does anyone watch 'Dexter' besides me??
So, I finally sat down and watched the season finale of 'Dexter'.
I have to say, I really ended up liking this show. I watched the first couple episodes, then picked up the book it was based on while at the library. I read the book pretty quickly and I didn't like it. I didn't like the character of Dexter in the book. He was almost too creepy. He keeps referring to his urge to kill as his "dark passenger" that is constantly laughing at him or egging him on...
Yes yes, I know, he's a serial killer. Of course he's creepy! But what makes the TV show work, and why it's so watchable, is that Dexter is turning into a "real boy". It's not really a heroes journey. But each episode had a theme, usually touching upon some part of our humanity, and in the end, Dex would either understand people a bit more, or perhaps find that he did care about something that he thought he had no feelings for at all.
I think that's why, for me, the TV show is so superior to the book. The character development in the book felt non-existent to me, but I really thought that everyone in the tv series was fleshed out enough for you to care about. Even the "bitch", LaGuerta, seemed more human than what the author was able to put down on paper. Maybe that's because the TV show was able to shift out of Dex's point of view a few times, and let us see things that he didn't know about.
Though now I'm wondering how much reading the book first made me watch the show differently, especially since I knew the big twist way before it was revealed on the show. In the book, the twist felt so abrupt, so forced. But since I was watching for clues in the TV show, I felt like they led up to it better, but how can I really know since I already knew the ending?
And now - interesting changes that were made between the book & tv show - MAJOR SPOILERS for BOTH!
Okay, in the book, LaGuerta is murdered by Dexter's brother, Brian, and then Brian gets away.
In the TV show, LaGuerta is fine (well, she gets demoted, but she's alive!), and Dexter kills his brother to take him out of the equation, since he has become a threat to his step-sister, Debra.
Now, I know there is a second book, which I have not read, so I'm not sure if his brother would have played a major roll in that or not. And I don't even know how closely they will follow the second book since these changes have been made.
With LaGuerta still alive, it seems there will be more politics between her, her replacement, and Mathews, the chief of police. This might be okay, because a lot of the petty arguments they got into allowed Dexter to get away with a few little things last season. So it would probably work again this season.
Dexter killing his own brother, his only blood relation? That seems like it should mess him up even more. Though the end of the TV show, he was smiling and imaging people thanking him for killing Brian. Of course, they have made Dexter and Debra closer than in the book. In the book, it takes a LOT for Dex to convince himself not to kill Debra when Brian has her all laid out for him. In fact, you get the feeling that if LaGuerta had not shown up when she did, Dex might have said yes. In the TV Show, Dexter refuses flat out. He understands what Brian is trying to do and he says no.
I know, I know - jimithingy pointed it out ot me a thousand times, he's a sociopath and in reality, he would never "get better". But it seems like that's what the TV show will want to do. By the end of it's run, we want Dexter to feel more secure in his skin, more comfortable with the people around him, and have him say that he does love people. That he's not faking it all the time. To make the show work, the hero has to have a goal, and even though Dexter doesn't know it yet, that is his goal.
I have to say, I really ended up liking this show. I watched the first couple episodes, then picked up the book it was based on while at the library. I read the book pretty quickly and I didn't like it. I didn't like the character of Dexter in the book. He was almost too creepy. He keeps referring to his urge to kill as his "dark passenger" that is constantly laughing at him or egging him on...
Yes yes, I know, he's a serial killer. Of course he's creepy! But what makes the TV show work, and why it's so watchable, is that Dexter is turning into a "real boy". It's not really a heroes journey. But each episode had a theme, usually touching upon some part of our humanity, and in the end, Dex would either understand people a bit more, or perhaps find that he did care about something that he thought he had no feelings for at all.
I think that's why, for me, the TV show is so superior to the book. The character development in the book felt non-existent to me, but I really thought that everyone in the tv series was fleshed out enough for you to care about. Even the "bitch", LaGuerta, seemed more human than what the author was able to put down on paper. Maybe that's because the TV show was able to shift out of Dex's point of view a few times, and let us see things that he didn't know about.
Though now I'm wondering how much reading the book first made me watch the show differently, especially since I knew the big twist way before it was revealed on the show. In the book, the twist felt so abrupt, so forced. But since I was watching for clues in the TV show, I felt like they led up to it better, but how can I really know since I already knew the ending?
And now - interesting changes that were made between the book & tv show - MAJOR SPOILERS for BOTH!
Okay, in the book, LaGuerta is murdered by Dexter's brother, Brian, and then Brian gets away.
In the TV show, LaGuerta is fine (well, she gets demoted, but she's alive!), and Dexter kills his brother to take him out of the equation, since he has become a threat to his step-sister, Debra.
Now, I know there is a second book, which I have not read, so I'm not sure if his brother would have played a major roll in that or not. And I don't even know how closely they will follow the second book since these changes have been made.
With LaGuerta still alive, it seems there will be more politics between her, her replacement, and Mathews, the chief of police. This might be okay, because a lot of the petty arguments they got into allowed Dexter to get away with a few little things last season. So it would probably work again this season.
Dexter killing his own brother, his only blood relation? That seems like it should mess him up even more. Though the end of the TV show, he was smiling and imaging people thanking him for killing Brian. Of course, they have made Dexter and Debra closer than in the book. In the book, it takes a LOT for Dex to convince himself not to kill Debra when Brian has her all laid out for him. In fact, you get the feeling that if LaGuerta had not shown up when she did, Dex might have said yes. In the TV Show, Dexter refuses flat out. He understands what Brian is trying to do and he says no.
I know, I know - jimithingy pointed it out ot me a thousand times, he's a sociopath and in reality, he would never "get better". But it seems like that's what the TV show will want to do. By the end of it's run, we want Dexter to feel more secure in his skin, more comfortable with the people around him, and have him say that he does love people. That he's not faking it all the time. To make the show work, the hero has to have a goal, and even though Dexter doesn't know it yet, that is his goal.