“Tonight's the night. And it's going to happen again, and again. It has to happen. Nice night.”
Those first words that are uttered from great character actor, Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter in the show aptly named
Dexter. Dexter is a serial killer who works for the forensics investigations team on the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood splatter analysts. Dexter has a code though, called the Code of Harry -- named after his adoptive father. His code dictates that he only kills people that absolutely deserve it. Dexter tries to live this lie as if he is living a normal life. He has a girlfriend and a good steady job and tries to act like one the guys. This is all part of his code so that he never gets caught. Interested yet?
I was brought into the world of
Dexter not too long ago. My wife would come home from her mother’s house, always raving about how great this show is. I thought for the longest time that it couldn’t be that great until she made me watch the first episode. I wasn’t exactly pulled in until about the third or fourth episode and from then on I have seen all four seasons.
One thing that I feel that drives this show on are the characters. Every character feels fleshed out and is given ample screen time to develop themselves. You almost feel as they do; drawn in to their lives and see what they see and feel. You also feel that you have to cheer on Dexter, rooting for him and hoping he doesn't get caught.
The story too is just as good. For example, in the first season there is a killer on the run known as the Ice Truck Killer who drains his victim's blood and then freezes their bodies, chops them up and leaves them in public areas. This killer also seems to know that Dexter is a killer as well as he leaves little clues that he knows about his secret. You see, it’s not just about Dexter killing bad people, it’s also about his trying to cope and live with the killer inside him and lead a normal life. Don't worry, what I just wrote does not spoil anything as you find out all about this from the first episode.
We all have our own hidden demons, our “Dark Passengers”, albeit not as bad as
Dexter does. We can all relate that we each have something to hide that we dare not reveal to anyone, sometimes not even to our loved ones. It almost feels like a guilty pleasure watching this show, but I will not stop watching until it is over. And if you’ve seen the end of season four, then you can bet we are in for a wild ride coming in September for season five.
Dexter appears on
Showtime at 9:00 pm on Sundays. Each show is an hour long. Make sure the kids are in bed as it can sometimes be quite graphic.