Review: Dexter: Resurrection, "Fallen" | Season 2, Episode 2

Hey free subscribers - your regular reminder that coverage of Dexter:Resurrection is heading behind the paywall. Support our work and become a paid subscriber to keep reading.

I have to assume planning a satisfying TV season is like planning a satisfying murder. (No, I'm not good at parties, why do you ask?) Making sure the timing on the reveals go just right, setting up the sequences of events for maximum effectiveness, ensuring no one is watching until you want them to...you know, I'm actually making myself a little uncomfortable with this analogy, but you take my point. The way that Dexter has to prepare each character introduction, gradually build locations and momentum, and then stage it all in a way that doesn't feel rushed, hapazard, or anything other than meticulously plotted is something we're constantly seeing Dexter Morgan work through. And I would argue the reason this season feels like it's off to such a strong start is the same one that made the first season work: The show has gone back to the basics of its premise—mild-mannered antihero avenger of evil—and then supercharged it with a smorgasbord of fun villains and uneasy allies. As anyone who's watched those YouTube videos of massive domino constructions getting knocked over can attest, half the fun is seeing everything get set up beforehand, knowing one stray move could topple the whole edifice before it's ready.

There's a lot less winking to the audience going on in "Fallen" than there was in the premiere, but that doesn't make it any less of a treat to watch. If anything, now that the opening table-setting has been dealt with, the show is free to dive headlong into its various subplots, and almost all of them are working. (We'll get to that "almost" shortly.) The meat of this installment is the return of Uma Thurman's Charlotte "Charley" Brown, and watching two high-caliber actors make a feast of such proudly B-movie material is a constant wellspring of enjoyment. Any scene with Hall and Thurman sitting over a bottle of wine and sizing each other up, or trading quips as they stroll through a high-end rental flat featuring "the perfect kill room," is a breezy delight.