When I first read about Dexter shortly before its debut on cable I wasn’t sure what to make of it. A big part had to do with the fact that I’d watched the show’s star Michael C. Hall for five seasons on Six Feet Under playing a sensitive partner with his dysfunctional family in their funeral home who also happened to be both gay and Catholic. It was an often brilliant show and Hall’s character was a big part in that. Now take his titular role in Dexter as Dexter Morgan – a blood pathologist who moonlights as a serial killer of serial killers. The premise sounds almost farcical but the first season results were nothing short of amazing. Mixing drama, comedy and horror, Dexter‘s first season presents itself an unforgettable and highly addicting look inside the mind of the world’s most sympathetic psychopath.
Dexter Morgan works for the Miami Police Department, investigating the way blood moves in order to solve violent crimes. It’s a pretty thankless job in the background that doesn’t involve a lot of arrests or time in front of the news cameras. It’s also the perfect cover to go after the scourge of the city.
After witnessing his mother’s murder, Dexter was adopted and raised by a man named Harry who saw something very different in the boy: his emotional void. Seeing this, he instilled in Dexter a code in which he could live his life, filling his murderous urges and function in a society that frowns upon such actions.
And so grew up Dexter Morgan. Still incapable of genuinely feeling and understanding love, he’s in many ways still a child despite his now adult body. Although he’s experienced love in the physical sense, in his relationship with Rita (Julie Benz), he struggles. He knows he should feel but he can’t. It’s one of the central struggles of this first season.
Plot wise, the central story revolves around a serial killer dubbed the Ice Truck Killer who is taunting Dexter, seemingly knowing some or all of his deepest, darkest little secrets. It’s a macabre game of cat and mouse as one hunts the other, all the while trying to maintain some sense of everyday life normalcy – if there is such a thing for an emotionless murderer.
The charm of Dexter lies in its characters, particularly Dexter. He’s a deeply conflicted lad unlike anything I’ve seen before. Hall plays him with such a straight edge that it heightens a lot of the quiet hum our that comes from being in on his big secret. It leads to many moments of someone saying one thing but being able to take it to a totally different context. But that’s the layers of Dexter.
For a guy who can’t feel, there’s still a complex circle of people around him as well, each of whom add to both his conflict as well as the overarching whodunit the first season revolves around. The writing paces the episodes nicely, revealing facts and “a-ha” moments regularly, all the while building to the major payoffs later in the season.
With so many things going for it, all of which are good to great, it’s not hard to see why Dexter became so deliciously addicting in such a short time.
Dexter: Season One Blu-ray Review
The first season of Dexter hits Blu-ray with a three-disc set that contains all 12 episodes in 1080p high definition, presenting the gory bits in their most detailed glory. Audio is in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD with a dubbed Spanish track in 2.0 Dolby Digital.
The only on-disc special features come in the form of two commentary tracks. The first is on the episode “Return to Sender” and includes stars Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, Lauren Velez and Erik King. The second is on the season finale and includes co-producers Sarah Colleton, Clyde Phillips and Daniel Cerrone.
The remaining special features are done through BD-Live, requiring viewers to access them with an Internet-enabled player. The package lists two featurettes (“The Academy of Blood – A Killer Course” and “Witnessed in Blood – A True Murder Investigation”), a Michael C. Hall Podcast, the third season premiere of the show and the first two episodes of United States of Tara but despite three attempts to connect with my broadband connection, I was unable to do so. I’m not sure if this was a problem with the site or what, but it was a frustrating experience nonetheless.
Dexter: Season One Gallery
