Dexter

The show may have given me a complex, but I’d watch it all over again!

I’m way behind in watching the series Dexter. We haven’t had cable in years, so it wasn’t until the show popped up as an option on Netflix that I even remembered it was a thing. I had heard it was good. I tried starting it a couple of times but was scared I’d get scared (which happened). I couldn’t stomach the violence. Then finally it took. I tell you what, Michael C. Hall just has the gift of reeling you right in. (I was a huge fan of his before watching Dexter because of the show Six Feet Under on HBO if you remember that.)

If you don’t know what this show is about – it is centered on a vigilante serial killer named Dexter. His father, a cop, knew at a very young age that Dexter had psychopathic tendencies, and in order to help him have the most normal life possible, developed a “code” for him to live by. That code includes only killing people who deserve it. An eye for an eye basically.

Dexter himself is in law enforcement as a renowned blood spatter analyst with the Miami Metro Homicide Department. This gives him an upper hand in a lot of ways. He can get inside details on people who are on his radar. He can either place or remove people from the radar of Miami Metro. And if needed, he can tamper with evidence to change the outcome of a case.

As the seasons progress, Dexter gets closer and closer to being able to have a truly “normal” life with a family and routine and all of the things we often take for granted. When things get really good, I found myself yelling at him to just stop while he was ahead! But, sadly, that never happens. But there wouldn’t be a show if he lived responsibly now would there?

I, and I assume others who watched, got really attached to Dexter and also to his sister, Debra. Weird fact that I found out while researching them – the actors who play these characters were actually married to each other in real life for a period of time! Anyway – the cast is great and the show introduces new characters each season depending on the main plot. One of the hardest episodes for me to watch (I was sobbing in the middle of the night by myself in the dark) is when Dexter’s wife passes away (I won’t say how). The other was the very end of the final episode of the series. The closing scenes focused on Dexter’s and Deb’s relationship. It’s brutal.

For being a serial killer, there’s just something about Dexter that I fell in love with. He was trying to navigate being a good human like we all are – just on a different plane than most of us are familiar with. And because he’s killing “bad guys” and technically doing good, the vibe of the show is a lot different than one that focuses on a serial killer just killing for the sport of it.
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Overall, this series gets a 10/10 in my book. Lots of action and cliffhangers that make it very binge worthy. I’m actually glad I got to watch it on Netflix so I didn’t have to wait for the next episode! People obviously get killed but most of the time the scenes aren’t terribly gory. I will warn you – you may start to look at people around you differently. I’m talking specifically about strangers. There was a period of time (and still a little bit now) that I thought everyone was a serial killer and everyone I loved was going to die at the hand of a serial killer in a totally bizarre way. Including myself! But I’m here to write a review about Dexter – so far, so good!