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Dexter
I finally gave in and got a disk of Dexter shows out from the library. I hadn't been impressed by the first two episodes, as I really loved the first two books and they couldn't come close to living up to those. However, since then I'd read the travesty of the third book which so so bad it retroactively cast doubt on the value and artistic merit of the first two. Being now out of love with the books, but still liking the conceit, I thought it was worth a shot to try the show. The Shows are definitely much better to my eyes now that they don't have to live up to the written word. I'm enjoying them and ordered the rest of season one. I still miss the narrative voice of the books, but this way I can pretend the end of the third book never happened. (Seriously, it was end of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull bad and didn't play fair in a genre sense. I don't mind genre bridging if it's done well, like in Sharon McCrumb's She Walks These Hills, but to do that in mystery novel, you have to play fair, not compromise either genre, and, you know, make sense). My completely unsupported thought on that third book is, he had already signed for the TV Show, but was under contract for another book, so pulled it right out of his a**. My back up theory involves drug use as this would also explain the WTF ending and visibly declining narrative quality throughout the book. Anyway, I appreciate the TV Show expanding the characterization of Doakes, Laguerta, and Angel "No Relation" Batista. The humanizing of the antagonists really does add something crucial the books couldn't do, being all Dexter eye view. They do manage to capture the quirky dark humor and the acting for Dextor himself is solid. I do wish the plotting and dialog were tighter, but given how much new material is grafted on here, it's not surprising.
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