Where now for everyone's favourite serial killer?
Is there a TV equivalent of difficult second album syndrome? I ask because, as Daniel Martin has written, Heroes stumbles on aimlessly through its second series, while the first series of Dexter this week reached a thrilling, if not entirely unpredictable, denouement on ITV1. Dexter's decisive actions in the final episode prompt the question, where does the show go in its second season after such a consummate climax? The answer I've had from most folks who've seen it in the States is: down.
This is perhaps inevitable. Like a lot of albums and novels, the second may have had months of gestation while the first had years to develop. This certainly seems true of Damages. Its lacklustre last episode - compared to the gripping penultimate one - seemed just to be setting up for the second series and a clear case of "Quick! Think of something! We just got recommissioned!"
This brings to mind the first series of 24, where the action lurched off at a tangent from episode nine onwards, in a less-than-satisfying manner. It was only commissioned for eight episodes, and hence only storylined for as many.
It is, of course, the good old clash of commercial imperative versus artistic endeavour - the equivalent of battery farming the goose that laid the golden egg. And no matter how good a series is, it has a finite lifespan. Even I, a devoted Buffy fan, think it probably should have finished at the fifth season.
Difficult second series syndrome is especially acute when it comes to high-concept shows, like Heroes. Once the concept is familiar - pedestrian, even - a show loses its sheen. Plus, American series, with their longer runs, are more vulnerable than shorter British series. Perhaps to level the playing field we could look at the two series of Life on Mars as one US-style season (a la HBO or Showtime) and Ashes to Ashes as a second. (Although I think I was in the minority who enjoyed Ashes more than Mars).
Some shows improve as they progress - Sex and the City, say - but in an increasingly risk-averse environment, fewer get that opportunity. Then again, if a show doesn't hit the ground running, does it even deserve that chance? Is sophomore slump a luxury?
