may induce nail-biting and the occasional goose bumps. It obviously not a kids show, so be aware of that.

Up next for me is season two, because the third one begins on September 28th and there is no time like the present to catch up.

Even after just one season, this has quickly become one of my favorite shows.