Lights, Plastic Wrap, Action!

Published April 1, 2008

By Sally Weibe

In keeping with the theme of TV shows, Dexter is another must-see series also on Showtime. This network has great shows—there is no question about that. But what I love about its entertainment is how varied the genres are. You can travel to the suburbs in Weeds, or the countryside in The Tudors, and still manage to make it to a nightclub in Miami, the city where Dexter takes place.

The show follows Dexter Morgan, a handsome member of Miami Metropolitan Police Department’s crime lab, who specializes in analyzing blood spatter. The catch is that Dexter uses the information he picks up in the police force to aid his night job as a serial killer.

When I heard that this show was about a serial killer I thought ‘Okay, so what makes this show more thrilling than just a twisted forensics guy killing people?’ I learned after the first ten minutes of watching that it is much more than that.

The difference between Dexter and other serial killers is that Dexter holds chaos within him, which lures him to the idea of death. Through the heavy use of flashbacks, we learn that Dexter’s adopted father, Harry, a former cop, taught him how to harness these desires by adopting a righteous killing system. It became Dexter’s mission to kill those the justice system could not handle.

When Harry dies it is up to Dexter to silence the pandemonium on his own, since Harry was the only one who understood and knew of his unrest. Before dying, however, Harry taught Dexter everything he needed to know in order to kill with integrity without getting caught by the department he works alongside. This idea of righteous killing is what enables Dexter to live among people and not be tempted to harm them in anyway.

The show follows equally the “normal” life Dexter has during the day and the double life he leads at night. Although he feels legitimate love for is his sister, Debra Morgan, who works as a cop in the Miami Police Department, Dexter is emotionally repressed, and has to assume a façade of normalcy. Therefore, Dexter’s “normal” life is always vulnerable precisely because it is a charade. What is so engaging about the show is that the viewers are constantly waiting for the inevitable collision of these two worlds.

There have been only two seasons of the show thus far. The first follows the department’s chase to find The Ice-Truck Killer, who mysteriously murders his victims without leaving a drop of blood to follow his devious trail. The second explores the ramifications of the collision of Dexter’s private and public professions. However, both show the mostly awkward interactions Dexter has with friends and lovers. What makes the show such an interesting one is watching how different Dexter’s motives for catching a killer are from his department’s. To him it is often the pursuit of a peer, to his department, the pursuit of law offenders.

If you want to watch an exhilarating game of cat-and-mouse with story lines that not only quickly grab the viewer, but also leave them amazed at how likeable a serial killer can be, then rent Dexter. The second season wrapped up recently, and you can watch both the first and second season on Showtime’s OnDemand.

Print This Article

Comments