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Dexter

Season 2 Review

By Kenny Farino

SPOILERS WITHIN. Ye have been warned.

We've all been at a point in our lives where we think something's quality is declining as time goes on. People all knew the Star Wars universe was doomed when the prequels came out and reared their ugly heads, crushing the hopes of millions with Episodes 1 and 2. Television isn't any different; it happened to That 70's Show when most of the main cast disappeared except for Hyde, and it happened to Heroes when it started getting repetitive and silly. I thought this was going to happen to my all-time favorite show, Showtime's Dexter.

Dexter is the story of Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Police Department who kills serial killers in his free time, following a code he was strictly taught by his step-father, Harry. I picked up the first season in Target, hearing some good things about it, and decided to give it a chance. Twelve adrenaline-fueled hours later, I was hooked!

Naturally, I would be excited to see Dexter: Season Two in action after The Ice Truck Killer, the antagonist of the first season, was dealt with. I'm not giving anything away, so google it or watch the show. If I thought Season Two was any good, I wouldn't have given that introduction above, so there was something wrong with dear Dexter.

Synopsis

After the events of Dexter: Season One, divers have accidentally come across the watery burial ground of Dexter's victims, soon unearthing a massive mystery for Miami Metro that will have our anti-hero sweating bullets. To avoid suspicion, Dexter signs up for AA. There, he meets Lila, and his world starts to fall apart at the seams.

Before we go into all that was wrong about this season, let's (begrudgingly) find some good things to like about it.

The Good

Admittedly, Dexter: Season Two was good for mainly one thing, and that was character development. In the first season, Dexter is an emotionless killing machine, and he doesn't actually develop until halfway through the season. This isn't a fault with it, though, because it is executed beautifully! With Season Two, however, Dexter suddenly experiences an internal struggle as his whole world falls apart. Because of this, we get the Dexter we see in Season Three (which, by the way, kicks Season Two's ass, and has proven that this series is far from death); he's a cold-blooded killer, but he now has an understanding of a few new things. But... that was all I could find that was good with Season Tw- wait, no, here's another thing.

Sex. Lots of sex.

The Bad

The first thing that struck me with Dexter: Season Two was a lack or toning down in the content that made the First Season such a smash hit. One of the things that made S1 so endearing was Dexter choosing and dealing with a new victim every episode, serial killers that he wanted to kill to satisfy his urges, and abide by the Code of Harry (kill people who deserve it, namely heinous criminals). In S2, there is a considerable lack of them. How he deals with them is also altered, namely making a transition from using power tools to simply stabbing them in the chest.

With that said, they added another staple to the series in S2, namely a gratuitous amount of sex. Granted, that's not a bad thing for the fans in their teens, but it made Dexter seem a bit... mainstream? Lots of other shows have steamy sex scenes, but how many have a lawman killing people in such an awesome way? NONE, I SAY. NOOOOOONE. It made the story seem a little emptier when at least 15-20 minutes of the 12 hours consisted of sex.

Another problem I had with S2 was the antagonist, Lila. After a few episodes, it gets pretty obvious that she's the villain you're supposed to hate, and you just want to see her die. Sure, it's a huge payoff when you finally see that happen, but that's not the point of Dexter. In S1 and S3, the main villains aren't even exposed until a good way into the season, the full extent of their treachery not fully realized until the ultimate climax! The Ice Truck Killer and (SPOILERS: Miguel Prado ) are both excellent villains in this respect, while Lila... falls flat (Yes, S3's villain is put under spoiler because the DVD was released only last month, so those who missed it may still be working through it).

This is bad-ass.

This is not.

Another reason why Lila just isn't a good villain is because she isn't remotely likable, which makes her somebody you just want to see die without any little niggling bits of sympathy.

(SPOILERS: The Ice Truck Killer and Miguel Prado were both endearing because you got to know them a little more, even feeling sorry for both of them before they meet their ends. ) With Lila, she tries to kill children, and even successfully offs one of the main characters in S1 and S2, (SPOILERS: Sgt. Doakes. ) That's not good storytelling when you make the villain cartoonishly evil, you want a 3-dimensional baddy. Like Seth Brundle, or King Kong.

The Verdict

All in all, despite the fact S2 has some good suspense strewn in, it just has too little in common with S1 to hit home with a lot of the fans. Thankfully, S3 went back to its roots and then some, but its predecessor lacked too many of the things that made S1 good. Three out of five stars.