Miami Vice

(Reviewing only ep 3 as they premiered on the same day) Okay. I'm so glad that the pilot was an anomaly. Very vague, so no spoiler warning. If you're reading a review of episode 3 you should already have seen episode 3.

In my review of it, I said I was mostly worried about the pacing. They completely fixed it with the next two episodes. I could nitpick about some things, especially the music (hence the 9 star rating, since apparently *every single* episode of this new show needs one ridiculous song. I get it's the 90s, but maybe they could've saved the songs for only specific scenes? Like when Deb and her friend are dancing. Not 2+ older songs. Every. Single. Episode.)

On another note, I was also unsure about Christian Slater being cast as Harry Morgan. As of seeing this new episode, I'm still not entirely sure that was the right choice. As I said, Christian Slater is a great actor, but there's just something... missing. He doesn't feel like the same character.

As I also said in my review of the pilot, I feel like Molly Brown was *the* choice for young Deb. She nails her angry teen/feeling unappreciated so well.

Now, onto the newest edition to the young version of the older cast. I think Christina Milian was the *perfect* young LaGuerta. She nails the haughty vibes, while showing us the way LaGuerta has to prove herself as a woman in a male-dominated field. (Btw, that scene with her and Patrick Dempsey as Captain Spencer was kinda... lmao. Only me?) I have to take a double take every time I see James Martinez. Everytime I see him, I keep thinking they must've cloned David Zayas. Alex Shimizu may have hair, but he definitely gets Masuka's... unique personality, lol.

As for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Patrick Dempsey... please give them more screen time! I need to know what's going on with Captain Spencer, and I'm really interested in the dynamic between Dexter and Tanya.

But most of all, I'm really intrigued by the allusions we've been given as to Bobby Watt's relationship to the Morgans. I believe it was Reno Wilson himself who hinted at Watt's role in Dexter's childhood, and, as this episode showed us, it seems that he knows a lot more than he lets on.

I'm also glad we're finally seeing more of Dexter's birth mother. Brittany Allen was amazing in this episode!

All in all, I'm so happy with the direction this show is taking! I feel like we're finally back in Dexter's world, and it's as wonderfully bloody and funny as it always was.

Alright... I'm a little torn, to be honest. On the one hand, I'm enjoying seeing young Dexter figure things out, but that kill in the Jai Alai place? It felt a bit much, right? Like, his second kill and he's doing it in a pretty open space with all the lights on? I know Harry's whole thing is "don't get caught," and that seemed like a really risky move for someone who's supposedly just starting out.

Maybe they're trying to show he's reckless at this stage, but it kinda threw me. It just didn't feel as thought-out as you'd expect, even from a newbie Dexter. It made me wonder if we're going to see him actually learn and get better at this, or if he's just going to be pulling off these kind of crazy kills from the start.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still invested in the show and the backstory stuff is cool. But that particular scene just felt a little unrealistic and unlike what I'd imagined early Dexter would be like. Hopefully, we'll see him get a bit more strategic as the show goes on.

So far this season has been building in the best ways. I'm loving the character development for Harry, and seeing what Miami Metro was like with him on the team. Debra is VERY much in character, and it's interesting seeing a high school version of what she would've been like. I noticed a lot of people pointing out the Harry flashbacks as inconsistent with the show being in Dexter's head/memory. I think it is fitting, as if the whole show was only from the POV from Dexter, there would be alot of story missing. People seem to just be looking into it to much. The original show was narrated by Dexter but still broke away to other scenes he was not in. Overall another good episode! The kill was awesome. Very Dexter. Also.... Introducing Laguerta! Great! I love how Spencer referred to her as a "Climber". He was spot on. Another great episode that reminds us why we fell in love with the show in the first place!

Solid and as others said feels like early Dexter.

It's great to see the early storylines playing out and the anxiety and tension knowing what's coming for Mosler.

Finally getting the character development between the family too as I was worried about how disconnected the siblings seemed in the first episode Vs how close they are in the main show.

On character development it was nice to see more "familiar" faces and backstory being padded out

As someone else said my only gripe with the episode was the rather public killing, I don't think Dex would feel confident enough yet with his code after just 1 kill! Still reminded me of the better scenes in the original series however.

Ok, in the first episode you had some stuff that didn't exist back when this was supposedly taking place, but I let it go because it was just a small fluke, this time I'm not letting it go. In this episode there are not 1 but 2 scenes where someone is fist bumping, the ONLY people who would know that back then are people who are into sports, which has been shown repeatedly to not be the case with Dexter. So every time you make a scene where Dexter is fist bumping someone, what you're doing is sticking a gesture in that people from right now would recognize, but from back then would never have done. Please for the love of god, fix that.