I am hooked on "Dexter" something fierce. (Mild general spoilers)
This is the hardest I've fallen for a show... in a long while. And it's wonderful! It's beautiful! Why didn't I do this sooner?
Actually, I know why. "Six Feet Under". Michael C. Hall, who I now adore beyond reason, was one of the stars of that show, and... I've never been able to finish SFU. I can't let it end, and my own grandmother gave me a spoiler I just couldn't deal with. On SFU, Hall played David, the sweet gay Catholic undertaker. On "Dexter", he plays the eponymous serial killer. It's, uh, different. I thought I couldn't deal with the transition until I'd finished SFU and could have closure. Turns out, he is just so different, it's fine. I swear his voice is totally different. He's... he's a good actor, and that makes it okay! Yay!
I read about "Dexter" when it first premiered, and I saw things advertising the fourth season that contained spoilers, and I saw a vid at vividcon, that I remarked at the time seemed like it could be a very misleading recruiter vid, as it was focused on happy family life. :-)
"Dexter" is so much more than I had hoped for. I figured it would be all Dexter, all the time, and he'd kill people all the time, and the rest of the characters would be one or two dimensional, and... I don't know why I thought that, given what rave reviews it gets. *shrug* BUT! I was wrong! There are all these characters, and they are wonderful! They have lives, and we get to see things that have nothing to do with Dexter sometimes! Even the characters who we're probably supposed to like the least have all these facets, and everyone's sympathetic sometimes, and it's just wonderful. It passes the Bechdel test just fine (easier for TV, I know) with these professional women interacting professionally. And it's in Miami, and most of the cast that isn't Dexter, his girlfriend or his sister (who I think are probably the main characters) is not white! I should have realized that would be true if the show is at all realistic, but I never really thought about it, and it is wonderful. Sadly my Spanish is too rusty to make out most of the untranslated scenes. But I'm starting to work on that again.
Basic premise: As a kid, Dexter Morgan had all these impulses to kill. His adopted (cop) dad taught him how to kill and not get caught, and to only kill people he was absolutely sure were murderers who were likely to kill again. Dexter is also a genius forensics investigator or Miami Metro Homicide, which gives him plenty of resources. Dexter thinks he doesn't have real emotions, that he has to fake every kind of human interactions. Dexter starts dating an abused woman because she doesn't want sex, and having a girlfriend makes him look normal. Dexter tries very hard to look normal, and fake normal, but as the show goes on... things start to become real.
And that is why I love this show. Dexter evolves. Dexter grows and changes and sometimes it makes me squee when he realizes how much he cares for someone or somebody just does some normal human relationship thing at him. Dexter is like my serial killer Pinnochio. Someday he'll be a real boy! With love and friendship and fishing! I don't know how the series will end, with regards to Dexter's habit, but I am so psyched to find out. IF YOU SPOIL ME ON ANYTHING I WILL SCREAM. I don't know when I last cared so much about spoilers, I've been pretty chill with that for awhile for most things.
I also love the characters. Deb, his sister, Rita, his girlfriend, Maria LaGuerta, his tough as nails boss, Angel Batista, the cop who says he's Dexter's best friend. I don't really love Masuka, I guess. Is he some kind of audience surrogate for the inappropriate comments about gore? FIIK.
But Deb. Oh Deb. Everything is so close to the surface with you, you can't hide anything. Heart on your sleeve, ready to be ripped off by anyone who passes by. But she's not pathetic, she's strong and beautiful and smart, even though she's loud and foul and brash and impulsive. I say she's so young, even though she's older than me, but she is. Oh Deb, I love you! I hope you get a good relationship some day, eh?
And Angel! Angel Batista! I want the world to give you rainbows to walk on. You... I just love you! I don't even know why! You're honest and loyal and a good cop for any definition I can think of, and you don't scheme and you just want a little niceness in the world, you want something beautiful and real and I want you to have it.
Which of course brings me to Rita. Rita Rita Rita. Now she really deserves what she dreams of, that "normal life". No abusive husbands, no drugs, no bullshit. And what you have is Dexter, and he's a serial killer with deep emotional problems who is acting so much of the time... but he's not acting as much as he thinks he is. He loves you, and he loves your children, and he's good for all of you, and it's only a tiny part of me that wants to point out that Dexter secretly kills people... but this is fiction, so I don't mind. It's weird. If any of my friends were dating Dexter, I'd flip out, but on TV? You kids are great together!
"Dexter" is awesome and I love it. I'm on 3x08. I will be very sad when I catch up to current season.
"Dexter"! You should watch it! It's not even that gory! Less disturbing in my mind than autumnesquirrel's crime procedurals (which she watches like 50 hours of each week, those CSIs and Criminal Minds and stuff... though that one guy on CM is cute in a really weird way, and I do like seeing Mandy Patinkin out there, first ep I saw half of gave me rape nightmares. ugh.).
"Dexter"! Yay!
[edit: so Dexter's reading the paper about a murder, and I decide to pause and read the article, and the guy is FROM MY HOMETOWN. And also Coral Gables, Florida, I assume a snow bird. So weird! Wikipedia says there are 7600 people in that town, and 20,000 in the related-adjacent-town that I actually grew up in, but I consider them equally home. Didn't actually realize my town was so much bigger... anyway, WEIRD.]
Actually, I know why. "Six Feet Under". Michael C. Hall, who I now adore beyond reason, was one of the stars of that show, and... I've never been able to finish SFU. I can't let it end, and my own grandmother gave me a spoiler I just couldn't deal with. On SFU, Hall played David, the sweet gay Catholic undertaker. On "Dexter", he plays the eponymous serial killer. It's, uh, different. I thought I couldn't deal with the transition until I'd finished SFU and could have closure. Turns out, he is just so different, it's fine. I swear his voice is totally different. He's... he's a good actor, and that makes it okay! Yay!
I read about "Dexter" when it first premiered, and I saw things advertising the fourth season that contained spoilers, and I saw a vid at vividcon, that I remarked at the time seemed like it could be a very misleading recruiter vid, as it was focused on happy family life. :-)
"Dexter" is so much more than I had hoped for. I figured it would be all Dexter, all the time, and he'd kill people all the time, and the rest of the characters would be one or two dimensional, and... I don't know why I thought that, given what rave reviews it gets. *shrug* BUT! I was wrong! There are all these characters, and they are wonderful! They have lives, and we get to see things that have nothing to do with Dexter sometimes! Even the characters who we're probably supposed to like the least have all these facets, and everyone's sympathetic sometimes, and it's just wonderful. It passes the Bechdel test just fine (easier for TV, I know) with these professional women interacting professionally. And it's in Miami, and most of the cast that isn't Dexter, his girlfriend or his sister (who I think are probably the main characters) is not white! I should have realized that would be true if the show is at all realistic, but I never really thought about it, and it is wonderful. Sadly my Spanish is too rusty to make out most of the untranslated scenes. But I'm starting to work on that again.
Basic premise: As a kid, Dexter Morgan had all these impulses to kill. His adopted (cop) dad taught him how to kill and not get caught, and to only kill people he was absolutely sure were murderers who were likely to kill again. Dexter is also a genius forensics investigator or Miami Metro Homicide, which gives him plenty of resources. Dexter thinks he doesn't have real emotions, that he has to fake every kind of human interactions. Dexter starts dating an abused woman because she doesn't want sex, and having a girlfriend makes him look normal. Dexter tries very hard to look normal, and fake normal, but as the show goes on... things start to become real.
And that is why I love this show. Dexter evolves. Dexter grows and changes and sometimes it makes me squee when he realizes how much he cares for someone or somebody just does some normal human relationship thing at him. Dexter is like my serial killer Pinnochio. Someday he'll be a real boy! With love and friendship and fishing! I don't know how the series will end, with regards to Dexter's habit, but I am so psyched to find out. IF YOU SPOIL ME ON ANYTHING I WILL SCREAM. I don't know when I last cared so much about spoilers, I've been pretty chill with that for awhile for most things.
I also love the characters. Deb, his sister, Rita, his girlfriend, Maria LaGuerta, his tough as nails boss, Angel Batista, the cop who says he's Dexter's best friend. I don't really love Masuka, I guess. Is he some kind of audience surrogate for the inappropriate comments about gore? FIIK.
But Deb. Oh Deb. Everything is so close to the surface with you, you can't hide anything. Heart on your sleeve, ready to be ripped off by anyone who passes by. But she's not pathetic, she's strong and beautiful and smart, even though she's loud and foul and brash and impulsive. I say she's so young, even though she's older than me, but she is. Oh Deb, I love you! I hope you get a good relationship some day, eh?
And Angel! Angel Batista! I want the world to give you rainbows to walk on. You... I just love you! I don't even know why! You're honest and loyal and a good cop for any definition I can think of, and you don't scheme and you just want a little niceness in the world, you want something beautiful and real and I want you to have it.
Which of course brings me to Rita. Rita Rita Rita. Now she really deserves what she dreams of, that "normal life". No abusive husbands, no drugs, no bullshit. And what you have is Dexter, and he's a serial killer with deep emotional problems who is acting so much of the time... but he's not acting as much as he thinks he is. He loves you, and he loves your children, and he's good for all of you, and it's only a tiny part of me that wants to point out that Dexter secretly kills people... but this is fiction, so I don't mind. It's weird. If any of my friends were dating Dexter, I'd flip out, but on TV? You kids are great together!
"Dexter" is awesome and I love it. I'm on 3x08. I will be very sad when I catch up to current season.
"Dexter"! You should watch it! It's not even that gory! Less disturbing in my mind than autumnesquirrel's crime procedurals (which she watches like 50 hours of each week, those CSIs and Criminal Minds and stuff... though that one guy on CM is cute in a really weird way, and I do like seeing Mandy Patinkin out there, first ep I saw half of gave me rape nightmares. ugh.).
"Dexter"! Yay!
[edit: so Dexter's reading the paper about a murder, and I decide to pause and read the article, and the guy is FROM MY HOMETOWN. And also Coral Gables, Florida, I assume a snow bird. So weird! Wikipedia says there are 7600 people in that town, and 20,000 in the related-adjacent-town that I actually grew up in, but I consider them equally home. Didn't actually realize my town was so much bigger... anyway, WEIRD.]