Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Michael C Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, CS Lee,
James Remar, Christina Robinson, Preston Bailey, Jimmy Smits | based on the novels by Jeff Lindsay
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £34.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 720 minutes | Directed by Keith Gordon & others
Most normal people enjoy a sacred pact with society – live a good life and society will take care of you. But if society drops the ball then someone else has to pick up the slack. That's where I come in. — Dexter Morgan
More deliciously deadly doings from your friendly neighbourhood serial killer. Dexter Morgan (Hall) is still living his secret double life: Miami police blood spatter expert by day, murderous avenging angel by night. He's still managing to keep his extracuricular activities from his girlfriend Rita (Benz) and police detective sister Debra (Carpenter). While trying to snatch his next victim, Dexter accidentally kills a stranger ... who turns out to be the young brother of Miami assistant DA Miguel Prado (Smits). And to make matters worse, original victim "freebo" is missing ... which means that Dexter must find him, and take care of him, before the plice do. But things get even more complicated when Prado takes rather a liking to Dex. And Rita gets pregnant, meaning Dexter has to adjust to impending fatherhood while keeping one step ahead of the police.
Dexter is one of those shows that keeps improving each season. It's brilliant and entertaining, funny and scary. And much of that comes down to the riveting performance of Hall in the title role. But he can't do it all on his own, and there's also some great work from the supporting cast – especially, this season, from guest star Smits (and watch out for John Lithgow in Season 4). Throw tight writing and assured direction into the mix and Dexter is a TV series that just goes on rewarding its darkly devoted fans.
EXTRAS ★★★ Victims Match, a game in which you have to match the victim to the killer; the nine-minute featurette Inside the Writers Room, in which we hear from three of the show's writers; the seven-minute featurette Bringing Miami to LA, which takes a look at LA locations that double for Miami; Miami's Finest, text-based profiles of the main police department characters in the show; interviews with cast members Hall, Velez, Lee, Zayas, Carpenter and Benz; a photo gallery.