Finally caught up with these US imports the other night.
Dirt was okay: the plot was predictable, Pee-Wee Herman felt out of place and the ongoing B-plot was hard to pick up. On the other hand, Ian Hart as Don Konkey was great in what little screen time he was given, and the show managed to tread the fine line between glorifying the tabloids and showing the muck underneath the glossy surface. Will give it another shot as I keep hearing fantastic things about Ian Hart, but it felt like the show hadn’t really found it’s feet: that it was holding back.
Holding back is certainly not something you could accuse Dexter of: death, drugs and dismemberment all rolled into one Miami sun-baked package. What makes this different from other cop shows (like CSI: Miami) is that instead of having a lead who spends the whole show posturing (like CSI:Miami) or being smug (like CSI:Miami) or wearing shades even at night (like CSI… oh you get the idea), the lead in Dexter is a charming, confident team player who works in the police lab by day whilst murdering killers the police can’t nail at night. Oh, and it’s a black comedy. Jet black. The opening sequence of Dexter getting up in the morning makes this abundantly clear as blood oranges are squeezed, steaks are stabbed and floss wire is pulled tight. A wonderful, dark, warped and gripping show that I wished I’d seen from the beginning.
