Dexter

I love the show Dexter. Love love love. Credit for introducing the show to me goes to my brother who bugged us for months to watch it. I didn't know much about it and often confused the show for Chuck (both guys names, and that's all I knew about them), but one day I decided to start watching it. I think I watched the whole first season in two days (there wasn't much going on that weekend anyway). Season One first impressions: incredible. So good! I typically go for NBC comedy shows (with the exception of Bones which I only discovered a year ago), not Showtime emotionally stunted man hunts criminals set free my the failings of the justice system and hacks them into pieces shows (based on a book). The character Dexter is wonderful; he is introduced to us and portrays himself as devoid of feeling human emotions, though he is well aware of what they are, and what others expect him to be feeling. He puts on a smile when he should, can fake enthusiasm and concern with just a little thought. He's got a girlfriend (plus kids) too, to help his facade. He is an unassuming actor working (blood spatter) forensics at a Miami police precinct by day, and hunter of evildoers by night. He has a hunger for it, not an innate desire to clean up the world of the filth that slip through the cracks; they are more a convenient and justifiable outlet as set down in a sort of code by his adoptive father Harry (the only one aware of his hobby). Dexter is a vigilante doing what those tasked with our protection cannot. Right or wrong, he does it, and it's awesome. He narrates the show, so we hear his thoughts behind his outward projections to those around him.

Each season of twelve episodes focuses on one main case that Dexter and his police buddies are working on: the Ice Truck Killer, Bay Harbor Butcher, Trinity, etc. Dexter is often a step ahead of the police, and doesn't often share the information he has with them so that he can savor taking down the bad guy for himself (and he often gets quite personally involved early on in the season). He has his projects on the side, though when you're going around making people disappear and you work in a police station, there is bound to be some overlap and more than a few close calls. While I personally find his sister Deb quite irritating, the cast of characters around him also develop nicely, as suspicion arises and Dexter does his best to quell them. There are currently five seasons out, with the sixth to start up in the fall. Some seasons are better than others (all are better than the fifth); the first and fourth have to be my favorites.

Dexter is smart, well cast, and very addictive. You should probably watch it.

- From the desk of Mrs. Sarah McPherson