+ Best Miami Title of the Year
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| Michael C. Hall is James Manos Jr.'s Dexter |
Dexter is Showtime's biggest TV series hit yet, which ended in 2013 after impressive 8 seasons. It is created by James Manos Jr. (The Sopranos (1999), co-producer), and master filmmaker Michael Cuesta (L.I.E. (2001)) is the most recurring director (with 5 out of 12 of the approximately 55 minutes long episodes) in the series' first season.
Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under (2001-05)) is a blood splatter expert with the Miami Police. But privately he is also a resourceful, socially inhibited serial killer.
Miami now gets haunted by a clinical serial killer known as the ice truck killer, who sends Dexter messages, while he in turn savors his hunt for this somewhat related, sicko subject.
Supplying the subplots that fill out the majority of the show we have:
Jennifer Carpenter (Faster (2010)), (who since married and divorced Hall in real life), as Dexter's clingy sister/co-detective Debra; Christian Camargo (The Hurt Locker (2008)) as Debra's creepy boyfriend Rudy; David Zayas (Annie (2014)) as co-detective Angel, who faces divorce from his beloved wife; Erik King (Oz (2000-01)) as the suspicious co-detective Doakes; James Remar (Sex and the City (2001-04)) as Dexter's stepfather Harry, whose 'code'/childhood teachings, about how Dexter should put his savage personality to appropriate use, Dexter refers to time and again; C. S. Lee (True Detective (2015) TV-series) as sex-crazed co-cop Masuka; Lauren Vélez (Ugly Betty (2009-10)) is good as the struggling boss Lieutenant Maria LaGuerta; and finally there's Julie Benz (Rambo (2008)) as Dexter's girlfriend Rita, whose ex-husband/co-parent causes disturbances for their tentative, new family.
The Guardian calls Dexter an "amorality tale" on the poster above, and that description is to-the-point; the show's title hero's several vigilante killings are in a way implicitly justified by the show and its audience as it moves along. - And perhaps due to this moral grey zone which Dexter rests in, the show has inspired several killers in real life, which you can read about here.
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| The main cast of James Manos Jr.'s Dexter season 1 |
The details:
Dexter is a glitzy, vulgar, gory and amoral entertainment injection, lighted and shot in a TV-trashy, cheap style, not necessarily cheaply made, but cheap in the sense of promiscuous or simple: Dexter's dense narration throughout the season, (about his childhood, actions, feelings, kills, personality, philosophy etc.) gets to feel like getting spoon-fed in the series' worst passages.
But besides sometimes being a bit contrived and convoluted, Dexter is also filled with game actors, at times smart writing and enthusiastically morbid, if sometimes overly disgusting, visuals, (as in episode 10, Seeing Red, in which SPOILER Dexter and Co. discover a completely blood-covered hotel room.) The show has some real Miami flavor and ambiance, which adds to the experience.
Dexter marks itself as entertaining television, but nothing much more than that, in its first season, which ends well, leaving us with the feeling that more mysteries, intrigues and cases await around the corner.
Best episodes:
Episode 11: Truth Be Told (directed by Keith Gordon (The Killing (2011-13)))
With guest star Margo Martindale (August: Osage County (2013)). The loop tightens, (and gets more suspenseful), as Rudy proposes to Debra, and Dexter finally learns the identity of the ice truck killer.
Episode 12: Born Free (directed by Cuesta)
LaGuerta suffers for her macho boss' mistakes, as Dex confronts the sociopath killer.
Related post:
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Cost: Unknown
Box office: None
= Uncertainty
[Dexter's first season won 2 Primetime Emmys; for Best Editing and Best Main Title Design.]
What do you think of Dexter?
Over-all and season by season?
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