About the season opener of "Dexter"

We watched the season premier of Dexter last night. We've been letting them pile up on TiVo, but now it's time to break into the pile.

One of the many things I like about this show is the way it deals with the moral choices Dexter makes. Other cop shows show cops taking justice into their own hands -- and celebrate it. It's an old, and ugly, TV-cop-show myth, that the law exists to protect criminals, and if only we let the cops beat confessions out of suspects, the streets would be safer and the country would be a better place. You can see that theme acted out on several times a week. NCIS played with it Tuesday night; cops denied a suspect a right to a public trial and gloating about it afterwards. Ha, ha! Sworn officers of the law subverted the Constitution! Isn't that terrific?!

Dexter also shows a cop (or, rather, a forensic scientist) taking the law into his own hands. But it doesn't flinch from the moral choice involved.

The appeal of Dexter is partially the appeal of vampire stories. Conscience is a burden, makes it difficult to give bad guys what they deserve. But that's not a problem for Dexter -- and fictional vampires -- they're powerful and free of the constraints of conscience. Great scenes in vampire stories and Dexter are when the killers go after bullies and brutes.

Each of the first two seasons of Dexter shows Our Hero tempted to break his own moral code, and run wild. Each of the seasons also shows Dexter confronting some false belief about his own nature. In the first season, Dexter learns he had a brother. In the second season, we learn (but I'm not sure Dexter did) that Dexter's foster father Harry lied to him -- Dexter was not born a serial killer whom Harry taught to channel his uncontrollable passions. Rather, Harry made Dexter a serial killer. I expect we'll see some kind of similar revelation in this season.

The first episode was kind of slow. I'm optimistic it'll pick up; the first seasonal installment of episodic TV novels like Dexter, or The Wire, or The Sopranos are often slow, as are the episodes in the middle of a season, but it all pays off.