Photos: Randy Tepper; Claire Folger/Showtime
New-fall-season triage has kept me from watching all four episodes of Dexter that Showtime sent. But the first episode finds Michael C. Hall in spellbinding form as the serial-killer-killing-serial-killer, under growing pressure as his secret comes closer to being exposed, and finding that–for some reason–abducting murderers, drugging and ritually killing them is starting to lose its zing. Also, he bowls.
After Dexter, Showtime debuts season 2 of Brotherhood. I’m aware that some of you out there really, really love Brotherhood. For instance, those of you who give out Peabody Awards, which I understand are not handed out like gimme caps at a ballgame. So maybe there’s something wrong with me, because I gave up on this crime-and-politics-in-Providence drama about three or four episodes into the first season. It’s not that it was bad, but the characters were flat, and the show reminded me too much of other series that have covered the same ground better: The Sopranos and The Wire, obviously, but even network shows like EZ Streets. It seemed to take an HBO premise and dial down the subtlety about 30 percent.
Mr. Peabody disagrees, and he did invent The Wayback Machine, so I suppose I should revisit the show at some point and see if one of us has changed. Anyone care to try to talk me into it?