Dexter

I’m not usually one to write about a TV show, especially one about a serial killer, and a killer who is a likeable protagonist. But how brilliant is that? To actually make the viewer empathise with this serial killer is a feat worth mentioning. I must point out that I am not a crime/murder kind of girl. No, I prefer America’s next top model and Will and Grace, and period dramas, oh, and even a bit of Colin Fry (don’t shoot me!) But Dexter?! It’s topping my favourite TV show list by far at the moment. And no, I don’t normally have a TV list but I feel I need one now.

Unfortunately I haven’t read the book. Or maybe that’s a good thing so I didn’t have preconceptions. I love the fact that Dexter was taught by his foster father to channel his urge to kill and only to kill people that deserve to be killed. How on earth do you decide who should be killed? This is such a fantastic moral question, especially in some states of America where people do decide with the death penalty still going strong. Dexter spends time monitoring his victims-to-be to determine whether they should die. In one case he even became the patient of a killer psychiatrist to confirm his suspicions and acquire the relevant evidence. And he got it, on camera and in person. So, was his death deserved? Mmm…good question. It’s funny because Dexter explains repeatedly to the viewer that he’s emotionless and doesn’t feel anything, and has to pretend that he’s a real human to other people on a daily basis. Therefore, the fact that he’s killing people from an objective point of view rather than from an emotional perspective, does it make it easier to accept? For me, I don’t support the death penalty because how can you ever be one hundred percent sure you have the right person? I’m not saying Dexter shouldn’t kill people but rather I empathise with his feelings for wanting to hurt them (not kill them). It reminds me of someone saying something that everyone else is thinking but too afraid to voice. Haven’t we all wanted to hurt someone who hurt us or has brutally abused a small child for example? Okay, Dexter takes the whole concept a fundamentally big step further as he does have a desire to kill. But his foster father taught him to channel this propensity rather than trying to suppress it and it then inevitably going off the rails. And with his fathers help he developed a conscience and a set of values both good and bad. The fact that he acts out some of them clearly differentiates him from the average guy. But this guy is actually pretty likeable and that’s down to excellent writing, acting and production.
And I’m so glad there’s a second series!
Official site http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do