The return of DEXTER

Anybody here watch the show and/or catch the season premiere last Sunday? (or possibly earlier, since it apparently leaked online a while ago)

In terms of drama-oriented shows, this one has my money for smartest and most interesting thing on television right now. It's well written, well acted (especially by Michael C. Hall), and some of the music is so perfectly fitting -- I couldn't imagine a better theme song/opening sequence. It manages to make the mundane activities of one's morning routine seem eerie and ominous; violent, even gory.

Here is a link to the first in a series of videos of some of the cast as well as some of the show's production team on a panel answering questions at this year's Comic Con. Included in the panel is John Lithgow, whose role is new to the show, and which so far looks like it will be a very interesting (and terrifically creepy) component of this season's plot. It serves, as he points out in one of the Comic Con videos, as a return to the more villainous sort of roles he was more known for before he starred in 3rd Rock From The Sun.

Perhaps the most interesting moment, though, for me, is in the clip "International response to Dexter," when Michael C. Hall starts to talk about some of the moral quandaries present in and presented by the show, and how differently people reckon with those issues:

People [from other countries] are fascinated, and I think in some markets overseas they are interested in the show in that it's an American show, and interested in what it might or might not say about American culture...so, that's an added wrinkle.
It's funny, when I was in Europe... People here will always say, "It's terrible! He's killing people!" and I'll say, "Yeah, but he's killing really bad people." And people here will say, "Yeah, you're right..." and in Europe, they'll say, "Yeah, but he's still killing people!" It's an interesting distinction.

The show, in my mind, is at its best when it engages us on these matters, when it asks us to thoroughly examine our preconceived notions of justice and of the confoundingly murky grey areas between good and evil.
Its premise, though, is wholly contingent upon this fictitious archetype of sorts -- a serial killer with principles.
One of my favorite moments in this vein is in season 2, when he says on the topic of the death penalty, "When you consider the cost to the average taxpayer... I'm a bargain."

Another of these moments is at the end of season 1, where he says while walking through a crowd, "Deep down, I'm sure they'd appreciate a lot of my work," as the scene takes a humorous and somewhat tongue-in-cheek turn to that fantasy being realized, replete with confetti, everyone cheering and holding up signs that say things like "GO DEXTER" & "I'M YOUR #1 FAN!"

You know what-- forget my description; watching the actual thing is way better.

Dexter is my favorite show on TV. The writing is fantastic and Michael C. Hall is superb. I've liked Hall ever since Six Feet Under (which has him as a TOTALLY different character as an uptight homosexual funeral director) but he's still great because he's just a great actor.

My favorite parts of the show are his own narrations and thoughts, they are so clever and hilarious at times. It's funny that he's so likable and we even root for him, because really the guy is just a killer who lies to everyone around him. He would just be out killing anyone if not for his "code" so he's not actually doing it to be some vigilante hero, just because if he's going to be doing it, his foster father figured he might as well put a positive spin on it and gave him the code.