It's Alive! (Dexter)

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"It's Alive!"
Dexter episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 1
Directed byTony Goldwyn
Written byDaniel Cerone
Production code201[1]
Original air dateSeptember 30, 2007 (2007-09-30)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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Dexter (season 2)
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"It's Alive!" is the

television drama series Dexter, which first aired on September 30, 2007 on Showtime in the United States.[1] The episode was written by Daniel Cerone and was directed by Tony Goldwyn. In the episode, which takes place five weeks after the first-season finale, Sgt. James Doakes (Erik King) is following Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) at all times, but when he gets his first opportunity Dexter finds himself unable to kill. Meanwhile, his sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) returns to work after her ex-fiancé Brian tried to kill her, and his girlfriend Rita Bennett (Julie Benz) refuses to believe that Dexter sent her ex-husband Paul (Mark Pellegrino
) to prison in spite of the evidence in front of her.

Although Dexter's first season was adapted from

San Pedro and Long Beach
. With 1.09 million viewers, Dexter became the first Showtime series to attract over a million viewers with a season premiere. The episode received mostly positive reviews.

Plot

Since murdering the Ice Truck Killer five weeks previously, Dexter Morgan has been followed by the suspicious Sgt. James Doakes and thus cannot satisfy his urge to kill. Trying to act "relentlessly normal", he goes bowling almost nightly with his co-workers. Dexter is finally left alone when Doakes gives up and takes a night off; he pursues a blind voodoo priest named Jimmy, but finds himself ultimately unable to kill him. At a crime scene, the victim's mother pleads with Dexter to kill her son's murderer, gang lord "Little Chino". Seeing the woman's young daughter, he is reminded of having witnessed his own mother's brutal death as a child.

After leading Doakes to believe that he is bowling for the night, Dexter brings Chino to Jimmy's killing room. However, Chino wakes up in the middle of Dexter's procedure and manages to escape. Meanwhile, Dexter's sister Debra exercises incessantly and is barely able to sleep as she struggles with memories of her ex-fiancé, Brian Moser, trying to kill her. When she returns to work, Sgt. María LaGuerta expresses concern about her emotional stability. However, Debra is determined to resume her life. When she takes Dexter's girlfriend Rita out to a bar, a man recognizes Debra as the fiancé of the Ice Truck Killer. She instinctively punches him when he touches her shoulder, certain that he was trying to grab her.

Rita takes her children Astor and Cody to see the imprisoned Paul, who continues to insist that he was framed by Dexter and that his missing shoe would prove his innocence. Rita tells him that there is no shoe, despite having found it over a month ago. She later admits that she found the shoe, but refuses to acknowledge that Dexter is involved. That night, she receives a call from the prison and learns that Paul has been killed by another inmate. Flashbacks show the attempts of a teenaged Dexter to feel his heartbeat. In the present, Dexter and Debra watch a news report showing a team of scuba divers recovering thirty garbage bags from Biscayne Bay, each containing parts of Dexter's mutilated victims. As he watches, his heart races.

Production

The first season of Dexter followed the same storyline of

Clyde Phillips, they decided to resume the second season storyline five weeks after season one's finale "so all of the emotional resonance of what each [character] went through [...] will continue as if that were the actual passage of time, so they're still dented and rocked by what has happened." Cerone added that "The nice thing with Dexter is it's actually the lack of emotional resonance."[4] Speaking about Dexter's situation at the beginning of the second season, Hall said, "I think his world is pretty rocked. He encountered [his brother], a person he never anticipated encountering, someone who sees him for who he is, accepts him as such, and he really has no choice but to do him in ... he's still reeling from that, and any footing he's able to establish for himself is pretty much immediately pulled out from under him."[4]

With filming beginning on May 21, 2007,

San Pedro and Long Beach, California.[5]

Reception

"It's Alive!" brought in 1.09 million viewers in the United States,

Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Award nomination, in the category Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour), but lost to the sound mixers of the Lost episode "Meet Kevin Johnson".[12][13] Stewart Schill, the editor of "It's Alive!", received an Eddie Award nomination for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial Television.[14] However, the eventual recipient of the award was Sidney Wolinsky, for The Sopranos.[15]

The episode was positively received. Writing for

TV Squad "love[d] the flashbacks to a young Dexter and living Harry". Regarding the episode's end, he wrote that "just as Dexter's heart beats out of his chest, as does ours."[17] Paula Paige, writing for TV Guide, said that the episode "made for some exciting, heart-pounding fear" and called the discovery of Dexter's corpses "a fantastic storyline". She commended Benz for "develop[ing] her character, Rita, into a person instead of just the shell of one she appeared to be".[18] Blogcritics' Ray Ellis commented, "If ['It's Alive!'] is any indication, Dexter's second season looks to delve deeper into the psyches of its characters. It certainly sets up a number of plot complexities [...] and new devices that offer a myriad of new developments."[19] The A.V. Club critic Scott Tobias stated that "the writers have done a solid job setting the table for season two".[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c Goldman, Eric (September 28, 2007). "Dexter: "It's Alive!" Advance Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  2. ^ Ward, Kendra (September 29, 2008). "'Dexter' book series similar to TV". Washburn University. Archived from the original on October 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  3. ^ a b Goldman, Eric (March 8, 2007). "Paley Fest: Dexter". IGN. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  4. ^ a b c Goldman, Eric (July 18, 2007). "Dexter Gets Ready for Another Killer Season". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  5. ^ a b Meltzer Zepeda, Dana (July 16, 2007). "Dexter's Move West". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  6. ^ a b Claustro, Lisa (July 17, 2007). "'Dexter' No Longer Shooting in Miami". BuddyTV. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  7. ^ a b Ahlborn, Kate (October 24, 2008). "Q&A: Dexter Executive Producer Sara Colleton". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  8. ^ a b c Mitovich, Matt (October 3, 2007). "Dexter's Ratings Are Bloody Good". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  9. ^ Lafayette, Jon (October 2, 2007). "Dexter Debut Is Showtime's First to Draw 1 Million Viewers". TV Week. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2009.
  10. ^ "Seven - Daily Ratings Report" (Press release). Seven Network. February 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-25.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Brooks, Greg (July 9, 2008). "Dexter viral boosts ratings". Broadcast. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  12. ^ "Complete 2008 Nominations List". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. July 17, 2008. Archived from the original on July 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  13. ^ "2008 Creative Arts Emmy winners" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. September 13, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
  14. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (March 3, 2008). "Editors unveil their Eddie noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  15. ^ "Patton Oswalt hosts the 2008 Eddie awards". Monsters and Critics. February 19, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  16. ^ Lowry, Brian (September 26, 2007). "Dexter". Variety. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  17. TV Squad. Archived from the original
    on 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  18. ^ Paige, Paula (October 1, 2007). "It's Alive". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  19. ^ Ellis, Ray (October 5, 2007). "TV Review: Dexter Season Premiere: "It's Alive"". Blogcritics. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  20. ^ Tobias, Scott (September 30, 2007). "It's Alive". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-02-21.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Dexter (TV series).

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