{television} dexter; season one (2006)

Playing a sympathetic serial killer may sound like a stretch, but former "Six Feet Under" star Michael C. Hall pulls it off neatly in this Showtime drama about a likable forensics expert who channels his violent tendencies by killing miscreants who've avoided punishment. So harmless is Dexter Morgan's (Hall) demeanor that neither his girlfriend (Julie Benz) nor his sister (Jennifer Carpenter) has any inkling of his extracurricular activities.

ireviewnetflix.com rating: **** This show was really disappointing at first. Everyone was talking about how great this show was, but for the initial episodes I didn't get it. Michael C. Hall is wonderful and the show does get better as it goes on, but the first two or three episodes were pretty lackluster and it only slowly built until episode five when the show really started taking off and captivated my interest. I will probably check out season two. I would have only given it three stars, but the stellar season finale earned it an extra star.