showtime originals

Fans of TV's Dexter have been clamoring for the release of the video game version for quite awhile, ever since news of the game's development first hits the stands. But just like the show's title character would say, patience and preparation pays off when you're trying to execute the perfect kill.

Dexter the Game would feel like just another run-of-the-mill TV to video game translation if it hit the Xbox Live Arcade or the Playstation Network. But this slice and dice retelling of the Showtime show's first season is special because it's on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

That's right, the touch screen manna from Steve Jobs' heaven now lets you cut up evildoers with a bone saw with the flick of your finger. Now you can fulfill the needs of your own "Dark Passenger" without having to max out your Home Depot card on visqueen and power tools or thin the pet population of your neighbors' backyards.

(S01E02) Genesis 27:29: "Let peoples serve you, and nations pay you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you."

Series creator, Blake Masters, has spoken about the actors he cast as brothers Tom and Mike Caffee as carrying "the idea they're not boys anymore, that they should know better." This idea comes to the forefront tonight as Tommy and wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish) separately grapple with a couple of the more depressing aspects of adulthood: compromise and hypocrisy. Eileen thinks she might have an STD and gets to feel small and cheap at least three times this week: once as usual when she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror while rendezvousing with her f-buddy at the motel, once when her doctor tells her not to worry -- Tom "would never cheat on her," and once when she jambs a towel under the door of the bathroom, dorm-room style, so she can smoke weed while Tommy sleeps. Being a politician's wife sucks.

Now, I keep going back and forth over which Caffee brother behaved more despicably this week:

(S01E01) Mark 8:36: "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"

Showtime's answer to The Sopranos and The Wire premiers, and it is all about family. Family Tawwwmmy! Family! "Everybody knows how important that is to you," a union rep and mob flunky tells nice-brother-with-a-dark-side Tom Caffee (Jason Clarke).  He is the slightly dough-faced one, an elected state-representative about to blackmailed by the mob boss Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman) into handing over some snowplow contracts in order to save his brother's life.

Or something like that.

I like Tom immediately, if only because I am slightly dough-faced myself.  Mike, the other Caffee brother, the chiseled, hunky one, is played by the another Jason (Jason Isaacs). He is the bad brother with a good side. They call him Three "Pawt" Mike, cause he plays three parts: judge, jury & executioner. Maybe Four-Parts Mike is more appropriate if you include surgeon: Quentin Tarantino would appreciate what Mikey can do with an ear. The lads are products of all-white, blue-collar neighborhood "The Hill," - that's the mean streets of Providence, Rhode Island to you and me, but I don't see Mike Farrell anywhere.