Commentary

WTF: 'Dexter' Is Back And He's After New Blood

TV’s apparent campaign to mainstream and normalize the f-word reveals itself in the title of Episode Two of Showtime’s new “Dexter” sequel series.

The show is called “Dexter: New Blood” (not to be confused with the great 1982 film classic “Rambo: First Blood”) and it premieres this coming Sunday night with Episode One, subtitled “Cold Snap.”

A week later comes Episode Two, titled “Storm of F---.” Please note the care that the TV Blog takes to judiciously police itself and avoid the use of such language, just in case it might offend someone.

Could not Showtime make the same effort? Did this episode really have to be titled “Storm Of F----”? It is true that Dexter himself (played once again by Michael C. Hall, now 50) uses the phrase in that very episode.

advertisement

advertisement

He utters it under his breath (but audible to you and me) to describe a situation in which it seems that local police might be on to him. In case anyone reading this does not know, Dexter is a serial killer. 

OK -- so Dexter uses the f-word every once in a while.

Doesn’t everybody? Many people use it casually today. You hear it all the time -- not only in movies and TV shows (even ad-supported ones), but all over the place.

One TV character who might be remembered by some for her prolific application of the word and its variants was Dexter’s sister Debra, who is back in the new series as a ghostly presence appearing as a figment of Dexter’s imagination who shows up to berate him.

The reason she shows up in this manner is because the character died in the final season of the original “Dexter” 10 years ago. Even in the guise of a mirage or hallucination she uses the f-word like she’s Joe Pesci. Those who know the character would naturally expect this.

Still, sometimes when contemplating these occasional columns about the f-word and its ever-increasing use on television, I have come to frame the issue with the old chicken-and-egg question.

Which came first? The widespread, mainstream use of the word generally or its use in countless movies and now TV shows?

Or to put it another way, does the casual use of it in our entertainment media (TV, movies, music) drive the popularity of its use in the real world, or are these media merely mirroring behavior that is already well-established among their intended audiences?

Clearly, this TV Blog has gone off on a tangent when it was supposed to be about this new “Dexter” sequel series. But if anything is to blame, it is the distraction posed by the “Storm of F---” title of that second episode.

I am not even certain that the title is included in the opening of the show when it is seen on Showtime. But it is spelled out several times in the web pages on the media websites where Showtime provides its publicity content and “screeners” of new shows to TV scribes.

I suppose I could have simply stated at the outset of this blog that I find the prominence of this f-word in the publicity materials to be off-putting and left it at that, but here we are.

Meanwhile, as mentioned in a previous TV Blog last week, the new “Dexter: New Blood” (which I might have named “Dexter: Who’s Next?”) finds our titular hero and serial killer living for the last 10 years with a new name and new identity in a small Oregon town where everybody knows each other’s name.

He has apparently been murder-free for 10 years, but the new series suggests that his “dark passenger” -- the nickname he gave his addiction to serial killing back in the original series -- is due soon to pay him an overdue visit.

Suffice it to say that the new “Dexter” is more or less the same as the old one, but for the new location. “Dexter” fans will be glad to see him back, even if he is a serial murderer.

“Dexter: New Blood” premieres Sunday night at 9 Eastern on Showtime.

Next story loading loading..