AFTERTHOUGHTS (100)
EMMY 2008

So this year’s nominations are out, and here are the nods I took note of:

80th Annual Academy Awards
Outstanding Art Direction For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Roy Christopher, Production Designer; Joe Celli, Art Director)
Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (Louis J. Horvitz)
Outstanding Lighting Direction (electronic, Multi-camera) For Vmc Programming (Robert A. Dickinson, Lighting Designer; Robert Barnhart, Andy O’Reilly, Lighting Directors)
Outstanding Music Direction (Bill Conti, Music Director)
Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety or Music Program (Jon Stewart, Host)
Outstanding Picture Editing Of Clip Packages For Talk, Performance, Award Or Reality Competition Programs [Oscar Show Tribute Sequence] (Chuck Workman)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Or Music Series Or Special
Outstanding Special Class – Awards Programs (Gilbert Cates, Producer)
Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special

Battlestar Galactica
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [Razor] (Stephen McNutt, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“He That Believeth In Me”] (Julius Ramsay)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [Razor] (Rick Bal, Production Mixer; Michael Olman, Kenneth Kobett, Supervising Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Razor Featurette #4] (Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Executive Producers; Harvey Frand, Supervising Producer)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“He That Believeth In Me”]
Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series [“Six Of One”] (Michael Angeli)


Chuck
Outstanding Main Title Design (Karin Fong, Jonathan Gershon, Dana Yee, Title Designers)
Outstanding Stunt Coordination [“Chuck Versus The Undercover Lover”] (Merritt Yohnka, Stunt Coordinator)


Dexter
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“That Night, A Forest Grew”] (Tony Cowley, Production Designer; Linda Spheeris, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The British Invasion”] (Romeo Tirone, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series (Michael C. Hall)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“It’s Alive!”] (Patrick Hanson, Production Mixer; Elmo Ponsdomenech, Joe Earle, Re-Recording Mixers)


Entourage
Outstanding Comedy Series
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“No Cannes Do”] (Dan Attias)
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation [“Adios Amigo”] (Steve Morantz, Production Mixer; Dennis Kirk, Bill Jackson, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Jeremy Piven)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series (Kevin Dillon)


Heroes
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Out of Time”] (Ruth Ammon, Production Designer; Matthew Jacobs, Art Director; Ron Franco, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“Powerless”] (Scott Boyd)
Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series [“Four Months Ago”]


Justice League: The New Frontier
Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)


Lost
Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series [“The Constant”] (John Bartley, Director of Photography)
Outstanding Drama Series
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“The Constant”] (Michael Giacchino)
Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series [“There’s No Place Like Home” (Parts 2 & 3)] (Henk Van Eeghen, Robert Florio, Mark J. Goldman, Stephen Semel)
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series [“The Shape Of Things To Come”]
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (one-hour) [“Meet Kevin Johnson”] (Robert Anderson, Production Mixer; Frank Morrone, Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixers)
Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-action Entertainment Programs [Lost: Missing Pieces] (Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Barry Jossen, Executive Producers)
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (Michael Emerson)


Pushing Daisies
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-camera Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Michael Wylie, Production Designer; Halina Siwolop, Set Decorator)
Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series (Camille Patton, Meg Liberman, Jennifer Lare)
Outstanding Costumes For A Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Mary Vogt, Costume Designer; Stephanie Fox-Kramer, Costume Supervisor)
Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-camera Series [“Smell Of Success”] (Daniel Curet, Department Head Hairstylist; Yuko Tokunaga-Koach, Key Hairstylist)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series (Lee Pace)
Outstanding Makeup For A Single-camera Series (non-prosthetic) [“Dummy”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Bradley M. Look, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special [“Smell Of Success”] (Todd A. McIntosh, Department Head Makeup Artist; David De Leon, Key Makeup Artist; Sara De Pue, Additional Makeup Artist)
Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) [“Pigeon”] (Jim Dooley)
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (single or Multi-camera) [“Pie-Lette”] (Stuart Bass)
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series (Kristin Chenoweth)
Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series [“Pie-Lette”] (Bryan Fuller)

In addition, Lost Find 815 and The Heroes Digital Experience also found themselves among the finalists in the Interactive Media Programming (Fiction) Juried Area, where “one, more than one or no award can be given.” (Other Fiction finalists included HBO Voyeur, Kyle XY: The Collective Experience, and The L Word Interactive.)

Now, while I’m happy for the whopping dozen nominations Pushing Daisies racked up (for a truncated season that lasted all of nine episodes, mind), I am still distressed at the distinct lack of love Emmy has perennially shown for Battlestar Galactica.
Not only were all the performers roundly ignored, but the tremendous work Bear McCreary has been doing in scoring the show also went unacknowledged.
Sigh.

At any rate, congratulations to all the nominees, a complete list of which you may find here.
The 2008 Primetime Emmys will be handed out on September 21 at the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles, while the Primetime Creative Arts Awards will be presented on September 13, also at the NOKIA.

Parting shot: Episodic reactions/recaps of Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Dexter, Entourage, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies—as well as a review of the Battlestar Galactica straight-to-DVD film Razor—can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of SCIFI Channel and wired.com [Battlestar Galactica]; aintitcool.com [Chuck Season One and Pushing Daisies Season One DVD cover art and Justice League: The New Frontier image]; rickbrotherton.com [Dexter]; hbo.com [Entourage]; NBC and yahoo.com [Heroes]; ABC and eonline.com [Lost].)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (60)
EMPIRE’S 50 GREATEST TV SHOWS EVER MADE!

And on Empire’s list…

45. Farscape 1999-2003
An Australian sci-fi series featuring muppet aliens from The Jim Henson Company – it's not exactly a pitch that says 'edgy' or even very good. Against the odds, though, Farscape emerged as an innovative, amusing and endlessly watchable romp as Astronaut John Crichton fumbled his way through life on the other side of the galaxy while dropping endless pop culture references that were clearly lost on his alien companions. In Claudia Black's Aeryn Sun was found one of sci-fi's favourite pin-up girls and the chemistry between Black and co-star Ben Browder was so apparent they were reunited after Farscape's cancellation for the final series of Stargate SG-1.

30. Dexter 2006-present
The last thing the world needed was another series about a forensic scientist but it certainly adds something to the mix when said CSI is also a recreational serial killer. Mischievously sadistic, Dexter is a darkly amusing tale of a psychopathic monster living in the heart of sunny Miami and trying to reconcile his stabbier urges with being an otherwise decent guy. Michael C Hall is flawless as the carver in question and the show sports one of the cleverest title sequences around.

27. Six Feet Under 2001-2005
Dark, comical and really rather wonderful, it's little wonder that Six Feet Under flowed from the same pen that gave us the equally incredible American Beauty. Alan Ball's HBO series about a dysfunctional Pasadena family who run an independent funeral home was a wonderful meditation on life, love and grief. Headed up by Peter Krause as the prodigal elder son Nate Fisher and featuring Michael C Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose and Rachel Griffiths, the cast, like every facet of this compelling production, oozed class.

25. Futurama 1999-present
It's unfair to compare Matt Groening's other show to The Simpsons. Because what is as good as The Simpsons? Judged on its own merits, this futuristic comedy about the bumbling employees of an intergalactic delivery company is witty, silly and completely non-sensical in just the right measure. It's got some characters who don't work (Hermes Conrad, we're looking at you), but Bender the antagonistic robot makes up for any faults. It was revived for a reason, you know?

24. Twin Peaks 1990-1991
Who killed Laura Palmer? That was the question on everyone's lips during 1990 as David Lynch's bizarre small town mystery unfolded on our screens. A demon called Bob, a little man who talked backward and minor pie fetish were just some of the features on display here. But despite a healthy dose of surrealism everything fell into place. Until the rather less appealing second season, that is, where the question on people's minds was more akin to 'Who is Windom Earle and what in God's name is going on?' but that's beside the point.

17. South Park 1997-present
The Guinness World Record holder for "Most swearing in an animated series," Trey Parker and Matt Stone's crudely animated monster is going strong more than ten years later after we were first introduced to Cartman and the boys. Still offending just about everybody on the planet, it has avoided jumping the shark by continuously changing its targets and, most importantly, remaining incredibly funny. While it's undeniably puerile, the secret of South Park's success lies in the fact that its intentions are essentially good. Those who challenge common sense and general decency are the ones in the firing line – anybody else who gets hit are, well, collateral damage.

15. Heroes 2006-present
We'd heard shows before boast about 'cinematic' production values, but Tim Kring's Heroes actually meant it. Every super-charged hour boasts lavish amounts of special effects – Hiro's time-freezing abilities are particularly cool – and a classy, noirish aesthetic partly inspired by M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. But eye-candy alone wouldn't have won Heroes its place on this list. Kring's genius was in bolting the flashy action onto a slow-burning storyline full of shadows and mystery. And having a really cute, invincible cheerleader in the cast doesn't hurt none either.

13. Battlestar Galactica 2003-present
Dark, unflinching and often brutal, BSG is a very long way from the camp seventies show of the same name. In fact, given that this is one of the most pioneering sci-fi shows in decades, its name is probably its biggest liability. This is a show more concerned with internal rifts, politics and strife than spatial anomalies or aliens with forehead prosthetics, making it a far more introverted character-driven drama than anything in the Star Trek canon. Edward James Olmos' gravel-tongued Admiral leads a great cast of characters (Gaius Baltar, we salute you) and the epic space conflicts, portrayed with a shaky, hand-held style for realism, are blissfully rendered mayhem.

9. The X-Files 1993-2002
Created by surfing enthusiast Chris Carter, The X-Files proved to be the show that could do anything. It could modulate its tone from Twin Peaks creepy to Texas Chain Saw Massacre terrifying to Three Stooges silly. It had a pair of good-looking, charismatic heroes with deliciously simmering sexual chemistry – plus a rogue's gallery of memorable villains, including the putrid Flukeman, stretchy Eugene Tooms and butt-loving Cigarette Smoking Man. Of course, the long-running 'Myth-Arc' conspiracy plotline would have baffled Einstein and was never properly wrapped up in any case, but with at least one more big-screen outing lined up for Mulder and Scully there's still time to redeem the show that launched a thousand Dark Skies.

5. Lost 2004-present
Only time will tell whether it's as clever as it seems, but few TV shows have gripped viewers' imaginations like this hybrid of Swiss Family Robinson and Twin Peaks. An innovative structure in which each episode hones in on a different character, with flashbacks and flashforwards expanding their backstory, ensures the entire cast is fleshed out beyond the constraints of the primary narrative. But aside from the host of unique and colourful characters – from earnest Jack to cocky Sawyer, noble Jin to bug-eyed Ben – it's the epic mysteries at the core of the story that keeps us coming back. What powers does the island have? What's that polar bear doing in the tropics? And how come Hurley never loses weight despite being marooned on an island?

Note that all comments are from the article, a few of which I may not completely agree with.
As much fun as I manage to find in all the Island weirdness, I actually have been riveted to Lost more for the characters than anything else. I really do want to find out what happens to them…
And speaking of weirdness, I think Twin Peaks got short shrift here, considering any bizarre bits we may happen to find in television today, I feel can be traced all the way back to TP’s influence. (Even Empire makes mention of TP twice, in shows that ranked higher than it.)
Not only was its shadow only too evident on shows like Northern Exposure and Picket Fences, the massive cultural impact it had clearly made strangeness welcome on the small screen, paving the way for all the off-kilter programming that came in its wake, and continues to this day.
It’s also important to note that when TP was strange, it was truly strange. Network television had never been to such surreal spots before, and truth to tell, hasn’t really been there since.
(I also happen to rather like Season 2…)

At any rate, I’m still glad TP made the list, which you can find here. Check it out for more bits on these shows, and to see if your favourite series made Empire’s cut.

Parting shot: Episodic recaps/reactions of Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Heroes, and Lost can be found in the Archive, along with a review of the Futurama straight-to-DVD feature, Bender’s Big Score.

(Lost OS courtesy of impawards.com; The X-Files 2 OS courtesy of aintitcool.com; Battlestar Galactica image courtesy of SCIFI Channel; Twin Peaks image courtesy of tarnishedlady.typepad.com; Dexter image courtesy of fanpop.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 6
‘Dex, Lies, and Videotape’
Written by Lauren Gussis
Directed by Nick Gomez
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Last episode’s hopeful note is shot to sh!t as things unravel on Dex rather quickly.

Discovering Harry’s affair with his mother, Dex realizes that the man he’s idolized and followed all these years was less than the paragon of virtue he believed him to be.
And without that foundation to depend on, Dex realizes he doesn’t know who he is anymore, or who he’s supposed to be. Lila believes this time of uncertainty allows Dex the golden opportunity to reinvent himself.
Dex has one triumph (he’s able to delete the footage of his cleaning his boat, during a juvenile fire alarm diversion), but gets clipped by a whole mess of other things.

Doakes gets back on Dex’s a$$ when he has a conversation with Deb and she tells him quite plainly that, No, of course Dex isn’t an addict.
So Dex finds Doakes listening to the tapes of Harry and his mother, getting Dex and Doakes into that potentially violent stare off that we’ve all been waiting for.
Dex ends up bringing the whole thing to LaGuerta, who manages to convince Dex to hold off on the official complaint while she talks with Doakes.
LaGuerta’s chat with Doakes only convinces LaGuerta that Doakes is obsessed, a side of him she’s seen and a side of him that cost them their relationship. She tells Doakes to let this one go. (We all know he won’t though, right?)

Lila meanwhile, has dinner with Rita and Gail (at Gail’s instigation), an encounter that leads to Rita overhearing a phone message from Lila to Dex, where she stupidly mentions, “Oh, it’s good I didn’t slip up and mention the road trip and that we spent the night together.”
Duh.
Rita dumps Dex’s a$$ in an emotional New York minute.
Pissed off about that (and the thing with Doakes), Dex gets angry at Lila, the sort of angry that conveniently alchemizes into hot sex. Then, just as Dex leaves Lila to get back to work, Rita calls him and says they should talk later that evening.

While all that psychodrama’s going down, there’s a Bay Harbor Butcher copycat who makes a botched attempt at a home invader just out of jail.
The copycat turns out to be Ken Olson (Prison Break’s Silas Weir Mitchell), whose mother was once hurt by the recently released jailbird, and claims to have been inspired by the Bay Harbor Butcher’s handiwork. When Dex digs around to find some dirt on Olson, he discovers that Olson‘s actually killed before, so Dex does him in, but doesn’t bother to dispose of the body parts this time out, leaving them for the cops to find.

After his date with Olson, Dex drops by Rita’s and they have their talk.
Dex says the road trip was for him to try to get closure regarding his mother’s murder, and that it was strictly sponsor and sponsee between Lila and him.
And though Rita’s hurt that Dex chose to share this pivotal moment in his life with Lila and not her, she’s apparently willing to accept that.
But.
She asks Dex if he had sex with Lila in that motel room, and Dex says, “No. Not then.”
And once again, Rita dumps Dex’s a$$ in an emotional New York minute.

Dex leaves Rita’s, walking out into a downpour, symbolic of his becoming a new man, as all that was taught him by Harry has come to be suspect.
And who does Dex go to after leaving Rita’s?
Lila.
Ugh.
This better be resolved quickly, as I’ve come to really care about Rita as she’s grown into this stronger person since Season 1, and I’ve never really warmed to Lila. (And let’s face it, it was her big mouth that got Dex into hot water with Rita in the first place.)

Over on the Deb front, Lundy’s sudden interest in Dex (which gets Dex para over a fair section of the episode) raises her issues about Dex always being the “Morgan superstar.” When she brings this up with Gabriel, he instinctively hones in on the fact that Deb’s crushing on her boss.
Towards the episode’s end, Deb’s gotten anxious that Lundy’s about to turn the whole investigation over to the FBI (thus returning her to “retard” status, since she feels Lundy was the only one who really took her seriously), and she asks him flat out, and he says, “No. I’m afraid you’re still stuck with me.”
Then, when Lundy asks for Dex yet again, Lundy notices Deb’s reaction, and calls her on it. So Deb spills the beans, but Lundy says it’s not about Dex. It’s just that Masuka’s getting on his tits and he wants some other forensics dude to depend on.
Relieved, Deb hugs Lundy, a little too long, and quite definitely awkwardly…

Parting shot: Congratulations to Michael C. Hall, Tim Schlattmann and all the other writers on the show, as well as the entire cast and crew, for getting the Golden Globe and WGA noms, and the AFI nod. (See Afterthoughts (33) & (34) in the Archive.)

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (33)
2008 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES (I’m excited about)

So another awards season has begun, and amidst a sea of critics’ nods, the Hollywood Foreign Press releases the first big salvo before the Oscars and the BAFTAs.
Below are the Golden Globe nominations that got me stoked.

Eastern Promises:
Best Motion Picture Drama
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama (Viggo Mortensen)
Best Score (Howard Shore)

(Sorry, but it’s the only nominated film I’ve actually seen, so it’s the only one I can legitimately get excited about, though below are some nominations for films I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before.)

Juno:
Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ellen Page)
Best Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ryan Gosling)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Best Director (Tim Burton)
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Johnny Depp)
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Helena Bonham Carter)

And since I’m also a Sarah Polley and Coen Brothers fan…

Away From Her:
Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama (Julie Christie)

No Country for Old Men:
Best Motion Picture Drama
Best Director (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Javier Bardem)
Best Screenplay (Joel and Ethan Coen)

On the TV end of things…

Dexter:
Best Actor in a Drama Series (Michael C. Hall)

Entourage:
Best Musical or Comedy TV Series
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Movie (Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven)

Pushing Daisies:
Best Musical or Comedy TV Series
Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy TV Series (Lee Pace)
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series (Anna Friel)

Congratulations, one and all, and to Pushing Daisies, an additional pat on the back, for scooping up three nominations on the strength of only 9 episodes to date.

You can find the complete list of 2008 Golden Globe nominees here.

Parting shot: Regulars here to the Iguana know I follow Dexter, Entourage, and Pushing Daisies, so you’ll find episodic recaps and reactions in the Archive, where a review of David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises also resides in happy comfort. (Feed it some peanuts. It likes those.)

(Images courtesy of screenhead.com [Eastern Promises]; latimes.com [Dexter]; hbo.com [Entourage]; and thepiemaker.com [Pushing Daisies].)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 4
‘See-Through’
Written by Scott Buck
Directed by Nick Gomez
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

It’s week 3 of the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation and Miami’s in the grip of the worst heat wave in recent memory. Oh, and Masuka’s just found something that could break the case wide open.
All that pressure gets Dex rattled enough to meet Lila on his lunch break, hoping she can do the sponsor thing and get him calm and centered. She doesn’t really help, though Dex does discover she works with “found art” (though in Lila’s case, it’s more like stolen), with pieces in her studio that are fairly disturbing, mannequins apparently eating each other and the like.
When Dex mentions to Rita that he may not be getting much help from Lila, Rita suggests that maybe Dex would be better off with an older, male sponsor, and Dex says he’ll consider it.
He eventually meets with Lila, and says the sponsorship is over.

Asking around about Masuka’s find, Dex finally gets the answer from Deb: algae found in the garbage bags. And when he gets to talk to Masuka, Dex finds out that a marine biologist is being brought in to examine the algae, which could tell them where the Butcher keeps his boat docked.
Dex doesn’t quite get it, but knows he has to do something about it. And a chance, throw-away comment by Angel tells Dex what he has to do: sabotage the freezered morgue so the bodies will quickly decompose in the heat, taking the algae with them.
He’s about to make some plans when Lila shows up at the station, asking for another chance. Lila insists there is no absolute good, and no absolute evil. Dex, wanting to just get her off his back, shows her the inside of the morgue.
Expecting her to be repulsed, Lila is instead fascinated by the corpse she is shown. When Dex asks her what she thinks of the Butcher, Lila says “whoever did this is just like you and me.” She goes on to say that everyone has both good and evil in them, making Dex realize that Lila, of all people, can see him, can see through the mask, and is apparently not revolted by what she sees.

Later that evening, Dex busts the cooling unit, making it look like it was carelessness on the garbage men’s part. The following morning, Lundy, Masuka, and the marine biologist arrive to find the bodies badly decomposed, the evidence compromised.
Dex is hopeful for the first time in weeks, when Masuka says it’s a good thing Lundy had the rocks kept apart from the bodies. Apparently, the algae was found on the rocks used to weigh down the garbage bags containing the bodies, rocks that are assumed to have been picked up in the area where the Butcher’s boat was docked. And the biologist’s taken the rocks and could have results soon.
So poor Dex could still be screwed.

Meanwhile, advise from Lundy gets Deb to chance an encounter with Gabriel (Dave Baez) from the gym, leading to some casual sex that Dex walks in on.
Another conversation with Lundy gets Deb to consider having a real relationship with Gabriel, and when they see each other in the gym again, and Gabriel suggests he wouldn’t mind hooking up once more, she suggests a real date instead. Gabriel agrees, and a date is set.

Meanwhile still, Pasquale (Jake 2.0’s Judith Scott) has a shirt from her fiancée that she wants analyzed, since she can smell another woman on it. She asks Dex first, but so as to help overload Masuka, he directs Pasquale to him. But when Masuka doesn’t give her the results she’s looking for, she has a meltdown in the middle of the station.
In the wake of this very public display, LaGuerta is put back in charge of Homicide.
Later on, in what is quite possibly the most shocking moment of the episode, we see LaGuerta in bed… with Pasquale’s fiancée! She then proceeds to dump his a$$. Now that she’s maneuvered Pasquale into a meltdown, she’s got what she needs: her job back.
Of course, it could not be as premeditated and cold-blooded as all that, but one must admit, that’s the way it looks.

Over on the Rita front, Cody (Preston Bailey) is having nightmares about the Bay Harbor Butcher, and Dex tries to assuage the little guy’s fears by telling him the Butcher only goes after bad guys and doesn’t go after kids. Still, Rita is incensed that this Butcher is giving her son nightmares and wishes only the worst to befall him.
Rita is also visited by her mother, Gail (Poltergeist’s JoBeth Williams; hurrah!!), who never really liked Paul, and has been at a distance for a long time. And though Gail casts her vote for the Butcher—who is, after all, cleaning up Miami’s streets—she tells Rita Dex is a very good actor, and that she senses he’s keeping a secret. (Hopefully, Rita will think it’s the drugs issue, though something tells me she’s going to assume it’s some sort of torrid affair with Lila…)

There are also subplots involving the investigation of a number of Butcher victims who don’t seem to have criminal records—in which Angel has to deal with a woman who claims her husband never killed anyone—and Doakes’ special ops past as a Ranger (though the latter seems an ill fit in the episode).
Despite that quibble though, this episode is a particularly good one, with developments in both Deb and LaGuerta’s lives (I mean, wow, I so bought into the whole LaGuerta standing up for a sister-in-the-force thing, but it looks like she’s really a stone-cold b!tch), while the Butcher investigation continues to get downright hairy for Dex.
And hey, I love Poltergeist and I love JoBeth Williams, the obvious chemistry between Williams and Craig T. Nelson a large part of what makes Poltergeist so special. I hope she hangs around Miami a while.

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 3
‘An Inconvenient Lie’
Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by Tony Goldwyn

Dexter’s at his first NA meeting and while others are sharing about their need for another pill and another hit, he’s going down his own shopping list of needs: duct tape, rope, etc. Anything to damp out the same repetitive, whiny story from junkie loser after junkie loser. All the while, he’s being eyed with interest by one particular female junkie (Jaime Murray, from TV’s Hustle and the upcoming The Deaths of Ian Stone), until he sneaks out a mere ten minutes after the meeting’s started.
But Rita rips him a new one when he gets to her place without his Newcomer Chip. So he promises to get one the following night.

Meanwhile, the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation goes into full swing, as Masuka is named LFI (Lead Forensics Investigator), and Deb and Angel are pulled into Lundy’s Task Force.
The department is then subsequently flooded by relatives and loved ones of missing persons, anxious to know if their husband/wife/son/daughter/lover/father/mother is one of the still unidentified victims.
Deb is assigned to interview the concerned relatives and staring this sort of desperate loss straight in the face initially proves too much for her, and she talks to Lundy to get her off the Task Force, claiming a backlog on her other cases. Lundy agrees to find her a replacement.
But when a day has passed and Lundy still hasn’t taken her off the Task Force (and she’s faced with a grieving mother looking for her little girl), Deb again confronts Lundy, saying she’s the last person who should be on the Task Force, as she was engaged to a serial killer and didn’t even know it.
Lundy says that’s exactly why he chose her for the Task Force, because she’s “seen into the heart and mind of a killer.” And because she got through it, and continues to get through it.
As a compromise, Lundy tells Deb to finish the interviews for the day, and if she still wants out, then he’ll find her a replacement.
Before the day is out though, Deb stumbles on what could be a pattern: two of the missing have criminal records. And when Deb puts the idea in front of Lundy, that maybe the Bay Harbor Butcher’s victims were “bad guys,” he tells her to check the remains against the criminal database.

When Dex returns to NA, he gets a Newcomer Chip, and shares, introducing himself as “Bob” and claims to be a heroin addict. The “one particular female junkie” who was eyeing him the previous night approaches him at the end of the meeting and takes him out for coffee.
Her name’s Lila and she calls him out on the bullsh!t he spewed at the meeting. As their conversation goes on, Dex realizes that when Lila talks about what it feels like to be an addict, she’s talking about things he can identify with. Things he knows.
Unnerved, Dex hurriedly leaves the diner. And when he tells Rita that NA won’t help and he’d rather face this alone, she takes him at his word and kicks him out, later on making it clear that she won’t take him back unless he does NA.

Confused, Dex starts scoping out his new victim, Roger Hicks, a used car salesman who’s murdered two women thus far. What starts out as a recon mission to get some of Hicks‘ DNA though, ends with Dex buying a mini-van (apparently due to Hicks‘ spiel about the roomy back, which can actually accommodate a deer carcass).
On a second recon trip, Dex sees Hicks‘ next potential victim, and feels he must act before this woman becomes Hicks‘ third, but can’t because of the on-going Bay Harbor Butcher investigation and Doakes’ continued interest in his affairs.

Back at work, Masuka gets Dex onto his team, and shows Dex the Field Morgue, where the recovered bodies are being stored. It’s an eerie sight, seeing Dex enter this huge, refrigerated space, where the body parts of his victims are laid out, incomplete and in disarray.
Later on, dropping off some dental records for Masuka, Dex runs into Lundy, who is sitting amongst the dead, waiting for them to answer the question: Why were they chosen?
During their conversation, Dex says that, of course, killing someone can never be justified. Lundy says, actually, there is one justification: if it would mean saving the life of an innocent.
Dex realizes that Lundy and his father would have agreed on that.
So he finally goes after Hicks, and it’s during their conversation that Hicks makes Dex realize that he does, after all, truly care for Rita, the subconscious reason for his purchase of the mini-van (what LaGuerta called a “Mommy Mobile”). Of course, Hicks pisses Dex off when he says, rather unwisely, “You’re better off without that c*nt.” Dex ices him for that.

Upon that realization—that Rita and the kids really do mean a lot to him—Dex returns to NA, and shares, revealing his real name, and talking about the “Dark Passenger” that rides with him.
Doakes arrives at the meeting, and it suddenly all makes sense to him, that wrongness he felt about Dex. And in a great reversal, Doakes sympathizes with Dex’s apparent plight, and says, Ok, just don’t get in my way at work, and we’re cool.
Triumphant—now that Doakes is off his back—and on a catharsis high, Dex visits Rita and shares his elation. Rita’s happy (and she loves the mini-van), but that all comes to a screeching halt when she sees who Dex’s sponsor is: Lila.

So the season is unfolding quite nicely, with the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation and Dex is an addict subplots developing in interesting ways. And though I did suspect they were going to make Lila Dex’s sponsor, and that this would set Rita off, that final shot of her at the wheel of the mini-van, as she sees Lila, and Dex totally oblivious to Rita’s reaction, was priceless.
There’s also something about Lila I can’t quite pin down at the moment, though I wouldn’t at all be surprised if she’s got some deep, dark secret aside from being an addict.

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 2
`Waiting to Exhale’
Written by: Clyde Phillips
Directed by: Marcos Siega
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Dex’s failure to dispatch Little Chino last episode results in the death of the mother who inadvertently asked Dexter to kill the hulking man-mountain in the first place, putting some more guilt on his plate, as if the guilt stemming from a) his murder of his brother, the Ice Truck Killer, and b) the effect of Paul’s death on Rita and the kids, wasn’t already enough.

Meanwhile, the discovery of Dex’s dumping ground last episode brings FBI Special Agent Lundy (Robert Carradine, undoubtedly familiar to the tween set as Lizzie McGuire’s dad) down to Miami. Lundy’s a “rock star,” responsible for corralling the Green River Killer, among others. And now, he’s here to track down the Bay Harbor Butcher, the tawdry monicker the newspapers have given Dexter, much to Dex’s annoyance.

Even as the salvaged bodies are being pieced together and the Bay Harbor Butcher’s body count rises, Deb is still unsuccessfully dealing with her rage and trauma. Those unresolved issues lead up to her putting a gun to the head of a teen-ager, who squeals on Little Chino’s gang to save his skin from the crazy gringa cop.
Little Chino (who is absent when the police round up his fellow gang members) soon tracks down the little snitch, only to fall right into Dexter’s hands.
Finally, Dex is ready to end his kill moratorium. And he’s found a new, safer way to dispose of his victims: use the Gulf Stream to drag the bodies far away from Miami. And Little Chino gets the honours of being the first to take the trip down the Stream.

Following the services and funeral for Paul, Rita confronts Dex, about the shoe, about the attack and set-up Paul claimed took place. After Dex admits to attacking Paul though, Rita comes to the wrong conclusion regarding where Dexter got the drugs for the set-up: she thinks Dex is an addict, and that this is where he sometimes disappears to like “Clark f*cking Kent.”
When Dex says—rather truthfully—that, yes, he has an addiction, Rita comforts him, and vows she’ll be with him every step of the way to beat this thing.

Once again, Dexter takes those strange riffs and makes for some of the most off-kilter primetime television viewing around today.
And the ensemble is having a grand time with these characters, notably Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz, and Michael C. Hall, of course.
Rita, in particular, is a fascinating character. Clearly, she is a stronger woman now than when we were first introduced to her at the top of Season 1. And yet, she still has a blind spot where the man she loves is concerned. First Paul, and now Dexter. And now this “Dex is an addict, I’ll help him through this” subplot is opening up, and that should be interesting to watch as it develops.

(Image courtesy of nymag.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 1
`It’s Alive!’
Written by: Daniel Cerone
Directed by: Tony Goldwyn
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

My favorite blood spatter expert/serial killer is back! (Sorry, Dex. I say “my favorite” like there’s another blood spatter expert/serial killer out there…)

The sophomore season opens with a play on the Pilot’s opening, where we see Dexter in the process of taking down a victim.
Here though, going on almost 40 days of an enforced moratorium, due to Doakes’ overriding suspicion of Dex, the poor guy’s got nothing to do but bowl (with the department’s bowling team, Bowl Till You Bleed). Fortunately, Dex turns out to be rather good at knocking down the pins.
And when Dex finally gets the chance to make a kill (a blind voodoo dude who poisons the victims he’s “cursed”), he hesitates, then lets the guy go.
But a chance encounter with a murder victim’s mother gives Dex hope, as the grief-stricken mother asks him to kill her son’s murderer, a hulking man mountain named “Little Chino.”

Meanwhile, Deb is walking a thin line, not getting any sleep and harassed by the insensitive public (“Hey! Mrs. Ice Truck Killer!”), as she returns to work.
And Paul pleads with Rita one final time to find the shoe which will help him incriminate Dex in setting Paul up for the arrest. But Rita refuses, and Paul is killed in an “inmate altercation.”
Oh, and Angel finds Oprah (in the same way that some people find Jesus).

The episode’s flashbacks involve young Dex trying to “feel alive,” to get his heart to beat as if it was fit to burst, a feeling very alien to him.
And back in the present, just when Dex hasn’t dumped a body in his favorite patch of ocean for over a month, a pair of treasure hunters find the gruesome remains of his past victims, and seeing the reported discovery on the news, Dex feels that mad beating of his heart…

The season opener is a good one, and I’ve missed Dexter, but seeing the opening credits, I note the absence of Michael Cuesta, and his will be a presence I will continue to miss as this season unfolds.
Incidentally, this episode’s directed by Tony Goldwyn (who played baddies in Ghost and The Sixth Day, and voiced Tarzan for Disney), who was a guest in Season 1 and did some directing there too.

(Dexter Season 2 ad courtesy of fanpop.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (13)

13.1 The U.S. Television Critics Association announced the winners of this year’s awards, so congratulations to Michael C. Hall, for winning the award for Individual Achievement In Drama (for Dexter), and all involved in Heroes, which won the big enchilada, the award for Program of the Year.
Yahoo!

(See the complete list of winners here.)

13.2 I’ve been following the whole Cloverfield/1-18-08 thing since the story broke on aicn, and the latest bit of vital information: the first official teaser poster is online courtesy of ew.com, and newlywed Harry Knowles (congratulations, Harry!) may just know what the film’s real title is. (If Harry’s spy is on the level, X-Men fans will know it too.)

13.3 And before I go, Michael’s coming back to Lost.
I really hope the schmuck returns just so he can wind up dead and have that viewing no one attends in season 3’s finale. (Yes, I’m still ticked off about his not only shooting both Ana Lucia and Libby, but also leaving Jack and company in the hands of the Others.)

(Dexter image courtesy of tv.com; Heroes image courtesy of comicbookresources.com; 1-18-08 teaser OS and Harold Perrineau image courtesy of ew.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (10)

10.1 Congratulations to Heroes, Lost, Dexter, and Entourage, for snagging nominations at this year’s TV Critics’ Association Awards, specifically:

Heroes
New Program, Drama, and Program of the Year

Lost
Drama

Dexter
Individual Achievement in Drama (Michael C. Hall), and New Program

Entourage
Comedy

I’m jazzed about the nominations above, but I am saddened that Battlestar Galactica is nowhere to be seen on the nominations list.
I’m likewise appalled that Blood Ties was not recognized either.
(Kidding!)

Seriously, congratulations to one and all.
Winners are to be announced on July 21 at the TCA gala. Check out the complete nominee list at variety.com, or the TCA official website.

10.2 The first word about the handful of new additions to the second season of Heroes: Maya (played by X-Men: The Last Stand’s Callisto, Dania Ramirez); a 28-year-old black mother; a “sexy” boyfriend for Claire; an Irish mobster; and what SCI FI Wire termed a “surrogate” for Micah. (Not sure what that exactly means, but I guess a temporary guardian, given the criminal tendencies of both his parents?)
Maya’s powers are being kept under wraps for the moment, and she could be the only one of the new characters to be a regular. (Crap. Does that mean heartbreak for Claire? Or is he one of those Smallville “boyfriends,” who turn out to be evil in the end and have ulterior motives for wooing the girl?) It’s also unclear if the other 4 new additions will have powers as well, but that’s probably a safe bet.

(Images courtesy of comicbookresources.com [Heroes]; sparklies.org [Lost]; tv.com [Dexter]; and aol.com [Entourage].)

DEXTER Season 1

Dexter Morgan is a forensics expert who specializes in blood spatter analysis. He’s also a serial killer. And he is one of the most fascinating characters on television at the moment.
Though I’ve not actually seen it thus described, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some critic out there labeled Dexter as “C.S.I. meets Silence of the Lambs.” And in a manner of speaking, I suppose it is, but to glibly describe it that way is ultimately reductionist and unfair.
Yes, Dexter capitalizes on the public’s fascination with forensics procedurals and serial killers, but it is also a show that explores the dense and complex psychology of sociopaths.* Based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter is one of those riveting shows that is pushing the boundaries of the television medium. It is a show that is dark and darkly humorous, with scalpel-sharp writing that cuts all the way to the bone.
It’s fascinatingly subversive the way the show gets you to actually root for a serial killer, for a self-confessed monster who has the greatest difficulty fathoming human emotions and interactions, and emulating them so as to appear “normal.” We actually sympathize and care whether Dexter’s mask is slipping, whether there are cracks in the façade he presents to the world.
And not only does Dexter succeed in delving into how love (which can take very bizarre forms) helps stem the tides of violence that surge within a cold and calculating killer, it also features a title character who is the darkest logical endpoint for all those socially maladjusted TV forensics experts (such as the ones in Bones) on display week in, week out. I mean, those guys are weird, right? You’re thinking no one normal could have a job like they do. Well, Dexter’s the King of Weird. Dexter is what each and every one of those labrats could very well be behind closed doors.
Having mentioned love, it’s interesting to note that love and betrayal are two themes that intertwine around each other and through season 1 like its genetic code, and there’s a wealth of secrets and lies planted through its dozen episodes for many a future season to come.
Aside from all of this, Dexter has also helped me formulate a theory that Miami is one seriously effed-up city. I thought all those psychologically damaged people who float through McNamara/Troy were bad, but Dexter trumps them all. Even Ava Moore and the Carver have to bow down to King Dexter. And please keep in mind, though Dexter is an excellent piece of evidence to support my theory, there is one irrefutable bit no one can argue with: David Caruso.
What did I say? Miami? Effed-up.


* Most forensics procedurals are so caught up in the how, they merely skim over the why (as if motive were purely incidental).


Parting shot: Dexter has the most strangely hypnotic (and unsettling) opening title sequence I have ever come across in a weekly TV series, which is notable considering all we’re really seeing is Dexter going through his morning rituals as he prepares for a new day…

Parting shot 2: I came to Dexter because I missed Six Feet Under and wanted to see Michael C. Hall in his new gig. He does not disappoint. (Another Six Feet Under alum on Dexter’s payroll is Michael Cuesta, who directed a handful of episodes of Dexter, as he did on Six Feet Under, and whose feature films include the caustic and moving coming-of-age tale, Twelve and Holding.)

(Originally posted 012807)