Dexter: The Third Season

Dexter: The Third Season Review

There is little to add after season 1 and season 2. It is going to still be the same. Well you did not read the books properly then or you did not watch the first two seasons properly. This one is entirely new and yet still the same. That's the miracle of this series: it seems to rejuvenate itself by getting older. So what's new that is not so new after all. First he got his Rita girlfriend pregnant. No surprise since he went to it bareback and there never was the slightest innuendo or plain detail about covering up before going out. Sooner or later with a woman who already has two kids! And of course she forgot the pill one night or something like that. Bound to happen, Sir. And it did happen. But you should see the fertile dog who is kind of wailing and whimpering in front of the reality he loves and desires more than anything else, but he can't admit it even to himself. It is true, morning sickness and all the rest on Rita's side, and the rest is a lot, like buying a new home, a wedding dress, choose between chocolate or hazelnut for the wedding cake, buying an engagement ring and all the rest, that can give you a vertigo. It is true an engagement ring looks like the receipt you get from the parking machine that gives you one hour's parking time, but well that is generally done, isn't it? New and not so new is his sister who falls in love with a local black singer, details in the series, look for them. This time he is not from Philadelphia or even farther away, and he is not the age of her father. It is true he is black, and he is a little bit wrapped up, but that's only muscle, isn't it? No, no, she is not getting that old yet and maybe in next season we'll have another family affair. Ah! Those Dexters! Quite new is the fact that Dexter gets a partner. In other words, parallel to his wife to be he gets some kind of professional attraction to some one of the same sex who is not a cop. But how can that work? Dexter is a solitary animal, like a spider, and it eats its partners after the dual carriageway trip, that spidery and long-legged insect that is not an insect. So how is the spider going to accept a partnership and yet keep his plate clean and his little secret night adventures for himself. And what about after the marriage? Well that will be for next season. You already know I guess, but I prefer waiting for the DVD. You can already pre-order it, with one click at Amazon if you are trustworthy, financially I mean. But as they say the apprentice gets always worse than the sorcerer. Remember Fantazia? You're going to say that is such a cliché. But it is so effective, but well at times we dream of the reverse, but then I am told it becomes a serial killer, not a serial justice cleanser. And then you do have some more details about the various polices that fight for a tidbit of macadam here and there, the Vice Squad, the Miami Dade Police Department and the Miami Sheriff's office. A little more about grossness but this time in a way with some reserve. There is a little bit less blood. That's maybe a good thing for the audience and the watching rates, but it takes some real gross horror out of the series. Dexter is becoming more civilized in a way. No real blood display like a bed floating in blood or a blood shower when opening the toilet door. But this season is definitely growing up to something that is or should be disquieting. Killing is becoming some kind of hobby, not a possession, not a deep impulse, not at all, just something you have to do everyday like washing your teeth or brushing your feet, or the reverse. No public outcry at the latest victims. No outcry at all at the disappearing hoodlums, or district attorney as for that. Though I must say the skinner is by far the vest invention in that season. It holds us firmly from the beginning to the end including the kidnaping. But hush, you are going to give away a spoiler. So enjoy it all in one go. It's only about ten hours of TV. A good nice night with some booze and peanuts, not too much popcorn though, especially since the price of cereal products is going to go up this year after the forest fires in Russia.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

Dexter: The Third Season Overview

Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on American premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.

Dexter: The Third Season Specifications

Showtime's breakout hit series Dexter, about a lovable psychopath, a serial killer who targets only the scummiest of the scum, hits its stride in season 3. Dexter Morgan, played with nuance and glee by the outstanding Michael C. Hall, begins the season somewhat chastened by the events of the previous season--where whiffs of his secret life became known to others and he was nearly found out. "I need to find out what it's like just to be normal. If that's something that's even possible for me," he muses, as he tries to settle in to domestic life with girlfriend Rita (the baby-voiced Julie Benz) and her kids.

Yet Dexter is soon back to his compulsion for seeking out criminals who've somehow escaped traditional justice. Hall, one of TV's most talented actors, manages to make Dexter's off-kilter moral compass totally believable, if not quite sympathetic. The rest of the cast is stellar, including Dex's sister, Debra, played by Jennifer Carpenter as the seemingly more combustible Morgan--a hot-tempered Miami detective in the same division where Dexter toils in the background as a blood-spatter specialist. Deb wears her heart on her sleeve, as a cop and a sister, and her deep love for her brother is a key part of what makes Dexter so human. (And Carpenter's chemistry with Hall is amped by the fact that in real life, the actors are married.)

Season 3's breakout guest star is the amazing Jimmy Smits, who plays District Attorney Miguel Prado, a polished pillar of the community, an ambitious politician--and a guy with a secret every bit as dark as Dexter's. As Miguel and Dexter peel away each other's unsavory layers, Dexter tries to tamp down Miguel's blistering desire for revenge, and Miguel begins leading a double life--one that could threaten Dexter's life and family as much as the growing list of bad guys in Miguel's crosshairs. The other main star of Dexter is the city of Miami, its teeming beauty and corruption celebrated in equal measure, and its blistering sun shot without tempering. The city is so integral, visually and viscerally, that it's impossible to think of Dexter being shot anywhere else. The set's best extras--engaging interviews with cast members Hall, Benz, Carpenter, Lauren Vélez (Lt. Maria Laguerta) and David Zayas (Det. Angel Batista)--must be watched on a computer, for reasons that are unclear. Still, the interviews are must-sees for all Dexter fans. It's a killer season. --A.T. Hurley

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