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RSS'Dexter' Premiere: Big trouble with Little Chino
After a first season that stuck relatively closely to the key plotpoints from Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the second run of Showtime's finest show went off the reservation with Sunday (Sept. 30) night's premiere.
The new season of Dexter isn't based upon any Lindsay novel and if Monday's premiere is any indication, the show hasn't missed a beat in charting its own course. With HBO waiting on the final season of The Wire and with NBC's Friday Night Lights starting its second season with some uncharacteristically rocky episodes, it's entirely possible that Dexter is the best show on TV at this second.
[This recap is going to contain spoilers of both the Dexter season premiere and last year's finale, so you've been doubly warned.]
In the first season finale, Dexter (Michael C. Hall, whose Emmy snubbing remains criminal) made an uncharacteristic choice. He opted for nurture over nature, picking his adopted sister Deb over Rudy (Christian Camargo), both his biological brother and his psychological twin. Dexter's decision had unexpected consequences, as dispatching the Ice Truck Killer, getting rid of a man who was both his flesh-and-blood, but also his only true equal as a killer, left Dexter unable to perform, homicide-wise. It doesn't help that the new season finds Erik King's Doakes watching his every move, but even when Doakes isn't stalking him, Dexter can't stab straight or he can't properly drug his victims (how much sedative would it have taken to knock out Little Chino anyway?). He's also messing up crime scene evidence and even his bowling game (with the "Bowl Till You Bleed" team) is suffering. As if the metaphorical impotence isn't bad enough, Dexter's even having bedroom problems with poor, vulnerable Rita.
Actually, Dexter's increased weakness has corresponded with some very different changes to the women in his life. Rita is increasingly assertive, much less of a doormat than she was last season, which has benefited Julie Benz's performance. She's excellent, as is Jennifer Carpenter, whose Deb hasn't responded quite so well to becoming engaged to a serial killer last season. She's become a bit of a paranoid shut-in and when she returns to the field, her decision-making probably isn't what it should be. This season, everybody has issues and the discovery of Dexter's off-shore dumping ground isn't going to solve things, though Deb imagines that the next killer is a path to redemption and the potential for discovery (and a new adversary next week with the arrival of Keith Carradine) actually gets Dexter's heart beating.
Until the very end, the premiere of Dexter was much more about laying the groundwork than about establishing the challenges and direction of the season, but that comes next week with an even better episode.
Some other thoughts on this week's episode:
What'd you think of the Dexter premiere and the direction the season appears to be heading?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Having watched this episode on Screeners quite some time ago, I think that I had forgotten just how much happened in it. I would tend to agree, though, that it was most excellent. Also: having spent some time catching up on Mad Men today, concur on the title sequences point.
I think that all of the characters are given good material here, but I think that Deb gets the best of it: her post-Ice Truck paranoia feels like a new and improved form of her insecurity from last season, where she was occasionally a weakness to the series.
And now, for a moment of silence for Michael C. Hall's Emmy. May it be swiftly stolen from James Spader's hands and delivered to him.
I disagree about the voice over. I think it is brilliant.
One of the most compelling parts of the series is the way the audience feels on behalf of Dexter because Dexter doesn't feel.
We might see glimmers of emotion from Dexter and we might be right but Dexter remains completely unaware of them. The voice over is used brilliantly to remind us that Dex is only playing at being human. We understand Dexter better than he does.
i like the voice over too---the weakest part of the series are the flashback scenes of dexter as a kid, although they always make the future scenes more powerful, the kid who plays dexter kind of sucks. and i also love the mad men opening sequence :)
Why wasn't Dex more upset that Chino saw him, unlike the blind man?
I am not happy with Dexter losing his way. Why must our best anti-heroes be declawed? I hope we don't end up with a sniveling, guilt ridden Dexter throughout this season. It would be the kiss of death.
Part of the joy of the show was the vigilante glee at taking down the bad guys. Less guilt, more glee please.
I think of Dexter's voice overs as a kind of awakening for him. We get to hear his thoughts and his conclusions at the same time that they are dawning on him. He is still that young child learning to navigate in an adult world. Aren't we all a little like Dexter?
I thought a lot about Chino seeing Dexter and why he wasn't upset about it. My conclusion was that, unlike any of his prior victims, the risk of being seen was relatively unimportant because
A. He knew he was going to go ahead and kill him later
B. Who was chino actually going to tell?
This drama is repetitive,lacking in any diversity.and BORING!
It is time to pull the plug on this type of programming before some kid cuts up his brother and eats his liver.
if you like sadistic thrill killings I suggest you tape all episodes then go to you're room and replay them
for all wanabee butchers.
uGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shut the **** up haXorS