Oh. My. God. The husband and I are watching the first season of Dexter on DVD. Oh. My. God. This is one of the best television shows like, um, ever.
I'd heard Dexter was great but I didn't expect....wow. One of the best uses of the medium since The Sopranos turned everything inside out.
If you haven't watched Dexter (Showtime) yet, first off let me warn you, be careful what you read online. Better yet, don't read anything online except this blog post which is guaranteed spoiler free.
Three eps in, I read the first couple Wikipedia paragraphs (idiot!!) and had a key answer to Season One revealed to me. (Idiot! I know better!)
How did a nice girl like me end up a Dexter fan? Despite all of the good buzz, I had no intention of watching the series. I knew the premise was Dexter-as-a-serial-killer and I knew the series was graphic. Bought the DVD for the husband for Christmas since he has a stomach for serial killer tales. I don't. (Not at all. I do *not* like blood and gore and graphic images. I hide my eyes like a twelve year old.)
Christmas night, both the husband and I were exhausted from marathon days of prep and celebration. He decided to pop his new present into the DVD player and I impulsively chose to curl up with him. (I was so tired I figured I'd fall asleep in his arms quickly, not disturbed by whatever gore was going to dance on the TV.)
Yeah. Three episodes later....... Throughout, we kept muttering to each other, or maybe to ourselves, wow, this is amazing.
Michael C. Hall kicks acting ass. Bringing humanity to a sociopath is not the easiest gig, you know? Here's a quote from him about Dexter, lifted from the Wikipedia entry.
I think Dexter is a man who…a part of himself is very much frozen, or arrested in a place that is pre-memory, pre-conscious, pre-verbal. Something very traumatic happened to him, he doesn’t know what that is. And I think on some level he wants to know. He denies his humanity, he describes himself as someone who is without feeling, and yet I think that he maybe suspects — in a way that maybe isn’t even conscious yet when we first meet him — that he is in fact a human being.
For acting, writing, production values, seat clutching plot turns - run, run, run, watch Dexter. Now.
Re: violence and gore warning....God, really, this is violent and gory. It is stylized in a way that I can *handle* it, but just barely. Unlike most series on DVD we watch, the husband and I are taking this one slowly. We needed a two day break from the first session to take up again.
Ultimately, though, I've found the series thus far to be life affirming...in its own very weird, very twisted, Dexter kind of way. So watch, and hide your eyes like a twelve year old if you have to. I know I do.
(if you've seen Dexter, please keep the comments spoiler free, thanks!)
5 comments:
I didn't watch Dexter for the same reason but I trust the company and director that made it and tried the first few episodes and with the DVD I could skip the icky bits and was left going, "Ah...he's such a caring...um...sociopathic serial killer...." and then having to do a mental self slapping to stop from trying find a sociopath to give a hug and head rub to (especially as I know two - not kidding genuine, torture animals as small child, no remose sociopaths)
At long last you write about one of the TV shows I really do enjoy. Dexter - for better or worse - is one of the few television characters with whom I can identity at all. Of course I'm really too timid to remove all the various blots on the human landscape we'd be better off without.
I'm even more keen to see season 2 since Jaime Murray from the UK TV series Hustle will be part of the caste.
Dear Pansexual Sodomite -
You got me on that one. I had to click on your link to figure out who you were. :)
Have I told you lately that I adore you, in every incarnation?
One episode to go with Dexter. I love this show.
hugs, E
Elizabeth -
I like shows that flirt with grey areas on people...this is a *tough* one, although arguably more socially redeeming than say, The Sopranos.
The dog thing is terrible (well, so is the human being thing), but the plot quickly moves Dexter to a place where hurting any animal would be against his code.
Still, I wouldn't tell anybody who was reluctant to *watch this*.
Interestingly, the episodes have freaked/squicked my husband more than me. This puzzles me. Sorting that out for sure.
hugs, E
Hi- i stumble onto your blog from another blog i have been reading lately (allforher) and was delighted to see a post on Dexter, my wife and i's new favorite show. We have watched all there is out there aside from the week to week new episodes on showtime [we don't have showtime ;(... ] We love the show. My wife actually thinks Dexter is hot too! I always seem to have to perform my submissive husband duties between her legs after watching an episode. Anyway, we are dying to see the latest season. He's so naughty and yet so nice too. He treats his girlfriends kids with so much respect and genuine kindness. thanks for the cool reading. i will be coming back more often now.
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