Dexter: Season Two (Blu-Ray)

I missed the boat on the premiere of Dexter (mostly because I, like most Americans, don’t subscribe to Showtime), but I eventually caught wind of good things and became quickly hooked after recently watching season one on DVD. A forensics expert in blood spatter analysis who doubles as a serial killer with a self regulated sense of right and wrong makes for an expansive character base with the capacity to maintain compelling material for seasons on end. Season two improved upon season one and I don’t see this show heading south from where it’s at now unless the writers start getting bored. I’ve yet to see season three, but cannot wait for that and the start up of season four which is scheduled to happen September 27th on CBS.

Season one was primarily revolved upon the mystery of the Ice Truck Killer. Who was he? What was his motive for narrowing his victims to prostitutes (which I don’t believe ever gets resolved)? Where exactly was he performing his murders? And most importantly, why was he starting psychological warfare with Dexter all the while? The focus of season one was more on developing a story line and less on developing characters that drive it. Season two is quite the opposite in that the focus lies mostly on the important players and especially the most important player, Dexter. It unfolds like an ongoing social experiment in continually facing a semi sociopath against some extremely emotionally challenging life experiences. You get to see how Dexter reacts to learning that everything his foster father had told him of his life prior to adoption was a lie, to the temptations of another woman who seems to “know” him in ways that other people simply can’t, and to the pressures that come hand in hand with being under the Fed’s investigative microscope for 18 counts of murder. Sure, the “life experiences” Dexter encounters are, for the most part, brought on by actions of his own, but what he goes through and how he comes through it all make him one heck of an interesting watch. This guy draws you and keeps you wanting more.

In season one Dexter is portrayed as a generally good person with a singular vice, his addiction to kill. In season two Dexter is shown in the light of a person with flaws that go well beyond simply murdering bad people and from episode to episode the viewer’s perception of Dexter gets challenged. In season one, I liked Dexter from episode one all the way through episode 12. In season two, I found myself going back and forth on multiple occasions.

I’m an enormous fan of the Blu-Ray format, but have favored it towards material that has more to offer visually (think big-budget action flicks with top notch special effects, i.e. Transformers, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, etc.). Is the Blu-Ray version of Dexter noticeably better than the DVD version of Dexter? The answer to that question is absolutely. However, what Dexter offers is quality of content and the Blu-Ray version does add to that element, but only slightly. The extras are hardly worth mentioning, but often times with extras not enough is too much. The most time consuming extra is individual cast interviews and Dexter happens to be one of those shows where you don’t want to break down the fourth wall. I like to think of Michael C. Hall as a creepy psychopath with an occasional soft side. To think of him as anything else might ruin everything for me.

Tagged as: Michael C. Hall

Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.