Grid Effect

So as previously mentioned, we “finally” finished the first three seasons of Dexter, and while there is plenty to enjoy about the series and I can certainly understand why it’s popular, I’m not really understanding the critical acclaim. Is it me? It’s probably me and my insecure nature. Not having Showtime for all these years just pushed me over the edge. You should know that if you’re watching this series on DVD or on demand or for whatever reason you’re behind on it, there will be heavy spoilers after the jump.

First, I want to cover what I like about the series, because there is an ample wealth of entertainment to be had from a show about a serial killer who tries to specifically only kill murderers. If you can’t make a series with such a premise at least a little appealingly demented and superficially entertaining, then you’re probably drooling right now.

Actually, it’s kind of a tight rope act. You don’t want to offend your audience (which is something the creators of Dexter manage to avoid at every turn) but you want them to at least question the characters and themselves. It’s similar to how David Chase broached the Tony Soprano character, but this is to a much greater degree. Tony wasn’t a psychopath with a well-harnessed compulsions, he was a family man that committed horrible acts under the facade that it was for his family. On some level the audience could relate to that (despite how much of a lie it was), even if they could never justify it.

Anyways, the real appeal of this series is the all too rare riveting character interactions. Thus far, three seasons into it my two favorite scenes were Dexter with his brother in the season one finale, and everything between Doakes and Dexter from the first season finale until Doakes’ untimely demise. If every scene was as poignant and oddly understandable from both involved parties as these two, then I wouldn’t have so much to complain about.

And underlying this disturbing drama is a dark comedic element, mostly stemming from Michael C. Hall’s absurdly dry voice over and in a much lighter sense, Masuka is given the best lines. He shares a deeply-rooted secret with only the audience and his victims, everyone else around him is unaware of just how different this person they call friend, brother, husband, boyfriend really is. So when Rita says something along the lines of, “Can you imagine, falling for a serial killer?” or when Ellen Wolfe incenses him about his professionalism, we get a response along the lines of “one in a million” or “do I see plastic sheets in your future?”.

It has a lot of redeemable qualities, but not enough for me to recommend the series. And here’s why: it’s too one-dimensional. The series relies so heavily on this amazing, chilling, funny, unique and unprecedented lead character they’ve created, they seem to have forgotten or dismissed everything else. Let me be as succinct as possible and resort to bullet points:

• The acting is so wooden and inconsistent and lacking in versatility that we sometimes confuse this show with Entourage. Doakes: Hostility, Meg: Angst or sadness, Laguarta: Authority, Masuka: comedy, etc. The only exception is whoever plays Angelo, he seems to have some chops that go beyond whatever schtick the writers assigned to each stock character they’re portraying.

• Over-narration and repetitiveness. When something happens I don’t need to see it happen, then have a co-star reiterate it, then have Dexter provide a voice-over, then have a co-worker tell Dexter something he already knows. While I like a lot of Dexter’s commentary and find it amusing, sometimes insightful; it needs to be done in a little more moderation.

• I know a show about a serial killer in Miami isn’t going to hinge on realism, but how many times are employees in Miami Dade’s homicide division going to unwittingly surround themselves with varying degrees of criminals? Obviously Dexter, the Ice Truck Killer, Meg’s CI boyfriend, the ADA, Doakes is framed by Dexter so they’re under the impression that the Bay Butcher lived among them…I’ve only been to Miami once and it was when I was 16 to go on a cruise, but I distinctly remember seeing more than 25 people during my time in the city. Though since every man is a serial killer and every woman and child is a victim of their treacherous and sociopathic tendencies, I can understand why it’s so barren, what with everyone in the executive branch killing each other and their loved ones off. Its a running debate which is doing a better job of deterring tourism, this or Cocaine Cowboys, probably this, since no one has seen Cocaine Cowboys.

• The Doakes-Dexter climax, which should have been the biggest moment for this series, ended on a whimper. I mean, their exchanges while he was locked up were interesting, but seeing that Doakes had demonstrated a penchant for pulling the trigger and the series has told us dozens of times that he was a trained killer, how is he going to let Dexter get the drop on him like that, especially after he almost ripped his throat out in the season one finale? Or not just shoot him in the knee and explain himself later. Instead, it ends with Dexter wrestling the gun away from him and choking him unconscious before dragging him in a cell that Doakes could have broken out of 1,000 different times but didn’t because we’re willing to overlook contrivances so long as it keeps our anti-hero around, and for the sake of the series, so am I. Again, it relies too heavily on Michael C. Hall.

• When they killed off Doakes it was hard to root for anything good to happen to Dexter. I know he’s an anti-hero and we’re not supposed to approve of what he does, he’s just an idealized version of what we want all our serial killers to be. But all things considered Doakes was just an over-zealous cop, nothing worse. Seeing him die and then take the wrap for the Bay Butcher killings made Dexter a lot less endearing.

• Lazy writing, especially as it concerns Meg. Has she had a scene where she isn’t lecturing/speechifying to her peers or trying to intimidate someone with “tough talk” or weeping over some mistake she made? Those are basically the three shades of Meg, and none of them are all that interesting or convincing. At least they showed her working in the third season, but is there a reason we’re supposed to like her other than she’s ultimately well-intentioned? So are a lot of people, but we’re not asked to take them seriously.

All that said, it’s almost a certainty that we’re going to end up watching the fourth season, but only because we want to see some comeuppance. Right now Dexter is something of an infallable character. Much worse than, say Tommy Gavin on Entourage. Obviously he’s flawed, but the way it is written there is always some sort of justification for his behavior. Watching him get the better of everyone all the time, regardless of how just, can start to wear thin.

Essentially, Dexter is an intense character study with a remarkable lead that inhabits an unremarkable world. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still better than any cop drama offered on any network…just not for the cops. At least not anything involving cop detail. So while I enjoyed the series as pure entertainment and I think Dexter Morgan is one of the more fascinating fictional characters on television, I just can’t recommend it beyond that since it aspires to be so much more. Though I guess I can’t really talk since I begrudgingly watch Nip Tuck.

Friday night preview tomorrow morning before we head out to Chicago for a bachelor party. I wanted to bring a bottle but since 9/11 everyone’s all uptight and you can’t take any alcohol on the plane. Thanks, Bin Laden.