Dexter (TV)

While humanizing serial killers and even making them cool and glamorous is nothing new onscreen — Hannibal Lecter and Patrick Bateman zip to mind — Dexter Morgan is a different animal altogether. He's smart, hip, attractive, and cruel, but unlike his cinematic contemporaries, Dexter is the kind of down-to-earth guy you could imagine working with, being friends with, or dating.

Dexter Morgan (again, like Hannibal and Bateman) was first conceived in the pages of a novel. Jeff Lindsay wrote two bestsellers, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Darkly Devoted Dexter, which caught the eye of a producer who in turn bought the rights and created a series for Showtime, which debuts this Sunday night (October 1).

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a respected CSI / lab tech specializing in blood spatter for the Miami P.D. It's the perfect cover for his extracurricular activities, which include murder, dismemberment, and the hoarding of gory mementos.

And remember, he's the good guy — our hero! He's our hero because even though he is a sociopath and has no feelings or conscience (which he freely admits, in his voiceovers), he only kills those like himself: murderers. This outlet for his terrifying tendencies was conceived when Dexter was just a teen, by his foster father, a cop (James Remar). Dad figured if Dexter was damaged and couldn't control his impulses, he might as well channel them properly.

Law enforcement runs in the family; Dexter's foster sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), is a rookie police officer working vice. She knows all the hookers in town, which comes in handy when a serial killer starts stalking the ladies of the night. Debra doesn't know about Dexter's dark side, but she respects his uncanny knowledge of killers and how they think, so she turns to him for advice — even though the crimes do not involve blood and therefore his area expertise is not a factor. Dexter helps Debra get promoted to homicide, and together they try and figure out what makes The Ice Truck Killer tick — she, for professional reasons; he, for personal.

Dexter sees these bloodless, though brutal and shocking murders, as a challenge. Dexter is torn. He covets the newcomer for his own prey, yet he has promised Debra that he will help her catch the un-sub. What's more, The Ice Truck Killer seems to know exactly who and what Dexter is and starts a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Dexter is by far the best new show of the 2006 Fall TV season. You might recognize Hall as David Fisher, the gay, often whiney funeral-home owner on HBO's acclaimed series, Six Feet Under (cancelled last year, after five seasons). He does a complete about-face in Dexter, and the transformation is amazing. I always thought he was a great actor on Six Feet Under (and he's had two minor film roles), but I never knew he had such range. Jennifer Carpenter, a young actress who bowed to raves in her breakout role as the title character in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, is also superb in her part as the eager cop hellbent on solving her first big case.

All the accoutrémonts — locations, sets, cinematography, music, et al — are flawless. The gore is ever-present, but it's handled in a classier, more polished manner than, say, an episode of CSI. In fact, the storyline of the bloodless crimes and corpse-parts wrapped in butcher paper are creepy and suspenseful rather than cringe-inducing.

If you enjoy killers with cachet, witty dialogue, full-bodied characters and twisty mysteries, be sure and tune in to Dexter on Showtime on Sunday nights.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson