 Hinckley praised Hall's dynamic Emmy-worthy performance, and the "indispensable and haunting" narration.Maureen Ryan of the "Chicago Tribune" claimed "to deny yourself the engrossing "Dexter" based on its subject matter would be to miss out on one of television's most fiendishly intelligent new dramas".Ryan enjoyed the series' black comedy aspects, which she thought were "infused with the most pitch-dark irony on television".