Dexter Jumped the Shark?

I just recently watched the season 3 finale of Dexter, where Dex kills the Skinner and gets married.

There was a scene a few episodes ago where he helps Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) execute his first victim. He asks Miguel what it felt like to kill, and Miguel dressed in a weird Steve-Jobsian black turtleneck replies orgasmicly "Fantastic!". At that moment, I paused the DVR and looked at my wife and said, "I think Dexter just jumped the shark." It was just such an awkward and campy scene.

I simply had some issues with Season 3.

What happened to the Dexter who was sexually ambivalent? Now he's more sexed up than David Duchovny. I thought Dexter was completely maladroit at almost all forms of social contact. Now he's spending every second with his wife and wanting to be a good father?

All of these weird plot lines gives me the feeling that the writers are trying too hard and are leaving the basic character behind. I think they need to get back to basics in Season 4.

Here's my back-to-basics note to the writers of Dexter. Ready? Here you go: Dexter = Batman. Dexter is a dark superhero. He can't have a wife and kids or the bad guys will use them against him. He kills bad guys all over the place. He is constantly hounded by the cops bcause he is a vigilante. He also has all kinds of cool toys that he can play with, and uses science to his advantage at every turn. Come on! Let's have some really smart CSI-like stuff, or some really hard to unravel mystery that requires Dexter's brains. Miguel Prado was Dexter's misguided attempt at having a sidekick : Robin. No more of that! Ditch the family!

I hope they figure this out again, and knock off all these crappy plotlines. Good luck!

Interesting Words - Nov 2008

Putative:
-Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof

Anodyne:
-An agent that soothes and relieves pain. See Analgesic

Liquesce:
-To become liquid.

Liquescent:
-Becoming liquid

Cartouche:
-An oval ring containing the hieroglyphs of a royal name
-An ornamental shield or decoration often placed above door openings or fireplace mantels.

Vulpine = Fox-like

Vulpine means fox-like.

I'll add that to : lupine, canine, feline, bovine...

Time Warner DVR Software - Mystro

A couple of months ago Time Warner here in North Carolina replaced the DVR software that they had been using with a new system called 'Mystro'. I'll get to the point: Mystro sucks.

Mystro is buggy. There are so many bugs and quirks in this software that I can't begin to name them all. The system that was previously installed worked very well.

And when I tried calling tech support about it, they can't do any thing aside from reboot the box, of course. There is no way to directly report bugs about the software, you have to visit the website and submit a web email - which I've done three times and never had a single response. It's a black hole and no-one is listening. I'd like to submit specific bug reports as I find them and get some response that someone in the company is actually tracking the bug. How can the software be improved without a direct feedback loop from concerned customers?

I just sent them another web mail, we'll see if they answer. I'm quite sure that I will be looking into Satellite TV again here in the very near future.