Dexter: The Sixth Season.
Starring Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, C.S. Lee, Desmond Harrington, David Zayas, Lauren Vélez, James Remar, Colin Hanks, Aimee Garcia, Edward James Olmos, Billy Brown and Mos Def.
SYNOPSIS:
Dexter Morgan and Miami Metro Homicide find themselves on the hunt for the Doomsday Killer after an outbreak of gruesome killings based on the Book of Revelations.
The ever popular American crime drama Dexter has been at the top of my list of favourite TV shows for some time. The story of serial killer Dexter Morgan, who only kills those that kill, is a story that stems from the Dexter book series by Jeff Lindsay (which I am also making my way through).
In terms of series quality, Dexter has had its ups and downs. Its notable up is Season 4, in particular the story arc of the Trinity Killer, a family man played by the excellent John Lithgow. Season 4 was written excellently, with Dexter discovering that it is actually simpler than he thought to hide the ‘dark passenger’ behind the guise of a seemingly happy family. Of course, not all was as it seems, and the season ends on quite the shocker. But anyway, let’s skip forward to Season 6.
Anyone who follows Dexter will remember the trailer some months ago. With Marilyn Manson’s ‘Personal Jesus’ as the soundtrack, we got glimpses of the action and a very strong sense of the seasons theme – religion. It’s an interesting, (and perhaps to some) controversial choice of topic to cover on a show that plays so freely with morals, but it does make sense.
The big bads of season 6 are Professor Gellar (Edward James Olmos) and Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks), two religious enthusiasts who feel their actions will bring about the end of the world. They are instructed by God, supposedly, to perform murderous tableaux’s lifted from the Book of Revelations. To balance out the slightly nuttier (okay, very nutty) religious affliction, we also have another character, Brother Sam (Mos Def) who has his own religious affiliation. The season as a whole does play quite freely with the idea of faith, and introduces it with ease into Dexter’s life, initially as a stepping stone to making his son’s life more grounded in normality than his own.
Dexter seems very distracted this season, taking his time in actually chasing our main killers by distracting himself by attending a high school reunion (we see our favourite serial killer bust a move in a particularly amusing scene), chasing after a childhood idol – the Tooth Fairy, and going on a road trip with a surprise companion. When he finally gets well and truly wrapped up in the main matter in hand, the season gets exciting. It becomes a cat and mouse chase where nobody is safe.
My gripe with Season 6 is how it tries to cram in quite a lot. There’s a lot of focus on Deb this season, which is great because I love her character, but with all the other balls in the air, it sometimes feels like the viewer is being dragged in several directions, and the plot devices at times feel desperate.
With Season 6 ending with a finale that Dexter fans are still talking about since it first aired in the US, Season 7 should be an interesting one, hopefully with a more focused direction than season 6. Season 6 made its mark by introducing some pretty dark images and ideas, so it better not cop out next time round.
Special features on the DVD include in depth interviews with principal cast and crew, a ‘Dissecting Dexter’ featurette – a look at the kill room of the first kill of the season – and a brief look at the new characters, featuring talking head interviews with the respective actors.
Originally published June 18, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
