Dexter Rocks!

Dexter (on Showtime) has got to be one of the best shows on TV right now. I'm certainly looking forward to it more than Lost right now. At least the plot moves on Dexter. Lost seems to be... well... lost. Dexter, while definitely not for the faint of heart, is not nearly as graphically gory and violent as it could be, given that it's a show on pay cable about a serial killer. Dexter Morgan works by day for the Miami Police Department as a forensic blood expert. To his sister (they were both adopted), his other co-workers (including his sis), and is girlfriend (beaten and raped by her former drug-dealing boyfriend - and consequently "in her own way, just as damaged" as he is), he seems perfectly normal. He helps his sister's career by hiving her fantastic insights to a rival serial killer's behavior, which she contributes to his fantastic "hunches." His inability to feel normal emotions, and thus a lack of sex drive, comes across to his frigid girlfriend as a wonderful sensitivity to her reluctance to engage in sexual activity with him due to her abusive ex. His deep interest in violent crime scenes comes across as dedication to his job to all his co-workers, except macho shithead Sgt. Doakes, who finds Dexter creepy. His boss, Lt. Maria La Guerta, on the other hand, thinks Dexter is just dreamy and hits on him whenever she can. If only she knew. Most interesting are the flashbacks to Dexter's youth. His father was a cop named Harry, played by James Remar, who adopted Dexter and Debra. Harry realizes from an early age that Dexter has a nearly uncontrollable urge to kill. At first, he tries to direct Dexter's urges into hunting. When he realizes that killing deer won't satisfy his son's compulsion, he begins to train Dexter how to identify and kill the "right" people and, using his training as a cop, how to get away with it. He teaches Dexter how to verify that the person deserves death (e.g., they have murdered, escaped on a technicality and will kill again), obsessively, ritualistically prepare for the abduction and killing, and how to dispose of the body. I know it all sounds a bit dark, but it is really one of the best written shows on TV right now. Filled with dark humor and quirky situations, I highly recommend it (if you have the stomach)!

P.S. Heroes is on tonight! Yay! That's a post for another time...