Excellent First Episode

I read and enjoyed the Stumptown comics back when they came out, though I can't say I remember enough about them to comment on how closely the show is following them. Dex seems about how I recall her, and her little brother is straight out of the source. The show often felt like an adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel, and Dex was definitely channeling Philip Marlowe at times.

I loved everything about the show. The opening sequence, and the freeze-frame when the title come onscreen was fabulous. Dex is funny, and more important, she's real. I can believe she can and would say and do the things she says and does. She's never superwoman or a kung fu expert, and she spends a lot of the episode getting beat up and knocked out. The plot was clever, and I didn't see the various twists coming. Best of all, it was understated. It played out like a classic detective story rather than an over-the-top action set piece. I hope the rest of the season lives up to the opening act.