TV Review: Dexter

Dexter is a crime/mystery series, based on the Dexter novels. The show is not exactly the same as the novels, but it has the same general storyline. It is about a serial killer called Dexter Morgan. He works for the Miami police as a forensics expert specialising in blood spatter. Basically he can tell how a situation played out based on things like the direction of the blood spatter.

Dexter was psychologically scarred as a child, because he witnessed the killing of his mother. Due to this, he is emotionally detached and has urges to kill from a voice in his head that he calls 'the dark passenger'. When he kills someone, the dark passenger is satisfied and goes away for a while... but will eventually come back. After his mother was killed, he was adopted by Harry Morgan. Harry realises Dexter's problem, and tried to change him so that he was no longer a potential killer. However, he understood that it wasn't a problem that would just go away, so he taught Dexter to use his urges in a more positive and accepting way, which is to only kill people that are actually guilty of a crime. Dexter refers to these teachings by Harry as 'the code' which he mentions fairly often. So in Dexter's spare time, he will research criminals who have escaped the justice system, and prove that they were guilty... then he will capture them, wrap them up in plastic, cut their cheek to draw blood which he then keeps as a sort of trophy/memento, then he will kill them and cut up the body. The body parts are then wrapped up in plastic bags, which he then dumps in the ocean.

So the series is based off Dexter and his way of life filled with killing and keeping his true identity hidden. The first series is a bit introductory, but the main plot is based on another serial killer that was given the name of 'the ice truck killer', who's killing methods have fascinated Dexter... and he tries to find the identity of him. In the meantime, he is also killing various criminals.

The main characters include;

Dexter Morgan - The main character, who also serves as the narrator. Pretty much described him already... but he also has a girlfriend named Rita, and through her... he begins to establish what feelings are meant to be.

Debra Morgan - Biological daughter of Harry Morgan, and Dexter's sister via adoption. She works for the Miami Police and is aspiring to become a detective. She is quite foul-mouthed, and has a tendency to speak her mind no matter what it is. But she is a smart girl, and she's very close with her brother Dexter.

Rita Bennett - Dexter's girlfriend. She has 2 kids; Cody and Astor, from a failed marriage. Her ex-husband was abusive and ended up in jail. She was untrusting of men due to that abuse, but she discovers that she truely loves Dexter and her relationship with him helps her to overcome the trauma of the abuse.

Harry Morgan - Dexter's foster father, who is deceased at the present time of the show. But he is commonly seen in flashbacks. He was a legendary detective working for Miami police before his death, and Debra aspires to become a detective because of Harry.

Maria LaGuerta - The lieutenant in charge of Miami police. She is a strong woman who seems to enjoy having the authority. She clearly dislikes Debra, and tends to take the stab at her a lot.

Angel Batista - A detective working for Miami police, who works quite closely with Dexter. He is a good-natured person, and very honest.

James Doakes - His character is quite amusing, in a hard-ass kind of way. He is a sergeant, and also works fairly closely with Dexter. He is suspicious of Dexter, but he also makes some funny wise-cracks at Dexter, for example he'll describe some horrific crime scene as being Dexter's wet dream.

Vince Masuka - Usually people just call him Masuka. He is the comedy relief of the show, although he's a bit of a minor character. He is a forensics investigator who works alongside Dexter. He is very intelligent, but also likes to make a lot of perverted comments, and a lot of these are directed at Debra (who finds him repulsive).


Rating - 9/10. One of my favourite shows at the moment. It has a lot of great suspense, such that I only watch each season in 1 go... instead of having to wait each week for a new episode. Theres quite a bit of nudity in season 2, if you're into that. The killing scenes aren't actually gorey or anything, so the show is suitable even if you normally don't like gorey stuff. You will know that he's slicing the body up and stuff... but you won't actually see him doing it. So far I'd rate the first season as being the best... it's strange that for most shows its the first season thats always the best. But the following seasons are still quite good and worth watching.