The second season of
Dexter, the dark drama about a serial killer, will forever hold a place in the history of Showtime. This year
Dexter is nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, marking the first time Showtime has ever received such a nomination. For that reason alone, the season 2 DVD set, released today, is worth getting.
Which is good, because the total lack of
Dexter-related special features is a bit disappointing. Todays DVD fans are looking for deleted scenes, gag reels, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes and other added incentives to enhance the experience of a series. The
Dexter season 2 DVD, however, seems to exist almost entirely as a cross-promotional mechanism for Showtime to expose
Dexter fans to everything else on the network.
There is a rather long series of interviews with the stars of
Dexter about their characters, but in keeping with the theme of product integration, you must access them via the Internet, thus denying viewers the option of watching them on their TVs without the aid of further technology.
The other “special features,” if you can call them that, are the first two episodes from the sophomore seasons of fellow Showtime dramas
Brotherhood and
The Tudors as well as the first two episodes of the David Duchovney comedy
Californication. It's a rather insidious plan: fans of
Dexter will purchase the DVD, watch the first two episodes of these other shows and Showtime hopes they'll be so hooked they'll purchase the other seasons (either on DVD or iTunes) or they'll subscribe to Showtime. I'm all for cross-promotion and company synergy, but this seems to be capitalism at its worst (or best, depending on your view of capitalism).
Putting this aside, the second season of
Dexter is certainly worth watching. The Emmy-nominated season brings in Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) who is called to investigate the Bay Harbor Butcher, a serial killer whose victims wash up on shore. Little does the Miami Police Department know that the Bay Harbor Butcher is actually Dexter, so the season becomes a struggle for Dexter's survival.
Showtime will almost certainly see a bump in sales from the first season thanks to both the Emmy nomination and the fact that CBS aired the first season during the writers' strike, exposing the series to a whole new audience. As a fan of the show, I'm quite disappointed not to see any behind-the-scenes footage or audio commentaries. The
Dexter season 2 DVD probably isn't worth buying if you've already seen it, but if you're new to
Dexter or if you caught season 1 on CBS or if you want to sample everything on Showtime's menu, then this is the perfect DVD set for you.
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of Showtime)