I am – Hercules!!


“Dexter,” the acclaimed Showtime hourlong about a disturbed Miami forensics expert who spends his off-hours torturing and killing no-goodnicks, returns tonight

It stars Michael Hall (gay David from “Six Feet Under”), Julie Benz (vampire Darla from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”), Lauren Velez (hot Dr. Nathan from “Oz”) and Jennifer Carpenter (the title character in “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”).

Though I didn’t make it past the series’ pilot last season, I felt not too lost coming into 2.1. Suspicious Sgt. Doakes has been tailing Dexter every night since Dexter murdered his long-lost serial-killer brother, so Dexter has had no outlet in which to indulge his urges. When Dexter finally shakes Doakes, the vigilante psycho is vexed with more than one kind of performance anxiety.

Fans will be keen to learn that two key developments conclude 2.1, one involving the Benz character’s ex-husband and one involving an underwater discovery.

9 p.m. Sunday. Showtime.