TV Review: DEXTER - Are You...? 7.1

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Dexter’s sixth season was admittedly poorer than what we have been used too, but during those final few episodes Showtime pulled off a major coup in agreeing terms with it’s star Michael C. Hall and having him sign up for two more seasons of Dexter, everyone’s favourite serial killer. Season six may have been a poor showing but the final scene of Deb walking in right as Dexter plunged his knife into the chest of Travis Marshall left fans both old and new gasping for air at the though of what season seven might have in store for us. All summer we have been teased by Showtime of a major showdown between Debra, now Lieutenant of Miami Metro and her adopted brother Dexter, aka The Bay Harbour Butcher, season 7 premiered with “Are You…?” to massive audiences and as promised it did not disappoint in any way shape or form.

Starting in a completely different vain from what I was expecting, the show recapped on the events of season 6 before braking into the season premiere with Dexter frantically driving along the freeway towards Miami International airport, “oh no”, Deb has gone and done it I thought, she has reported Dexter to Miami Metro and he is going on the run, turns out that was not the case at all, following his check in we were taken back to the final scene of season 6 and the promised showdown between Dexter and Debra, from there this episode just got better and better with the final scene again leaving us gasping for air and a real taste of what we can look forward to in the coming episodes.

It seems that Dexter is at his best when he’s not contemplating whether or not he should be a serial killer, the seasons before this (notably five and six) where Dexter has been questioning his Dark Passenger have not been as good, yet this opening episode of season 7 proves that Dexter is best when he is having to scramble, think about it, in season 2 Doakes was well onto Dexter and that is up there as one of the best seasons of Dexter ever, why? Because Dexter was caught out and every episode was a constant battle in order for him to stay one step ahead of the game, now, even bigger than Doakes, Debra knows, not just about Travis Marshall (who she is now an accessory too) but the fact that her brother is a serial killer and her father, also a respectable law man trained him in how not to get caught.

What I have always really enjoyed about Dexter are the flashback involved, if you remember I only started watching in season 5 at which point there were no real flashbacks, just moments where Harry (James Remar) would appear and have a conversation with Dexter, they were also brilliant but when I was catching up with seasons one and two during the summer the flashbacks to Deb and Dexter’s childhood were brilliant and season 7 has brought all of those back, Deb now knows why she could never have a dog in the house for instance. I’m really looking forward to seeing how these go through the season and it was also brilliant to see Debra taking herself back to season one and how she was thrust up in plastic on Rudy’s table, things where falling into place throughout the whole episode.

As always we were introduced to the season seven protagonist, this year it’s Ukrainian mobsters, one who Dexter killed during this episode and the others who will now no doubt be paying a visit to Miami to find out who bumped off one of their own in an airport departure lounge, a little unrealistic in how Dexter got away with it but at least he used a fake passport, doesn’t count for the CCTV that would be littered all over the airport but never mind it was fun all the same. Who will be the protagonist though? Ukrainian Mobsters? Debra? No doubt the mobsters will be involved but in season 2 Dexter’s main focus was always on Doakes and the investigation by Lundy, I doubt that he will kill his own sister and the fact that she helped him cover up the murder of Travis Marshall makes it harder for her to now go to police, she is involved in the murder as much as he is, she even bought the gasoline to set the fire.

As always with Dexter there are going to be side story’s, the first to mention is Masuka’s dick of an intern Lewis, who had my suspicions going last season, he seems to have some sort of personal hate campaign against Dexter sending him the hand from the Ice Truck Killer investigation and then in this episode cancelling one of his back accounts (I suppose the point may be revealed later), don’t really get that as yet. Then you have LaGuerta, she found the blood slide at the scene of Travis Marshall, why she chose to conceal it as apposed to just having Masuka run the prints is anyone’s guess, remember she has never been convinced that Sgt Doakes was the Bay Harbour Butcher.

The season seven premiere delivered everything that it promised throughout the summer, only I was expecting maybe a little more of a dramatic showdown between Dexter and Debra in the church, the pacing was brilliant though and we now can look forward to a full season of Dexter ducking and diving, trying to convince Debra that there is good inside of him, after all he only kills certain kinds of people, roll on next weeks “Sunshine and Frosty Swirl” I can’t wait.

Returning TV Shows Fall 2012, DEXTER, HOMELAND, PERSON OF INTEREST and THE WALKING DEAD, What Will I Be Reviewing?

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As you probably know there really has not been to much on TV lately, in the last three weeks that would be largely due to the Olympics, fair play but some TV would have been nice. If you read this blog often then you’ll know that I have been occupying myself with some box sets, first up was Dexter season 2, which was brilliant and then I have been watching Breaking Bad's second season, which was also brilliant. Thing is were are coming towards September now and you know what that means, good TV will be back with all of our regular favourites, here I want to give you an indication of what you can expect to see from Movies Music & Television during the Fall TV schedule of returning shows, what I will be watching and what I will be reviewing. I will review all of the returning season premieres, but from there I discuss below what I may continue with.

Dexter – Season 7 (Showtime, Sunday’s @9pm) – Premiere September 30^th

It goes without saying really that I will be covering Dexter, if you read this blog often then you know its one of my favourite shows on TV, I didn’t watch the first four seasons but I’m looking to make up for that and have already watched seasons one and two, I am thinking now that we are getting pretty close to the season 7 premiere so maybe I’ll just leave seasons three and four so I can assure my weekly Dexter fix once season seven wraps. Season 6 was not one of the best for Dexter but I still really enjoyed it, especially the ending where Debra caught her adoptive brother plunging his knife into the chest of The Doomsday Killer Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks). I will be reviewing every episode of Dexter season 7, so subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out.

Dexter season 6 reviews

6.1 – Those Kinds of Things

6.2 – Once Upon a Time

6.3 – Smokey and the Bandit

6.4 – A Horse of a Different Colour

6.5 – The Angel of Death

6.6 – Just Let Go

6.7 - Nebraska

6.8 – Sin of Omission

6.9 – Get Gellar

6.10 – Ricochet Rabbit

6.11 – Talk To the Hand

6.12  - This is the way The World Ends

Homeland – Season 2 (Showtime, Sunday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 30^th

Homeland is a show which I really enjoyed and during it’s first season I watched and reviewed most episodes, it’s hard to pick a favourite but the finale was brilliant watching protagonist Brody (Damien Lewis) come full circle ready to blow up the US President, he didn’t go through with it of course and it now looks like he is going to run for office which will see Homeland’s second season take more of a political angle, I don’t mind that but I wouldn’t say its really what I look for in a TV show, as far as Homeland goes you can be sure I will be watching every episode but I’m thinking that maybe this is going to be a season premiere review, a possible mid-season and the season finale, unless of course it is really great and I feel the need to write about it every week.

Homeland season 1 reviews

1.1 - Pilot

1.3 – Clean Skin

1.4 – Semper I

1.5 - Blindspot

1.7 – The Weekend

1.8 –Achilles Heel

1.9 - Crossfire

1.10 – Representative Brody

1.11 – The Vest

Person of Interest – Season 2 (CBS, Thursday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 27^th

Again, Person of Interest is a given, I will be watching and reviewing every single episode of this great show. Some people I heard of gave up on Mr’s Reese and Finch about three or four episodes in, all I can say to that is you should have stuck it out because is quickly became apparent that Person of Interest is not your normal weekly procedural, we now roll into the second season with questions looming large as to who Root is? And what she wants with Mr Finch, and more importantly who was on the other end of that telephone in the season finale closing scene? I’m sure POI will provide us with yet another fun thrilled ride.

1.1  – Pilot

1.2  – Ghosts

1.3  – Mission Creep

1.4   - Cura Te Ipsum

1.5  – Judgement

1.6  – The Fix

1.7  – Witness

1.9  – Get Carter

1.10          – Number Crunch

1.11          – Super

1.12          – Legacy

1.13          – Root Cause

1.14          – Wolf and Cub

1.15          – Blue Code

1.16          – Risk

1.17          – Baby Blue

1.18          – Identity Crisis

1.19          – Flesh and Blood

1.20          – Matsya Nyaya

1.21          – Many Happy Returns

1.22          – No Good Deed

1.23          – Firewall

As for episode 8 which I missed out first time around, I will watch that again when it airs in the UK, following that I will put out the review.

The Walking Dead – Season 3 (ABC, Sunday’s @9pm) – Premiere October 14th

I still have not seen season one of The Walking Dead, but I did really enjoy season two, more so towards the end and during its second stint on TV, this is one of those shows which breaks for the festive period and usually returns around February time, I reviewed a few episodes of the second season including the mightily impressive “Pretty Much Dead Already”, with season 3 I will be reviewing the premiere and then seeing where it goes from there, I will watch them all and hopefully with the introduction of all the new characters there will be something to talk about other than zombies.

The Walking Dead season 2 reviews

2.1 – What Lies Ahead

2.5 – Chupacabra

2.7 – Pretty Much Dead Already

So there is the low down on what I will be watching and reviewing in all of our favourite returning drams this year, I’ll be back tomorrow with a list of new shows coming to TV this fall and I’ll talk there on which ones I will be watching and adding to the weekly reviews, ideally there will be about two.

Weekly TV Previews: Will REVOLUTION Get Any Better? PERSON OF INTEREST Finding Mr Finch, VEGAS and There Back DEXTER Season 7, HOMELAND Season 2

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Hello and welcome back to the regular Fall TV season feature here at Movies Music & Television of the weeks TV previews, like always I will preview the next episode of all the shows currently under review here at MM&T as well as the shows which I’m watching but maybe not writing about every week. This is the first one back since last Fall so some shows (Dexter/Homeland) are yet to premiere on their respective networks, there for not to much to give away right now, but we’ll get through what we can, here goes;

Revolution – No Quarter 1.3

Following two episodes of Revolution I’m yet to be enthralled by what’s been on offer, best way to put it, is that in my opinion it’s been mediocre when compared to other works from J.J. Abrams, that’s not say that it can’t get better and in all honesty I hope it does, I touched on the subject in my review of “….” That there are plenty of avenues for the show to go down and hopefully it will do that. In respect of this review, well it does not really give much away other than Miles (Billy Burke) telling Charlie (Tracey Spiridakos) that the futuristic USB stick has the ability to turn the power back on and give the US it’s power back, take a look and let me know what you think.

 

Person of Interest – Bad Code 2.2

It goes without saying that Person of Interest is the best show that J.J. Abrams has on TV right now and the season 2 premiere did not disappoint in any way whatsoever. Reese was back to doing what he does best in kicking ass whilst Finch was off being all mysterious and wisdom like fencing off against computer hacker Root (Amy Acker). It seems that season 2 will deliver action, drama and mystery at the same level and above from what we got during season one and I can’t wait. “Bad Code” sees the hunt for Mr Finch head to Texas and possibly the first opportunity for the Machine to act outside of its usual jurisdiction of New York, amidst the kick ass who thinks Reese will be successful in finding Finch this week?

 

Vegas – Money Plays 1.2

From all of the pilot episodes I have seen so far in this Fall season this one has by far impressed me the most, it delivered a classy first episode which saw a weekly crime procedural mix together what should be a longer running feud between law enforcement and a local Mob boss, I’m hoping the weekly procedural side of things drops like I said in the review and hopefully we concentrate more on the bad guys v good guys side of things. The latest offering from Vegas “Money Pays” looks to continue in the light of the “Pilot”, plenty of kick ass from Dennis Quaid and a weekly procedural, I don’t mind that to much if like Person of Interest they can keep the focus on the main story behind the characters, take a look at the preview. 

 

Dexter – Are You…? 7.1

Without doubt the biggest returning show of the Fall season is Dexter, hype has been building since last December when Dexter Morgan plunged his knife into the chest of Travis Marshall’s chest, only to be caught by his sister and Miami Metro Lieutenant Debra Morgan, finally part of Dexter’s secret is out but now Dexter must fight even harder to stay one step ahead of Miami Metro and more importantly his sister, who can never find out the full truth behind Miami’s best blood spatter expert. Being the first episode I can’t find a direct trailer for the episode but this is the latest preview available from three days ago, enjoy.

Homeland – The Smile 2.1

Homeland was without doubt the biggest new drama to hit screens last Fall, from start to finish it was brilliant, it had you constantly guessing, is Nick Brody (Damien Lewis) a terrorist? Or is CIA Agent Carrie (Clare Danes) as crazy as everyone thinks she is? The question was answered during the season 1 finale when Sgt Brody was preparing to blow up the US President and a roomful of his representatives, of course he didn’t go through with it but now he has an even bigger position of power, spurred on terrorist Abu Nazir, Sgt Brody is now a US Congressman with an influential voice in US politics. Again like Dexter I don’t have a trailer for the first episode but this latest teaser really promises that Homeland will once again be hard hitting and possibly even better than season one.