Better late to Dexter than never – Diary of a Dexter Virgin

I adore Dexter. I have to cop to a pretty serious obsession with the show. I’ve read and watched tons of interviews with the cast. I’ve watched Comic Con sessions from nearly every year of the show on YouTube. I have started reading the Jeff Lindsay books that inspired the series, and I have not been disappointed. But if you have not yet seen Dexter, you should stop reading now.

Dexter Season 1
I can’t believe it took me so many years to discover Dexter. Oh, I had heard of the show. I had heard and read rave reviews. I knew Michael C. Hall had cancer, I knew he won an Emmy, I knew he got better. I knew he divorced his wife to marry a co-worker. I even borrowed the first season from a friend for months and returned it unwatched. I was put off by the potential violence (it is on Showtime, after all, so they are allowed more violence than Broadcast television), the fact that I didn’t think it was possible to like the character, and the fact that I wasn’t thrilled with the fact that Dexter was played by Michael C. Hall. I grew to appreciate him and his character of David Fisher on Six Feet Under, but I didn’t think he was very attractive, and for a long enough time on the show, I did not like his character. That sort of lingered. Or, perhaps, clung. But, now, OMG. I feel like a teenager with a crush. Michael C. Hall is adorable (slightly longer hair, and more warmth as a faking-it sociopath than he ever exhibited as cold fish David Fisher). And the voice. Oh, the voice. It’s smooth and oaky. I even love the Dodge commercials Hall does, with that unmistakable voice over. Velvety. But I’m more likely to buy a butcher knife than a truck.
It’s pretty impressive that Jeff Lindsay managed to create a likeable serial killer who is also a sociopath. I love Dexter the character, but more importantly, I love the other characters on the show too. Even though the show is called Dexter and obviously told from the point of view of our hero, the writers have done an incredible job of providing compelling storylines and characterizations for the other actors. I am just as interested in Rita (Julie Benz), Dexter’s sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter – Michael C. Hall’s soon-to-be ex-wife), Vince, Batista, and La Guarta, and Sergeant Doakes.
Of all five seasons, I think the first season might be my favorite overall. Coming to the series knowing pretty much nothing about it except that Dexter is a serial killer, I was thrilled to watch things unfold. Not only did I like the cheekiness of the Ice Truck Killer breaking into Dexter’s apartment and leaving gift-wrapped Barbie parts in the fridge, but I also came to realize, when reflecting back on the show, that I had seen one of the ballsier scenes on television that I could recall. Do you remember the scene in the hospital when they have finally rescued that poor guard, alive, but missing some limbs, from the Ice Truck Killer? The guard is flirting with Deb, and so is the cute doctor who is going to replace the guard’s limbs. Oh My God. They had the very torturer who had tormented that poor guard not only there for questioning, but having the audacity to put Humpty Dumpty back together. And he just played it so cool that I barely remembered the doctor until we started seeing him again. It still send a slight chill up my spine. That’s pretty cold.
I also loved seeing the relationship between Dexter and his sister grow. One of the most interesting things about Dexter as a character is that even though he knows he is a sociopath and can’t feel, he isn’t completely comfortable with that. To a large degree, Dexter isn’t really a sociopath. He claims to be completely unfeeling, yet he manages to develop genuine relationships with other human beings. Dexter epitomizes the concept of “Fake it til you make it.” In creating a cover for himself, as instructed by his foster father, the complicated cop Harry Morgan, he leads a seemingly normal life. He dates, he bowls, he brings donuts to work. Nobody is going to say, “He really kept to himself.” Dexter isn’t a creeper in public. He has learned wisely and well how to fake human interactions, and to his great surprise, over the five seasons, some of these interactions become very real. This is one of the main reasons I don’t think Dexter is a true sociopath. Real sociopaths don’t grow and mature and change in their emotional interactions and connections with people. And they certainly are not bothered by that (in my limited knowledge of sociopaths).

I’ve seen criticisms of the show that don’t like the fact that tragic events from Dexter’s early childhood made him into a sociopathic serial killer. When he was three years old, he witnessed his mother being killed by chainsaw by drug dealers. He then sat in two inches of blood for days before the police found him. So, Harry was sort of waiting to find out how messed up Dexter would be. As far as I know, sociopaths are born, not made. It also seems highly unlikely that two children would become sociopaths from witnessing that event, but hell, I’m not a psychologist. And Dexter is a more fascinating character because he wrestles with his (lack of) emotions. He isn’t completely happy being a monster. Oh, he doesn’t want to stop killing people. He would just like also to be able to have real relationships with the people he doesn’t want to kill. This suggests that Dexter-as-psychopath is a victim of severe trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, but maybe there is hope that somewhere inside he is also human. However, instead of getting therapy, Dexter just plunges ahead with his life and tries to swim through it. I know that sociopath visiting therapist has been done — both in Robert de Niro movies and in The Sopranos.

We don’t really need the therapy device, though, because we have Dexter voiceovers. Sometimes voice overs don’t work in a show, but I think Dexter really needs them. If not for them, we probably wouldn’t a) appreciate Dexter’s complexities and b) wouldn’t like Dexter. Liking Dexter and being able to identify with some of the issues he struggles with are essential to the show’s success. Because otherwise, you’re pretty much watching a show about Jeffrey Dahmer, minus the cannibalism. And that’s just too creepy and dark. Dexter is actually a pretty funny/fun show. There may be other things like it out there, but it’s a first for me. My only regret is that now that I’m caught up with the show, I have to wait for the next episodes to come out one at a time instead of having late-night Dexter marathons in my father’s basement.

Clacked by Jen Creer
on Mar 25, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT