A to Z blogging challenge: if it's Wednesday, this must be D
Still a day late (but not a dollar short) with this A to Z Blogging challenge. As I type this I'm struggling to figure out a suitable "d" subject to blog a couple hundred words about. Denmark? Danish? Diamonds? dogs? dwarves? Oh wait, dexter. How could I forget Dexter?
D is for Dexter.
from wikipedia:
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer. Set in Miami, the show's first season was largely based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the first of his Dexter series novels. Subsequent seasons have evolved independently of Lindsay's works; several are based on short stories by Lindsay's friend, Stephen R. Pastore. It was adapted for television by screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the first episode.
What fascinates me most about Dexter's character is that here is this cold-blooded intelligent murderer, and we root for him. Hannibal is a cold-blooded intelligent murderer and we do NOT root for him, we get chills just watching him. But Dexter? He's our brother, our friend, our Dark Avenger. The Dexter of the books is incredibly insulting and does not like people, and honestly I have trouble reading the books (the attitude and the vibe turn me off. Sorry, Jeff Lindsay.) The Dexter of the tv show has no problem killing anyone who gets in his way and plots murders with all the intensity trained into him by his father, Harry the cop, and his job as a police homicide department "splatter expert." I'm pretty sure, btw, that homicide departments do not operate with the lab closeted next door to the detectives' desks, but then, it's a tv show, and who am I to quibble?
So I think that the tv Dexter is a more interesting examination of duality, for the writer's toolbox, than the book Dexter, who pulls out of his problems with lots of deus ex machina. I've wondered about Dexter (tv) and his avowed "I'm a sociopath with no ability to form human connections" because obviously he does indeed have emotional depth. He just struggles with sharing. Because he's scared of his ability to kill.
I believe that killing is not an easy thing for a human to do, but once a person kills, it becomes an emotional game changer. I think Dexter is a character that never had that borderline built into his fiber, never had the doubts and hesitations about killing. I think the redirection of Dexter's abilities/compulsions into a Dark Avenger was a stroke of brilliance, but something that would compound the character's guilt. And we see a lot of that in Dexter's breakdown after Rita's death. It's his fault, he cries. He did it.
Anyway, I love Dexter's character. The tv Dexter would be good to meet in real life. The snake-like creature from the novels? Not so much.
D is for Dexter.
from wikipedia:
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer. Set in Miami, the show's first season was largely based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the first of his Dexter series novels. Subsequent seasons have evolved independently of Lindsay's works; several are based on short stories by Lindsay's friend, Stephen R. Pastore. It was adapted for television by screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the first episode.
What fascinates me most about Dexter's character is that here is this cold-blooded intelligent murderer, and we root for him. Hannibal is a cold-blooded intelligent murderer and we do NOT root for him, we get chills just watching him. But Dexter? He's our brother, our friend, our Dark Avenger. The Dexter of the books is incredibly insulting and does not like people, and honestly I have trouble reading the books (the attitude and the vibe turn me off. Sorry, Jeff Lindsay.) The Dexter of the tv show has no problem killing anyone who gets in his way and plots murders with all the intensity trained into him by his father, Harry the cop, and his job as a police homicide department "splatter expert." I'm pretty sure, btw, that homicide departments do not operate with the lab closeted next door to the detectives' desks, but then, it's a tv show, and who am I to quibble?
So I think that the tv Dexter is a more interesting examination of duality, for the writer's toolbox, than the book Dexter, who pulls out of his problems with lots of deus ex machina. I've wondered about Dexter (tv) and his avowed "I'm a sociopath with no ability to form human connections" because obviously he does indeed have emotional depth. He just struggles with sharing. Because he's scared of his ability to kill.
I believe that killing is not an easy thing for a human to do, but once a person kills, it becomes an emotional game changer. I think Dexter is a character that never had that borderline built into his fiber, never had the doubts and hesitations about killing. I think the redirection of Dexter's abilities/compulsions into a Dark Avenger was a stroke of brilliance, but something that would compound the character's guilt. And we see a lot of that in Dexter's breakdown after Rita's death. It's his fault, he cries. He did it.
Anyway, I love Dexter's character. The tv Dexter would be good to meet in real life. The snake-like creature from the novels? Not so much.