Dexter: The Complete Series + Dexter: New Blood Blu-ray review
Oct 03, 2022- Permalink
When Dexter ended its eight year run in 2013, its final episode was a cause for much discussion, just like the series finales of Seinfeld and The Sopranos. Not everybody was over the moon thrilled at the idea of revisiting the life of the serial killing forensic technician, but when the limited series Dexter: New Blood premiered in 2021, audiences and critics alike felt it was worth hanging out with series lead Michael C. Hall again. If you love the show, or if you’re looking to explore both shows together, you’ll be glad to hear that Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing a Blu-ray box set of both shows together. I had a chance to look at this Dexter: The Complete Series + Dexter: New Blood Blu-ray set.
The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio for Dexter and a 2.39:1 ratio for Dexter: New Blood. The Dexter discs are the same as previous Blu-ray releases so issues that were mentioned in the past are still present. The show has great clarity in facial features, environments and textiles. The colour palette is good and the bright primaries of Florida pop in some scenes. There are occasional issues of banding throughout the seasons. It’s quite often a dark presentation but that’s a creative choice, so it’s a feature not a bug. As advocates of physical media will tell you, HD discs will always look better than the HD broadcasts or streams so this is the best that Dexter has looked. As for Dexter: New Blood it’s presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a step up from the original series, with most of the quibbles about its video missing here. Once again, the creators have made an artistic choice and the colour palette here has a cooler, washed out look that matches the cold landscape of this new setting.
On the audio side of things, here’s the language break down:
- Dexter: The First Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Second Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- Dexter: The Third Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Fourth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Fifth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Sixth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, English and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Seventh Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish and English Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: The Final Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
- Dexter: New Blood – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
As for subtitles, seasons 1-5 have English SDH, seasons 6-8 have English and English SDH. Dexter: New Blood has English SDH subtitles. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized. There’s some nice low frequency usage and the surrounds are used mostly for ambient sound rather than action.
The 106 episodes of the two shows are spread over twenty-eight discs, which are stacked on multiple spindles in a large plastic case. Extras on Dexter include some cast and crew audio commentaries on a few episodes, interview featurettes and two episodes of the Showtime series Ray Donavan. Dexter: New Blood extras include a few featurettes on the reboot of the story. There are no digital codes.
While curious TV viewers may not be the target market, fans of Dexter will be interested in picking up this Dexter: The Complete Series + Dexter: New Blood Blu-ray set.