Pity the poor serial killer.
When the bodies pile up, the odds of capture increase proportionately, elevating levels of stress and anxiety, and resulting in acts of carelessness that serve only to make the beleaguered killer’s situation more precarious.
Such are the circumstances afflicting Dexter Morgan, title character of Showtime’s “Dexter,” as the series broadcasts its ninth episode and begins the final third of its 12-episode second season.
It’s been an eventful eight episodes so far with the normally asocial Dexter (Michael C. Hall) juggling two love interests – Rita (Julie Benz), the demure mother of two who had been his steady girlfriend, and Lila (Jaime Murray of AMC’s “Hu$tle”), the willowy, unstable “sponsor” from Narcotics Anonymous who he met while attending NA meetings under false pretenses.
At the same time, Dexter’s also trying to steer clear of suspicion as the FBI and the Miami police (for which he works as a forensics tech) investigate the multiple murders which he himself committed, following the discovery of the spot underwater where he submerged his victims.
It’s a far cry from Season One, when all Dexter had to worry about was another serial killer who turned out to be his long lost brother.
“There are so many spinning plates [in Season Two]. There was a sort of streamlined trajectory to the story the first season and the second is just madness. [Dexter is] getting more frantic and haphazard,” says the actor who plays the tousle-haired Dexter, Michael C. Hall, who wore his hair much shorter when he played the buttoned-down and uptight David Fisher on “Six Feet Under.”
When “Six Feet Under” ran its course in August 2005, “there were certainly things that came my way,” said Hall, 36, who grew up around Raleigh, N.C., and later earned a performing arts masters at NYU.
“The last thing I thought I’d do was a TV show because I felt pretty convinced that I was phenomenally spoiled doing ‘Six Feet Under’ in terms of the character and people I worked with. On all fronts, that show was exceptional.”
But when “Dexter” came along, the challenge of playing a secret serial killer who hides in plain sight in the guise of an easygoing single man living in Miami, along with an opportunity for the first time in his career to be the star of a TV show, were too tempting to resist.
“The character was something I couldn’t pass up,” said Hall in an interview over lunch recently at the Hudson Hotel in midtown. “I think in a lot of ways I felt like I’d spent five seasons on ‘Six Feet Under’ preparing to be ready for such an opportunity.”
The Hollywood writers strike has had no effect on the production of “Dexter” because Season Two – filmed principally at the same facility, Sunset Gower Studios, where “Six Feet Under” was filmed and where “Heroes” currently makes its home – was finished before the strike started. Production on Season Three won’t begin until next spring.
Hall, who is currently single following a recent divorce from actress Amy Spanger, said he has no idea where the producers and writers of “Dexter” will take the character next season.
“The second season has a different character than the first and the finale has a different character as well,” he said. “But there is a sense of resolution and a sort of stage being set for a new beginning – whatever that might be.
“I mean, when we finished the first season, I had no idea where things were headed and I’m kind of in the same place about the third, but in a good way.”
DEXTER
Sunday, 9 p.m., Showtime