Like movie reviews, these episode reviews of Dexter will be SPOILER FILLED, reader you have been warned!

Blood Spatter Review

A Review of Dexter Season 6 Episode 1

 
We watched the season six premiere of the Showtime hit series Dexter the other night and I have to say it wasn’t offended by it. It was however the beginning to a slow and hopefully better season than last year’s season five.
 

 
Last year’s season, which dealt with the (SPOILER) Rita’s murder and how Dexter was dealing with it was probably my least favorite of all the seasons, with season 4 and the Trinity killer (aka John Lithgow) as the strongest entry into the Dexter series. Now, that’s just my opinion. A lot of people really like the first two seasons, and I do too. I just thought that they gave Dexter someone that was really on the same level as him in season 4 and in season 5 they really fell flat with the small group of inept killers who were all following one individual. Also, I didn’t care much for his friendship/love affair with Lumen. So, needless to say, I’m putting a bunch of eggs in the basket of Dexter season 6 in hopes that we get a great season.
 

Now, is it just me or as the seasons of Dexter progress, has Dexter in fact gotten more and more sloppy with his killings? This season opens with him (SPOILER) having gotten “stabbed” and calling 911 to get help. Then he goes ahead and murders the two guys who came to help him (he had good reason to kill them—also, he wasn’t really stabbed), but doesn’t that leave a trail of evidence? There is a phone call, a recorded phone call with his voice and he killed them in the ambulance. Last season, he killed Jordan Chase’s head of security (and one of the five evil men that Dexter and Lumen were killing off) in the hotel room directly next to where the security guy was last seen! Wouldn’t people question who was in the room next door? Aren’t there cameras anywhere?
 
Continuing with the sloppy killings, this episode ends with Dexter making a killing room under the bleachers at his old high school in a sports equipment closet. Really? If that old high school jock had an ounce of intelligence, couldn’t he have just screamed and someone would be bound to have heard what was going on?
 

 
Also, I guess I’ll just get all of the negative stuff out of the way now, but was I the only one that didn’t like how Harry (Dexter’s father—played by James Remer) was very interactive with Dexter in this episode? I am racking my brain to think back to a time that Dexter looked off to the side of the screen and there was his father, giving him a thumbs up or there on the side lines calling to Dexter to tell him how to play flag football. Do the writers of this season realize that Harry isn’t really a ghost but he is Dexter’s conscience? It just rubbed me the wrong way? What are we now a comedy?
 

 
I do however like that we have already started seeing the villains in this season and they seem to be well thought out. Unlike last season where it felt, at least for me as a viewer, as if they needed to get through Dexter’s emotions of loosing Rita and then realized that they needed an actual bad guy for the season. This time, we don’t really know what Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos are really up too, but, we have a better idea of the direction of the season then we did last year.
 
On the bad guys, or Big Bads as they are called by the writers of Dexter, I always thought that the writer’s would base an entire season simply around the villain and then the rest of the story kind of fell into place. Right before season six opened there was three or four minute Writer’s Room interview and how the writers come up with each season. I for one was surprised to find out that the way the writers come up with the bad guys is the same way Sam Rami and his writers came up with the bad guys for each of the Spider-Man movies; they essentially need to figure out where the main character is in his life and where the main character’s thought process is. This season, Dexter is questioning religion, and so that is where the villains come from. Season four, Dexter was questioning whether he could be a family man and continue his killings and he finds the Trinity killer who was doing it for thirty years!
 
Watch the video of the writer’s here:

 
I think it is too early to tell where all the characters are going. We have the beginnings to a lot of a different stories. Batista with his sister, who I don’t believe we’ve ever heard of, not really sure where this story is going but I am really curious. Debra and Quinn are getting closer in their relationship, or at least Quinn would like to be; if they aren’t getting interrupted by some random shooting at a restaurant. LaGuerta and her rise to being a captain and how she got to be in that position; I’m fairly certain we will see this come back into play later this season. And, last but not least, Masuka just being Masuka. Also, is the “hot girl” intern that they show with the short blond hair the same as “Speedster” in Heroes? (upon referencing IMDB, it is Brea Grant and her character has a name: Ryan Chambers, good to see her back on TV after Heroes left).
 

 
I did feel like we were literally catching up from an entire year of absence from Dexter. As opposed to last season where it took place directly on the same night that Dexter finds Rita dead. So, I felt there was a lot more catch up to do with all the characters and that we didn’t get a chance to really sit with and enjoy them for too long. Maybe I’m just being nitpicky but that’s just me.
 
Honestly, I’m really looking forward to the next episode, I want to see where this season is going and I am hoping it holds a lot more intrigue than last season. Also, if rumors are true, Showtime and Dexter star, Michael C. Hall are at a standstill with the current contract negotiations. I for one am hoping that Showtime works out their deal Hall for more seasons of Dexter, because there are so many different directions that this character could go, I would love for his “dark side” to come out to his sister Debra, I just want to see what that would do to their relationship.
 

 
That’s it for me for now. Let me know what you think, drop me a line at Marcos@cosmelentertainment.com and/or follow us on twitter.