People who know me may be privy to the fact I have been a big fan of the HBO TV series “The Sopranos” since its first season. After 7 years the series will be airing its last ever episode this Sunday. For people who have never watched it, my deepest sympathies. Those who have, you will know that last week’s penultimate episode saw a major culling of some of the show’s regular and most endearing characters in preparation for the grand finale. There is some perversity in calling these bunch of people endearing seeing that they will ‘whack’ you at the drop of a hat. Over the years, fans of the show have willingly let a group of blood-thirsty, back-stabbing, wife-cheating, dysfunctional sociopaths into their hearts and called them friends.

In real life we as a people should lock these guys up in solitary confinement and have the key thrown away but instead we find ourselves rooting for them, laughing with them, crying when they are sad, cheering them on whenever we see their enemies’ blood splattered all over the wall. In Anthony Soprano we have one of the most well fleshed-out anti-hero ever to inhabit the idiot box. He is manipulative, morally ambiguous, violent, suave, naive, conflicted, decisive, shrewd; through it all James Gandolfini plays the role of his entire acting career. How he severs himself from this character to pursue other gigs after this is beyond me. And this speaks volumes for the phenomenal work he did in this series. Never showy, his was real acting.

Playing his long-suffering wife, Edie Falco deserves an Oscar for each year that the show was on. She consistently out classed all the nominees in the motion picture category despite being confined to TV. In a rare coincidence of the coming together of a group of people who can act their shoes off, this was truly an ensemble cast. Each actor and actress could hold their own ground against the brilliance of Gandolfini and Falco. For 7 years they took us on a roller coaster ride of human emotions, never shying from the darker aspects and the depravity that is inherent in our genes.

Working from behind the scenes, the show is blessed with a crack team of writers including the creator David Chase who served up twist after twist, plot after plot, line after line with class and sheer genius. The characters are woven into the stories like an elaborate tapestry, a modern day tableaux of all our aspirations, fear, frailties and prejudices. After the finale is over, fans will be divided as to the ultimate fate of Anthony Soprano. Some will agree and some will be disappointed. Whatever the answer, there will be no argument that the show was something special and unprecedented in the history of TV.

based on characters in the trio of dexter novels by jeff lindsay comes a television series like no other. really this year has seen a bumper crop of top notch shows rivaling even big screen list A production by moneyed hollywood studios. ‘heroes’ immediately spring to mind along with the 2nd season of ‘my name is earl’, ‘jericho’ and the sixth season of ‘the sopranos’ just to name a few. out of all the new ones, i think ‘dexter’ will have the more interesting shelf life.

a serial killer who targets serial killers. thats the concise version of who dexter morgan is. to flesh him out, the writers made him a blood splatter analyst working for the miami police. imagine being at a party and asked by some beautiful stranger what the nature of your job is. its a great pick up line waiting to happen. his job is to scour crime scenes for clues by analyzing the patterns of blood splashed seemingly at random on walls, furniture, floor, mutilated bodies etc. his incredible power of deduction is only equaled by his unhealthy obsession with this bodily fluid. and thats only his day job.

at night and on weekends he prowls the streets of steaming miami picking out his blood-thirsty ‘victims’ who in and of themselves are perpetrators of some of the most heinous crimes. ostensibly dexter is ridding the world of these murderers so that we may lead safer lives. however his passion for this extracurricular activity is driven by an uncontrollable urge far removed from any altruistic reasoning.

born to a small time coke dealer and user, he witnessed the brutal death of his own parents at a very young age. he was rescued by a cop, harry morgan, who arrived at the scene which resembled a blood-soaked purgatory. raising him as his own, the cop soon realized that dexter possesses a hunger, an urge that must be satisfied at all cost. he constructs the ‘code of harry’ for his adopted son. this is a set of rules and boundaries within which dexter must operate to do what is in his nature to do.

he is taught how to stalk his victims without being caught. he is schooled in the art of breaking and entering without leaving a trace. the victims must only be murderers themselves. the innocent must be spared at all cost. above all he must act normal and assimilate himself to mainstream society. this last bit is the most difficult for dexter who is pathologically detached from human emotions (perhaps as a subconscious protective mechanism after the horror he witnessed when his mother was cut up with a chainsaw in front of his very eyes). half the fun is watching him trying to become joe public in the face of his blood lust. to makes matters worse he becomes romantically entangled with a single mum who is trying to escape from the shadow her abusive ex-husband. rita falls madly in love with him and he reciprocates in a misguided attempt to appear normal.

the first few episodes builds dexter’s character up by showing him at work and at play. harry’s own biological daughter, deb, is a detective in the same precinct working a long side a bunch of dysfunctional but reliable agents headed by a lady boss who loves the limelight a bit too much for her own good. deb rubs her the wrong way and is given the runaround. angel batista is the stereotypical hard-nosed cop who is going through a painful separation with his wife. his best friend and resident curator of obscure sexual fetish terminology, vince masuka, is the token wisecracking asian of the show. then there is the ever suspicious sergeant doakes who knows that there is something wrong with dexter but just can’t quite put his finger on it. he has made giving dexter a hard time his main purpose in life.

when not working dexter spends an unhealthy amount of time studying and tracking down his victims. with practice comes perfection and he chalks up his kills, preserving the last drop of blood from each victim on glass slides which he keeps hidden behind his air-con unit in his one room apartment. one day he gets a call from his office to a crime scene and when he sees the dismembered body parts, he is struck by the artistry of the kill. in that instance he knows that he has finally met his match. as the season progresses the identity of the so called ice-truck-killer (ITC – for his penchant of draining all the blood from his victim and transporting them around in a refrigerated truck) is alluded to in a subtle interplay of flashbacks and tight storytelling.

ITC represents the arc that holds the entire season together to its shocking conclusion in the finale. the ensemble cast is flawless, complimenting michael c. hall’s (he played the gay funeral parlor owner in another hit series ’six feet under’) effortless portrayal of dexter; a mixture of laser sharp intelligence and uncontrollable urge. the first season ended just 4 days ago and already fans are clamoring for more. based on the overwhelming response, the second season should be in production soon.

dexter

years ago i watched an episode of the 1985 reincarnation of ‘the twilight zone’ which told of a man (played by a young bruce willis) who accidentally calls his own home number by mistake but then finds another version of himself picking up the phone. i still can remember the title as if it was yesterday – SHATTERDAY

the episode actually counts down to the final day of the title starting from someday, duesday, woundsday, freeday and shatterday. each day sees the alternative version of the guy going about righting the wrongs that the other half have committed in his lifetime and on shatterday the original protagonist disappears and we are left with the much improved alter ego.

if only we could renew ourselves this way. like a snake moulting to accommodate growth and maturation. rewriting all the wrong decisions that we have made thus far. changing lives for the better as we go along.

1. a single mother with a jekyl and hyde personality
2. a japanese office worker who can manipulate the space-time continuum
3. a cop who can hear other people’s thoughts
4. an artist who can draw the future
5. a presidential candidate and his younger brother who can defy gravity and fly
6. a high school student who can never be physically harmed as her body parts can regenerate at will

each one of these protagonists struggle to come to terms with their strange abilities while trying to grapple with their already damaged personal lives. this is the premise of a new tv show called ‘heroes’. watching the first 3 episodes aired so far reminds me of bruce willis’ character in the m. night shyamalan’s movie ‘unbreakable’ which was largely panned when it came out following the hugely successful ’sixth sense’. there willis was seemingly an ordinary joe public type of guy working as a security guard at a stadium. as the show progresses he begins to realise little peculiar things about himself; how he has never been sick his entire live and how he gets out from any accidents with nary a scratch to brag about.
most of the characters in ‘heroes’ do not want anything to do with their supernatural powers and feels that it is more of a curse than anything else. you will never catch the presidential candidate donning a cape and his underwear on the outside. rather than own up to his powers, he lies and even betrays his own brother in order not to jeopardise his political campaign.

the artist who can see the future numbs his visions by shooting up whenever he gets the chance and the single mother is just horrified at the havoc her split personality can wreck on the people around her.
the high school cheerleader just wants to fit in and fade into the background noise of adolescent romance, peer acceptance and date rape. the only 3 people genuinely thrilled at being handed a strange hand by god are the cop, the idealistic younger brother of the presidential candidate and the japanese guy. the latter is hiro and he is my favourite character so far. accepting his destiny with child-like innocence and glee, he is determined to help people around him and ultimately save new york from nuclear destruction which he incidentally finds out is going to happen in the near future from a comic book drawn by the doped-up artist.
the cop is also excited about his new found telepathy but life is not having any of it. he is in the middle of a crumbling marriage and is arrested when he solves a case using his special powers. seeing that he knows classified details of the case, his superiors takes him for questioning as a suspect. unbeknowst to them he has gathered all their thoughts via his mind-reading.

the younger brother starts out as a male nurse caring for the terminally ill but when he realises his gift, he quits and hopes to use his power for the betterment of mankind although thus far he has only managed to piss off his brother and lands in hospital after a failed attempt to control his power.

running through the lives of this motley crew of characters is a mysterious man who happens to be the adopted father of the high school kid. from the knowing glances that he throws at the camera , he represents the system or government and this whole group of misfits may be under clandestine surveillance. also a supernatural serial killer is on the loose and he may or may not be targetting these specially-endowed people. there is also a young indian man who discovers that his dead father was working on a theory of escalated evolution which led to this group of people being what they are. he arrives in new york where his father was murdered for his work by some shadowy organisation. hoping that the clues his father left behind may lead him to at least one of these super humans, he finds himself being hunted by the same organisation.

with so much going on. its obvious that all the wheels are in motion and where our final destination may be only time and the creator of this show can tell. in the meantime just enjoy the plot twists and intersections of storylines of a truly original and genre-defining series.

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