Saturday, December 11, 2010

Dexter - Season 5 Preview (Contains Big Spoilers)

As I'm typing this, the fifth season of Dexter is coming to an end on Showtime tomorrow night and god knows when FXUK will get off their arses and air it but here goes nothing.

As a longterm fan of the series, I absolutely adored the fourth season of the series and thought the show had hit an all time high with the writing and characterisation that a part of me was nervous for Season 5. Would Dexter survive without Rita's humanly influence? Would the Big Bad of the season even come close to being as breathtakingly excellent as Arthur 'Trinity' Mitchell? From the previews that I've been watching, I'm glad to say that the series is still hitting the excellent button all over again, especially as opener My Bad picks up from where the previous year left off.

Every season of this show usually starts off with introducing the main baddie but this year takes a different tack of sorts. In the first half of the season, you've got Dexter coming to terms with the loss of Rita (Julie Benz) as Quinn seems to drawing closer to realising who Dexter really is but it's only by the third episode, Practically Perfect that the arrival of Lumen Pierce (Julia Stiles) that the season really comes into it's own. Lumen isn't a villain but more victim of being sold and abused by several nasty men and while Dexter has to win her trust, Lumen ends up spending the season as a mutiple of things for him - damsel in distress, ally, friend, and in recent episodes such as In The Beginning, a love interest. After Rita, I should be protesting that it's too soon but even I can't deny that there's something between Dexter and Lumen that the series has been crying out with him - an unconditional connection and unlike Miguel and Lila, there's a chance that Dexter can be himself with Lumen without things going sour - at least, here's hoping.

However while the first six episodes of the season are devoid of a big bad and Dexter/Lumen becoming quite the killing team, it's Johnny Lee Miller's turn to play a villain - the nasty Jordan Chase (who debuts in Circle Us), a nasty, police protected motivational speaker responsible for Lumen's former predicament and also quite the scary bastard as well as the season progresses. As a villain, he definitely works, especially given his manipulation over certain characters but whether or not he succeeds in his attempts of killing Lumen and defeating Dexter remain to be seen but either way, this show certainly knows how to write for their big bads. Here's hoping that season finale, The Big One puts him in the same slide collection as past nasties have done.

As for the rest of the gang - well, Deb's sleeping and falling in love with Quinn, verbally tearing Jordan asunder, being cautious of Lumen whilst seemingly coming closer to realising that her brother might not be all he seems but it's better than Angel and Maria's marital problems and Masuka having naff all to do again. In terms of reviews, I'm actually going to tackle the series in early 2011 instead of the summer.

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