Episodes covered: Father Knows Best, Seeing Red, Truth Be Told, Born Free
I'm done with Dexter.
This isn't because I particularly disliked the last several episodes of season one. On the contrary, these were probably the most compelling episodes of the show to this point. I would even say that the season finale, "Born Free," in which Dexter races to free his sister from the Ice Truck Killer's clutches, is a very strong episode of television. "Born Free" has a much stronger sense of momentum than the rest of season one's episodes, and the demands of the plot allow the series to play up its strengths (Michael C. Hall, the twisted superhero and supervillain origins of Dexter and the Ice Truck Killer) while downplaying its weaknesses (every character not named Dexter).
But the things that make "Born Free" and, to a lesser degree, the other episodes on these discs relatively effective don't give me any hope that the show is going to get better in later seasons. The writers haven't addressed the series' many flaws so much as briefly hidden them while wrapping up season one's major storyline. Looking back at my review of disc one, I realize that the show hasn't done anything to change my mind about any aspect of the show. A few of the characters are in superficially different places than they were at the beginning of the season, but none of them have become any more complicated or compelling. If anything, the supporting characters have only become more boring as we've seen them each repeat their one or two character traits ad naseum. Yes, Rita has finally started to suspect that Dexter may be too good to be true, and Doakes now appears to be actively stalking Dexter instead of just acting suspicious around him, and LaGuerta has been demoted, but these are all plot elements that could've explored during this season when the show was wasting time on generic police procedural plots. All of these developments feel too little, too late. The gulf between the daring, dark, ever-evolving series that Dexter could be and the timid, lightweight, formulaic show it actually is seems wider than ever.
Quick Thoughts:
- I realize that first seasons of TV shows tend to be a little rocky, and that virtually every long-running show improves from its humble beginnings. But the consensus seems to be that Dexter's first season is the show at its best, and I just can't justify putting in the time commitment to continue watching a lengthy series that at its "best" is merely pretty good.
- For all of its flaws, Dexter is at least one of the best looking shows on television. Romeo Tirone's eye-poppingly colorful cinematography, mixed with the photogenic Miami location, puts Dexter in the same league as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire visually, even if most of the other aspects of the show aren't nearly that strong.
- Early next year, I'll get back to watching The Shield, which will probably remain the focus of the TV on DVD posts through next summer.
Showing posts with label Dexter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dexter. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
TV on DVD: Dexter (Season One, Disc Two)
Episodes covered: Love American Style, Return to Sender, Circle of Friends, Shrink Wrap
The rise of serialized storytelling in television in the past decade has found the medium realizing its artistic potential. Gradual unfolding of complicated stories, development of detailed fictional universes, and actual evolution of characters are possible in a long-running TV series in a way that they simply aren't in other artistic forms. The stakes are automatically higher in a serialized show than in a procedural one, because the events of any given episode will actually impact the way that the characters relate to each other. There is nothing better on a television show than the moments that pay off storylines or characters arcs that have been building for the past five episodes (or five seasons, as the case may be).
But the downside of serialization is that if the story isn't working, the audience is stuck with it, and the show can become a chore to watch. Such is the case with the Ice Truck Killer storyline from season one of Dexter. The middle third of the season does finally see some development in its master plot, in the sense that we finally learn the Ice Truck Killer's identity - Doctor Rudy (Christian Carmago), the seemingly nice guy dating Dexter's sister (a twist my wife saw coming a mile away). But there is still no feeling of narrative momentum. Every time the show seems like its going somewhere, it hurries back to preserving the status quo. Dexter is observed committing an atypically hasty double-homicide at the end of "Love American Style," but the only witness proves unreliable in "Return to Sender." Debra and Batista think they've caught the Ice Truck Killer in "Circle of Friends," but by the end of the episode we know that their suspect is merely a copycat. In the same episode, Doakes nearly catches Dexter stalking the teenage hustler from disc one, but all it leads to is another "I'm on to you" speech.
A big part of the problem is that, aside from Dexter himself, none of the characters are very well-drawn. Its hard to get too attached to police officers who seem like they could've stepped out of any cop show, or a romantic interest that feels derivative of the worst indie romance movies, or the type of quirky serial killer that only exists in popular culture. Dexter is always a step ahead of the detectives who are actually working the Ice Truck Killer case, so there's really no threat of any of them exposing Dexter as a sociopath. The introduction of Rita's estranged abusive husband Paul (Mark Pellegrino) hasn't made her character any more interesting, since their relationship basically consists of him making vague threats and her looking scared. While Doctor Rudy's backstory - his mother lost her limbs in a car accident when he was young, leading to his fascination with perfectly severed body parts - is intriguing in a comic book origin story kind of way, the story hasn't been explored in enough detail yet for it to be truly engrossing. Eight episodes into a twelve episode season, there should be some sense that the Ice Truck Killer storyline is racing to a climax, but Dexter still hasn't gotten out of first gear.
Quick Thoughts
- Is it just me, or does Erik King, the actor who plays Doakes, look way too much like Mathew St. Patrick, the actor who played Michael C. Hall's boyfriend on Six Feet Under?
- Not nearly enough flashbacks in these episodes. The lessons that Harry gives to young Dexter tend to be the best parts of this show.
- Though the Dexter/Rita romance isn't interesting, the scene in "Shrink Wrap" where they have sex for the first time is probably the highlight of the season so far, if only for Hall's hilarious facial expressions.
The rise of serialized storytelling in television in the past decade has found the medium realizing its artistic potential. Gradual unfolding of complicated stories, development of detailed fictional universes, and actual evolution of characters are possible in a long-running TV series in a way that they simply aren't in other artistic forms. The stakes are automatically higher in a serialized show than in a procedural one, because the events of any given episode will actually impact the way that the characters relate to each other. There is nothing better on a television show than the moments that pay off storylines or characters arcs that have been building for the past five episodes (or five seasons, as the case may be).
But the downside of serialization is that if the story isn't working, the audience is stuck with it, and the show can become a chore to watch. Such is the case with the Ice Truck Killer storyline from season one of Dexter. The middle third of the season does finally see some development in its master plot, in the sense that we finally learn the Ice Truck Killer's identity - Doctor Rudy (Christian Carmago), the seemingly nice guy dating Dexter's sister (a twist my wife saw coming a mile away). But there is still no feeling of narrative momentum. Every time the show seems like its going somewhere, it hurries back to preserving the status quo. Dexter is observed committing an atypically hasty double-homicide at the end of "Love American Style," but the only witness proves unreliable in "Return to Sender." Debra and Batista think they've caught the Ice Truck Killer in "Circle of Friends," but by the end of the episode we know that their suspect is merely a copycat. In the same episode, Doakes nearly catches Dexter stalking the teenage hustler from disc one, but all it leads to is another "I'm on to you" speech.
A big part of the problem is that, aside from Dexter himself, none of the characters are very well-drawn. Its hard to get too attached to police officers who seem like they could've stepped out of any cop show, or a romantic interest that feels derivative of the worst indie romance movies, or the type of quirky serial killer that only exists in popular culture. Dexter is always a step ahead of the detectives who are actually working the Ice Truck Killer case, so there's really no threat of any of them exposing Dexter as a sociopath. The introduction of Rita's estranged abusive husband Paul (Mark Pellegrino) hasn't made her character any more interesting, since their relationship basically consists of him making vague threats and her looking scared. While Doctor Rudy's backstory - his mother lost her limbs in a car accident when he was young, leading to his fascination with perfectly severed body parts - is intriguing in a comic book origin story kind of way, the story hasn't been explored in enough detail yet for it to be truly engrossing. Eight episodes into a twelve episode season, there should be some sense that the Ice Truck Killer storyline is racing to a climax, but Dexter still hasn't gotten out of first gear.
Quick Thoughts
- Is it just me, or does Erik King, the actor who plays Doakes, look way too much like Mathew St. Patrick, the actor who played Michael C. Hall's boyfriend on Six Feet Under?
- Not nearly enough flashbacks in these episodes. The lessons that Harry gives to young Dexter tend to be the best parts of this show.
- Though the Dexter/Rita romance isn't interesting, the scene in "Shrink Wrap" where they have sex for the first time is probably the highlight of the season so far, if only for Hall's hilarious facial expressions.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
TV on DVD: Dexter (Season One, Disc One)
Episodes covered: Dexter, Crocodile, Popping Cherry, Let's Give the Boy a Hand
So when does Dexter start getting good?
Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to like in these first four episodes. Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a bloodstain pattern analyst by day and a serial killer by night, is an interesting character to build a show around. James Manos, Jr. and his writing staff oversell the idea that Dexter doesn't have normal human emotions, but Hall's magnetic performance conveys a dead-on-the-inside quality without making the character seem robotic. The show makes fantastic use of its Miami location, and the rich cinematography marks a striking contrast to the drab look of the average crime show's grim East or West coast locations. And the flashbacks to Dexter's past, with his adoptive father Harry (James Remar) teaching him to act like a normal human being despite his being a sociopath, play out like a compelling superhero origin story (one that is actually progressing a lot faster than the show's present-day storylines). There is a lot of potential in a show about the ways that various personal relationships could threaten to unravel Dexter's double-life.
But the other characters are so uninteresting. I couldn't care less about whether Dexter's adoptive sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) earns her lieutenant's (Lauren Velez) respect, or whether detective Angel Batista (David Zayas) gets back together with his estranged wife, or whether detective James Doakes (Erik King) settles his personal vendetta with a local mafia kingpin (though this last plot seems to mercifully come to a conclusion in "Let's Give the Boy a Hand"). Since each episode's narrative is propelled by Dexter's voiceover narration, it tends to be painfully awkward when the show occasionally leaves his side to follow these generic cop show storylines. I haven't read Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the Jeff Lindsay novel that Dexter is adapted from, but I'm guessing that these subplots were added by the show's writers as a way to fill time. The season's overarching storyline - about Dexter's pursuit of the "Ice Truck Killer," who dissects his victims so neatly that he rarely leaves any blood or bone exposed - is developing at such a glacial pace that it hardly seems worth mentioning at this point.
Dexter also has a girlfriend, Rita (Julie Benz), whose past as a victim of domestic abuse has caused a deep-seated fear of even the most benign expressions of sexuality (which is perfect for Dexter, who claims to lack sexual desire and romantic feelings). I could see Rita being an interesting foil for Dexter in the future, assuming that she ever starts snooping around and learning about his murderous tendencies. But at this point their relationship is far too cutesy-quirky. This aspect of the show seems phoned in from one of those annoying indie film romances.
The overly quirky tone is one of Dexter's biggest problems so far. If the show is ever going to get into the moral implications of what Dexter does - murdering "bad guys" - then it is going to need to go to some dark places that the goofy feel of these early episodes can't sustain. Granted, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, which are perhaps the two bleakest show's ever to air on television, started off with wacky high-concepts before settling into their explorations of the most uncomfortable aspects of humanity, and the early episodes of any show need viewers to get on their protagonists' side before they can pick them apart. But so far Dexter has stacked the deck too far in the titular character's favor. He kills a child molester early on in the pilot, an unrepentant serial drunk driver in "Crocodile," and a hateful nurse who poisons her patients in "Popping Cherry." "Popping Cherry" does have a nice moment where Dexter realizes at the last moment that he is about to murder a kid who has only killed as a form of self defense, but for the show to fully get into Dexter's twisted form of morality, I think it is going to have to incorporate a storyline where Dexter either mistakenly murders an innocent, or where his violent desires cause him to intentionally kill someone who is at least somewhat sympathetic.
Considering its subject matter, Dexter is fairly squeamish when it comes to actually portraying violence. Sure, there is a certain amount of blood each week, from the (terrific) opening credits to the final scenes of any given episode, but the murders themselves are not as disturbing as they should be. Dexter always covers his victim's genitalia with saran wrap, and the camera tends to cut away whenever he's doing any actual cutting. Granted, a series of grisly, graphic murder scenes would be hard for most viewers to stomach week-to-week, but whitewashing what the hero is actually doing seems like a cop-out. This is one case where depictions of graphic violence might make a show more ethical rather than less, even though going that route would probably sacrifice the show's hit status. Which makes me wonder if the concept of Dexter as a weekly TV series is even artistically viable.
Quick Thoughts
- Despite the "TV on DVD" tag, my wife and I are actually watching episodes of Dexter through Netflix's Instant Streaming service.
- The wig that Michael C. Hall wears during the flashbacks to Dexter's almost-adult years is the best thing about this show so far. I'm not saying that as a knock against the show; it's just a really awesome wig.
- I'll stick through the first season of this show just out of curiosity, but at this early point I'm not hooked enough to commit to watching the entire series.
Dexter also has a girlfriend, Rita (Julie Benz), whose past as a victim of domestic abuse has caused a deep-seated fear of even the most benign expressions of sexuality (which is perfect for Dexter, who claims to lack sexual desire and romantic feelings). I could see Rita being an interesting foil for Dexter in the future, assuming that she ever starts snooping around and learning about his murderous tendencies. But at this point their relationship is far too cutesy-quirky. This aspect of the show seems phoned in from one of those annoying indie film romances.
The overly quirky tone is one of Dexter's biggest problems so far. If the show is ever going to get into the moral implications of what Dexter does - murdering "bad guys" - then it is going to need to go to some dark places that the goofy feel of these early episodes can't sustain. Granted, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, which are perhaps the two bleakest show's ever to air on television, started off with wacky high-concepts before settling into their explorations of the most uncomfortable aspects of humanity, and the early episodes of any show need viewers to get on their protagonists' side before they can pick them apart. But so far Dexter has stacked the deck too far in the titular character's favor. He kills a child molester early on in the pilot, an unrepentant serial drunk driver in "Crocodile," and a hateful nurse who poisons her patients in "Popping Cherry." "Popping Cherry" does have a nice moment where Dexter realizes at the last moment that he is about to murder a kid who has only killed as a form of self defense, but for the show to fully get into Dexter's twisted form of morality, I think it is going to have to incorporate a storyline where Dexter either mistakenly murders an innocent, or where his violent desires cause him to intentionally kill someone who is at least somewhat sympathetic.
Considering its subject matter, Dexter is fairly squeamish when it comes to actually portraying violence. Sure, there is a certain amount of blood each week, from the (terrific) opening credits to the final scenes of any given episode, but the murders themselves are not as disturbing as they should be. Dexter always covers his victim's genitalia with saran wrap, and the camera tends to cut away whenever he's doing any actual cutting. Granted, a series of grisly, graphic murder scenes would be hard for most viewers to stomach week-to-week, but whitewashing what the hero is actually doing seems like a cop-out. This is one case where depictions of graphic violence might make a show more ethical rather than less, even though going that route would probably sacrifice the show's hit status. Which makes me wonder if the concept of Dexter as a weekly TV series is even artistically viable.
Quick Thoughts
- Despite the "TV on DVD" tag, my wife and I are actually watching episodes of Dexter through Netflix's Instant Streaming service.
- The wig that Michael C. Hall wears during the flashbacks to Dexter's almost-adult years is the best thing about this show so far. I'm not saying that as a knock against the show; it's just a really awesome wig.
- I'll stick through the first season of this show just out of curiosity, but at this early point I'm not hooked enough to commit to watching the entire series.
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