Dexter Morgan is a serial killer. Some other truths; what goes up must come down, there is a grey area, and there is evil in the world. Dexter Morgan isn't evil.
Ernest Hemingway said, "All things truly wicked start from innocence." Dexter suffered a devastating tragedy as a young boy, one that has been seared into his memory or more so his entire being. Dexter was born like every other person, but his dark passenger--Dexter the serial killer, was born in blood.
The first time I heard about the show I didn't know what to think. The story seems almost grotesque in a way. I was intrigued to at least give it a chance. So I watched Season 1 On-demand. I have never been more hooked to a show then Dexter. I actually watched the entire first season in back-to- back sequence (the way to watch anything by the way). It was excruciating to watch season 2 and wait week to week. Each subsequent season has been a weekly trial in patience but it has reestablished Sunday night television for me since the departure of the Sopranos.
The story of Dexter is a complex, and a dark dreamscape seen through a hazy glow and muted fluorescents of Miami. Each episode is serenaded with lively, Latin rhythms. The Miami culture is as much a character as Dexter himself. There's a real sense of Cuban and Latin culture in the show, which makes it distinct from other Miami based shows. It seems more authentic. Dexter somehow fits in, he's as mundane as a passing palm tree, and as ordinary as a rain shower in the Florida afternoon. With that, we are under his spell, his plan. That is part of his modus operandi. His code. . . Never get caught. Stay in the shadows. Be patient. Don't risk it with a high profile kill. . . "Never . . . Ever. . . Kids. . . I have standards," Dexter said to a soon-to-be-victim. Satisfying the code is Dexter's sovereign oath. The code is what Dexter has lived by since he was a reborn. It was taught to him by his adopted father to endure. When he was a kid his foster father, Harry Morgan, discovered his son's eerie predilection. The neighborhood's pets were missing, and it didn't take long for detective Harry Morgan to solve the mystery. His love and knowledge of Dexter's tragic beginnings compelled him to find a way for Dexter to channel his urges in more productive ways. It started with wild game hunting. This expression would only last for so long, and Harry knows this. What was the next step?
Harry was able to look into the soul of a killer, one that he loved and raised like his own son. Harry's life in law enforcement had exposed him to injustices in which he was powerless to do anything. The solution wasn't obvious, but it became the next step. Dexter would finish what the stumbling and sometimes foolish court system couldn't. He became a vigilante of sorts. With the code guiding him, his murderer's intuition leading him to the right people, and his training supporting his so called hobby he became Dexter the Diabolical. Dexter the Devious. Dexter the Deviant.
We all cheer when we see the muscle bound hero, or the cunning action star blow away the bad guy. Why it is different to see them get cut up? It just is right? I don't know about you, but as the show goes I kind of wish there was a Dexter Morgan out there. In a culture where we all applaud the vigilantes and heroes, whether it's Dirty Harry or Batman, the only realistic hero would be the anti-hero—Dexter Morgan.
He endears us with his wit, and inner-narrative as he tells his side of the story. If he was caught there would be a firestorm of controversy about capital punishment, and eye-for-an-eye. Political fodder for the editorials. He would be a hero to many and a villain to the balance. That's what makes him such a compelling protagonist. The most innovative and complex lead in television history.
The show begins with a glimpse in the life of Dexter Morgan, forensics and blood specialist for the Miami-Dade Police Department. The show doesn't take long to introduce you to the Dark Passenger as he confronts a pedophile/and child murderer. I, like everyone, are disgusted by the very thought of children being assaulted and murdered. This first experience with the Dark Passenger for us, the killing of a child murderer, didn't make it seem so bad. Once you get past the ritualistic nature of the act, Dexter eases his way into your curiosity the same way he slides in and out of the homicide department without causing an ounce of suspicion. As the season goes on he is put through tests of character, emotion, and of the very code that defines him. Each shadowy corner lays profound drama that will grip you and not let go.
Subsequent seasons dive deeper into the peripheral characters. Like his girlfriend Rita, and her kids Cody and Astor. His foul-mouthed, sister Deb and the rest of his colleagues at the police department. Each one the relationship with Dexter evolves as the show goes on. He keeps them all at arm's-length, per the code, but the depth of the show and surprisingly to both us and Dexter himself is his own personal depth. As he learns more about himself, and his history he grows into his human skin leaving us to wonder if he will ever shed the dark passenger. That's the question that all of us fans ask, and draws us in every week.
As the story continues-- he will be challenged to violate the code. His father only saw one layer of Dexter, and didn't trust the other to be able to live in the real world without a rigid set of rules to protect him. While watching, you want to believe that he can be a husband and father. We hope that Harry, and initially Dexter is wrong about his depths. Yet, the very greatness of the show is that Harry has to be right. The deviations from the code are what expose him to the world, for who he really is—and the world is not ready for a "good" serial killer. We accept murder when it's in the name of God and country, but can we accept what Dexter does? The genius is that it stirs up all these emotions, and creates a visceral response in each of us that is a powerful exercise in introspection.
The show deals with the grey area that is so often rejected but exists. The truth of the matter is that we deal with grey every day with our own set of rules, and guidelines. Do we stray from the very codes that define us? Do we condemn those that do stray and characterize it as weakness? When we do is it just or is it in the name of pleasure or failure? Where Dexter's code is to endure as a serial killer. . . The moral grey in Dexter is a question and a topic that can be debated to we go grey in the face, but it doesn't prevent it from being entertaining.
"I See Monsters"
Ryan Adams
"Oh, people are shouting, people are freaking
I'm just staring at the ceiling
Waiting for the feeling
Oh, oh when she calls
I know that she's the one
Makes me want it harder
Makes me want to be a little stronger
Still I see the monsters
Still I see the monsters"
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