TV Shows #24 - Part 1

Dexter (2006-13)
Developed By: James Manos Jr. Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar, C. S. Lee, Desmond Harrington, Geoff Pierson, Aimee Garcia

Certificate: 18 Running Time: 45-60 Minutes per Episode

Tagline: Takes Life. Seriously.

I have always found the subject of serial killers fascinating for some reason, as apparently many others do too. I don't admire or excuse what they do, obviously, but I do find it interesting hearing about their upbringing, the reasons they commit their horrendous acts, how long they keep going before getting caught, and what exactly it is that eventually trips them up. There have been a few good films on the subject over the years and I've seen most of them, so it's a bit surprising I put off watching Dexter for so long. I did eventually watch it about 3-4 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it overall, and was sad that it ended. For anyone who doesn't know, however, a revival was announced a while back which sees the return of the titular character after an absence of nearly a decade. With this in mind, I decided the time was right to watch the show again.

It's based on a series of eight novels by Jeff Lindsay, the first of which is titled Darkly Dreaming Dexter. They, like the show, centre on Dexter Morgan (Hall) who, as a young child, was witness to his mother's brutal murder by a drug gang. He was taken in by Harry Morgan (Remar), the police officer who found him in a pool of his mum's blood, and raised as his adopted son alongside Deborah (Carpenter), Harry's young daughter. Harry quickly recognised Dexter's sociopathic tendencies and, rather than trying to 'cure' him which he knew to be futile, he instead taught him to focus his bloodlust on the dregs of society. Plenty of options there!

Hi, I'm Dexter and I think murdering is mega-skill...

At first, Dexter restricted himself to killing people he knew to be guilty of grievous acts, then later after gaining employment as a forensic analyst specialising in blood spatter pattern analysis for Miami PD, he focuses on taking out killers who have slipped through the cracks and avoided justice, but only once he knows for sure they are guilty. Of course, in order to carry on with his murderous activities and satisfy his continuing need to kill, he has to be extremely careful. As well as merely avoiding detection and ensuring no evidence is left behind, this also includes maintaining the appearance of a normal, responsible member of society. That means having friends, a romantic or at least sexual relationship, pretending to care about people, etc, none of which is easy for a homicidal sociopath as you might imagine!

Difficulties fitting in aside, it's a pretty sweet system Dexter his set up as we meet him. He's in a relationship of fairly-low-but-increasing-seriousness with recovering abuse-victim, Rita (Benz), who has two young children, and he is good at his job and has earned the respect of most of his colleagues, and the friendship of a few, notably Vince Masuka (Lee), a forensic science investigator, and Angel Batista (Zayas), a detective, both of whom Dexter often works alongside closely.

Hi, I'm Deb and I sometimes work in my underwear...

His hottie siss Deb (Carpenter) also works for Miami PD, though she is somewhat less respected than her brother initially, who often takes pity on her and gives her leads based on his own observations and intuition about their cases. Other colleagues include Maria LaGuerta (Velez), department captain who seems to have the hots for Dexter but hates Deb for some reason, Joey Quinn (Harrington), another detective who features from the fourth season, and also featuring regularly is the long-since-deceased Harry Morgan (Remar), Dexter's adoptive father. He is seen via regular flashbacks that give some interesting background info as well as showing how the 'code' that Dexter lives by was established. The only other major character, at least at the start, is James Doakes (King), another detective under LaGuerta and the only member of the department not convinced by Dexter's 'mask of normalcy'.

Their relationship is actually a surprisingly interesting sub-plot. Doakes hates Dexter despite the latter's skill and intuition regarding his work and pleasant and helpful demeanour generally. Doakes only refers to Dexter by his surname and isn't afraid to tell him what he thinks of him - something that usually involves some profanity! He's still nowhere near the level of potty-mouth that Deb is though - you're likely to be somewhat taken aback by her regularly foul language (chortle!).

Hi, I'm Doakes and I'm angry all the time. Grrr!

There is a decent amount of time given to personal relationships in the show but the main story for most seasons is Miami PD's biggest case(s) which usually consist of a 'serial killer of the season' or something similar. This is good for us as not only does it build up tension for the season finale but also gives time to making the characters actual characters rather than cardboard cutouts, and that's one of the show's greatest strengths. Some seasons' main antagonists and sidekicks are better than others, of course, but there are some very memorable guest stars waiting here for first time viewers (Jaime Murray, Jimmy Smits, Jon Lithgow and Julia Stiles are the actors who spring to mind quickest right now but there are tons of great examples). Seeing the main characters evolve and adapt to new situations is what kept me watching, especially Michael C. Hall's towering, career-defining performance as the calculating title character who you'll (probably) always be willing to keep one step ahead of the authorities he spends so much time around.

I will be taking a look at all eight seasons here once I've rewatched them, and I'm looking forward to it a lot (rewatching them, that is), despite obviously knowing everything that happens, including that controversial, much-maligned ending which so irked some of the fans. I'll also (eventually) take a look at the follow-up miniseries titled New Blood too, but there's so much to the show that I figured I'd start off with this overview before getting into specifics. So, if like me you skipped the show for many moons, read about it here and see if it persuades you to watch. If, as is more likely, you've already seen it - join me in reminiscing about this fantastic show.