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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.

Detective Renée Ballard runs a small rag-tag LAPD team, investigating cold cases. At an influential congressman's insistence, her main focus is a 24-year-old murder case - the victim was the congressman's sister. Not least amongst her problems is the ongoing feud with certain members of her old squad, the reason she was consigned to cold cases.

We were introduced to Renée Ballard in the final season of Bosch: Legacy. There she and Bosch were largely adversaries but it was clear that she was good at her job and under different circumstances she and Bosch could be close allies.

Bosch, the original series, and Bosch: Legacy are excellent shows and it is because of the Bosch connection that I watched this. However, Ballard is not anywhere near the quality of either Bosch series.

Bosch is dark, atmospheric, tense and unpredictable with a tight plot. Ballard's plot is formulaic and far from tight - much filler. Rather than atmosphere and intensity we have a basic join-the-dots story whose tone is quite unengaging. While it is reasonably intriguing at times there's far too much levity for the sake of levity, a cheesy lightness that is quite irritating.

Allied with this lightness are some cartoonish secondary characters, put in just to be quirky and increase engagement. However, they're so trite and irritating they have the opposite effect.

On the plus side, there is some intrigue re the cases, making the show watchable. In addition, Maggie Q is great in the lead role and Courtney Taylor puts in a solid performance as Samira Parker. It's not a coincidence that these are the two characters most focussed on solving crimes rather than being colourful.

It appears that there will be a Season 2. I won't be back for that.