I liked the show. I was engaged right away. It was interesting and fun. I also think it was really silly. There were a lot of plot contrivances to make the story work. It wasn't as "prestige" as I expected it to be. I suppose all that doesn't matter when you have a compelling character, decent writing, and an interesting story.
It seemed a lot older than I expected. I mean, it is old... I guess the last 19 years have gone by a lot faster than I realized. I thought the show would look more modern. I recently watched the first couple seasons of The Wire. On that show I expected the age. Even though they came out only 4 years apart, I think of Dexter as a much more modern show.
The mid 2000's were the heyday for shows like CSI and Criminal Minds. When I started watching Dexter I immediately felt like I was watching one of those shows. It has more blood, nudity, and bad language... but overall Dexter felt a lot more similar to a prime-time crime procedural than I expected. This surprised me the most. I thought it would do more to elevate itself.
I am planning to keep watching. I've heard it gets better. I'm interested to see what they do with the character now that the back-story has been told. Those plot mechanics to get that story told is what made things awkward. I expect there to be more freedom going forward.
Filed Under: Crime, Drama, Netflix