Dexter - Season 1 | 
 enlarge | Actors: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £39.99
Buy New: £17.99
You Save: £22.00 (55%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 38
Format: Box Set, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 629
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
EAN: 5014437945532
ASIN: B0014J89JA
Release Date: May 19, 2008 (In 3 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk review
An interesting and original idea that's very skillfully executed, Dexter is never less than watchable, often quite compelling and sometimes thoroughly riveting. As the 12 episodes from the show's first season reveal, it's also the epitome of "high concept," a kind of Silence of the Lambs for the C.S.I. generation. Creator-executive producer James Manos Jr.'s title character, one Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under renown), works for the Miami Police Department as a blood spatter analyst, visiting crime scenes and helping figure out what happened. He has an avocation, too: during his off hours, he tracks down some very, very bad people who for various reasons have eluded the proper authorities. Seems his adoptive father, a cop himself, taught the kid how to channel his dark side in a 'positive' direction and so, having captured these evil doers (including a child molester-murderer and a recidivist drunk driver with a trail of bodies in his wake), Dex dispatches them with clinical precision, thus making him a serial killer who snuffs serial killers. But there's more--much more, as it turns out. By his own description, Dexter is 'a monster,' an empty shell who fakes all human interactions and admits to no real feelings for anything or anyone, including his foster sister (Jennifer Carter) and his nominal girlfriend (Julie Benz), a former crack addict and battered spouse who's as uninterested in sex as he is. There's an explanation for Dexter's weirdness, of course, one so deep and traumatic that even he isn't aware of it. It's gradually revealed over the course of the season as he and the cops (who include Erik King, Lauren Velez, and David Zayas, all first-rate) track down the so-called 'Ice Truck Killer,' a fellow monster whose grisly m.o. both fascinates and taunts our hero, leading to a genuinely shocking and squirm-inducing finale. Dexter can be a bit arch, with an ironic, too-hip-for-the-room tone that get a little old. Still, it's a safe bet that anyone who views this first season will be salivating for the second. --Sam Graham
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Very over-rated May 15, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
After receiving rave reviews and an Emmy award I was really looking forward to Dexter when it aired on British tv. I have to admit however that I was left very disappointed by the first series. Am I the only one who sussed that the prosthetic doctor was the ice truck killer the minute he started dating Dexter's sister? Am I the only one who worked out that the he was Dexter's brother long before this 'twist' was revealed toward the end of the series? Not only was the plot wafer thin and incredibly obvious, the series pushed the bounds of plausibility way too far and way too often. Like the ice truck killer being able to magically break into Dexter's apartment at will with nothing more than a safety pin. Purleese! Dexter is supposed to be an ultra vigilant serial killer, do you not think he would be a bit more security conscious? Or the way that Dexter can seemingly hack into any computer system, including Police systems at will. It's so unconvincing. And how annoying is Dexter's dumb sister. How an earth did she make it to detective! I found the use of flashbacks of ever increasing intensity and clarity a very weak and lazy plot driver. Also, Dexter often Breaks the Fourth Wall with little smiles or cheeky grins toward the camera which yet again destroys any sense of believability. Perhaps I've been spoilt by fantastic series like 'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire'. I certainly demand a lot more subtlety and realism in my tv shows these days and by comparison Dexter is completely over-rated powder-puff tv with little in the way of substance. Perhaps it's unfair to compare Dexter to those two amazing shows but even more mainstream/commercial shows like 'Lost' and 'Rescue Me' are so much better than this over-rated poorly executed crime drama.
 Enjoy! May 15, 2008
Like many people, when this show was recommended to me I tried not to smirk. The whole idea sounded kitsch at best, and time slot filler at worst. Oh how wrong I was. Other reviews do more justice to this `gem' of a programme, please see them. I have managed to see both season one and two, some episodes seem too stretch the realms of the plausible. However, all is forgiven as the sum of the whole outweighs any of the negative. If you cannot buy it, rent from Amazon, but definitely give a try. Enjoy!
Huh May 10, 2008
Is it ok to want a serial killer to "win"?
People who watched this on tv must have felt tortured. I watched all 2 seasons within about 5 days while on holiday, and I can't imagine having had the patience to have had it drip-fed just once a week. It is very, very, *very* compelling. It'll get compared to other things (CSI, Criminal Minds, Silence of the Lambs) and the comparisons are justified, because it has all those facets in it, but where this veers off the standard path is its strength.
There are myriad procedural cop shows; plenty of charismatic serial killers; lots and lots of shows which aren't afraid to show bloody gore... but none of them have a serial killer as protagonist - much less one you're rooting for. Michael C Hall is wholly likeable - he has one of those faces - and his performance is excellent, but it's more than that.
Apparently in the States there has been much controversy surrounding the notion that a serial killer would be portrayed as a sympathetic character. It makes sense: serial killers bad. Were this "real life", the fall out for police institutions would be monumental. But, it *isn't* real life. This is television, where the most extraordinary things occur, and for the hour you're watching Dexter, you'll need to suspend your disbelief a little.
He starts off as almost an automaton. Somewhere along the way, there's a shift, and you see that he does actually have feelings. I'm not sure whether that was done in order to make him slightly more palatable and sympathetic, or whether his emotions are gradually released as his story is told. And his story, his history, is a doozy.
The comedy comes from his voice-over narrative. Dry, sardonic, witty. Everyone in the world - barring one Detective Doakes - sees the mask Dexter has built, but we get to see beyond it. We are allowed into the mind of this man: Dexter the blood spatter analyst will laugh at a joke someone has told; Dexter the serial killer tells us in a monotone voice that he understands the idea of laughing, but doesn't get what it's actually for. Dexter, brother and friend, will respond with an enthusiatic "Yeah!"; Dexter the man who kills people, in his oddly hypnotic voice, says no.
Season 1 focuses on the hunt for "The Ice Truck Killer", and it's a twisty turny thing. The final revelation is outrageously preposterous, but by then, you're hooked and willing to believe anything. It's also wonderfully, wonderfully done. The music where you discover the identity of the killer is perhaps the most effective piece of music I've heard on a tv show. Emotive, haunting strings that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Interestingly, this music is played alongside season 2's closing credits, so it must have proved popular. Not surprising, as it really is an exceptionally beautiful composition.
All the supporting cast are fantastic. It took until the middle of season 2 to not abjectly despise Dexter's sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) anymore, and have heard many people say the same, so if she irritates you, give her time: she may grow on you. All the others, though, are superb. Two, in particular, deserve special mention. David Zayas as Detective Angel Batista is an absolute joy. If Dexter were to have a friend, Angel would be the person. He's warm, funny, and has the kindness of a puppy. That someone like him would adore Dexter in some ways gives us permission to, also.
Equally, Julie Benz, as Dexter's girlfriend Rita, is especially wonderful. I've seen her dotted about, but in my head she was, and would always be, Darla. Not anymore. Her performance is understated and deep and if there's one person you're rooting for more than Dexter, it's her. Her two children are equally besotted with Dexter, and if kids like someone, you know they're good.
That seems to be the Hollywood rule: if kids - who see everything - like someone, you know that deep down, they're a good person. And perhaps Dexter is. He has a conscience, he doesn't kill innocent people, his pathology is gradually explained (if not justified) and he's been trained to do what he does. He really is, in many ways, a soldier. Indoctrinated from the age of 3 onwards. You'll catch yourself asking that sometimes: is he a good guy?
The season finale goes some way to answering that question, but maybe the answer is arbitrary. It's certainly the question I'm left with, and think about. That and when oh when oh when is season 3 starting.
 Unexpectedly gratifying... if in a slightly 'icky' way! April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I initially had reservations about this series, thinking it would be an episodic progression of gruesome murders, weakly bound by a 'cop show' set-up.
Instead I found it to be a wonderfully understated, morally ambivalent programme, with a triumphant performance by Michael C Hall.
I had seen him before in Six Feet Under, in which he plays a rather beleagured, introverted, frustrated gay character.
Some of these personality traits are seen in Dexter too, and acted to perfection by Michael Hall.
The 'moral ambivalence' angle is dealt with very well. What Dexter does is undoubtedly abhorrent - he is a serial murderer, yet he comes across as affable, amiable, even good! What are we meant to think? Are we meant to sympathise because he is the narrator, or are we, just like all the other characters, being duped by his facade?
Gripping viewing - I can't wait for the 2nd series.
A Dark Joy April 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Poor Peter Krause. After the demise of Six Feet Under he moved on to Dirty, Sexy Money, a perfectly serviceable drama about an obscenely rich and predictably dysfunctional New York family (the Darlings) and their lawyer (Krause). It's polished, glamorous, seedy in the right places and really rather dull.
Meanwhile Krause's fictional brother, Michael C. Hall, has swapped Fisher's funeral home for an even darker place - Miami. As Dexter, the titular anti-hero, Hall is an hypnotic presence. Amoral, emotionally vacant and ruthlessly violent he's everything a central character should not be. Yet, he makes it work (I say he, but as fine an actor as Hall undoubtedly is what makes this series so memorable is the brilliant ensemble of actors and the tremendous scripts.)
Dexter is a dark joy; gruesome, blackly comic, intriguing, tense, deeply unnerving and highly recommended.
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