More Dexter

I've watched the last episode of the first season of "Dexter". If I'm not mistaken, Showtime is presently showing the second season. I don't know if I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD. I can't imagine the series having legs, and I'm not referring to the main character's penchant for dismembering his victims. In the final episode, Dexter rescues his sister from a serial killer who happens to be his brother. See, the show's producers already getting ridiculous. There's a cop who doesn't like him and has nebulous, though not well-founded, suspicions about him. As I mentioned earlier, Dexter framed his girl friend's ex-husband on a drug charge. At the close of this last episode, she finds her ex-husband's shoe in the yard, leading her to wonder whether Dexter had indeed framed her ex. There's your set-up for the next season. The cop will undoubtedly continue to bird-dog him, and the girl friend's suspicions will grow, but it doesn't sound promising to me. The problem is the nature of Dexter's character. He's a psychopath. He's not going to form any new meaningful relationships, or he shouldn't anyway.

One thing has been nagging me as I've watched the series. Julie Benz, who plays Dexter's girl friend, looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen her before. Just last night it hit me. She was in As Good As It Gets, the romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. Benz's role was little more than a walk-on. Nicholson played Morris Udall, a very successful writer of romance novels, and Benz was the gushing receptionist at his agent's office. When Udall was visiting the office, Benz told him she just had to ask, "How do you write women so well?" Udall responds with, "I think of a man, and I take away reason and responsibility." Call me a misogynist, but that made me laugh, especially with the deadpan way Nicholson delivered the line. It's strange though that I should remember Benz from that role. She wasn't even on-screen for a full minute.