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COPYRIGHT 2006 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Most vigilante dramas plant their outrages up front--the murder of the architect's wife in "Death Wish," for instance--to enlist our approval of the ensuing slaughter of punks and loiterers. Showtime's "Dexter" skips all that, daring us to turn away. The pilot opens on a bleached-out Miami Beach evening, with Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) cruising around and telling us, in zombielike tones, that he loves the city and its Cuban food, "but I'm hungry for something different now." Chinese? Apparently not. Dexter abducts a choirmaster and forces the man to confront the exhumed bodies of his youthful victims: "Look, or I'll cut your eyelids right off your face." Then he strips the man, binds him to a table, and revs his drill. Cue ungodly screams.
By day, a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police, a master of reconstructing crimes from drips and spray, Dexter moonlights as a serial killer, preying on murderers who have escaped the cops' notice or a jury's reach, particularly those who killed or orphaned children. If you like rough justice, he's the best cop on the force--a one-man posse and hanging judge. (His pursuits don't always bear scrutiny, however. He uses his laptop to research an acquitted D.U.I. killer named Matt Chambers, and instantly pulls...
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