The serial killer is now a dad, too – a perfect example of Dexter's gruesome-but-very-funny modus operandi

• Sam Wollaston
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 August 2010

Dexter finally fesses up, tells someone he's a serial killer. But it's his baby son he owns up to ("Want to know a secret? Daddy kills people"). So his secret is safe, for a while longer anyway.

Yes, in series four Dexter's a dad. He and Rita and her kids and baby Harrison have moved to the suburbs – swimming pool, carpool, living the dream. He's really good at being a dad, too – gets up in the night, drives Harrison around to get him to sleep again. And he sings America the Beautiful down the phone to his son, while at the same time plotting his next kill. The target is an ex-boxer, and Dexter plans to do it at a disused boxing arena, "a fitting place for a punk like Gomez to go down for the count". Gomez is the boxer, and a killer himself, as all Dexter's victims are.

Dexter may be the perfect man on the surface, but his dark past endures like a trapped coal-miner, always tapping, always letting him know it's still in there, still alive. His words, not mine; there are some damn fine words in Dexter. I don't always know what they mean. Like "a total go-fuck" – what's one of them? I don't even know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I like it.

The murder, of Gomez the ex-boxer at the deserted arena, almost doesn't happen because Dexter keeps falling asleep. And then it – the killing – is interrupted because Harrison has earache. It ends up being rushed and messy. But hey, it's not easy, juggling serial killing with being a new dad. The other murder – by Trinity, Dexter's new serial killer rival – is really horrid and involves a severed femoral artery, in the bath. A total go-fuck, possibly.

It is gruesome, but also very funny, in a dark way. Beautifully written, as I mentioned before, and Michael C Hall is great as the lead. If you're getting cheesed off with lame-arse British drama – Mistresses, perhaps – and you want something well-written and American to tide you over until Mad Men starts again (not long now!), you could do a lot worse than get involved with Dexter.

cheesed off : wkurzony

endure : trwać

femoral artery : tętnica udowa

fess up : przyznać się

gruesome : makabryczny

horrid : okropny, ohydny

juggle (something) with (something) : przerzucać się z (czegoś) na (coś), robić raz jedno, raz drugie

modus operandi (łac.) : metoda działania

plot : obmyślać, spiskować

rushed : zrobiony w pośpiechu

severed : odcięty

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