I've now watched the first two seasons of "Dexter" in full and I'm almost at the end of the third season. I enjoyed it from the start, but the third season has wowed me even more than the first two seasons. The plot twists and the ironic character relationships are amazing.
"Dexter" is one of the most watched series in America, but is relatively unknown in England where I live, so I'll attempt to explain it to those who have never seen it. The title character, Dexter Morgan, is a forensics expert for the Miami police, specialising in blood splatter analysis. He has a girlfriend, Rita, played by Julie Benz who is well known from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel", but almost all of his social contacts are from his work. Thus the supporting characters are all police officers.
Dexter, however, has a dark side. He's a psychopath, incapable of feeling emotion. His only pleasure in life comes from killing. His now dead father had recognised this and had trained him to channel his urges by only killing those who deserve to die. While this is a justification for his killings it's not an excuse. Dexter is presented as a monster. And yet it's difficult not to like him.
How many other tv series have there been in which the leading character is a bad guy? I can only think of Tony Soprano in "The Sopranos". This show goes further, though. Tony Soprano, for all his faults, genuinely loved his wife and children. He can be considered a borderline sociopath. Dexter is totally incapable of love. He has to copy the words spoken by others to give a good performance when proposing to Rita.
The series profits greatly from the rich characters of the police staff who work with Dexter. They are all very different to one another, and all likeable in their respective ways. If you haven't seen this series yet, give it a try. You might be surprised at what you find.
I absolutely freaking love this show. I love characters that are unique, different, out of the box, and just a little twisted and on the dark side. I love stories that delve into the taboos of society and this is going to be one of those all time classics for me, I can just tell. Maybe I should be more bothered by the fact that I do enjoy it so much and that I do sympathize with a characterized serial killer, a psychopath that finds enjoyment in death of others, a sociopath that can't connect with those that are supposed to be closest to him such as his family, girlfriend, etc. Strangely I'm not as worried as society demands I should be but seeing as it is such a popular show I'm sure I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteI think I like this story from the unique perspective that the director and producers have given us. It fascinates us to try to understand the minds of such people that Dexter portrays. We see it and hear about it in the news and history books but we have very little understanding of what happens behind the scenes in their heads. What leads these people to do the things they do? What is their thought process when they do it? I can't say whether Dexter answers these questions but it does give us a glimpse to what it COULD be like to be inside a sociopathic psychopath's head for an hour every week. They made his character almost....sympathetic because his so called "victims" are those that we would want to see off the street ourselves and find really no problem with some of these people getting a death penalty. So we accept Dexter into our homes with his unique brand of vigilante antics and escapades.
In this day and age it is so hard to find stories and shows that really offer something unique, show a stand point that hasn't been presented before or isn't cliched. This has all of that and so much more. Who can really complain? You love him. You hate him. You're fascinated by him and can't stand to turn away. Definitely one of my favorite TV shows of this generation that's for sure. I know it's long but whatever. :P
Thanks for your thoughts on "Dexter", Kay. I agree entirely with your comments. I don't mind your comment being long. I'll have to count your words to see if you wrote more than I did. Maybe instead of writing mega-comments you could become a guest writer and write your own article :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and in case you didn't notice I reply to all comments made on my blog. You can either think of it as a friendly acknowledgment of your thoughts, or my way of always getting the last word.