Dexter

Dexter aired on October 1st, 2006 its first season was based off of Jeff Lindsay’s 2004 novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. The seven other seasons are drastically different from the book series. Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter analyst in sunny Miami, Florida. At the age of three, his mother was killed by drug dealers in a shipping container. This one moment altered the lives of him and his brother Brian. Harry Morgan, an officer who insisted on the mother’s involvement, adopts Dexter and leaves the older Brian to the foster system. Harry creates The Code, which are twelve guidelines, so Dexter can live a normal life without dying or ending up in jail. Knowing the symptoms of serial killers, Harry tries teaching Dexter to only kill killers. His adopted sister Deb, who becomes a detective at Miami Metro too, is one of the few anchors Dexter has. Dexter has “friendships” with coworkers like the womanizer Masuka and Detective Batista. There are others as well, like Captain LaGuerta and Detective Quinn in the last six seasons. Only one cop at Miami Metro that is suspicious is Sergeant Doakes who always had the creeps about Dex. Rita, a domestic abuse victim and a mother of two, is his girlfriend. Dexter says he has no emotions and uses her as a cover, but over time truly learns to love another besides Deb. These characters have their own lives and goals. Like Dexter, they grow and change while he hides his true nature. Over the course of the show he tries to have a real connection with others, which sometimes backfires. The show is very good at making you feel something for these characters. The whole premise of rooting for the serial killer is flipped on its head. In the present day, a killer is leaving frozen body parts in places from Dexter’s childhood. This season has the best or second-best villain and is the only season where you slowly learn who the killer is. His own brother, The Ice Truck Killer, hiding in the shadows and being the only person to truly understand him. In the second season, the location where Dexter leaves his victims is found when the Bay Harbor Butcher is born. To cover for himself Dexter goes to Drug addicts anonymous, and he meets Lila who understands his urges but not what they truly are. The FBI, conflict with Rita over Lila, and Sgt. Doakes culminates in the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation being put to rest. The third season is when Dexter shares his secret with Assistant DA Miguel Prado. Miguel accepts Dexter and even joins him. From the start though, Miguel manipulates Dex into showing him the ways of a serial killer so he can kill others that have wronged him. Season four is one of the best with The Trinity Killer. Dex tries to learn how to kill and manage a family from Trinity, but in reality he destroys everyone around him, and Dexter was always better off. The season has one of the best endings of any show season. The first four seasons are the best, while five and seven are fantastic. Six is good, but not as great as the other two. Season eight had good ideas but failed to use them properly and the ending isn’t very good. The show has had a resurgence in popularity and two spin-offs, Dexter New Blood and Dexter Original Sin. Dexter is one of the most humane and emotional shows ever!