Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Show:		8.0
Picture:		9.0
Sound:		9.0
Extras:		2.0
Score:		9.0

Director(s):	Keith Gordon • Marcos Siega • Michael Cuesta
Writer(s):	Jeff Lindsay, James Manos Jr., Scott Reynolds
Starring:	C.S. Lee • David Zayas • Erik King • Jaime Murray • James Remar • Jennifer Carpenter • Julie Benz • Michael C. Hall
Genre:	Drama • Television • Thriller
Website:	http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do
Release Date:	May 05, 2009

List Price:	Blu-ray - $38.99
Amazon:

If you haven’t been watching Dexter, you’ve been missing some of the best programming television has offered in a while. Based off the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the plot follows a Miami police officer named Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) who goes beyond his legal limitations to hunt and kill serial killers himself. The first season, aired on Showtime, debuted to critical acclaim and just seemed to get better with every episode. The season ended with a bang, even if you did figure out the twist in advance.

Dexter: The Second Season picked up immediately after the first with all of the characters reeling from the events tied to the “Ice Truck Killer”. The first hitch in Dexter’s plan comes when the location where Dexter had been dumping the body parts of his evil prey is discovered by a pair of SCUBA divers and the search for the “Bay Harbor Butcher” begins. Now, Dexter’s own department has been recruited by FBI Special Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine) to aid in the investigation that creeps closer and closer to discovering Dexter’s secret identity with each passing day. To make matters worse, Sergeant Doakes (Erik King) continues his vendetta against Dexter, convinced that Mr. Morgan is more than he lets on.

Meanwhile, out of the office Dexter’s life in the shadows comes dangerously close to colliding with that of his girlfriend Rita (Julie Benz) and her two children. After confronting Dexter about his “problem” (which she believes to be heroin addiction), Rita forces him to join Narcotics Anonymous where he finds himself linked with his new sponsor Lila (Jaime Murray) who recognizes the “dark passenger” within Dexter and draws him into her twisted world. On another front, Dexter’s sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) can’t overcome the trauma experienced at the hands of Rudy (Christian Camargo). Bunking with Dexter in his apartment, Debra threatens to upset the balance he’s established and uncover the parts of him he and his father Harry (James Remar).

The second season definitely fails to uphold the excellent standards of the first season, though it still stands as sublime television. Where certain parents groups decried the show, I would draw attention to it for being an incredible masterwork for what it achieves. In creating a sympathetic antihero who represents a piece of society generally loathed and regretted by all, Dexter’s very essence is a masterwork of character manipulation. Serial killers are a fascinating subject; the psychology behind a sociopath is a seemingly endless source for novels and films alike. By making Dexter, a serial killer, a character which the audience supports rather than condemns is a genius move.

Some of the disappointment garnered by Dexter’s second season derives from a few plotlines which seemed tied up too hastily. Sergeant Doakes proved to be an excellent foil for Dexter and the way his character is written off the show feels slightly too fast and too soon. Conversely, while Doakes’s story should have been longer, Lila’s deserved paring. Lila represented a valuable character development tool for Dexter but, by the end of it all, it feels like her character slipped away from the writers and they didn’t know quite how to tie her storyline up. Debra, like Doakes, doesn’t receive as much development as she deserves – especially as she was implicated as such a major part of the first season.

If you’ve read the books you know that the show has safely departed from the original plot. The second season, as is, takes a few of the storylines in directions that make sense and benefit the show – but others seem to have gotten loose and were nailed down abruptly. However, even with all the faults of Dexter: The Second Season, you’d be hard pressed to find many shows on television with better writing and plotting.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

We have a serious problem here. Instead of actually giving us extra features, we’ve been given “links” to them a la BD Live. If you want to take the time to let the buffer load, you’ll find a mini-featurette on the “Blood Fountain” Dexter promotion and a series of interviews with cast members from Dexter. Unfortunately, all of these things aren’t actually on the disc – it’s all BD Live. So, if you feel so inclined, you can enjoy these featurettes as well as the first two episodes from Diablo Cody’s United States of Tara – assuming your internet-equipped Blu-ray player is up to the buffering challenge.