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It’s long deserved it — since its excellent first season, in fact — but Dexter has finally received a Golden Globe nomination. Dexter has been nominated in the Best Television Show — Drama category. To this I ask, “What took so long?” Dexter should have been nominated for its excellent first season, too. The competition in this category is, well, rather odd. There is the excellent Mad Men, which will probably win, and the strong but underrated In Treatment. But then there’s the vastly overrated House and the rather bland vampire drama True Blood. I’m surprised that these two shows earned nominations. I’ve never been overly fond of House, especially. I know Hugh Laurie does an amazing job as the title character. But the character of House never really changes. Nothing ever really advances in this show. It’s a disease-of-the-week show, and that’s pretty old-fashioned, actually. Dexter fans should also be happy that Michael C. Hall, Dexter himself, has been nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama. He might actually win, though his competition is tough.
OK, first I apologize for the headline on this post. And secondly, I apologize for devoting another entire post on a Dexter blog to Lost. But, hey … I watched the first three episodes of Lost Season 4 on DVD last night with my better half and … I thoroughly enjoyed every minute! Finally, Lost is fun again, and suspenseful. The plots make sense. The stories are intriguing. Jumping forward in time, rather than making us suffer through yet another flashback, is a great change of pace. The new characters — especially Miles — are interesting and witty. So, yes, Lost has found its way back to the Netflix queue in my home. Now, if only Entourage wasn’t so completely hopeless these days. Or Weeds. Or Heroes. But you can’t have everything, right? I’ll just have to be satisfied with Dexter and Lost. Not a bad combination.
OK, after sitting through season 3 of Lost, I vowed to swear off the show forever. But … Dexter’s third season is nearing its end. I need something to satisfy my TV sweet tooth. So, I ordered up the fourth season of Lost on Netflix. I’m ready to give this show another chance. Now, I’ve been less than enamored with this show since about the mid-point of season 2. I got tired of every character getting sucker punched whenever he or she tried to do something heroic or noble. I got tired of having new characters dropped on the island and then killed off without having contributed much of anything. In short, the show was making my head spin. But, I have heard that the show got back on track in Season 4. Is this true? We’ll find out. (I’m sure everyone will be breathlessly awaiting my verdict.)
It’s a sad moment when you realize that even an imperfect season of one of your favorite shows is coming to an end. That’s what all Dexter fans face now. Remaining episodes are dwindling to a select few. This begs the question: What do you do before Season 4 starts up? Here’s some suggestions: 1. If you haven’t done it, rent the old seasons of the new Battlestar Galactica and watch. Here’s one show that’s even better written than Dexter at its prime. You’ll be amazed at how the writers turned a cheesy old sci-fi joke into one of the most intriguing shows on television. 2. Read the Dexter novels. I’m sure you can find them at your local library. You’ll probably learn a lot more about your favorite serial killer. 3. Write to Marvel and D.C. demanding that they release a graphic novel version of Dexter. We have comic books devoted to the new Battlestar Galactica, to Doctor Who, even to the Lone Ranger, for goodness sakes! Where’s our Dexter graphic novel? 4. Avoid the new Punisher movie. I know Julie Benz, our beloved Rita, is in it, but whatever you do, avoid the new Punisher: War Zone movie. It’s supposed to be God-awful. There are limits to even the biggest Dexter fans’ devotion. 5. Do check out Quarantine, the horror movie starring another Dexter favorite, actress Jennifer Carpenter. This movie is actually pretty good, and well worth a rental.
Jeff Lindsay, author of the books that Showtime’s Dexter is based on, will make a cameo appearance on the Nov. 30 airing of the show. You can read a bit more about the author’s appearance here. Most interesting are Lindsay’s comments regarding the quality of Showtime’s version of Dexter. Lindsay praises the show and the writers. Lindsay also mentions that the show’s consistent quality has been a bit of a surprise to him. After all, he says, Hollywood is famous for taking good ideas and ruining them, he says.
If you’re a fan of “Rita,” better known as Julie Benz, you might want to head to your local theater this Friday. That’s when the new movie Punisher: War Zone opens, and Benz is part of the cast. If you’re not familiar with the Punisher, here’s the scoop: He’s a comic book anti-hero from Marvel Comics. He’s the guy who wears the black shirt with the skull and crossbones on it. He also shoots a lot of people. “Rita” should feel right at home. The character, of course, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Personally, I’m not a fan. I prefer Spider-Man and Batman to a gun-wielding maniac. But I like Dexter Morgan, too, so what do I know? You can check out some teaser information for the new Punisher movie here.
There was a time, during its fun first season, that Heroes ranked as one of my favorite shows on TV. That time, unfortunately, is long gone. Today, the show is a confusing mess. Characters do stupid things. They don’t act like themselves. There’s nothing worse than watching a show and saying to yourself, “Hey, that doesn’t seem like something he’d do.” Things have gotten so bad, that two writers from the show, Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb, were let go in early November. This is disappointing. After a humdrum second season, cut short because of the writer’s strike, I expected more from the third season. I didn’t get it. I know this is a blog devoted to Dexter. But at the beginning of this third season, I began to have my own doubts about this show. I couldn’t quite figure out where Dexter was going this season. The show was becoming its own mess of normally smart characters doing some rather dumb things. Last week, though, the show turned itself around in a big way. This gives me hope that we won’t be reading message boards clogged with former fans swearing off their favorite serial killer.
I’m a proud member of Netflix. It’s a great way to catch up on the best cable series, including Dexter. Some will tell you that watching series on DVD is a better alternative than watching them when they first air. I tend to agree. Much of a series’ momentum is lost during that week-long break between shows. But there can be problems in the happy world of Netflix. Take my experience with Netflix and Dexter. I watched the first two seasons of the show on DVDs ordered through Netflix. All was fine in Season 1 until the disc with the final episode showed up. Halfway through the conclusion, right when things were getting tense, the disc froze. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the thing to move past the scene where Sgt. Doakes confronts Dexter in the rail yard. I finally had to give up and order a replacement disc. Then, during the final episode of season 2, the same thing happened. The cops had just found Doakes’ badly burned body in the Everglades. It was a tense moment. My DVD froze. Again! Again, nothing could help. I had to order a new disc. Now, you might say that it’s simply a matter of the Dexter discs being extremely popular. They get a lot of wear and tear, and are more likely to suffer the scratches that stop a DVD in its tracks. But … a small part of me wonders, is there a Netflix curse when it comes to Dexter?
Ever feel any guilt for liking Dexter? Here’s a show where the hero kills, and quite often. Why do we root for Dexter Morgan? Is there something attractive about the serial killer? Something intriguing about someone so far outside normal human behavior? Back when I was 10, my parents took me and my sister to see John Carpenter’s Halloween at the movies. OK. So that probably wasn’t the soundest judgment by my parents. But in their defense, my sister and I had always loved scary movies. We just hadn’t seen a movie quite as scary as Halloween. I can’t speak for my sister, but the film fascinated me. Completely. I remember being amazed at the killer in that movie, Michael Myers, who just kept getting up no matter what anyone threw at him. Remember, this was long before the indestructible killer become a cliche’ in horror movies. I was also amazed by the sense of pure dread that Carpenter soaked his film with. Even the daytime scenes contained shocks, and that’s no easy feat to pull off. The movie’s signature musical theme, it goes without saying, was great, too. I did sleep for a week with the lights on after watching the movie. But I never forgot it. Nor did I ever lose my taste for horror and the monsters of the movies. Dexter Morgan is a different kind of Michael Myers. He kills for a purpose. He’s certainly not invulnerable. But he’s every bit as resourceful. And he’s every bit as fascinating. Decades of stylish, frightening horror movies have prepared us for Dexter Morgan. It’s little wonder that we root for him.
Dexter delights in macabre humor. The show, after all, has a serial killer for a hero. It has to be darkly funny or it wouldn’t work. It makes sense, then, that the show’s official Showtime Web site would be a bit dark, too. For instance, the site has a series of Dexter-inspired games. Among them is the body bag toss. That’s right. You play as Dexter standing in his beloved boat. You get three body bags to toss. The farther you toss them, the better your score. Someone named Eva6 had the high score the day I checked out the game. Don’t get on her bad side. Who knows where your body parts will remain. Playing a serial killer may seem distasteful. But pretending to be Dexter Morgan isn’t all that much different than pretending to be Superman or Spider-Man. Dexter is a hero, cleansing the Miami streets of the vilest killers. Yes, he goes too far. And, yes, none of his fans really want to follow his example. It’s just nice to pretend once in a while. |
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