ON THE TUBE
DEXTER (Showtime, Sundays, 10 pm)
Michael C. Hall is no stranger to body parts, having spent five years as mortician David Fisher on the duly popular Six Feet Under on HBO. But while David was gay and highly repressed, on his new show Hall gets to be challenged by a character both more in denial and yet less inhibited. You see, Dexter is by day a charming and respected forensic spatter pattern expert (yes, that's blood spatter pattern!), while by night he is a serial killer (but never on the taxpayer's dime). But what makes Dexter a truly different serial killer is that he only murders those who are getting away with it and that the law has failed to convict. He's a vigilante serial killer, if you will. He knows he's abnormal and is only playing a regular guy for public consumption--his surviving foster sister, his co-workers, his slightly damaged girlfriend--but Dexter thinks he's fully detached and in total control of his behavior. Yet occasionally, certain passions and drives manage to slip out, much to his surprise. Thus, we can't fully trust Dexter and his controlled voiceover narrative--and that just adds an extra kick of suspense. The show is based on Jeff Lindsay's novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and is wonderfully shot on location in Miami. A splendid supporting cast (including Jennifer Carpenter, James Remar and David Zayas) makes it great fun to watch--when will these people realize the man they are dealing with is not who they think he is?! Meanwhile, the gifted Hall (brilliant as the Emcee on Broadway in Cabaret) gives us a completely different performance from his previous TV persona: a handsome charmer who only shares his chilling inner thoughts with us. (Lucky us!) The show actually manages to be fun despite the grizzly gore factor, and those whom Dexter dispatches are so clearly deserving that we actually enjoy watching them beg for mercy (that they clearly will not receive from this Angel of Death). It's like watching magicians Penn and Teller--they explain what they're doing dispassionately and fully, yet you're mesmerized when they actually do the deed. I'm not sure yet if I will subscribe to Showtime just to access to this show, but on the other hand, I'm glad Showtime gave the public a chance to sample it once for free, and I will probably find one way or another to watch it again. It's that intriguing.
DEXTER (Showtime, Sundays, 10 pm)
Michael C. Hall is no stranger to body parts, having spent five years as mortician David Fisher on the duly popular Six Feet Under on HBO. But while David was gay and highly repressed, on his new show Hall gets to be challenged by a character both more in denial and yet less inhibited. You see, Dexter is by day a charming and respected forensic spatter pattern expert (yes, that's blood spatter pattern!), while by night he is a serial killer (but never on the taxpayer's dime). But what makes Dexter a truly different serial killer is that he only murders those who are getting away with it and that the law has failed to convict. He's a vigilante serial killer, if you will. He knows he's abnormal and is only playing a regular guy for public consumption--his surviving foster sister, his co-workers, his slightly damaged girlfriend--but Dexter thinks he's fully detached and in total control of his behavior. Yet occasionally, certain passions and drives manage to slip out, much to his surprise. Thus, we can't fully trust Dexter and his controlled voiceover narrative--and that just adds an extra kick of suspense. The show is based on Jeff Lindsay's novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and is wonderfully shot on location in Miami. A splendid supporting cast (including Jennifer Carpenter, James Remar and David Zayas) makes it great fun to watch--when will these people realize the man they are dealing with is not who they think he is?! Meanwhile, the gifted Hall (brilliant as the Emcee on Broadway in Cabaret) gives us a completely different performance from his previous TV persona: a handsome charmer who only shares his chilling inner thoughts with us. (Lucky us!) The show actually manages to be fun despite the grizzly gore factor, and those whom Dexter dispatches are so clearly deserving that we actually enjoy watching them beg for mercy (that they clearly will not receive from this Angel of Death). It's like watching magicians Penn and Teller--they explain what they're doing dispassionately and fully, yet you're mesmerized when they actually do the deed. I'm not sure yet if I will subscribe to Showtime just to access to this show, but on the other hand, I'm glad Showtime gave the public a chance to sample it once for free, and I will probably find one way or another to watch it again. It's that intriguing.
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