Ok, first off, a quick rundown of the premise for this season. Dexter, who is now a husband and father, is trying to give suburban life a shot. He has everything he could possibly want: a loving wife, great children, and a good career. However, soon his Dark Passenger’s cries for attention cause Dexter to wonder if this is the life he really wants or not. Meanwhile, a dangerous new adversary returns to Miami after 30 years to finish a lifelong cycle of killing…

I’m going to go ahead and run through this season’s flaws, mainly because they were few and far between. I honestly did not like the LaGuerta/Batista love story subplot. It had almost nothing to do with everything else in the season and it was almost like the writers wanted to put some filler into a few of the episodes. Next season will probably play with their whole marriage thing, and how neither one of them will like it, and we’ve seen it a thousand times before. The only reason that it might be worth it will be because the writers of this show can make it somewhat interesting. Also, I did not enjoy how Astor was used in the first half of the season. Now that we have Daddy Dexter, he obviously needs to be put into situations that will show he’s a good father to her, and also cody and Harrison. But they couldn’t resist the cliche of preteen drama, so Astor hated basically everything that Dexter was trying to do for her. The lowest point was when she begged for an iPod, and I started to get worried that it wasn’t going to be a fulfilling season.

Despite these very few flaws, this was a near perfect season. Michael C. Hall was superb in his portrayal of our dark hero, so much so that he was recognized for his performance at the Golden Globes this year. Keith Carradine, what little bit he was back, also brought a new layer to his Agent Lundy, and we realized that he was a truly great character, but his life was sadly cut short. Other good performances include C.S. Lee and James Remar, as Masuoka and Harry respectively. Julie Benz’s Rita was rather underused this season, but she did her best to hold her own, all the way through to the shocking end.

Two actors really broke through this season that made it so worthwhile. Jennifer Carpenter, playing the always feisty Debra Morgan, stole many of the scenes she was in. It was by far the best story she had been given to work with. Not only did she have to deal with Lundy’s return and sudden death, but then she had to put together the pieces as to why the shooting happened and she showed a lot of range. I’ve never cried during this show until this season. It was when Deb broke down to Dexter in the parking lot where she was shot and Lundy was killed. I do admit I shed a few tears as she was because her performance hit home and put Lundy’s death into perspective for everyone; She cheated on Anton with Lundy, and ended up paying the price for it. It was depressing, but a smart move on the part of the writers.

Without a doubt, the best performance goes to John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer/Arthur Mitchell. It was perhaps the most disturbing, morbid, and terrifying villains in recent television history. His meticulous, calculating kills were but a small part to his madness. As the season progressed, it was revealed that his victims meant something pertaining to his own life: the bathtub murders represented his sister who died after slipping in the shower(which young Arthur accidentally caused), the seemingly suicidal mother represented his own mother who jumped off a building, and then the middle-aged man who was beat to death was a parallel to Arthur’s father, who he himself killed. After this initial cycle was studied for the majority of the season, Dexter discovered there was a fourth victim which started the kill cycles; a ten-year old boy, representing Arthur himself. These death scenes were always worth a good shudder and were executed brilliantly.

The truly horrific part of this whole thing was the way Arthur treated his family. They all feared him, most of all his wife, his daughter developed a sexual obsession with any man who payed her attention because she was cut off from the world, and his son was the only one who wanted to put a stop to the madness. The torture came to a head in the now infamous episode, “Hungry Man.” This thanksgiving special found Dexter pulling double tine, trying to be at his own thanksgiving dinner, and also Arthur’s in his pursuit to understand the man behind the monster. During the course of their awkward and disturbing day, Arthur’s daughter came onto Dexter, who was given a blessing by her mother as long as he didn’t tell Arthur; Arthur broke his son’s finger as soon as Dexter left the room; he called his wife a cunt to her face after wondering why no one side they were thankful for him; and then ultimately tried to kill his son before Dexter put a stop to all of the madness and had to make a hasty escape. It is without a doubt one of the best episodes of this season, if not the series.

One of the constant themes I saw this season dealt with the possibility of being alone. Everyone entered a situation where they questioned if they were better off spending life alone, with no one to love. Dexter had the obvious problems of juggling his Dark Passenger with his family, and for a while, he thought that the only person worth listening to was the Passenger, though he knew it would devestae his family. Deb also had to confront this problem after she found herself with no one to love after Lundy’s death. Hell, even Lundy figured it was better for him at one point because he knows he cared more about the job than people. The only one who had a somewhat decent relationship was Quinn, who dated reporter Christine Hill, and even that blew up in his face. Ultimately, it comes down to that no one can truly deal with people and relationships the way they want to, so they should just try their best to make it work, which was a struggle for every character to understand.

Another them I noticed was that Dexter’s need to kill turned damn near into full-blown addiction this year. He intentionally planted evidence to throw the police off just so he could have a kill all to himself, which repeatedly blew up in his face(See: Benito Gomez, Arthur Mitchell). However, in the season finale, he realized how much he’s let his Passenger control him and he could see a brighter future, one where he didn’t have a Need to kill. This bright vision came crumbling down soon after.

After disposing of Arthur’s body, Dexter returns home to finish packing for his honeymoon getaway with Rita, who he thinks has already made it to their destination. He checks his voicemail to discover that she was late for the early flight, and she booked a later flight and came home to wait until it was time to go again. Dex gave a quick smile, then called Rita’s phone to let her know he was on the way. After placing the call, Dexter hears a familiar ring coming from the kitchen. When he walks over, he discovers Rita’s phone and purse still there. And that’s when he hears it. Harrison’s crying from the bathroom drives Dexter to find him…only to realize he’s sitting a massive pool of blood. Dex looks over to see Rita, lying motionless in the bathtub, killed in the same manner as one of Trinity’s victims.

Dexter’s obsession with being the one to kill Arthur ended up being his worst nightmare. He lost his wife, and now his son will most likely grow up to be like him, right down to being “born in blood.” Harry was right; Dex might not be able to have it all while the Dark Passenger is around.

I think John Lithgow said it best after the finale: “I do not envy the writers for next season.” How are they going to handle this situation? Is she really dead? Was it all a dream? How will Dexter deal with being a single father? Will Rita be used the same way as Harry, but on a more encouraging, reasonable level? One thing’s for sure; I cannot wait until September to find out.

Overall, this was one of the best seasons of Dexter yet. Shocking, disturbing, and suspenseful, it had all the elements a show like this needs. This easily gets a 9.5/10 from me, and I cannot wait to see what’s being cooked up for Season Five.

P.S. As many of you know, Michael C. Hall recently revealed he’s undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. On behalf of the writers here at Loaded Couch Potatoes, we’d like to extend our thoughts and prayers to him  and his family during this trying time. Get well soon, Michael. We all believe you can defeat this Dark Passenger.

‘Tis awesome:

You can probably tell from the poster that Nurse Jackie is putting off a small bit of Californication vibe, showing us a character who just doesn’t give much of a fuck.  Of course, that’s not really true about ole Hank Moody, who actually cares quite a lot, and you can say much the same of Jackie Peyton.  She cares; she cares so much that she has a pill problem and an adultery problem and a flushing ears down toilets problem and a forging signatures on organ donor cards problem and who knows what other kinds of problems too.

If some of this sounds maybe a tad familiar, there’s good reason for it.  In some ways, Nurse Jackie feels a bit like Californication by way of House with a dash of … ah, who knows what all is in this stew.  It’s derivative, let’s just say it and be done with it.

I’ve got to admit, though, that I don’t mind a show being derivative.  Hell, if it entertains me, I won’t get too upset if it resorts to outright theft.  Except for one moment toward the end of the pilot, more on which later, I don’t think there’s much outright theft going on in this episode.

Except, of course, for the outright theft of nearly every scene by one Edie Falco, who might also find herself stealing an Emmy or two for her work on this show.  You never know where a show will go or what will happen to it along the way, but it’s just as plain as day that Falco is doing great work on this series.  It seems to be utterly effortless, too; you buy Falco in the role immediately, and I never one time found myself thinking of Carmela Soprano.  Not even when Jackie has sex with a doctor played by Paul Schulze; Nurse Jackie getting banged by Father Phil from The Sopranos, now there’s fun.

Other cast members include: Eve Best as a doctor friend of Jackie’s; Twilight‘s Peter Facinelli (hilariously douchebaggy as another doctor) in what might prove to be a real breakout role; another Sopranos vet, Dominic Fumusa (he played a relative of Chris’s in one episode, and here plays Jackie’s husband); Haaz Sleiman as a male nurse who is a friend of Jackie’s; Anna Deavere Smith (you might recognize her as the NSA advisor on The West Wing), playing the hospital administrator, I think; and Merritt Wever (she was on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), who plays a bubbly nursing student Jackie takes under her wing.

The cast is pretty good, but other than Schulze, Wever, and Facinaelli, I didn’t get much out of any of their characters.  Perhaps future episodes will improve this.

Jackie spends a decent amount of the episode rationing her one remaining pain pill, and spends much of the rest of it either helping people more than she’s obligated or screwing people over when they deserve screwing over and there’s nobody else there to do the deed.  Facinelli’s character ignores her advice, which leads to a dead patient.  The dead man’s pregnant girlfriend shows up, broke and despondent, and Jackie helps her out by stealing a pair of her doctor friend’s boots, stealing the money clip of a patient who has sliced up a woman but is immune from prosecution due to his diplomatic status (!) (so implausible, so hilarious), and giving the loot to her while she’s sleeping on a couch.  Of course, she also forged her boyfriend’s signature so that his organs could be harvested and donated, but that’s a good deed of a different color, so who cares, really?

Presumably, the series will follow some sort of pattern similar to this, and that’s fine by me.  I can see it becoming formulaic, but Falco is good enough that I’ll give it quite a lot of leeway to get goofy and implausible and formulaic.

My one real complaint with this episode is that the ending is liften almost entirely from the ending of the pilot to Mad Men: the main character, whom we’ve been following the whole episode and whom we’ve seen screwing somebody so that the idea of her/him being married is the furthest thing from our minds, goes home to … a spouse and two kids.  Sure, in this one Jackie is carrying an adulterer’s Moon Pie (!) to give to her daughter; I don’t recall that Don Draper ever brought home any Moon Pies to anybody (although I’m betting that young Dick Whitman et more than a few of ‘em down on the farm).  Maybe Sterling-Cooper will take on the Moon Pie folk as clients during season three; wouldn’t that be a hoot?

Seriously, though, did the people who made Nurse Jackie not watch the pilot to Mad Men?  If not, good on them for coming up with the idea independently; but also, shame on them for not watching one of the best shows of the last decade.  And if they did watch it, well, at least they stole from the best.

I enjoyed this pilot, and will definitely be watching more episodes.  The premiere got good ratings, and Showtime has already renewed the series for a second season, so it looks like Edie Falco is back on our screens for a while longer.  I can’t imagine why anyone would complain about that.

The article — which might be considered to contain spoilers, so visit it at your own risk — indicates that Lithgow will be featured in all twelve episodes of the upcoming fourth season, which begins airing on Showtime on September 27.

For images of the 7″ figures — as well as the company’s selection of Dexter bobbleheads — head over to Entertainment Earth.

I was a little disappointed with the second episode this season.  It wasn’t bad, but was rather uneventful.  The third episode gets things rolling again!

The second episode did have one thing worth mentioning.  The portrayal of Henry VIII has always been off visually.  Part of the hip image Showtime is marketing for this show is the hip look of the King; Jonathan Rhys Meyers is anything but the red-haired round-cheeked stout Henry VIII from our history books.  This season they’ve added more layers than ever to the royal wardrobe, giving an even more robust look to the King.  Through the second episode this season, the King also sported a limp sustained from a jousting injury that has abscessed and will never fully heal.  Although he lost his limp in the third episode, the show is starting to plant the seeds for the transformation of a young Renaissance prince into a sickly, overweight tyrant.

One third-season character I neglected to mention in the review of the season premiere is Robert Aske (played by Gerard McSorley), the leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace, an uprising of 10,000 rebels in Northern England.  He is a very sympathetic guy who seems opposed to violence if it is not absolutely necessary.  With promises of negotiations and a pardon for the insurgents, Aske is lured to Buckingham Palace by promises from the King.  It sucks that Gerard plays him so well, because he’s got me rooting against history that he’ll actually survive further than a couple more episodes!

And Poor Charles Brandon!  Brandon is very troubled right now, thanks to the rebellion.  Having already executed 74 men who were unwilling to sign a declaration of loyalty to the king, Brandon now has to finish the job with hundreds more.  Henry Cavill is wonderful, and I’m sure he’s in for some extensive drama for the rest of the season.

Jane Seymore also is enduring her fair share of drama; she finds out during the third episode that her father has died and her husband is cheating on her!  However, she does successfully reunite her husband with his two daughters, a task that is very important to her.  And she’s finally pregnant, although she is blissfully unaware that she is doomed to die in childbirth.

The preview for the fourth episode looks great!  Time passes fast on this show and it looks as though all nine months have passed and it’s childbirth time.  Medieval childbirth is gross.  Can’t wait.

The ten-episode season will be the last for the Showtime series, which has received good reviews and solid ratings since its premiere.  The final season will portray King Henry’s last two marriages, as well as his descent into madness.

The Tudors is back and just as good as ever.  Judging by the first episode, it will continue to deliver a visually stunning and beautifully acted third season.  In the first episode, Henry VIII  makes Jane Seymore his new queen, and a rebellion rises to save England’s Catholic churches. Things to look forward to in this season (if you know your history): seeing more of Henry’s daughters as his new queen mends bridges; Joss Stone playing Anne of Cleves in a short lived marriage; the delivery of the king’s first son (that can take the throne); and all sorts of sordid court intrigue along the way.

I really liked this first episode, mainly due to the quality of the new characters.  One of the many talents of this show is its ability to seamlessly bring new characters into the story as though they’ve been there all along.  This comes in pretty handy since most of the roles are short lived, due to the drama of the show.  We’ve had beheadings, disease, murder, and suicide take out their fair share of characters.

So who are the newbies worth mentioning?  My favorite so far is Alan Van Sprang who plays Sir Frances Bryan.  Or as I will call him from now on - Cutie McEyepatch. This manly addition is sure to keep the sexuality of the show boiling over now that Anne is gone.  Sir Frances historically is credited with lining up many of the Kings extramarital affairs, and in the show he has bragging rights for prompting the first nude scene of the season (not him though).

Another strong addition this season, is Annabelle Wallis playing Jane Seymore.  Jane is a stark contrast to the beheaded Anne Boleyn.  While Anne was a sexy temptress, Jane (while sexy) is more of a Tudor Stepford wife – polite, demure and seemingly weak-willed, a queen who knows her place and will keep her head (so to speak).  I’m not sure how many episodes Annabelle will be around (Jane dies days after childbirth) and Joss Stone is already announced as the 4th wife of Henry.

The Exorcist‘s Max Von Sydow is joining as the go-to church guy.  And there will surely be plenty of religious problems now that Cromwell is knocking over churches like 7-11s.

Once again, a very promising start. I’ve loved the previous two seasons and don’t expect to be disappointed by the third.

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