Dexter

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I've finished watching season 1 of Dexter, so I figured it was time for some reaction posting. The short version is that I like it, and season 2 is already in the Netflix queue. The long version is under the cut.

First, let me say that this show definitely makes me think, "Wow, this is clearly on a premium channel," and you know why? It's not the nudity or the gore or the f-bombs - it's the insanely long intros. Only a show without commercials could spend five whole minutes on previouslies and the opening credits sequence. I know that a lot of people love the opening credits, and I give them kudos for being innovative and creepy, but damn. Longest. Credits. Ever. I have to admit, after the first couple episodes, I just started skipping straight to the beginning of the episode.

Anyway, I am a big fan of the morally ambiguous protagonist. (See also: Angel, Don Draper, Patty Hewes, Dr. Horrible.) However, while I am entertained and somewhat fascinated by Dexter, I can't really say I like him as a character in the way that I like the others. And I think that has less to do with him being a serial killer and more to do with his emotional detachment. Because I feel detached when watching him, like I'm intrigued about what happens next, but not terribly invested in whether Dexter gets caught or someone close to him dies or whatever. (Just for comparison, I also watched this week's episode of Friday Night Lights this weekend, and the emotion just POURS out of that show. And I can't help loving the characters, because I feel exactly what they feel. Dexter doesn't allow that kind of connection.)

I enjoyed the season-long arc with the Ice Truck Killer. I thought it was well paced, and even though there wasn't much mystery about the identity of the killer, there were enough unexplained clues that I kept watching because I wanted to know WHY. I like bad guys who play mind games, and this one had a really good payoff. It might've turned out cheesy that Dexter has a long-lost brother who's also a serial killer, but it ended up making the most sense, because it provided a reason for how he knew so much about Dexter and why he was so fixated on him personally. Though it does make me wonder if this show will fall into the same trap that Veronica Mars did, where the later seasons' mysteries are somewhat less compelling because they are less rooted in who the main character is and the stakes aren't as important to him/her.

I also hope they don't try to put too much weight on the comings and goings at the police station, because as much as I liked the individual characters when they were working on the Ice Truck Killer and other cases, I wasn't terribly interested in their personal stories. Like Doakes' problems with the drug cartel or his shooting the Haitian guy - did not care. Batista's marital problems? Bah. Only if it leads to him hooking up with Laguerta. Who, by the way, seemed really inconsistent, as if a few episodes in they decided they didn't want her to be totally incompetent and irrational and completely changed her character. I like her more now that she's a good detective who just happens to care too much about her reputation, so I don't mind too much, but it's still disconcerting. And all the office politics with her and the captain and the new lieutenant can just go away now, please.

Oh, and I really don't like Deb. She got less annoying as the season went on, but never stopped being annoying completely. She's just so obnoxious, and it seemed like they spent a lot of time establishing that she's a pretty dumb cop, and that she needed Dexter's help to solve cases - and then she started having some good hunches on her own, only to be the dumbest person ever and get engaged to the Ice Truck Killer and not even notice. (I, for one, pegged Rudy as shady as soon as he showed interest in Deb.)

On the other hand, I loved Rita right from the start. Partly because I love Julie Benz like candy, but also because Rita just breaks my heart in the beginning. I love how she's progressed from being so damaged at the start of the season to now being so much stronger, that she's fiercely protective of her kids and reclaiming her sexuality and even standing up to Paul. I don't care if it was a felony, I frickin' cheered when she whacked him with the baseball bat. Speaking of which, ever since the scene when the drug dealer took her car and Dexter just stood there, I had a feeling Dexter would end up killing somebody for Rita. As it turned out, he did get rid of Paul for her, but he didn't have to kill him.

The one criticism I have is with the suspension of disbelief needed for Dexter's upbringing. It's one thing to have a character who was traumatized at a young age and thus needs to satisfy his sociopathic urges in unorthodox ways. The part I can't buy is that Dexter's foster father was so accepting of it and trained him to pretend to be normal and how to kill without getting caught. I dunno, I think the typical parental reaction would've been to send young Dexter for some industrial-strength therapy. I wouldn't mind it so much if it were just an established premise that we had to accept, but then moved on and focused on Dexter and didn't dwell on the unbelievable stuff. But because Dexter's methods are so intertwined with his father's teaching, and there are flashbacks in every single episode, it's a constant reminder of how bizarre I find the whole thing to be.

But overall, I am definitely enjoying it enough to want to keep watching. Season 2 is also available for streaming, but season 3 is mail only, so that will probably slow me down. Maybe then I'll switch back to Rome.

Comments

[lostboy-lj.livejournal.com]

"Because I feel detached when watching him, like I'm intrigued about what happens next, but not terribly invested in whether Dexter gets caught or someone close to him dies or whatever."

Yeah I think that Dexter (at least for the first two seasons) falls into the Ulysses category of "clever and cruel." It's interesting to watch him go about his work because he's so good at it.

Deb grows on you eventually. I found it really interesting that the actors who play Dex and Deb wound up becoming a couple off-stage. Their scenes together get really good over the course of the second season, and I'll bet that their off-stage romance had something to do with it.

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I found it really interesting that the actors who play Dex and Deb wound up becoming a couple off-stage.

Really? I didn't know that. It always kind of weirds me out when on-screen siblings start dating in real life, lol.

[rahirah]

I think a lot of the character inconsistency in season 1 has to do with the writers pulling away from the book characterizations. Book LaGuerta and Book Deb are idiots (in fact, every character who's not Dexter is an idiot) and the book plots are just... dumb. This is one of the few cases where I think the TV version is infinitely superior to the books.

[lostboy-lj.livejournal.com]

Could it be that Book Dex just "perceives" everyone as being stupid, since the books are written from his perspective? I seem to remember that Doakes is still like on him like bloodhound iin the books (though I didn't read all of them, and it's been ages since I've read them... were they always doing stupid things?)

[rahirah]

Part of it is that they're seen through Dexter's eyes, I'm sure. However, LaGuerta in particular was definitely portrayed as a scheming-but-stupid-and-incompetent bitch who'd slept or flattered her way into power. And Deb's just... weird, because - well, that would be spoilery, but I didn't find her reaction to certain developments at all believable. Doakes was fairly competent, but one of the reasons I gave up on the books was that the police department as a whole was so clueless - one of the things I really like about the TV version is that the cop do actual detective work and often the reason they don't solve the crime is because Dexter's deliberately tampering with evidence, rather than because they're just too dumb to figure out what's going on.

Honestly, I got the impression that Book Dexter is the author's Mary Sue...

[lostboy-lj.livejournal.com]

I think the show showed LaGuerta as fairly incompetent and scheming (at least in the first season). She wasn't beyond the pale, but there were definite signs that she had clawed her way to power using not-so-nice tactics, and that there were probably others who deserved her position more. but I think you are right that in the Books, everyone and everything was a little more over the top.

[next_to_normal]

Could be. I've never read the books, but from what I gather, Dexter's emotional detachment is even worse in the books than on the show, and I think it would be impossible to sustain the show for very long if it stuck close to the books, because Dexter would be such an unsympathetic character.

And if that means the rest of the characters get better personalities in the process, I'm all for it. :)

[rahirah]

I read the first two books and gave up; my eyes were rolling too hard to keep reading. *g*

[weyrwolfen.livejournal.com]

If your eyes were rolling by the end of 2, they might have imploded during 3. The author ditched all the phychological reasons for why Dexter is the way he is in favor of introducing a supernatural cause. Not that I don't enjoy supernatural stories, but wedging one into the established rules of the series' universe was just jarring.

[silverusagi]

This. I hated book three so much. It made no sense to start bringing supernatural things into a hard crime story.

[weyrwolfen.livejournal.com]

Supposedly book 4 returns to form, but I haven't been able to bring myself to pick it up. 3 pretty much broke me. Thankfully the TV show has wandered off in its own entertaining direction.

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The author ditched all the phychological reasons for why Dexter is the way he is in favor of introducing a supernatural cause.

O_O

Oh God, I really, really hope they DON'T go there in the TV show.

[weyrwolfen.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the show writers ran away with the first book and never looked back. I think we're safe.

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Heh. I read somewhere that they only bought the rights to the first book, so they couldn't use the later stuff if they wanted to. :)

[rahirah]

Yeah, I heard about that part. It didn't encourage me to try book three, that's for sure. (Though I think the psychology was pretty much bunk anyway - lots of people suffer traumatic experiences without turning into serial-killing psychopaths.)

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lots of people suffer traumatic experiences without turning into serial-killing psychopaths.

True - and don't they actually say that on the show? I think Lila said something to that effect (referring to drugs, of course, but it's obviously meant to apply) when Dexter blames his mother's murder for why he does the things he does. I don't think Dexter's past is meant to imply that it's a simple cause and effect, but trauma can affect people in different ways, and becoming a serial-killing psychopath is one of them - especially when you've been relentlessly coached to deal with the emotional fallout of your trauma by killing people. :P

[weyrwolfen.livejournal.com]

The books were pretty bad about making traumatic childhood = serial murder, yay! (There were four or five different characters who followed that pattern, if I'm remembering correctly.) I think the show has been trying to get away from that, but who knows what their future plans are.

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There's three that I can think of so far - Dexter, Brian/Rudy, and the teenage boy who was raped. (Though, with that last one, it's unclear whether that was the root of his problem or if he was already sort of a psychopath and the rapist was just a convenient victim.)

[rahirah]

No, I mean in the books - there's one particular development that broke my suspension of disbelief because it was just too pat. (Thankfully it's one of the things the TV version seems to have ditched.)

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Ah, gotcha.

[dreamsofspike.livejournal.com]

I found that as I continued watching the show, the "emotional connection" factor became a little more accessible, as the writers delve deeper into Dexter's psyche. It's all well and good for Dexter to SAY "I don't feel anything that normal people feel" -- but it's also clear even in the first season that that's not entirely true. If he didn't feel anything for anyone, why was he so protective of his sister and Rita at various points in the series? You know? And as the show goes on those moments that reveal the humanity/vulnerability he doesn't think he has become more frequent. :)

Also -- and I don't want to say too much because I don't want to even slightly spoil you -- but as the show goes on, the thing with Dexter's adoptive dad is explained a little more. It's not dealt with as "typical parenting" in any way. The problem is, Dexter doesn't really know WHAT is normal, you know? My first thought when they started talking about Harry and his code? And Dexter's childhood impulses, etc? Was something along the lines of "How screwed up was this little kid when Harry got him, as compared to how screwed up was he when Harry got THROUGH with him? O.O" Because, honestly, I found Harry's decision to basically train little Dexter how to kill and not get caught more chilling than anything Dexter did all season.

Anyway, I love this show (can you tell? :P) and as it goes on, the psychology gets deeper, and therefore more fascinating to me :) Can't wait to see what you think of the coming seasons :)

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Yeah, I'm into season 2 now (been watching at work - shhh!), and I'm finding both of those things to be true - I still don't want to have a beer with Dexter or anything, but I am starting to care about what happens to him. And I'm getting the sense that Harry is probably pretty screwed up himself - now I'm hoping that we'll find out what made Harry the way he was, since he's what made Dexter much of who he is.

[xlivvielockex.livejournal.com]

Not gonna spoil you but just keep watching. S1 is a little shaky, as most S1's are.

You're so right about the premium channel credits. Rome, Deadwood, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, etc, all of them have these hella long credits. Even 30 min comedies like Nurse Jackie, Weeds, Unite States of Tara have these loooooooong openings. I always end up fastforwarding through them. They are beautiful the first time but after that...forget it.

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Yep, I'm into season 2 now, and I think it's safe to say I'm thoroughly hooked. :)

Haha, I think Six Feet Under is the only other premium channel show I've seen, so I didn't realize it was such a prominent trend. I just kept thinking, "Damn, if they had a 42-minute slot, they would NOT waste this much time."

[silverusagi]

I didn't actually start to care about Dexter until the end of S1. The first part of the season, I just didn't get him at all. In one respect, I think the way they were writing his character was closer to the books, and later he gets more humanized.

Season 1 does have more of the greaty mystery feel. I think in later seasons, the conflict is more about a problem that Dexter is dealing with, which is dealing with a killer somehow, but not usually their identity.

If you don't like the other police officers' lives, you will be annoyed with large parts of seasons 4 and possibly 3. I was annoyed in season 4. (As for Doakes shooting the guy, I honestly forget if this crops up in the show--because it's been so long since I saw S2, my least favorite--but in the books, it's relevant that he has a history in black ops.) As for Laguerta, she is SO inconsistent in S1. She's imcompetent in the books, and also likes Dexter (like likes), which there are a few scenes of in S1 (I think Dexter says something in his inner monologue like "I wish she'd stop looking at me like that"), and then it's dropped without a word.

I'll be interested to see what you think of Rita as the seasons go on. I liked her arc in S1, but by S4 she seems a bit artificial and Stepford, IMO.

Yeah, I'm also not sure about Harry. He obviously has issues of his own. I think part of it is being a cop for so long and maybe being dirty and jaded. He wants killers to be caught even when the police don't have the evidence to bring them in. And maybe he should have sent Dexter away to get some help, but that didn't work for Brian.

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Yeah, Doakes is black ops on the show, too, which explains a lot about why he's the one who sees through Dexter's facade.

So far, I like Rita more in S2 than I did in S1 (it's somewhat amusing to see her put that hard-earned self-confidence to work by standing up to Dexter), but I can see how it could get boring, now that she's pretty well-adjusted.

[beloved-77.livejournal.com]

Mr. IB and I just started watching Dexter about a month ago. We're just about finished with Season 2, so I'm not gonna say anything else, lest I spoil you. ;-)

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Oooh. Well, check back in a couple days, and I'll probably have finished it, lol.

[gingerwall.livejournal.com]

Whenever I watch the Dexter intro, I'm usually just reminded about how hungry I am. And then instead of fast-forwarding, I end up pausing to go make myself some fried eggs with a glass of cold orange juice. :)

And I agree with lostboy_lj: Deb gets much better in S2 and S3. (I haven't watched 4 yet). Rita on the other hand, started to do stereotypical annoying woman things and grate on my nerves a little bit. You'd think that the writers could do better than using cliches to introduce some drama into their relationship.

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LOL, I can't say I've ever gotten hungry from watching it - and that's saying a lot because I am VERY susceptible to food images (every time I see a pizza commercial, I immediately want pizza).

I'm midway through season 2, and I still don't like Deb... :(

[dragonflylady77.livejournal.com]

I've started on season 3 I think. Are you there yet? Cos they bring someone you know from another fandom. *doesn't want to spoil anything*

I need to rewatch Dexter...

[next_to_normal]

Nope, just finished season 2 last night (which means another reaction post is coming). Season 3 isn't available for streaming, so it'll probably have to wait a bit.