Dexter leads a thrilling and horrific double life as both an incredibly likable forensics expert for the Miami Police Department and a vigilante serial killer living by his own strict moral code - only killing murderers who can’t otherwise be brought to justice...

Season Two of Dexter picks up the story where Season One left off. After killing his brother, in order to stop him killing Dexter's stepsister, Debra, Dexter realises that he's having problems killing other potential victims - he even ends up letting one man go. He's got to get to the bottom of his problem so that he can return to his code and regain taking out the murderers who are getting away with... er... murder.

However, when Dexter's dumping ground of chopped up body parts is discovered, the police start to hunt for a new serial killer, who the media has started to call the "Bay Harbour Butcher". With his workmates, and sister, going all out to catch him, Dexter is under pressure to keep one step ahead of his pursuers.

This season sees the introduction of a number of new regular characters. These include Lila (Jaime Murray), an artist, arsonist and former meth addict who becomes Dexter’s sponsor when he attends a support group to make his girlfriend think he is a heroine addict trying to kick the habit; FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) who is drafted in as he's an expert in serial killers; and Gail (JoBeth Williams) Rita's mother. JoBeth Williams will be familiar to most people for playing Diane in Poltergeist (1982) and Poltergeist II (1986).

This collection opens with a full run down of what happened in Season One - for those who've never seen the show before, or need a quick refresher. As Season Two unfolds, there's less emphasis on Dexter killing, and more of a focus on him trying to keep out of the reach of the police. Every time he's backed into a corner, and you think the police will catch him, some quick thinking or pure luck saves the day.

As the series unravels Dexter learns more about his past, as well as realising that too many people depend on him - he's worried about how all those innocent people he cares for will react if he's arrested for his killing spree. But at least there's one thing he can rely on: Harry's code. That's one thing that would never let him down... or could it?

Extras include Interviews with the Cast (short interviews with almost all of the main cast); The Code of Harry (6 min, 38 sec look at Harry's code and how it's designed to keep Dexter out of reach of the law); Interview with Dexter Composer, Rolfe Kent (4 min, 35 sec look at Kent's involvement with the show); Interview with Jeff Lindsay, Author of Darkly Dreaming Dexter (3 min, 03 sec); Dexter's Tool Kit (pics of Dexter's tools with onscreen captions); Victim Slides (an odd collection of brief clips where Dexter kills his victim or collects their blood for his trophy slide collection); Dexter Trivia Game (answer all of the multiple choice questions correctly to view an interesting extra); Stills Gallery; Factoids - watch four episodes with optional textual information on four episodes; and Cast Bios and Filmographies.

The press release we received stated that this collection was spread across four discs - although we received five discs for review. The fifth discs included the majority of the extras, as well as four repeated episodes with optional textual information onscreen. I'm guessing that all of these extras will be spread across the four discs when this is released to buy - as it seems a little odd to repeat four episodes on a disc just for the textual information as this could easily have been included on the actual episodes.

This box set represents another nine episodes of quality drama that's well worth picking up.

9

Darren Rea