DEXTER The Second Season

Developed for the Television by James Manos Jr.
Based on the Novel by Jeff Lindsay
Original Music by Daniel Licht
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Vélez, David Zayas, James Remar, Keith Carradine & Jamie Murray

2007/10 hours 36 mins/Color/Dolby Surround 5.1
1.78:1 anamorphic/US/English/NTSC Region 1

Review from the ShowTime Entertainment DVD

Everyone's favorite serial killer is back!

Due to the constant surveillance of Sgt. Doakes (Erik King), Dexter has been unable to satisfy his urges to kill for over a month. And when finally has the opportunity to do it, he can't seem to be able anymore. What even worse is that divers have found Dexter’s underwater dumping ground for his victims. Miami names the killer the "Bay Harbor Butcher"... a name Dexter doesn't appreciate too much. FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) is brought in to investigate on the whole case. But then something rather strange happens, it is discover that the Butcher's victims were in fact criminals, leading to the public praising the action of the "Butcher".

With Rita's ex-husband Paul now dead, her relationship with Dexter isn't going too well. Especially now that she suspects that Dexter actually set Paul to go to jail. Dexter finally admits and she assumes that Dexter too has an addiction... a heroin addiction leading him to attend the Narcotics Anonymous program. It is there that he meets Lila (Jaime Murray), who will at first become his friend, lover and then problem.

After the amazing first season, which was based on the Darkly Dreaming Dexter novel, much of the second season had little to do with the second novel, Dearly Devoted Dexter. They've decided to take the Dexter character to a whole new level and it turned out fantastic! Superbly crafted and ending each episode with a breathtaking cliffhanger, the second season of DEXTER was even better. Some very interesting new characters and subplot were introduced; leaving us guessing every time what would actually happen. Seriously, I have never been that impressed with a TV before.

Just like they did for the first season, ShowTime Entertainment unleashed DEXTER The Second Season on DVD with each episode are presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio and are anamorphic. The image looks sharp with rich color saturation and no defect, artifacts or compression. We have the choice of English Dolby Surround 5.1, English Stereo or Spanish mono. For this review I've listened to the Dolby Surround 5.1 track, which is clear, loud and crisp.

The 12 episodes are spread onto four discs. Unfortunately the extras are a huge letdown. There are two episodes from the second season of Showtime’s' BROTHERHOOD series and some extras via the E-Bridge Technology which I wasn't able to access on my iMac computer. We also get biographies and a photo gallery. They should have included commentary tracks, interviews, behind-the-scenes... A good box set, which could have been better with some actual interesting extras. The disc features animated 3D menus with music and the DVDs come in small transparent keep case, which are actually in the box set.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2008. ©