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A thirteen-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, is arrested for the brutal murder of a schoolgirl. To his family this all seems like a huge mistake - surely Jamie would not do something like that? To the police the evidence is clear but what motive could he possibly have?

A great series that for the first three episodes was on course to be off-the-charts brilliant. Each episode covers an aspect of the case and it starts with Jamie's arrest: the event, the police procedure, the effect on Jamie and his family. Very illuminating and engaging as the procedural staff is very interesting, we get to know the main characters and there's a large amount of intrigue as to the details of the crime he is charged with.

The camera work adds to the engagement as we have these long tracking shots following characters around or looking at the same scene from different angles, providing a sense of closeness and candidness.

After this we see the police try to find evidence and motives at Jamie's school. This part is incredibly eye-opening and depressing as we see the effects of social media and peer pressure on kids.

Episode 3 examines Jamie's mental state and is incredibly powerful, unpredictable, harrowing and engaging.

All this set up Episode 4 perfectly for a powerful finale, complete with a possible twist or two and/or a profound message. Unfortunately it doesn't come close to living up to the expectation, being a bit of a damp squib. A segment focusing on the long-term effect on his family was a reasonable path to take but it's not substantial enough for a complete one-hour episode. While there is some profound stuff in there, most of it is simply filler, making the ending quite dull.

I guess this is the downside of having each episode focus entirely on one aspect of the case, complete with single take: some aspects don't have substance for an entire episode. Episode 4 could have wrapped things up through a combination of various segments, rather than a single segment, and been a whole lot better for it.

So a bit disappointing at the end but for three episodes this series was almost perfect.

Before there was Dexter Morgan, vigilante serial killer, there was Dexter Morgan, pre-med student. We see how Dexter developed into the killer we know, the part his traumatic childhood played and his relationships with his father and sister, Deb.

I was a big fan of the original Dexter series though the final season, especially the final episode, took the shine off somewhat. To my surprise I enjoyed the sequel, Dexter: New Blood, though it didn't have the same content nor vibe as the original series.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this series and was initially quite pleasantly surprised as this series seemed to blend quite seamlessly into the original series. It has the same eerie theme music, roughly the same intro, the same vibe. It even has Michael C Hall (Dexter in the original series) narrating, just like in the original!

However, after a very impressive first episode, the quality and engagement drop off somewhat, though not enough to make it unwatchable. Patrick Gibson, who plays the young Dexter, is no Michael C Hall. His Dexter schtick seems forced, like he is trying to be weird for the sake of it. He quickly irritated me and by the end of the first season my engagement with his character was quite limited.

Adding to this is some uneven, sloppy writing. The broader story arc is okay and there's some great sub-plots (e.g. Brian Moser) but there's scenes and sub-plots which are really clumsy and contrived, some to the point of being laughably stupid. I was also hoping for more a build-up before Dexter becomes a killer, to show the conflict within him and to slowly develop his character, but the series launches into that almost straight away.

Overall, it's reasonably entertaining. It's also quite disappointing as after Episode 1 this felt like it had the potential to come close to, if not equal, the original series.

Meet Dexter Morgan, pre-med student. Before becoming the killer we know Dexter was just your average introverted kid...with an urge to kill. He has not acted on these urges, urges that his father is aware of and tries to control, but it only seems a matter of time.

An excellent start to the series. I was a big fan of the original series though the final season, especially the final episode, took the shine off somewhat. To my surprise I enjoyed the sequel, Dexter: New Blood, though it didn't have the same content nor vibe as the original series.

Now we have the prequel and it immediately feels like the original series, which is a good thing. There's the familiar theme tune, the opening graphics, Michael C Hall's voiceover (despite Dexter being played by a different actor in this series), the tension. The transition from Dexter to Dexter: Original Sin feels quite seamless.

We also have the additional benefit of seeing Dexter becoming the Dexter we know. Very interesting and engaging.