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Dexter

Editorial Review

The last thing the world needs is another cop show, right? But this is a crime drama with a genuine difference, as blood spatter expert Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall) sets about solving crimes not with a cop's instinct but with the been-there-done-that insight of a criminal: Dexter is secretly a serial killer.

Dexter has already proven a ratings winner, scooping a couple of Emmys for its technical work and about to start its third season in the US, so Ten can screen it with confidence.

The first episode sets the scene: through flashbacks, we're shown Dexter's troubled childhood. Orphaned as a small boy, his sociopathic tendencies are picked up early by foster father and homicide detective Harry Morgan (James Remar), who guides Dexter into using his criminal urges for good - or at least less evil means.

Through his father's careful training, Dexter is able to put on a convincing facade of a normally functioning human, despite professing to have no emotions whatsoever. However, one person isn't convinced by his all-round nice guy act: fellow cop Sergeant Doakes (Erik King), who rather heavy-handedly proclaims his distrust of Dexter.

Hall imbues his character with the endearing, almost mischievous criminality of a Tarantino baddie. Yet, though the audience is driven to root for this blood-obsessed, body-dismembering protagonist, it's not entirely comfortable. When Dexter openly admires the work of the latest serial killer he's tracking, the show crosses from witty to creepy.

Dexter premieres on the Ten Network on Sunday, July 6, at 9:50pm.

Shelley Tustin, June 2008

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