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Blu-ray Review Dexter: The Sixth Season Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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A belief in Christianity, with effects both good and ill, forms the basis of season six of Showtime’s Dexter. Yes, our friendly, neighborhood serial killer is still making the wicked pay for their crimes, but the season focuses not only on a pair of religious fanatics bent on bringing about Armageddon but also on Dexter’s own personal struggles with the possibility that faith might ease the lure inside of his “Dark Passenger,” something that he has worried about as his son reaches his second birthday. The season is a good one, certainly not up to the heights of seasons one, two, or four, but there’s enough highly wrought chills and surprising twists to make the few missteps fairly easy to excuse if not forget.





Dexter: The Sixth Season (Blu-ray)
Directed by John Dahl et al

Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 2011
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1   1080p   AVC codec
Running Time: 618 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English; Dolby Digital 2.0 English, Spanish; 5.1 French
Subtitles:  SDH

Region: no designation
MSRP: $ 67.99


Release Date: August 14, 2012

Review Date: August 8, 2012




The Season

3.5/5


Season six contains basically a two-pronged set of story arcs. A pair of religious fanatics Professor James Gellar and his student Travis Marshall (Edward James Olmos, Colin Hanks) tabbed by the Miami police as “The Doomsday Killers” are using the book of Revelation in The Bible to mount of series of end-of-the-world tableaux using people they’ve killed in the name of God to lead up to the end of the world. While these heinous acts are being committed in the name of Christianity, across town a garage owner who’s named himself Brother Sam (Mos) is the Living Word incarnate as he brings ex-cons into his workplace and rehabilitates them through his Christ-like words and deeds. In the course of investigating these murders, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) comes under the influence of Brother Sam whose faith is so strong that Dexter begins to think maybe his killer tendencies might be softened through regular reliance on prayer and the splendid life-as-example that Brother Sam offers. Of course, it doesn’t take long for things to get far more complicated for Dexter in dealing with both of these continuing plotlines.


Elsewhere, things are also topsy-turvy all over. Lieutenant LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) has been promoted to captain and moved upstairs, and while she pushed for her now ex-husband Sergeant Batista (David Zayas) to slip into her old job as head of the homicide division, Dexter’s foul-mouthed sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) surprisingly gets the job instead. With pressure from above to clear more cases and this unstoppable pair of serial killers on the loose in Miami, Deb is overwhelmed breaking up with longtime boy friend Quinn (Desmond Harrington) who goes off the rails at this rejection. Forensic lab rat Vince Masuka (C.S. Lee) gets a new intern Louis (Josh Cooke) who’s a whiz at his job but has some definite secrets he’s hiding. Louis is also dating (secretly at first) Batista’s younger sister Jamie (Aimee Garcia) who is Dexter’s nanny. With this kind of shake-up in the various relationships among the cast members, it comes as no surprise that there are major shifts in the direction of season six (and ultimately season seven), particularly in the season’s last few episodes when major events (Deb begins feeling more than sisterly affection for Dexter, Dexter gets caught in the act of one of his kills) set up a few of next season’s story arcs.


Having won both the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for Best Actor for his work during the fourth season, Michael C. Hall finds himself once again Emmy-nominated for this career-defining performance as Dexter Morgan (he has yet to win this award). His on-screen charisma blazes to the fore in every episode, and one literally can’t take his eyes off him even while the character is doing the most ghastly things. Shifting his emotions from care and concern for his son to determined vengeance toward evil doers allows him to run the gamut of emotions in each episode, and he’s magnificent. Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter’s sister Deb continues her über-foul-mouthed ways this season as she must cope with her romantic breakup, a new job, and strange new emotions in what is her strongest season to date. We certainly see new sides to Lauren Velez’s LaGuerta this season, and it’s a welcome change from the eternal squabbling she and David Zayas did in season five. Zayas is likewise excellent this season as he copes with an increasingly drunk and unreliable partner in Desmond  Harrington’s Quinn. Mos (formerly Mos Def) wonderfully embodies the Christian ethic in his few episodes, and the season’s two baddies played by Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks (who has the more complex role of the two during the course of the season) make fine foils for Dexter’s avenging angel.


Here are the twelve episodes contained on the three discs in this Blu-ray set:


1 – Those Kinds of Things

2 – Once Upon a Time

3 – Smokey and the Bandit

4 – A Horse of a Different Color

5 – The Angel of Death

6 – Just Let Go

7 – Nebraska (the season’s one big misstep: revisiting the Trinity Killer storyline)

8 – Sin of Omission

9 – Get Gellar

10 – Ricochet Rabbit

11 – Talk to the Hand

12 – This Is the Way the World Ends



Video Quality

4.5/5


The series is broadcast on Showtime in 1080i, and these 1080p transfers (AVC codec) constitute a significant upgrade in image quality from their cable television airings. Color timing has been adjusted to eliminate the hot, oversaturated colors of the Showtime broadcasts, and we’re given instead a crisp, inviting picture with superb sharpness and color saturation levels that are much more pleasing to the eye. Flesh tones are much more inviting and believable. Black levels are very good throughout. Only a slight lack of detail in the darker night scenes prevent this from reaching reference levels of clarity and effectiveness. Each episode has been divided into 7 chapters.



Audio Quality

4.5/5


The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix is very strong for a television audio track. Care has been taken to add significant but appropriate ambient effects (ocean sounds, police station noises) in available channels. The music, a mixture of salsa and hip-hop, envelopes the soundstage effectively. Dexter’s voiceover narration is pitched at perhaps too loud a volume level for pleasant listening without some adjustments to the center channel, but dialogue otherwise has been excellently recorded and resides in the center channel. The LFE channel doesn’t get a great workout, but there are significant moments when its use is most effectual. You’ll jump more than once this season.


Here is a behind the scenes video with the Emmy-nominated sound mixing team of Pete Elia and Kevin Roache responsible for the mix:


Special Features

½ /5


The discs themselves do not contain any bonus features. The press notes indicate that the BD-Live portal will offer interviews with Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, C. S. Lee, Lauren Velez, James Remar, Desmond Harrington, David Zayas, and Colin Hanks along with the first two episodes from the most recent seasons of The Borgias, Californication, and House of Lies.


However, BD-Live had not been turned on during the review period, so it was impossible to check out the substance of these bonus features.




In Conclusion

3.5/5 (not an average)


While season six did not reach the high points of seasons one, two, and four during the run of Dexter, it certainly achieves enough dramatic tension and genuine thrills to continue to draw Showtime’s largest audience for one of its series. The religious aspect of this season was a controversial one for the show and lost it some viewers, but the balance of good and evil among the faithful and faithless is nicely maintained and not offensive.




Matt Hough

Charlotte, NC

 

Adam Gregorich

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Thanks Matt. We have a copy of Dexter Season 6 on Blu-ray to give away. Contest runs through midnight PST on August 14th. To enter send an email to contest 'at' hometheaterforum.com with the number of days it takes to mix an episode (hint: its in the video) on the subject line and your member name, name and shipping address (US or Canada only) in the email. Contest open to HTF members in good standing 18 years of age or older.
 

Lou Sytsma

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Not the best of seasons but I was definitely engaged. The end of the season should have happened at the end of Season 5.
Season 7 should be a step up simply because of that S6 finale. Throw in Yvonne Strahovski as a recurring guest star for Season 7 and things are indeed looking up for us as viewers. Dexter however, will have his hands full.
 

Matt Hough

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I think this next season will really put Deb in the spotlight because now that she knows what she knows, what does she do? Watching her wrestle with this knowledge and her conflicted emotional feelings for Dexter is absolutely going to make this next season a crucial one for Deb.
 

Lou Sytsma

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Exactly Matt.
This new found knowledge will force her to re-contextualize everything in her life and especially her relationship with her father. Should be a fantastic season for that character.
 

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